Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/207

 granted the establishment of the Home Rule League in Madras which was yet to come. The Government of Bombay were alarmed at the prospect of Mr. Tilak rising again into the leadership of India, this time the leadership of a United India, and so got convinced that they should gag his mouth unable to do more under war conditions for fear of a general excitement. The Madras Government had already acted against Mrs. Besant and demanded security from the New India. Their example must be perforce followed by the other provincial potentates. A notice issued from the secretariat of the Bombay Government asking Mr. Tilak to show cause why he should not be restrained in his headlong course of speech. The day chosen to serve the notice was itself sensational. Maharashtra was celebrating the 61st birth-day of Mr. Tilak and presenting him with a purse of a lack of rupees which he eventually dedicated for the work nearest to his heart Home Rule. The statesmanship of the Bombay Government was providentially so poor that they chose this particular moment for presenting in their tarn a repressive order. To Mr. Tilak the order did not matter much. He stood this trial