Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/162

 instructions would be carried out in spirit. He must act both as a stimulant and a sedative ; he must use spurs or draw reins according to necessity. From all the great NationaHst leaders—Messrs. Bepin Chunder Pal, Arabindo Ghose, Lajpat Rai, G. S. Khaparde, G. Subramanya Ayer — Mr. Tilak received that homage to which his genius, sacrifices and long uninterrupted services of the country fully entitled him. The organization of the Nationalist Party also involved the work of fighting with the Moderates both in and out of the Congress. This was no easy thing; for the Moderate Party, moribund though it was, controlled most of the National organisations of the day; its leaders, with their long record of public service, were capable beyond question, learned beyond compare, resourceful and domineering. They were the last persons to allow themselves to be swept away. It required all Mr. Tilak's genius, aided of course by the powerful ability of his political colleagues, to give a rub to the Moderates. In the Congress he was the only man who could beard the Bombay Lion; and his consumate mastery of ail weapons of intellectual warfare enabled him to measure swords with Sir Pherozeshah Mehta.

Mr. Tilak once said that every such movement ought to be judged by a triple standard (i) The actual work it does (2) the moral force it awakens and (3) by the intellectual revolution it brings about. The anti-Partition movement soon lost its provincial character and became a movement for National Regeneration and the attainment of Swaraj. The swadeshi spirit stimulated the establishment of several industries hitherto starving. Swadeshi shops were opened everywhere; Swadeshi