Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/197

 only by the Law Courts* of Bengal but also by Lord Morley, what right had the Moderates to shut out an important and law-abiding section of Indian poli- ticians from the Congress ? Mr. Tilak has been often blamed for " coquetting with the views of the Bengal School of Extremist politicians " — these are Mr. Gokhale's words — but though four or five times at the most, in 1907-08 he has defended the ideal of his Bengal colleagues and followers y still he has consistently preached the ideal set up by Dadabhai Naoroji. If this is to be called inconsistency, what shaU we say of those who at Calcutta accepted without demur the National Education Resolution, and who at the very next Provincial Conference at Surat declared that they did not understand what National Education meant ?

The draft resolution about the ' Swadeshi movement * did not contain the words * even at a sacrifice.' Mr. Gokhale later explained that this omission was * unin- tentional ' and we readily accept his word but the effect of this omission was that the very soul of the resolution was taken out.

Mr. Gokhale has admitted that the changes made by him in the Boycott resolution were intentional. He

Arabindo Ghose and the Maniktola conspirators in the Ahpore Bomb Case wrote in his judgment " Independence is an ideal with which no true Englishman would quarrel." This judicial pronouncement was specially significant in view of the fact that Srj. C. R. Das, Counsel for Srj. Arabindo Ghose had repeatedly declared on behalf of his client that if preaching independence was a crime, Srj. Ghose was willing to suffer any punishment that might be awarded to him.
 * As late as 1909, Mr. Beachcroft, the Judge who tried Srj.