Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/230

 Condolence meetings were held all over the country; Many of the Moderate leaders were ungenerous not to take part therein. A notable instance is that of Sir Pherozeshah Mehta. The Hon. Mr. Gokhale, (then in England), too, stood aloof from a condolence meeting in London. He was requested to preside on the occassion, but he refused to take any part in the meeting ; nor did he organize a meeting of his own, for the same purpose. This attitude of Mr. Gokhale created an impression that he and his associates were pledged to support a policy of repression. ^1,^

In noticing Mr. Tilak's conviction, the London Times said : —

"The real importance of Mr. Tilak's conviction lies in the fact that he is the acknowledged and un- disputed leader of the Extremists' Movement in India. That he had a guilty knowledge of the darker deve- lopments of that movement is not, of course, sug- gested. Mr. Tilak remained, at the moment of his -conviction, the most conspicuous politician in India and among large sections of the people, he has enjoy- ed a popularity and wielded an influence that no other public matt in the Dependency could claim to equal. The Extremists' Movement, in its open mani- festitations both within and outside the Congress was ahnost entirely his conception."

The Indian Press was almost unanimously of opi- nion that Mr. Tilak did not get justice. But the Full Bench of the Bombay High Court as also the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, thought that he had ; — and there we must leave the question.