Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/238

 In the circumstances of the case, Mr. Tilak's party was naturally anxious to re-enter the Congress-fold, not only on grounds of national unity but also for the more narrow reasons of party interests. The great Nationalist Party, organised by him in the eventful years of the Swadeshi agitation was, by Government repression weakened, silenced, disorganised, discredited and practically routed. As the Congress would be a great rallying point, Mr. Tilak's sincerity in conducting the negotiations was transparent. Not so, that of the Moderates, to whom the association with their Extremist brethren was a matter which caused uneasiness and occasional inconvenience. Sir Pherozeshah Mehta was dead against the admission of Mr. Tilak with his * firebrands ' into the Congress camp and others like Gokhale had not the courage to go against their chief. That is why the negotiations fell through.

The Constitution and rules of the Congress were passed (1908) by a Committee appointed by the Convention (Dec. 1907) from which many Nationalists, willing: to join it in spite of the evident humiliations, were deliberately and brusquely excluded. For the sake of unity, Mr. Tilak was willing to join a Congress- whose creed (Article No. I) was not quite inspiring, whose constitution was faulty and whose rules were unreason- able and arbitrary. But there must be some honourable way of returning to the Congress. If Mr. Tilak wanted to go back to the Congress it must be only as a delegate elected by some political body recognised by or affiliated to the Congress.

"The old practice of electing delegates at any public meeting was set aside and the election of Congress dele-