Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/240

 property in no time.' It was stated in this communi- cation that Mr. Tilak had openly avowed his intention of adopting the ' boycott of Government * and ob- structionist methods of the Irish, if he entered the Congress. The matter was prominently brought to the notice of the Subjects' Committee and naturally, the ears of many of its members were poisoned against the Mahratta patriot behind his back. In the mean- time, Mrs. Besant wired to Mr. Tilak to ascertain the truth or otherwise of the allegation, and not only did he give a direct lie to it, but said that many of his col- leagues and followers were actually serving either in the Legislative Council or in Municipalities and Dis- trict Boards ! Mr. Tilak's telegram, however, came too late to mend matters. An apology was, no doubt, offered to him and charges against him withdrawn but his enemies triumphed in the end by getting the ques- tion of reconcilation postponed and a Committee appointed to consider it."

It is clear that Mr. Gokhale's conhdential* letters to the President-elect of the Congress spoiled the prospect of rapproachment between the two parties. Mr. Gokhale justified his conduct by asserting that his change of opinion with regard to the Compromise question was necessitated by Mr. Tilak's conversation reported to him by Mr. Subba Rao. It was in part as follows : —

"In Mr. Tilak's opinion the present programme of

zeshah Mehta has tried to lift the veil from this episode just a Mttle by giving two extracts from Mr. Gokhale's letters. Evidently these extracts do not exhaust the whole of Mr. Gokhale's case against Mr. Tilak. The venomous parts of the indictment are apparently still held back.
 * Mr. H. P. Mody, in his recently published Life of Sir Phero-