Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/248

 publicly undertaken to enlist 5,000 recruits within six months on receiving an assurance that the highest military career without distinction of caste, creed or colour would be thrown open to the recruits ; and as guarantee of good faith, he had sent to Mahatma Gandhi a Deposit Receipt for Rs. 50,000 the amount to be forfeited as penalty if certain conditions were not fulfilled. Comment is superflous on these two pictures — Mr. Tilak pledging his word and money in support of recruiting and the Government of Bombay accusing him of " discouraging recruiting."

Though Mr. Tilak was prepared to help the Government in every way to wage the war with success, he was not wilhng to shelve the all-important question of Home Rule. To those of the Bureaucrats who wanted Indians not to press contentious questions upon their attention, Mr, Tilak explained that Liberty is and ought to be always a non-contentious topic. It was absolutely impossible, he said, for India to watch with folded arms the stupendous conflict in Europe between Auto- cracy and Democracy. A vast intellectual revolution had been brought about in India as a result of the World-war, The moral, intellectual and political outlook of even the most ignorant villagers had widened. Even they had begun to take interest in the politics of their own country and that of the world at large. The declarations of responsible ministers, interpreting this world-war as a war of Liberty had considerably helped the national awaken- ing ; and under these circumstances, it was impossible for Indians to keep quiet. Lord Willingdon had led the way by asking Mr. Gokhale to make a statement of post-war reforms. It was, therefore, in the interests