Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/272

 Prof. Jitendralal Banerjea declared that the reforms were grudging, half-hearted, meagre, inadequate and hence disappointing and abortive ; while the veteran Dr. Subrahmanyam Ayer advised his countrymen not 4:0 touch the narcotic that was offered to them.

To place " the essentials of the Congress-League scheme within the frame -work of the Montague-Chelmsford Report " so that neither the fire-eaters of the Extremist Party nor the cautious members of the Mode- a:ate Party might find reasonable cause for grumbling was an extremely difficult and dehcate work. Much of the credit of having restrained the fury of the " Extremists " can be claimed by Mr. Tilak and Mrs. Besant. " If your cavalry charges a-head brilliantly, galloping on the foe, without the preparation of the artillery, without the support of the infantry, what will happen ? The enemy will meet them in their charge, will find them unsupported, will mow them down separated from the main body of the host, and then, having anni- hilated the cavalry, he would advance across the grounds left empty to annihilate the infantry in its turn." Mr. Tilak was in complete accord with these sentiments of Mrs. Besant and co-operated with her in trying to prevent the Moderates from seceding.

Knowing that he would be required to do the work of a Peace-maker, Mr. Tilak, with rare self-effacement refused to accept the Presidentship of the Special Session of the Congress. Even when the Moderates definitely parted company and, in the language of Sir Dinshaw Petit " collected round them some people who never took part in politics except grind their own axes " and sought to have a separate Conference of their own, Mr.