Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/310



Not what thou and I have promised to each other but what the balance of our forces can make us perform to each other : that, in so sinful a world as ours, is the thing to be counted upon. Thomas Carlyle.

WHEN Mr. Montague asked Mr. Tilak v^^hat he would do in case the reforms fell short of his expect- ations, Mr. Tilak readily replied "I would accept what is given and fight for more." Being a strategist and not a mere idealist, Mr. Tilak knew full well how to make use of the smallest concessions. That is why, when the Montague-Chelmsford report was out,he did not run into hysterics over it. He never called for its unquali- fied rejection. From the very beginning his criticism was strong but constructive and he refused to lend the weight of his support to that small party in the Congress which in July and August, 19 18, talked of a summary refusal of the 'little' Mont-ford gift. It was not, there- fore, likely, that Mr. Tilak would, in November 1919 reject those Reforms which nearly two years back he had decided to accept for a time. When he returned to India in November 1919 after advocating the Congress demands before the British Democracy, he had already matured in his mind a plan of operations, which he thought, would be the shortest cut to Home Rule.

When in England, Mr. Tilak had been deeply impres