Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/387

 that he was, gave utterance to the right view m the mildest and most guarded language. If ever a leader delivered his message through storm and stress, thun- der and lightening, obloquy and persecutions, it was Mr. Tilak ; and delivered under such circumstances, it derived a meaning, it commanded a respect which otherwise mere abilities or learning would not have brought it. It is only the man who swims against the current and not the one who swims with it, who deserves praise ; and Mr. Tilak lived to gain this due.

In the earlier years of his career, Mr. Tilak's pubUc activities were regarded as merely destructive by those whose influence and methods he had challenged. Let us see what Mr. Tilak did during the fifteen years since he measured swords with Ranade and Telang. He car- ried the message of the Congress to the smallest and most distant hamlet in Maharashtra ; he spread broad-cast the teachings of Western liberalism, of Western democracy. He opened the eyes of the people to their terrible condition — stark poverty and utter bondage. He held before their eyes the vision of the great ideal, — Swaraj. He called upon them to work hard and sacri- fice their very best. He told them not to be deluded by the words of the so-called Reformers who never tired of calling them weak. He accustomed them to look back to the past and draw therefrom inspiration for the work of the present. He taught them to watch the administration of the day with vigilance. He trained them up in organised opposition. He showed them by personal example how to suffer for one's convictions and one's country. If all this be destructive work, Mr. Tilak loses nothingby being called a " destruc-