Page:The Modern Review (July-December 1925).pdf/111

Rh in the conduct of some causes celebres. It was owing to this emotionalism that he found Vaishnavism as it exists in Bengal so congenial to his soul. It was this temperament that enabled him when he was deeply stirred to work himself up to passionate utterance, thus succeeding in swaying listening multitudes to the mood of his choice. Not that he could not argue;—he could argue. But when reasoning and feeling went together, the combination proved irresistible.

He was a fiery and passionate lover of freedom and of his country. He loved India well, though not always wisely; which exposed his methods to criticism. This love was with him a consuming passion, and combined with his impetuosity to make him chafe at restraint and impatient for Swaraj as he understood it. Once that he had thrown himself into active politics he worked incessantly in spite of ill health and bodily suffering. It may be that this ceaseless toil and his impatient fretting proved too strong for a constitution whose vitality had never been conserved by attention to the laws of health.

There was perhaps another cause. He was, even some of his friends say, autocratic by nature. This led him to do more things himself—to attend more to details—than a leader need do personally. His followers were also to blame. For economising the energies and vitality of the leader and in the interests of the party, they ought to have asserted themselves and claimed and done their share of work and given him the much-needed rest.

A Part of the Gathering in Front Calcutta Corporation Building, to Have a Look of the Dead Body of Deshabandhu

Mr. C. R. Das was an able organiser and a good hand at getting up demonstrations. He was firm and resolute. He possessed the courage to face and take the consequences of his words and deeds. He never shirked responsibility. His friends have borne public testimony to his loving and lovable nature.