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 Lala Lajpat Rai in the “Tribune”

THE LESSON OF BOMBAY.

My last visit to Bombay has been the cause both of pleasure and pain to me. The unfortunate occurrences of the 17th and subsequent days, with the consequent rowdyism resulting in loss of life and property has given me the deepest pain. It is not merely for the actual damage caused at the moment that I deplore these disturbances, but for the far-reaching effects that they are bound to have on the successful carrying out of the non-co-operation movement. There is always an element of danger in rousing an inert mass of humanity, but we non-co-operators have been fully conscious of the risks we ran and have been endeavouring all this time, not merely to breathe life into the nation but also to keep a perfect control over the re-animated being. This control we lost for the moment in Bombay on the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th of November. If the disturbances had continued longer or if the end to them had come only through Government agency, I believe it would have been difficult for me to get over my fit of