LOKAMANYA TILAK

But before I approach that question on this dear old beach of Madras, you will expect me—­you will want me—­to offer my tribute to the great departed, Lokamanya Tilak Maharaj (loud and prolonged cheers).  I would ask this great assembly to listen to me in silence.  I have come to make an appeal to your hearts and to your reason and I could not do so unless you were prepared to listen to whatever I have to say in absolute silence.  I wish to offer my tribute to the departed patriot and I think that I cannot do better than say that his death, as his life, has poured new vigour into the country.  If you were present as I was present at that great funeral procession, you would realise with me the meaning of my words.  Mr. Tilak lived for his country.  The inspiration of his life was freedom for his country which he called Swaraj the inspiration of his death-bed was also freedom for his country.  And it was that which gave him such marvellous hold upon his countrymen; it was that which commanded the adoration not of a few chosen Indians belonging to the upper strata of society but of millions of his countrymen.  His life was one long sustained piece of self-sacrifice.  He began that life of discipline and self-sacrifice in 1879 and he continued that life up to the end of his day, and that was the secret of his hold upon his country.  He not only knew what he wanted for his country but also how to live for his country and how to die for his country.  I hope then that whatever I say this evening to this vast mass of people, will bear fruit in that same sacrifice for which the life of Lokamanya Tilak Maharaj stands.  His life, if it teaches us anything whatsoever, teaches one supreme lesson:  that if we want to do anything whatsoever for our country we can do so not by speeches, however grand, eloquent and convincing they may be, but only by sacrifice at the back of every act if our life.  I have come to ask everyone of you whether you are ready and willing to give sufficiently for your country’s sake for country’s honour and for religion.  I have boundless faith in you, the citizens of Madras, and the people of this great presidency, a faith which I began to cultivate in the year 1983 when I first made acquaintance with the Tamil labourers in South Africa; and I hope that in these hours of our trial, this province will not be second to any other in India, and that it will lead in this spirit of self-sacrifice and will translate every word into action.

NEED FOR NON-CO-OPERATION