affirmative and the Moderates were delighted at having out-witted the Extremists; for it was clear that none would like to contest the honour of the Congress Presidentship with Dadabhai Nooroji.
But though the question of the Presidentship of the Congress was thus settled to the satisfaction of the Moderates, the larger question still remained. "Should the Policy of the Congress be changed?" (The Hon.) Mr. Khaparde, after full consultation with Mr. Tilak sent a Circular letter to leading Congressmen as early as July (1906) wherein he showed how a radical change had been necessitated in the programme of the Congress. The letter attracted considerable attention, specially in Anglo-Indian quarters. It was feared that the Congress would go out of the hands of the Moderates and so Anglo-Indian journals who had abused even Sir Henry Cotton and Mr. Gokhale as late as 1904 and 1905 respectively, in a sudden burst of overflowing love, appealed to these very Congressmen not to play into the hands of the Extremists. Some of the Moderates themselves were scared away by Mr. Khaparde's letters. Regarding the main point suggested by the letter, Mr. Tilak said:—[Kesari nth December 1906).
"We are sometimes told not to be dis-heartened. If the Moderates think that we are easily disappointed and lack grim determination, they are entirely mistaken. We have lost faith, not in the ultimate result, but in the dilatory activities of the Congress. To us, the holding of the Congress for three days in the year, the tepid work of the British Congress Committee and the occasional sending of a deputation to England-—seems quite an insufficient work. • Not that we
