upon his detractors to " admit their mistake and make at the earliest possible moment ' the amende honorable.' " No wonder that Mrs. Beasant thought this to be a most opportune moment for bringing together the much-abused Moderates and the much-persecuted Extremists. If Sir Edward Carson could suspend his opposition to the Liberal Ministry and shake hands with Mr. Asquith, could not Mr. Gokhale and Mr. Tilak " forget, forgive and unite " in the larger interests of of the country ?
The negotiations for the Congress Compromise resulted in a temporary failure and form one of the saddest chapters in the history of Maharashtra. As fates would have it, the two great Servants of India — Tilak and Gokhale — were pitted against each other in a bitter controversy, the younger had denounced the elder patriot, and, before the curtain fell on the controversy, was himself no more (19th February 1915) ; Gokhale, who began life as a reverent follower of Tilak " stabbed him in the dark " and then vanished into eternity ! Oh, the irony of human life !
There was a humorous side, too, to this great tragedy ! okhale, on the point of death and Sir Pherozeshah not far removed from it, afraid to take Mr. Tilak in the Congress, because, once in, he would capture it !! " Boycott of the Government " considered to be the unpardonable sin of Mr. Tilak ! ! The introduction of a Home Rule Bill in ParUament, through Mr. Tilak's influence with the Labour leaders and the concentration of all the agitation on that one point regarded as the approach of deluge ! ! And all this, only six years before the Congress of 1920
