Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/166

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the modest caution of the past." It is best to give Mr. Tilak's position in his own words. Speaking at the Congress session of 1916 on the resolution relating to Self-Government, he says

"It is the resolution of Self-Government. It is that for which we have been fighting, for which the Congress has been fighting for the last thirty years. The first note of it was heard ten years ago on the banks of the Hughli and it was sounded by the Grand Old Man of India, that Parsi Patriot of Bombay, Dadabhai Nowroji. Since the note was sounded, differences of opinion arose. Some said that the note ought to be carried on, and ought to be followed by a detailed scheme at once, that it should be taken up and made to resound all over India as soon as possible. There was another party amongst us that said that it could not be done so soon and the tune of that note required to be a little lowered. That was the cause of the dissension ten years ago and I am glad to say that I have lived these ten years to see that we are going to put our voices and shoulders together to push on this scheme of Self-Government."

Another quotation from his evidence before