INDIAN HOME RULE
fulfilment of our object. To treat the Congress as an institution inimical to our growth as a Nation would disable us from using that body.
CHAPTER II.
The Partition of Bengal
Reader: Considering the matter as you put it, it seems proper to say that the foundation of Home Rule was laid by the Congress. But you will admit that it cannot be considered a real awakening. When and how did the real awakening take place?
Editor: The seed is never seen. It works underneath the ground, is itself destroyed, and the tree which rises above the ground is alone seen. Such is the case with the Congress. Yet, what you call the real awakening took place after the Partition of Bengal. For this we have to be thankful to Lord Curzon. At the time of the Partition, the people of Bengal reasoned with Lord Curzon, but, in the pride of power, he disregarded all their prayers — he took it for granted that Indians could only prattle, that they could never take any effective steps. He used in-
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