Unity   An open letter to those who despair of their Country   To the sons of our mother Bharat who disclaim their sonhood, to the children of languor and selfishness, to the wooers of safety & ease, to the fathers of despair and death— greeting. To those who impugning the holiness of their Mother refuse to lift her out of danger lest they defile their own spotless hands, to those who call on her to purify herself before they will save her from the imminent & already descending sword of Death, — greeting. Lastly to those who love & perhaps have striven for her but having now grown themselves faint and hopeless bid others to despair and cease,— t

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, September 4th, 1906 } Partition and Petition   There seems to be a recrudescence of the old and decadent praying mood once again in certain quarters, and attempts, we understand, are being made to induce the leaders of public opinion in the mofussil to join the Calcutta clique for sending a fresh representation to the Secretary of State for India, for the revocation or modification of the Partition of Bengal. The recent reply of the British Prime Minister to a question put to him by Mr. O'Donnell seems to be partly responsible for this recrudescence, which, we understand however, is mainly due to wire-pulli

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, February 28th, 1907 }   Mr. Gokhale's Disloyalty   Dear Bande Mataram, You may reasonably ask me where I had been so long. My answer is that seeing the Extremists fare very well at the last Congress I thought I had some claim to a well-earned repose. When all India kindly took to my views and fought for them in the National Assembly I thought I could suspend my activity for a time. But with Mr. Gokhale stumping the country to recover the lost ground and the Bengalee taking the brief of the all-powerful executive I cannot be a silent spectator of the cold-blooded deposition of Demos.

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, May 22nd, 1907 }   The Government Plan of Campaign   The bureaucracy is developing its campaign against Swadeshism with great rapidity and a really admirable energy and decision. Barisal was naturally the first district to be declared, and now we learn that Dacca, Mymensingh, Faridpur, Pabna, Rungpur and Tipperah, the Habiganj sub-division of the district of Sylhet and the Sudharam Thana in the district of Noakhali have also been proclaimed. Others, no doubt, will follow. All these districts have been selected for the prominence they have taken in the Swadeshi movement. It is significant also that in Bakarganj

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, November 18th, 1907 }   By the Way   In Praise of Honest John   Mr. John Morley is a very great man, a very remarkable and exceptional man. I have been reading his Arbroath speech again and my admiration for him has risen to such a boiling point that I am at last obliged to let it bubble over into the columns of the Bande Mataram . Mr. Morley rises above the ordinary ruck of mortals in three very important respects; first, he is a literary man; secondly, he is a philosopher; thirdly, he is a politician. This would not matter much if he kept his literature, politics and philosophy apart in fairly water-tight co

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, November 5th, 1907 }   Mr. Tilak and the Presidentship While writing of the Nagpur imbroglio we have touched very lightly on the question of Mr. Tilak's Presidentship, the dispute over which was the beginning and real cause of the discord at Nagpur. We regard this issue as one of immense importance and shall today try to make clear our position in the matter and the reasons why we attach such a supreme importance to it. The Bombay Moderates with their usual skill in the use of their one strong weapon, misrepresentation, have been writing and speaking as if the question of Mr. Tilak's election to the President's chair were a pers

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, March 4th, 1908 }   A Great Opportunity   The release of Srijut Bipin Chandra Pal will take place in a few days and the bureaucracy is undoubtedly looking with anxiety to see what kind of reception the people give to this great leader and propagandist after his six months' incarceration for conscience' sake. They will do their best to prevent by a surreptitious release any expression of public feeling either at the jail doors or at the station, but it does not matter whether or not we welcome him at the precise moment and place of his release, so long as the heart of the people goes out unmistakably in some mig

United Congress   Bipin Chandra Pal moved a five-point resolution setting forth the lines under which the Congress may be revived. The resolution was seconded by Sj. Chittaranjan Das, after which two other men spoke. Sj. Aurobindo Ghose rose up last. He admitted having a hand in drafting the resolution but denied the charge of inconsistency on the ground that this new movement, as it is divinely decreed, cannot proceed on the basis of strict consistency of individual conduct from any individual standpoint. The breaking up of the Congress at Surat was God's will and if it can meet again on a basis of union that would also come from His will. If, again, all our

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, September 13th, 1906 } Strange Speculations   The Statesman, not content with lecturing the Bengali leaders, opens its news columns to curious speculations about the President of the next Congress. It is apparently not quite satisfied with Mr. Naoroji,— a natural sentiment, since, whatever the moderates profess, Mr. Naoroji is not one of them, though he may not go the whole way with the advanced school. Accordingly, the name of Nawab Sayyed Mohammed is thrust forward,— because he is a Mahomedan. The idea that the election of a Mahomedan President will conciliate the anti-Congress Mahomedans, is a futility which has

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, August 7th, 1907 }   Our Rulers and Boycott   It is often paradoxically urged that every step or policy which does not conduce to good feeling between the rulers and the ruled, the exploiters and the exploited, should be eschewed as both immoral and impolitical. And because Boycott certainly is not intended as a soothing potion for the rulers, there are some men of an unctuous humanity who look on it with alarm and distrust. We should love our country, they say, but should not allow that love to generate hatred against other nationalities; we should prefer our own manufactures and try to improve and extend the