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

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, July 22nd, 1907 }   The Korean Crisis   The chorus of jubilation with which the English Press receives news of any danger to the last shred of independence of any ancient people is characteristic. The Koreans cannot see their way to acquiesce in Japanese rule, ergo, they are arch-intriguers. Europe in her present temper seems to be the most uncompromising enemy of the liberty of all peoples except her own. The disturbances that have followed the deputation to the Hague, the meeting of the Korean troops, and the active participation of the populace in the same, seem to have filled Europe with a grim gratification at the prospect

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, May 3rd, 1907 }   Extremism in the Bengalee   The Bengalee, excited by the news of a second outrage on the Hindu religion at Ambariya in Mymensingh, came out yesterday with a frankly extremist issue. We only wish that we could look on this as anything more than a fit of passing excitement; but the Bengalee is hot today and cold tomorrow. Nevertheless, what it says is true, and it is well and pointedly expressed:— "Fifty years ago, such a revolting outrage, committed upon the religious susceptibilities of Hindus, would have resulted in grave complications and the Government would have left no stone unturned