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that upon a matter equally fundamental, namely, the question of self-government for India. The Congress, however great an organi- zation, was after all a means to an end. That end was self-govern- ment. We decided to sacrifice the means for the end. That was the raison d'être of the Moderate or Liberal party as a separate entity in the public life of India.

This was the parting of the ways, Extremists and Moderates following their line of work, with something of the bitter remini- scences familiar to the members of a Hindu joint family broken up under the pressure of internecine strife. The Extremists were the loudest in their denunciations of the Moderates, who in this as in other matters did not forget the cardinal principle of their creed—moderation in all things. The Moderates were classed by their political opponents as allies of the bureaucracy, and bracketed with them in their denunciations; nor were their meetings safe from invasion. Noisy demonstrations and rowdyism were often the fea- tures of meetings called by them, to discuss public questions in which there were differences of opinion between them and the Extremists. At these demonstrations non-violent Non-Co-operation often developed into pugilistic encounters, in which the rattle of sticks harmonized musically with the shouts that were raised and the blows that were dealt. Never in the whole course of my public life, now extending over nearly half a century, have I in our public meetings witnessed scenes so disgraceful as those which have met my eyes in the course of the last four or five years. The words 'traitor' and 'shame' have become familiar terms in the vocabu- lary of the Swarajist wing of Non-Co-operation, which seeks to secure its triumph by soul-force. There was more of brute-force than soul-force in all these exhibitions; and what is most regrettable is that the young are dragged into these questionable proceedings with all their attendant demoralization. The ancient spirit of toler- ance that has been the heritage of our people has disappeared, and practices have been encouraged that are disastrous to the best interests of the youth of the province.

However that may be, let us not forget that Extremism is of recent origin in Bengal. Our fathers, the firstfruits of English edu- cation, were violently pro-British. They could see no flaw in the civilization or the culture of the West. They were charmed by its novelty and its strangeness. The enfranchisement of the individual, the substitution of the right of private judgment in place of tradi- tional authority, the exaltation of duty over custom, all came with