the War Conference at Delhi and make some inspiring' pronouncement. He did nothing of the kind. To the War Conference held under the Presidency of the Viceroy neither Mrs. Besant nor Mr. Tilakwas invited. The Self-Government resolution proposed by the Hon'ble Mr. Khaparde was ruled out of order. The Conference was all an ofBcial show and hence proved a complete failure. Nor was the mistake rectified at Bombay where Lord Willingdon inflicted on his audience a severe sermon on Home Rulers, whose bona fides he called into question. Mr. Tilak was called upon to speak but was not allowed to make a mention of Home Rule and had to stop. More significant than all these were the rumoured recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee which were intended as a set off against the proposals contain- ed in the Montford-Report. The notorious Rowlatt report, so disastrous to the cause of Indian Liberty, was equally damaging to Mr. Tilak, the course of whose action against Sir Valentine Chirol it was likely to in- fluence profoundly.
The Montford-Report was condemned by the majority of educated Indians. Mr. Tilak characterized it as a ' sunless dawn." Mrs. Besant held that the poUtical reforms indicated in the Report were unworthy of England to give and of India to take. The Hon'ble Mr. Patel showed how in certain details the report had made retrograde proposals. Mr. N. C. Kelkar pronounced the proposals as cruelly disappointing and
- almost a wicked attempt to let Indian leaders be stewed in their own juice." The Hon'ble Mr. B. Chakrabarty said that throughout the report, the fetish of peace, order and good Government was worshipped.
