An Ingenious Defence

SOME ingenious defenders of Lord Willingdon's action in ruling Mr. Tilak out at the point when he was going to reply to His Excellency's strictures have been pointing to Lord Willingdon's subsequent tolerance of similar remarks from Mr. Jinnah as a proof that if only Mr. Tilak had been patient he, too, could have made his protest. The point of the argument is that it was only on the first resolution that His Excellency would not allow controversial discussion: he would have allowed it on every other resolution, as he did allow it on the second resolution. The defence entirely ignores the probability that it was the departure of Mr. Tilak, Mr. Kelkar and others from the meeting that made Lord Willingdon wiser. The whole country is grateful to Mr. Jinnah for his manly protest, but it is only fair to say that the hearing which Mr. Jinnah obtained was due not merely, nor mainly, to his superior and more skillful way of speaking, but to the fact that Mr. Tilak and others had by their action clearly demonstrated to His Excellency that he had gone too far.