The decisions arrived at by the Provincial Conference at Tinnelvelly have failed to please a certain class of people. They are in consequence engaged in that unenviable, but self-satisfying, task of abusing the leaders and attempting to discount the significance of the decisions on the ground, among others, that it was not possible for them for lack of time to carry enlightenment to the ignorant delegates. These very people, if only the delegates had followed their lead, would have labeled the delegates as the very pink of the country voicing forth its true opinion; but now that they preferred to form their opinions for themselves, they are deemed ignorant and the responsibility for the decisions of the Conference attributed to the immense depth of their ignorance. In our simple mind, it does not appear that you must dive so deep to find an explanation for the action that the Conference took in regard to all the important questions. The feelings of the country have been rudely shaken by the meagre measure of reforms; the Punjab scandal for which it sees few hopes of honest redress has lacerated its heart; on the Khilafat question, it feels it must, by action and not merely by words, support all the legitimate actions which their Muslim friends decide to take. The resolutions of the Conference on these subjects are simply the outward expression of these inner feelings of the country through its representative delegates.
