Councils Act wore
off and the sense of unfulfilled aspiration sharpened the appetite for
more. In fact, during these years, Indian nationalism was steadily
broadening its base. In one sense this made for stability, for the
nationalist movement ceased to be a small minority of extremists and
came more under the influence of moderate leaders like Mr. Gokhale, who
were content to work for distant goals by evolutionary methods. It did,
however, mean an increasing pressure on the government for fresh
devolutions of authority. The most noteworthy symptom of nationalist
growth was the rallying of a certain section of Mohammedan opinion to
the nationalist cause. The Mohammedans had by this time formed their own
organization, the "All-India Moslem League." The league was the reverse
of nationalist in complexion, having been formed primarily to protect
Moslem interests against possible Hindu ascendancy. Nevertheless, as
time passed, some Mohammedans, reassured by the friendly attitude and
promises of the Hindu moderates, abandoned the league's anti-Hindu
attitude and joined the moderate nationalists, though refraining from
seditious agitation. Indeed, the nationalists presently split into two
distinct groups, moderates and extremists. The extremists, condemned by
their fellows, kept up a desultory campaign of violence, largely
directed by exiled leaders who from the shelter of foreign countries
incited their followers at home to seditious agitation and violent
action.

Such was the situation in India on the outbreak of the Great War; a
situation by no means free from difficulty, yet far less troubled than
it had been a few years before. Of course, the war produced an increase
of unrest and a certain amount of terrorism. Yet India, as a whole,
remained quiet. Throughout the war India contributed men and money
unstintedly to the imperial cause, and Indian troops figured notably on
European, Asiatic, and African battlefields.

However, though the war-years passed without any serious outbreak of
revolutionary violence, it must not be thought that the far more
widespread movement for increasing self-government had been either
quenched or stilled. On the contrary, the war gave this movement fresh
impetus. Louder and louder swelled the cry for not merely good
government but government acceptable to Indian patriots because
responsible to them. The very fact that India had proved her loyalty to
the Empire and had given generously of he