Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/221

 which are rightly objected to by the prosecution the general effect could not naturally and probably be to cause disaffection."

Justice Shah said “undoubtedly there are some objectionable passages in these speeches. I am unable to say that the natural and probable effect of the speeches taken as a whole on the minds of those to whom they were addressed would be to bring into hatred or contempt, or to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in British India."

It certainly is not the mere personal triumph of Mr. Tilak that is achieved by these pronouncements but it is really the triumph in part of the cause of free speech for which Mr. Tilak has had to stand so much tribulation.

By the time the High Court of Judicature at Bombay quashed the judgment of the District Magistrate of Poona, cancelled the bonds into which Mr. Tilak had entered and set Mr. Tilak's tongue free to serve its master in bringing home to the Indian nation its own responsibility, the year 1916 had drawn almost to a close. It was on the 9th of November that the happy news of Mr. Tilak's triumph and the vindication of British Justice flashed