Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/248



Between the celebration of Sir Subramanya Iyer's birthday on 2nd October 1917, at Adyar and the birth of his father in 1794, i.e., between the father, and the son of to-day a period of 123 years lies before us. It is a period that represents the practical growth of British Power from the stage of struggle for British ascendancy to the period of struggle of the people for Self-government under British paramountcy. The object of British Rule in India seems to have been undergoing accomplishment during all this time, as the result of numberless influences of every conceivable variety converging after all in what appears to be as natural a result as a plant bringing forth the expected fruit. In fact, if the immediate forbear of the subject of this sketch should appear to-day on the scene, although he might be astonished at a good many things, still, he will think nothing more natural than that power should return to the people themselves, the sovereignty of England being retained. Those were days when although the people felt the need for the consolidation of a strong, central power, to secure freedom