Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/268



With the reputation he had created for himself both as a lawyer and public man, it was not to be expected that Mr. Subramaniya Aiyar would continue to stay in the mofussil, although it was such an important place as Madura. He transferred his "headquarters" to Madras in 1885 and found he had enough to do in addition to his professional work as a member of the Legislative Council, of the Senate of the University, of the Mahajana Sabha, and as one of the foremost leaders in all public movements. His work in the High Court on behalf of his clients was more in the nature of assistance rendered to the judges of the High Court in the administration of justice than in the nature of desperate, hard pleading, ingenious hair-splitting, or throwing legal dust in the eyes of the judges. Those who are competent to judge of him as an advocate have been struck with the moral fervour of his advocacy, which was not assumed for the nonce, but was so distinctly, a kind of second