Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/275

 he was in being so considerate as to be regarded as almost meek, in unblemished judicialjrectitude, and unapproachable judicial independence, in the scrupulous disregard of all extraneous considerations that would deflect him from the course of justice undefiled, he was like an upright flame that bore evidence from Earth to Heaven. The Executive found in him a model of personal respect, but found that as a judge they had to be content to stand at a distance from him, since as they approached him, they lacked the atmosphere that was necessary for taking one's breath. When they were face to face with him in his capacity as a judge, they found they were in a vacuum where they could hardly breathe, and were glad to be away from the place. His incessant care and concern on the Bench was not to be over-reached by legal ingenuity on the one hand or to be biassed unconsciously by taking even a cursory cognizance of the susceptibilities of the Executive on the other. When the experiment of having an Indian as a judge of the High Court was first embarked upon in 1877, long after Bengal and Bombay had obtained the privilege, as the result of the courageous