Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/289

 to for about 60 minutes, specially sent for to the giddy heights and from there to be entrained down the valleys to the hot and indignant plains below, to keep unruffled in the sight of an agitated public when the hour demanded a fearless sounding of the gong of public liberty. There are men who come by the esteem of the authorities only, men who possess the regard of the public alone, and a few who are esteemed by both Government and the people. To what class did the men of whom Lord Pentland took counsel belong? If he thought that they enjoyed the confidence of the public, it is time that he discloses their names so that he may say "here are the men who approved of my intentions, and if these intentions were wrong, the fault is not mine, but theirs." Public life in Madras would get purified if his Lordship would condescend to do so much reparation at last. First, influenced by a circular of the Government of India whose contents we do not know, secondly helped by a council all of whose members became officials when they became majors, and have grown, notwithstanding their perpetual infancy in politics, political advisers to the head of a province, and last of all encouraged by