Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/312

 commits an offence let him be punished. Not for the aspiration but for the offence." If he had said this, Lord Pentland as a Liberal and as a man of rank in politics, would have changed the tenor of his speech and the objective of his policy.

Lord Chelmsford has tripped, on the other hand not because he had no competent counsel by his side but because, unlike Lord Hardinge who treated Sir Syed Ali Imam as though he were his Home Member, Lord Chelmsford very evidently relegated Sir Sankaran Nair to writing minutes of Dissent. We shall illustrate by one notable incident. In the Cawnpore riot just some weeks before the War was to break out, Lord Hardinge and Sir Syed completely out-generalled a dangerous Moslem opposition. Not only, were the ignorant and inflammable elements quieted, but the deputation to England for the redress of a wrong had to return for want of a grievance. Even a boy can now realise how serious the situation would have been and how utterly awkward the position of the authorities if the Cawnpore trouble had been allowed to develop into a great communal sore when the War broke out. In Lord Chelmsford 's case, he does not lack,