Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/313

 according to the opinion of the country, a Sir Syed Ali Imam; but Sir Sankaran Nair lacks, and the whole country has lacked a Lord Hardinge. Nearer home, however, Lord Pentland has been absolutely sinned against. Since Sir Harold Stuart's departure an avalanche of advice has decended upon him and left him nowhere, and the worst of it was the Indian Member had long got out of touch with the growing mind of his own countrymen. The one man who could have helped him failed in his grasp and patriotism alike. Mrs. Besant outwitted them all. And when a wrong blow was wrongly aimed, after a wrong speech far too wide of the mark, and when in spite of clearest proof that the Government had taken a false step, instead of gracefully retracing their steps all of them shewed they were in a mood to look for fictitous support from here and there, then indeed we must know to what extent they were prepared to go and how gloriously patriotic has been Sir Subramaniem's service to the Motherland. There are some who believe that but for the safety which old age guarantees, Sir Subramaniya Iyer might not have been as regardless of consequence as he has been,