Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/154

 ships that the prosecution for perjury had in the end completely failed. Successful or unsuccessful, the introduction of the criminal proceedings in this civil action (was) illegitimate.

"A further mischance in point of procedure must now be mentioned. As already stated, the testimony of the Plaintiff's witnesses is not contradicted orally, and is internally a consistent body of evidence. But various minutes and documents are the subject of minute analysis, observation and comment by the learned Judges with a view to rebutting it. Their Lordships think it right to observe that, in view of the serious nature of the verdict of the High Court, they have considered it within their province themselves to peruse the documents. Having done so, they are of the opinion that, taken together, they completely confirm the case made in the witness box and that there is no ground' for the conclusion that they either contradict the testimony or cast reasonable doubt upon it."

The part, the Government played during the course of this case, decidedly lowered the people's respect for them. It is certainly an unconscious tribute they paid to Mr. Tilak. During the last hundred years, India has produced a number of patriots whose distinguished abilities and remarkable services to the cause of India's freedom will forever lie recorded in our History. If, out of these many persons. Government singled out Mr. Tilak for their kind attentions, what does the fact show? It was not by mere accident that Mr. Tilak was thus persecuted for well nigh two decades. It was because the Government dreaded the personality and the prestige of this Poona Brahmin that they went out of their way