Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/226

 disposal. His disquisitions on Section 153A, and his running commentary on the incriminating articles must be completely dropped. What has been attempted above is a bare outline of some of the principle points which he pressed in his favour. He finish- ed his address at about 12-30 p.m., on the eighth and last date of the trial (Wednesday, 22nd July 1908). The reply of the Advocate-General was severely satirical and extremely offensive. He himself seems to have been conscious that he had exceeded the bounds of decorum and in conclusion declared himself to be ready to stand by any rebuke, which His Lordship might offer to him. Some of the gems in his speech are worth recording : —


 * "You have been told, that you are guardians of the Press. Fiddlesticks ! You are guardians of the Penal Code and the Penal Code protects the Press."


 * "He (Mr. Tilak) has been trying his best to throw all the dust he could collect, even in the

monsoon weather, into j^our eyes on this point. It is not what he now says he meant, but what he meant when he wrote them (the articles) that matters He cannot be allowed ' to say now ' of course I wrote sedition and ' ^ meant affection.'


 * "Can you conceive anybody with the faintest knowledge of law putting forward such a sug-

gestion seriously, that he was entitled to write these articles in self-defence ? This is the right that Mr. Tilak put forward in his defence yesterday. I think the accused must have