Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/272

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by "caste feelings" and when the parties on one side happened to be his personal friends and followers, he loftily stood aloof from the contest which went to a court of law, against all pressure from the former as a procedure that could find no response in him. To anything in the nature of personal unpopularity with an intimate circle of friends, or a larger public he has willingly submitted himself instead of proving false to his own personal opinions. He could not be one kind of individual in dealing with the authorities, another in dealing with the public and a third with a circle of personal admirers. He cared for no kind of stage effect, and could give no kind of implied or explicit undertaking pre-judicial to his convictions. Such a man in the profession of law is bound to rise to a level of his own and secure the respect of the Bench. He was appointed to act as Government Pleader in 1888 and there also while he made a great reputation for efficiency and trustworthiness, he kept himself clear of the least suspicion of improving his chances by entertaining any kind of executive bias, or by adopting a course of refined sycophancy, or any kind of conduct unworthy of public disclosure. In those early