Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/434

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

We owe unto him not merely the memorial of an oil-painting here or a bronze statue there. Unto him we owe that monument which has been stated to be the highest praise in the British Kingdom, the praise accorded to the name of Sir Christopher Wren in the answer, "Look around and behold his monument" — in this case, the monument of a regenerated nation that is to be reared generation after generation unto his memory. Describing the prerogatives ot successful statesmen, Gray has said:

"Th' applause of listening senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
And read their history in a nation's eyes.'

Owing to the unfavourable circumstances under which he had to labour, it might be said that Gopala Krishna Gokhaie could only command the applause of listening senates; and it could be said to his credit that he could despise the threats of pain and ruin; but, under his conditions, it was not given to him to scatter plenty over a