Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/200

 extent even the system of internal administration. But it is absurd on that account to speak of my actions or my attitude as in any way hostile to his Majesty's Government. That has never been my wish or my object. I may state once for all that we are trying in India, as the Irish Home Rulers have been doing in Ireland, for a reform of the system of administration and not for the overthrow of the Government; and I have no hesitation in saying that the acts of violence which have been committed in the different parts of India are not only repugnant to me but have, in my opinion, retarded to a great extent the pace of our political progress. Whether looked at from an individual or from a public point of view, they deserve, as I have said before on several occasions, to be equally condemned." Mr. SyamjiKrishnaVarma used the term Home Rule at one time in his agitation. Earlier still referring to Lord Mayo's time Keene described the smallest measure of Local Self-Go vernment as Home Rule. Mrs. Besant and her followers have spread ideas of Home Rule more than anybody else to-day. But the clear grasp of the situation with reference to the parallelism of agitation in Ireland and India and the