Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/302

 good cause by an appeal to the higher nature in man. Sir Subramaniem did not of course discuss step by step; but talking to them when there was little to hope for from the authorities he concluded that it was his duty to avail himself of their instrumentality to send a message through them of India's loyalty to the British Crown, of its readiness to furnish even a million men for the War, and of its demand to be allowed to control its home affairs as every people ought to be allowed according to the admissions of the United British Nation and all its allies. He said that the Bureaucracy would not listen to such a demand, and the sympathy of the American people would go a great way in obtaining a more responsive attitude from their kinsmen and allies across the Atlantic. He dictated the letter and wanted to make it an open, responsible official communication to the President, so that the President might officially consider it as representing a great nation in alliance with England and with every good cause. The letter might have been cast in a different way; it might have been worded differently in some places or throughout; but in the fact of appealing for sympathy there is no ; betrayal of our obligations to the British Crown,