Page:Indian Home Rule by Mohandas K. Gandhi.djvu/53

Rh : Good travels at a snail’s pace—it can, therefore, have little to do with the railways. Those who want to do good are not selfish, they are not in a hurry, they know that to impregnate people with good requires a long time. But evil has wings. To build a house takes time. Its destruction takes none. So the railways can become a distributing agency for the evil one only. It may be a debatable matter whether railways spread famines, but it is beyond dispute that they propagate evil.

Be that as it may, all the disadvantages of railways are more than counter-balanced by the fact that it is due to them that we see in India the new spirit of nationalism.


 * I hold this to be a mistake. The English have taught us that we were not one nation before, and that it will require centuries before we become one nation. This is without foundation. We were one nation before they came to India. One thought inspired us. Our mode of life was the same. It was because, we were one nation that they were able to establish one kingdom. Subsequently they divided us.


 * This requires an explanation.


 * I do not wish to suggest that because we were one nation we had no differences, but it is submitted that our leading men travelled throughout India, either on foot or in bullock-carts. They