Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/121



[The following is an extract from a letter of the London correspondent of the Anirita Bazar Patrika, summarising an address delivered by Mr. Gandhi before the members of the Emerson Club and of the Hampstead Branch of the Peace and Arbitration Society whilst in London]:—

Mr. Gandhi turned to India, and spoke with enthusiasm of Rama, the victim of the machinations of a woman choosing fourteen years' exile rather than surrender; other Orientals were mentioned, and then, through the Doukhabors of to-day, he brought the thoughts of the audience to the soul resistance of Indians versus brute force in South Africa. He insisted that it was completely a mistake to believe that Indians were incapable of lengthened resistance for a principle; in their fearlessness of suffering they were second to none in the world. Passive resistance had been called a weapon of the weak, but Mr. Gandhi maintained that it required courage