Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/162

M. K. Gandhi whatever may be developed in us by this sacred land of ours to the service of the Motherland. It is no wonder that we have come to Madras. As my friend, Mr. Natesan, will perhaps tell you, we have been long overdue, and we seem to have neglected Madras. But we have done nothing of the kind. We knew that we had a corner in your hearts and we knew that you will not misjudge us if we did not hasten to Madras before going to other Presidencies and other towns. It was in 1896 that I found in Mr. Gokhale my Rajya Guru, and it was here that I found that deep abiding sense of religion which has carried me through all trials. I appeared in 1896 before you as a stranger pleading a forlorn cause, and then discovered that Madras, this Presidency, had that instinctive power to distinguish between a right cause and a wrong cause which marks the religious, and it was here that you appreciated in its fullest measure the gravity of the situation that I was then endeavouring to place before my countrymen throughout India. (Hear, hear). And the impressions that I took with me to South Africa in 1896 have been more than amply verified throughout my experience 46