Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/199

Benares Incident precautions that were taken for the Viceroy's safety I showed that an assassin’s death was anything but honourable death and said that anarchism was opposed to our Shastras and had no room in India, I said then where there was an honourable death it would go down to history as men who died for their conviction. But when a bomb thrower died, secretly plotting all sorts of things, what could he gain? I then went on to state and deal the fallacy that, had not bomb throwers thrown bombs we should never have gained what we did with reference to the Partition movement. It was at about this stage that Mrs. Besant appealed to the chair to stop me. Personally, I will desire a publication of the whole of my speech whose trend was a sufficient warrant for showing that I could not possibly incite the students to deeds of violence. Indeed it was conceived in order to carry on a rigorous self-examination.

I began by saying that it was a humiliation for the audience and myself that I should have to speak in English. I said that English having been the medium of instruction it had done a tremendous injury to the country, and as I conceive I showed successfully that, had 81