Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/546

 456 EARLIER INDIAN SPEECHES

completed, and to answer some criticism and- some doubts that have been offered by friends.

I have visited Tanjore, Trichnopoly, Madura, Tuti- conn and Negapatarn ; and taking the lowest estimate, the people addressed must have been not less than thirty thousand. Those who have a right to give us warnings, to express misgivings and who have just as great a love of the Motherland as we claim to have, have feared the danger that, however well-meaning we may be, and however anxious we may be to avoid violence, the people who may join the movement under an enthusias- tic impulse may not be able to exercise sufficient self- control and break out into violence, resulting in needless loss of life, and, w hat is more, injury tb the National cause. After embarking upon the movement, I began addressing meetings at Delhi. I passed then through Lucknow, Allahabad, Bombay, and thence to Madras. My experience of all these meetings shows that the advent of Satyagraha has already altered the spirit of those who attend the Stayagraha meetings. In Lucknow, upon an innocent remark by the chairman as to the Manifesto signed by some of the members of the Imperial Legislative Council disapproving of our movement, the audience cried out ' shame, shame !' I drew their attention to the fact that Satyagrahis and those who attended Satyagraha meetings should not use such expressions and that the speeches at our meetings ought not to be punctuated with either marks of disapproval or of approval. The audience immediately understood the spirit of my remarks and never afterwards made any demonstration of their opinion. In the towns of this Presidency as elsewhere, whilst it is true that the large crowds have refrained from any noisy demonstra-

�� �