Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/547

 tion out of regard for my health, they have fully under- stood the necessity of refraining from it on the higher ground. The leaders in the movement have also fully understood the necessity for self-restraint, These experiences of mine fill me with the greatest hope for the future. I never had any apprehensions of the danger our friends feared and the various meetings I have described confirm my optimism but I would venture further to state that every precaution that is humanly possible is being and will be taken to avert any such danger. It is for that reason that our Pledge commits the signatories to a breach of those laws that may be selected for the purpose by a Committee of Satyagrahis, and I am glad that our Sind friends have understood their Pledge and obeyed the prohibition of the Hyderabad Commissioner of Police to hold their inoffensive proces- sion, for it is no part of the present movement to break all the laws of the land the breach of which is not inconsistent with the Pledge. A Satyagrahi is nothing if not instinctively law-abiding, and it is his law-abiding nature which exacts from him implicit obedience to the highest law that is the voice of conscience which over-rides all other laws. His civil disobedience eveno* certain laws is only seeming disobedience. Every law gives the subject an option either to obey the primary sanction or the secondary, and I venture to suggest that the Satyagrahi by inviting the secondary sanction obeys the law. He does not act like the ordinary offender who not only commits a breach of the laws of the land whether good or bad but wishes to avoid the consequences of that breach. It will seem, therefore, that every thing that prudence may dictate has been done to avoid any untoward results. Some friends have said : " We under-

�� �