Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/630

 540 NON-CO-OPERATION

have fallen to the lot of mm. I have gone through this Hinduism, I have learnt the lesson that non-co-operation is the duty not merely of the saint but it is the duty of every ordinary citizen, who not knowing much, not caring to know much, but wants to perform his ordinary household functions. The people of Europe teach even their masses, the poor people, the doctrine of the sword. But the Rishis of India, those who have held the traditions of India, have preached to the masses of India the doctrine, not of the sword, not of violence but of suffering, of self -suffering. And unless you and I are prepared to go through this pri- mary lesson, we are not ready even to offer the sword and that is the lesson my brother Shaukat Ali has imbibed to teach and that is why he to-day accepts my advice tendered to him in all prayerfulness and in all humility and says 'long live non-co-operation.' Please remember that even in England the little children were withdrawn from the schools ; and colleges in Cambridge and Oxford were closed. Lawyers had left tneir desks and were fighting in the trenches. I do not present to you the trenches but I do ask you to go through the sa crifice that the men, women and the brave lads of England went through. Remember that you are offering battle to a na- tion which is saturated with the spirit of sacrifice when- ever the occasion arises. Remember that the little band of Boers offered stubborn resistance to a mighty nation. But their lawyers had left their desks. Their mothers had .with- drawn their children from the schools and colleges and the children had become the volunteers of the nation. I have seen them with these naked eyes ot mine. I am asking .my countrymen in India to follow no other gospel than the gospel of self sacrifice which precedes every

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