Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/660

 570 NON-CO-OPERATION

and Dyerism possible in the Punjab and has resulted in a wanton affront upon Islam, a faith professed by seven crores ot your countrymen. We consider it inconsistent with our self-respect any longer to brook the spirit of superiority and dominance which has systematically ignored and dis- regarded the sentiments of thirty crores of innocent people of India on many a vital matter. It is humiliating to w us. It cannot be a matter of pride to you that thirty crores of Indians should live day in and day 6ut in fear of their lives from one hundred thousand Englishmen and, therefore, be under subjection to them.

Your Royal Highness has come, not to end the system I described, but to sustain it by upholding its pres- tige. Your first pronouncement was a laudation of Lord Willingdon. I have the privilege of knowing htm, I believe him to be an honest, amiable gentleman, who will not willingly hurt even a fly, but he certainly failed as a ruler. He allowed himself to be guided by those whose interest it was to support their povyer. He is not reading the mind ot the Dravidian province. Here in Bengal you are issuing a certificate of merit to a Governor who is again from all I have heard an estimible gentleman, but he knows nothing of the heart of Bengal and its yearnings. Bengal is not Calcutta, Fort William and the palaces of Calcutta represent an indolent exploitation of the un- murmuring and highly, cultured peasantry of this fair province.

The Non-Co-operationists have come to the conclusion that they must not be deceived by the reforms that tinker with the problem of India's distress and humiliation, ndr must they be impatient and angry. We must not in our tmpatieat anger resort to stupid violence. We freely admit that we must take our due share of blame for the existing

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