Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/803

 Whatever the result, the present excitement must be abated at any cost.

I have carefully read Mr. Kelkar's article in the " Mahraita " criticising the Bardoli resolutions. I acknowledge the gentle and considerate manner with which he has handled me. I wish I could persuade him and many who think like Mr. Kelkar that what he calls a somersault was an inevitable operation. Consistency is a desirable quality, but it becomes a ' hobgoblin when it refuses to see facts. I have known dispositions of armies changed from hour to hour. Once during the Zulu revolt we were all asleep. We had definite orders for the morrow. But suddenly at about midnight we were awakened and ordered to retire behind bags of grain which served as protecting walls because the enemy was reported to be creeping up the hill on which we had encamped. In another hour it was understood that it was a false alarm and we were permitted to retire to our tents. All the * somersaults ' were necessary 'changes. Remedies vary with the vari- ation in diagnosis. The same physician one day detects malaria and gives a large dose of quinine, detects typhoid the next and stops all medicine and orders care- ful nursing and fasting, later detects consumption and orders change and solid food. Is the physician caprici- ous or cautious and honest ?

Without being untruthful and indifferent if not stupid, 'I could not do what Mr. Kelkar suggests I should have done at the time of the Bombay Conference. It would have been untruthful to have yielded to the Moderate friends beyond what was conceded, as the Indian sky appeared to me to be clear blue and promised to remain so. My diagnosis may be blamed, but not my

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