Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/81

 M. K. GANDHI 55 midst of a gathering of Co-operators, N on-Co-operators, Hindus, Musa-ulmans, Parsis and _Christians, Mr, Gandhi made a thrilling statement, I am breaking my fast upon the strength of your assurances. I have not been unmindful of the affection with which innumer- able friends have surrounded me during these four days. I shall ever remain grateful to them. Being drawn by them I am plunging into this stormy ocean out of the heaven of peace in which I have been during these few days. I assure you that, in spite of the tales of misery that have been poured into my ears, [have enjoyed peace because of a hungry stomach. I know that I cannot enjoy it after breaking the fast I am too human not to be touched by the sorrows of others. and when I find no remedy for alleviating them, my human nature so agitates me that I pine to embrace death like a long-lost dear friend. There- fore I warn all the friends here that if real peace is not estab- lished in Bombay and if disturbances break out again and if as a result they find me driven to a still severer ordeal, they must not be surprised or troubled. If they have any doubt about peace having been established, if each community has still bitterness of feeling and suspicion and if we are all not prepared to forget and forgive past wrongs, I would much rather that they did not press me to break the fast. Such a restraint I would regard as a test of true friendship. And then Mr, Gandhi drove the moral home to the gathering as also to the eager and anxious public all over India, Warned by the disasters at Bombay and the Moplah rebellion which was still going on in Malabar, it was ex- pected that Mr. Gandhi would reconsider his position and stop short of the extreme steps in Non-Co operation. But that was not to be, The Congress had by this time become an organ for registering his decrees. And the Committee met frequently to devise methods in pursuance of Non—Co- operation. Thundering resolutions, alternating with hopes and warnings, came in quick succession. Province after Province vied with one another for the exciting novelty of civil disobedience. Though the author of the Civil Disobedience move- ment in India, Mr, Gandhi was always alive to its dangers, He therefore insisted that his conditions should be fulfilled in toto before any '1`aluka could embark on a campaign of