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February

"Chi. Devdas,

I was expecting your letter today, but there was none. I did not feel less sorry at our parting, but I saw that both your own interest and your duty lay in your leaving me for your work. I therefore suppressed my personal grief, which could only be due to my infatuation for you, and insisted on your departure. When your work in Madras is over I will satisfy your aspiration for literary studies. But you should realize and remember the fact that very few others have gained as rich and fruitful experiences as you from the kind of life you have led. One should remain a student all one's life. If you make this view the guiding principle of your life, you will never feel yourself too old for learning anything. Write to me regularly and do your evening prayers punctually without a break."

A long letter from Mr. Ghate about the Ali Brothers who are not yet released.

Reply :

"I have your valuable letter. I have telegraphed to you saying that I had already written to the Home Member inquiring about the Government's decision. I passed that information on to Mr. Shuaib sometime ago and thought that in due course it would filter down to you and to our friends. At the time Mr. Desai was not by me and I restricted my correspondence as much as possible. At the time I wrote to Mr. Shuaib I said also that in the event of an unfavourable reply the fight must commence. I was then under the belief that my health would in a way permit of my undertaking that activity. Unfortunately it has become like a pendulum swinging to and fro and just at the present moment there is again a set-back and the doctors tell me that I dare not take any exertion for three months. I am however trying to speed recovery and I still hope that by the time I receive the reply from Delhi I shall be ready for work.

Your letter gives me a greater insight into the Rowlatt Bills. I detest them entirely and for me the Reforms will be useless if the measures are passed. I am carefully watching the progress of events in the country and I feel sure that the Brothers need not as yet take any steps about them. It is heart-rending, these domestic losses they have suffered. There is hardly a family left in India that has not lost some dear ones. One's feelings almost become blunt when the same news comes from everywhere with merciless regularity."

Meeting of the principal Ashramites. Bapu's stern rebuke :

"There is discontent brewing in the Ashram on all matters. Why? Dissatisfaction at Maganlal's words and acts; at his partiality towards some inmates; outsiders, i.e. students who come from the city, have little respect for the Ashram school. What must I do in this context ?

I have to put before you some very strict maxims to go by. I have not called the women inmates here, but they too are tired of the Ashram and are tempted to think of leaving it. I have already told them, "You can never gain from anywhere else what you have gained here". You, too, are free to continue to stay if you can assimilate the hard lessons of the Ashram life. You must therefore think deeply before you decide whether to stay or leave. Despite your dissatisfaction why are you clinging to the Ashram, though many of you are not helpless ? Because of your love or infatuation for me.

So the first maxim that can be deducted from the above is this

It is blind infatuation if one is so fascinated by the personality

of a man as to refuse to give due consideration to the man's actions. I did come across persons with such blind infatuation in South Africa also. I had told them, "Phoenix is my creation. If it appears worthless to you, I, too, am equally so." If a man has no faith in my activities, it really means he has no faith in me. I claim to have a correct perception of the worth of a man, but at present I cannot prove my claim. If you have no faith in the activities of the Ashram or are dissatisfied with its working you can go away. Those who have come with the single purpose of dedicating themselves to the Ashram without any expectation of return can, of course, continue their stay; or those others may remain who have come to show Gandhi his folly or his errors. But I don't see among you man of the second type. All of you have come with an idea of getting and giving something. The Ashram will be estimated from the worth of all of us, and we cannot form a judgment about anybody's worth without taking his acts into consideration.

Phoenix is my biggest achievement in South Africa. But for it there would have been no Satyagraha there. If this Ashram ceases to exist, there is no possibility of a Satyagraha in India. It may be that I have committed a blunder in starting this Ashram. If it is really so, I ought to be shunned by all. I am going to proclaim to the whole country that it should judge me from this creation of mine, the Ashram, and not either from Kaira or Champaran (fights). If you find disorganisation, par-tialily etc. in the Ashram, you will find the same defects in all my acts. I am the first among the Ashramites and the Ashram will continue to function so long I myself act upon its ideals. If I am unable to keep with me a single individual here, I will dive into my inner self to watch its working and try to offer the purest type of self-sacrifice I am capable of. Do not be dazzled by my other achievements. You must estimate my worth from that of the Ashram only. Maganlal is one of the creations in the Ashram. If I have detected fifty lakhs of vices in Magalal I have also found a hundred lakhs of virtues in him. Polak is a mere child before Maganlal. Polak has not suffered from half the wounds which Maganlal has bravely borne. Maganlal has sacrificed his previous occupation for coming over here. And he did it not for my sake personally but from the altruistic motive of leading a life of service. Do not imagine that Maganlal is a yes-man dancing to my piping. He has tied himself to the Ashram ideal and that is why he sticks. He had once made full preparations to bid me a good-bye.

I shall not, therefore, be able to continue the Ashram after dismissing Maganlal. If I drive him out, things would come to a pass when I would be the one inmate left in the Ashram. The activities I have to begin unavoidably require Maganlal's presence here. I have not seen any man who surpasses him in fitness. I know he is subject to anger and other imperfections, but taken all in all he is an excellent man. His honesty is beyond doubt. You must take it for a truth as indubitable as a Geometrical theorem that to the extent that Maganlal is faulty, I too am faulty.

If a quarrel arises with my brother or my parents, I will not tom-tom it and let others know of it. In the same way we must not carry to an outsider our complaint against an inmate of the institution in which we live. When a man begins to suspect the bonafides of another person or to hate him, he should cut off his connection with that man. When he thus leaves his associates one after another, he will find himself alone and unfriended in the world and then he will either commit suicide or come to his senses, and rectify his own perversions. Not only should you not speak out to an outsider your grudge against the institution in which you live, but you should not allow even your own mind to entertain it. The moment such a feeling enters the mind, you should kick it off. If you think of me as your guide and elder, you must bear in mind what I say and behave in a brotherly spirit with all Ashramites. During my presence here, you may take the liberty to do as you please, but after I go out, you must gather up your ranks and conduct yourselves in an exemplary manner. If there is want of unity among you during my absence, the fact betrays a defect in me and you must give me up.

I want to drive out this sense of dissatisfaction at the working of the Ashram in order to afford mental peace to Maganlal, or better still, in order to serve the country, because I have sacrificed Maganlal at the alter of national service.

There are two courses open for the disgruntled. Either they should themselves leave the Ashram or they should successfully persuade me into asking Maganlal to quit the Ashram. But I am not going to drive him out, so long as I am not convinced that he is sowing bitterness and hatred in the Ashram. The world has no other basis upon which to judge a man except his acts. A man is as good or as bad as the institution he creates. My close friend, Mr. Kitchen1, had made this same accusation, but no body stands comparison with Maganlal in the well-organised and efficient work he has put in."

Dictated a letter to Devdas :

"I have your letters. Without careful deliberation we must _____________________ 1. One of Gandhiji's colleagues in South Africa. Bapu says, "Herbert Kitchen was a high-souled Englishman and an electrician by profession. He worked with us during the Boer War," He was for some time editor of "The Indian Opinion " also.

never give any promise to anybody; we may thereby be saved from the sin of bad faith. Harilal used to write a very niggling hand, but he made conscious efforts and improved his handwriting. So now three brothers write neatly, but you are going from bad to worse. With very great difficulty Mahadev could decipher the Hindi letter you wrote on behalf of the Swamiji, and I found it impossible to go through it. While a good hand is a feather on a man's cap, a bad hand is no small defect. We thereby inflict a tedium and trouble on our elders and friends and even harm our activity. You know that I cannot decipher a cramp handwriting. I therefore earnestly request you to improve your hieroglyph.

I am keeping well. I take daily four pounds of milk in all, but in four instalments. We have kept two goats for the milk. For seven days I took nothing but that milk, but our 'Ice Doctor1 recommended today seven raisins with each feed. I cannot move about still, but the 'Ice doctor' believes that I will be able to do so in a few days. I propose to give him a third name 'Dudhabhai' ('Dudh is Gujarati for milk. So 'Dudhabhai' can be translated as Mr. Milk,) because he is at present mad after milk treatment. He thinks that milk is the best possible food. So I told him, "You at least must live upon milk all your life". He is taking milk-diet at least at present. Let us see if he continues it in future.

I hope to be able to visit you by the end of March.

A meeting of the Satyagrahi warriors is going to be held on Monday in the Satyagrahashram. The final decision will be then made after a due consideration of the weapons and the stock of ammunition each one possesses. If you have read Shamalbhatt's (a mediaeval Gujarati poet) description of the War Conference which Ravana had held before his engagement with Rama's forces, Mahadevbhai will not need to write you an account of Monday's meeting. ______________________ 1. Dr.Kelkar, a naturopath and an ardent advocate of ice treatment. The Ashramites, therefore, called him 'Ice doctor' which was thus his second name.

Manu has been regularly stealing fat from everybody except myself, and looks like a prize water-melon grown up in the Ashram. If anybody wants to install Shree Ganapati1, Manu can as well as fill in His place, if only a trunk is brought from some-where and attached to her nose. With increasing luster she has become everybody's doll. Rasik2 quite often exhibits his 'rasikata' by the rather free use of his cane-stick. Kanti is getting to be orderly and quiet. Rami's health continues to be indifferent. Ba's time is all spent away in bringing up the children. I see that she sometimes feels tired and jaded. So she gets into a surly, irritated mood occasionally and just as, if a potter gets angry he twists a she-donkey's ear, his wife I suppose, must be letting off her steam by outbursts against the master of the asses.

After this indulgence in a light mood, I must, as an offset, give you some serious matter to think over.

"It is my firm belief that every Indian ought to know well his mother tongue and Hindi-Urdu, which is without doubt the only common medium of expression between lakhs of Indian belonging to different provinces. There can be no self-expression without this necessary equipment."

This is the translation of the passage you have sent. For your motto you may have the following written in Tamil : Karaka Kasadara Karpavai3. Below it Swamiji will give you the Hindi for our Gujarati proverb 'tipe tipe sarovar bharay' (Little drops of water fill up a big lake), and below that in English : "Constant dropping wears away stones'. The Tamil proverb is given on the first page of Pope's book. Find out the Telugu equivalent for it and put in that also. _________________ 1. "Son of Shiva and Parvati. He is the God of wisdom and remover of obstacles; hence He is evoked and worshipped at the commencement of every important undertaking. He is usually represented in a sitting posture, short and fat, with a protuberant belly, and four hands, riding a mouse, with the head of an elephant." Apte's Dictionary. 2. "A man of (or appreciator of) good taste, elegance, beauty or grace" etc. Rasikata means the quality of being of good taste etc. 3. "Karka Kasadara Karpavai= What you learn, learn faultlessly (and then act up to it)", ?Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Vol. - XV p.99.

If, before giving your Primer to the press, you send it here for suggestions, Kaka (Kaka Kalelkar) and others will go through it and offer them. And if you send a proof-copy before it is finally printed, it will be possible to suggest an artistic get-up of the motto, etc. You may not send it, if you think it necessary to publish it the earliest you can.

Surendra's comments about the school here were the same as about the one there. The first impressions of a kindly unsophisticated person are often extremely favourable and it is but natural that they should be so. Miss Moltin1 has called Phoenix a heaven on earth but I am sure that if she had stayed there a little longer, her views would have undergone at least some change.

Enough for the day now." Then he wrote in his own hand : "Even the following can do for a nursery rhyme : "Rasiklal Harilal Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Bakaree bandhi Bakri dova diye nahi Gandhi rota riye nahi."

(Rasiklal Harilal Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, kept a she-goat at home; the goat does not let him have its milk and Gandhi does not stop from crying.)"

by Rasik, the great poet. Blessings, Bapu"

Letter to Harilal in the same genial mood :

"To the Satyagrahis' Firm2 which deserves the best and happiest similes ('Shubhopamalayak', and ancient Gujarati expression of address to begin a letter). Just as I was beginning this letter, I had to make my room a court of justice. The accused was Rasik, the complainant an innocent dog. Through its howls it had loudly complained that somebody had thrashed it. My ________________ 1. A White supporter of Gandhiji in South Africa. 2. Harilalbhai and his colleagues who had gone to jail in South Africa were nicknamed by Gandhiji, 'The Satyagrahis' Firm', by way of an appreciative joke.

inquiry revealed that Rasik seemed to be the culprit. The accused confessed the crime, and on further questioning, his previous offences also. I was reminded of Lord Shree Krishna and Shishupal. The Lord had forgiven a hundred misdeeds of Shishupal. The judge (myself) therefore took pity upon the accused Rasik, and pardoned all his five crimes, but he was warned that he would not be allowed to go scot-free, if he committed the same offence again and that he would then be given a personal experience of the pain which a dog feels when he is stoned.

As I am writing this, Kantilal is holding the inkpot. He and Ramibehn are reading the letter and it is being written and trying to improve upon it ! The accused also is crouching behind one of the legs of the four-poster. Little Manu was giving out her shrieks of laughter at intervals, but now she is crying in order to be lifted on to my bed. The scene reminds me of the childhood days of Jadibehn, yourself and the others.

Though I have to be confined to bed, you will see from the tone of this letter that I may be said to be doing well.

The air here is thick with talks of the impending Satyagraha, but Mahadevbhai will give you the full picture?or I myself may, if I can, write that much.

Blessings, Bapu"

Invitation to Bapu from Diwan Bahadur Vijayaraghavachariar1 to visit Madras for the Satyagraha campaign. An excellent letter; copied below :

"Private

• Dear Sir,

Our mutual friend the Hon. Mr. Patel agreed to introduce me to you in January last and I hope he has not forgotten to oblige me. Now that under God's (grace ?) you have quite recovered your health, the country most naturally looks up to you for guiding instructions at this crisis in our march towards freedom. Most unexpected events have complicated the political ______________ 1. A Congress leader of Tamilnad and afterwards president of the Indian National Congress held at Nagpur in 1920.

situation. The one all-absorbing question is what we should do for the double purpose of getting rid of the legislation (Rowlatt Bills) based on the report of the Sedition Committee and of permanently and fruitfully mobilising our ideas and ideals in the matter of the political Reform. In its unexpected helplessness the country is every where thinking of passive resistance and thinkers and leaders are called upon to accept the necessity to devise ways and means for carrying on the sacred campaign. Most of us here are intensely anxious to consult you before we could think of making up our minds. Could you think of visiting Southern India for a few days as early as possible and help us with your advice? Certainly I could go to you but all things considered we believe that it would be intensely useful if you could personally visit a few important centers this side than entrust your view to a single individual like myself. We are in distress and despair even. The unexpected activities in quarters, deemed to be the strength of nationalism and suspected to be (the center of) disguised disloyal extremism, have greatly contributed and are contributing to our distress and depression. But it is our sacred duty to act courageously and to prayerfully use every means in our power sanctified by God to surmount these unholy and wicked obstacles. Pray do think of helping us at this vital moment.

I shall be glad of a reply directed to my permanent address. With the kindest regards,

I am, Yours sincerely, G. V. Vijayaraghavachariar"

Bapu's reply :

"I appreciate your letter and it makes me feel like running to Madras immediately. I have been thinking of going there for a long time. The delicate state of my health has come in the way, as it still does. But unless the campaign starts immediately or unless I am obliged to go to Lucknow regarding the Brothers Ali, I would certainly take the earliest opportunity of visiting Madras. I do feel that unless the Bills are radically altered in the Select Committee, resistance of a most stubborn character ought to be offered. I detest the Bills not so much for their deadliness as for being the surest symptoms of a deep-seated disease from which the Government of India must be free, if we are to enjoy a real measure of freedom under the Reforms, I hope to write to you again very soon. We are having here a conference of the Gujaratis tomorrow to consider the question of Satyagraha. Passive resistance poorly expresses the meaning conveyed by Satyagraha."

There was a letter from Miss Schlesin for the grant of a loan to her of £.150/- . Bapu had cabled Parsi Rustomji to give the amount to her. According to her nature, Miss Schlesin felt irritated at Bapu's procedure of sending her the money through Rustomji and wrote an angry letter but admitted, *"Your business-like promptness is however for once commendable."

Reply to her :

"It was so good of you to give me credit, if only for once, for being business-like. My own opinion for myself is that I am the most business-like man upon earth and so long as no one can disillusion me I shall continue to derive pleasure from the belief and to have a stray certificate from you only adds to the pleasure. I knew I would wound your vanity, self-esteem, glorious womanliness, whatever you like to call it, by making a friend my carrier instead of a Bank, for the very simple purpose of lending you money. Had I taken your very impractical advice it would have taken me much longer to send you the money because you must know that I am living in India where we do things in a fairly leisurely manner befitting the climate and the surroundings. Here Bankers are not servant of their clients, but their masters except when the clients happen to belong to the ruling race and probably it would have cost you £.15 to send you £.150. You, with your poetical instinct, set no value of money, whereas I, a simple prosaic business-like man, realize that it requires £.150 to finish the education of some one. Therefore if I spend away £. 15 I waste one-tenth of that sum if I can avoid having to spend it. Q.E.D.

You shall certainly treat what you have received as a loan. I believe I have already told Mr. Rustomji as such, but I cannot swear as I cannot keep copies of my correspondence as a rule. And I shall accept repayment whenever you choose to send it, with compound interest if you like, provided that you do not borrow to pay me.

You will infer from what has preceded that my health is better. I am still bed-ridden. My heart is supposed to be weak and I may not undertake any great exertion. But the feel is all right and I am cheerful.

Devibehn1 writes to me regularly and tells me that you rarely visit her? This is not how people treat their goddesses.2 Or have women the privilege of acting differently ?

Yes, Harilal has been sorely stricken. Chanchi (Mrs. Harilal) was far superior to him. I did not specially write to you as I felt my cable to Ramdas in reply to his was enough for all. At the time moreover I was too ill to think of writing to anybody. All Harilal's children are here and are playing about me while I am dictating this letter.

Passive Resistance is on the tapis regarding certain legislation that the Government of India are passing through the Council. The war council meets tomorrow at the Ashram. You may depend upon it that it won't be a bad copy of similar councils in which you were both an actor (or actress ?) and a fairly in-telligent spectatress. You won't therefore need from me a description of the council meeting.

I am surprised at your remark about the Ashram's (here) prohibiting the entry of women. We have so many women here in the Ashram. We are educating them all, including three ________________ 1. Sister of Mr. West who was working in 'The Indian Opinion'. 2. Miss Schlesin, who has been already introduced in the early part of the book as Gandhiji's typist in South Africa at first but a valued co-worker afterwards, was more or less a suffragette.

girls. The latter ones no doubt are our own girls, but that is not our limitation. It is due to the disinclination of the people to send their girls under the conditions that we impose. It will delight your heart to see the transformation that the women undergo here after a few days' stay. The purdah and all other unnatural restraints fall away as if by magic. I know you will hug most of them when you come here. Only you will have to revive your knowledge of Gujarati.

Imam Saheb 1 is living here and naturally also his daughters and his wife."

A War Conference to consider the ways and means of offering Satyagraha against the Rowlatt Bills2 was held at the Ashram last night. About 20 persons from outside also attended. Among them were Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, Messrs. Horniman, Oomer Sobani, Shankarlal Banker, Vallabhbhai Patel and Indulal Yag- nik. A long discussion took place. Bapu warned them all very seriously of the grave dangers to which they would expose themselves if they offered Satyagraha. But all of them were prepared and eager to offer it, come what might. The following pledge which every Satyagrahi was required to sign was therefore drafted :

The Satyagraha Pledge.

Being conscientiously of opinion that the Bills known as the Indian Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill No. I of 1919 and the Criminal Law (Emergency Powers) Bill No. II of 1919 are unjust, subversive of the principle of liberty and justice, and destructive of the elementary rights of individuals on which the safety of the community as a whole and the State itself is based, we solemnly affirm that, in the event of these Bills becoming law and until they are withdrawn, we shall refuse civilly to obey _____________________ 1. A Muslim divine who came from South Africa with Bapu to stay in the Ashram. 2. A summary of the text of the Bills with Gandhiji's Comments thereon is given in Appendix III.

these laws and such other laws as a Committee to be hereafter appointed may think fit and we further affirm that in this struggle we will faithfully follow truth and refrain from violence to life, person or property.

Dictated letters about the impending Satyagraha. To Andrews : *"My dear Charlie,

I have telegraphed to you today. I could not write the letter that I contemplated doing when I sent my first wire. I have been passing through perfect agony, doctors telling me that I should not undertake any exertion, the Voice within me telling me that I must speak out on the Rowlatt Bills and the Viceregal pro-nouncement. Conflicting views pressed themselves on me and I did not know what to do. Many friends have looked to me for guidance. How could I desert them ?

We met yesterday at the Ashram. It was a good meeting. The desire was to take the plunge even if we were only a few. The last word rested with me. I felt that the cause was true. Was I to forsake them ? I could not do so and remain true to myself. You know the result. The papers herewith will give you fuller information. God only knows how I felt the need of your presence whilst the soul was in travail. I am now quite at peace with myself. The telegram to the Viceroy eased me considerably. He has the warning. He can stop what bids fair to become a mighty conflagration. If it comes, and if the Satyagrahis remain true to their pledge, it can but purify the atmosphere and bring in real Swaraj.

Have you noticed an unconscious betrayal of the true nature of modern civilization in Mr. Wilson's speech explaining the League of Nations' Covenant ? You will remember his saying that if the moral pressure to be exerted against a recalcitrant party failed, the members of the League would not hesitate to use the last remedy, viz., brute force.

The pledge is a sufficient answer to the doctrine of force.

But this does not close the chapter.

I have received a long cablegram from Mr. Aswat.1 The situation for the Indians in the (S. African) Union is very serious indeed. The lesson of the last struggle is practically lost upon them. If we here can render no help, Indians in the Union will be reduced to an absolutely servile state. If they through their weakness cannot offer Satyagraha we must all call upon the Government to redress the grievance and to offer Satyagraha if they proclaim their helplessness. You can't have hostile interests in the same partnership. I have written to the Government and I am sending a Press letter today.

There is still a third chapter. The Committee that was appointed to advise the Government upon the case of the Brothers Ali reported two months ago. I have read the papers. There is nothing in the charge to warrant their detention. If they are still not released, this would be a third case for Satyagraha for me. I am bearing the burden lightly enough because the last two have caused no struggle with my conscience. If the main struggle starts, I may tack on to it the last two and thus complete the trinity.

I shall eagerly await your telegraphic opinion and then a detailed written opinion to follow. You will not wonder when I tell you that the women at the Ashram have all voluntarily signed the pledge."

Another to Natarajan 2 :

• "I send you copies of the Satyagraha pledge and the wire sent

by me to the Viceroy. I know you regard the Bills with the horror that I do. But you may not agree with me as to the remedy to be applied. I hope, however, that you will not summarily dismiss the pledge from your mind. If you do not provide the rising generation with an effective remedy against the excesses of authority you will let loose the powers of vengeance and the doctrines of the little Bengal cult of violence will spread ________________ 1. A Co-worker of Gandhiji in South Africa. 2. Editor, "The Indian Social Reformer" and Liberal leader.

with a rapidity which all will deplore. Repression answers only so long as you can overawe people. But even cowards have been known to exhibit extraordinary courage under equally extraordinary stress. In offering the remedy of self-suffering, which is one meaning of Satyagraha, I follow the spirit of our civilization and present the young patriot with a remedy of which he need never despair.

The papers are to be treated as confidential. After the receipt of a reply from the Viceroy I may be able to authorize publication. The wire to the Viceroy is not to be published at all. I have supplied you with a copy because I entertain much regard for our opinion. Will you please share this letter with Sir Narayan ?1

You will presently see my letter to the Press on the South African situation. Perhaps there will be an agreement between you and me that if the Government proclaim their helplessness, we must offer Satyagraha and prevent the impending ruin of the countrymen in South Africa."

Quite a similar letter to Sir Stanley Read 2 :

• "It is not without some hesitation that I am sending the

enclosed papers to you. But I feel that the right course for me to adopt is not to withhold them from you. Probably you will totally disagree with me as to my opinion of the Bills as also the method proposed to be adopted for securing redress. I will not argue about the matter because I can carry the argument no further than I have done in my telegram to the Viceroy.

All the papers are confidential.

I shall value your frank opinion in the matter."

And to Sir Dinshaw3 also :

"You must have seen the Satyagraha Pledge as well as my telegram to the Viceroy, copies of both of which I had asked _________________ 1. Sir Narayan Chandavarkar, also a Liberal. 2. Editor of "The Times of India". 3. Sir Dinshaw Wachha. One of the most aged leaders, an ex-President of the Congress and a Liberal.

Mr. Shankarlal Banker to supply you yesterday. How can I even think of requesting you to join the fight? But I do pray for your blessings. I am not going to do anything in a hurry. The pledge will be published only after the receipt of the Viceroy's reply. I think that (mere) petitions and appeals to the Government will no longer satisfy the rising generation. They must be given some concrete programme of effective action. I for one am convinced that Satyagraha is the only means to successfully stop the youth from accepting the cult of the bomb. It is from that point of view that I can legitimately request you to lend your moral support to the proposed Satyagraha movement.

How can I sufficiently thank you for the concern you have always shown for my health? I am now better, though my heart is still weak. Perhaps this fight itself will act as a tonic and restore my health as it were in a spurt."

The following covering letter was sent to the Press along with the Satyagraha Pledge :

"Sir,

I enclose herewith the Satyagraha Pledge regarding the Rowlatt Bills. The step taken is probably the most momentous in the history of India. I give my assurance that it has not been taken hastily. Personally I have passed many a sleepless night over it. I have weighed carefully the consequences of the act. I have endeavoured duly to appreciate Government's position. But I have been unable to find any justification for these extraordinary Bills. I have read the Rowlatt Committee's Report. I have gone through its narrative with admiration but its reading has driven me to conclusions just the opposite of the Committee's. I should conclude from the Report that secret violence is confined to isolated and very small parts of India, and to a microscopic body of people. The existence of such men is truly a danger to society. But the passing of the Bills, designed to affect the whole of India and its people, arms the Government with powers out of all proportion to the situation sought to be dealt with and is a greater danger. Besides the Committee utterly ignores the historical fact that the millions of India are by nature the gentlest people on earth.

Now look at the setting of the Bills. Their introduction is accompanied by certain assurances given by the Viceroy regarding the Civil Service and the British commercial interests. Many of us are filled with the greatest misgivings about the Viceregal utterance. I frankly confess I do not understand its full scope and intention. If it means that the Civil Service and the British commercial interests are to be held superior to those of India and its political and commercial requirements, no Indian can accept the doctrine. It can but end in a fratricidal struggle within the Empire. Reforms may or may not come. The need of the moment is a proper and just understanding upon this vital issue. No thinking with it will produce real satisfaction. Let the great Civil Service Corporation understand that it can remain in India only as its trustee and servant, not in name but in deed, and let the British commercial houses understand that they can remain in India only to supplement her requirements and not to destroy indigenous art, trade and manufacture, and you have these two measures to replace the Rowlatt Bills. They, I promise, will successfully deal with any conspiracy against the State.

Sir George Lowndes simply added fuel to the fire when he flouted public opinion. He has read Indian history but seems to have forgotten it or he would have known that the Government he represents has before now surrendered its own considered views to the force of public opinion.

It will now be easy to see why I consider the Bills to be an unmistakable symptom of a deep-seated disease in the governing body. It needs, therefore, to be drastically treated. Subterranean violence will be the remedy which will be applied by impetuous hot-headed youths who will have grown impatient of the spirit underlying the Bills and the circumstances attending their introduction. The Bills must intensify the hatred and ill-will against the State of which deeds of violence are undoubtedly an evidence. The Indian covenanters by their determination to undergo every form of suffering make an irresistible appeal for justice to the Government towards which they bear no ill-will and provide, to the believers in the efficacy of violence as a means of securing redress of grievances, with an infallible remedy and withal a remedy that blesses those who use it and those against whom it is used. If the covenanters know the use of this remedy, I fear no il from it. It is not for me to doubt their ability. They must ascertain whether the disease is sufficiently great to justify the strong remedy, and whether all milder ones have been tried. They have convinced themselves that the disease is serious enough and the milder measures have utterly failed. The rest lies in the lap of God.

I am, Yours, M. K. Gandhi"

Gandhiji issued the following instructions to the volunteers who were taking signatures to the Satyagraha Pledge :

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

Volunteers shall read and explain the Satyagraha Pledge to every intending signatory before taking his signature to the vow. The Pledge is in three parts. The first lays down the objects of the Pledge. It declares that the signatories are of opinion that the Rowlatt Bills are "unjust, subversive of the principle of liberty and justice and destructive of the elementary rights of individuals". In order to be able to make this statement one must fully understand the Rowlatt Bills; hence it is the duty of the volunteers to explain the Bills clearly to the intending signatory. (The volunteers therefore must themselves carefully read the clarification of the Bills which has been issued by the Satyagraha Sabha.)

The vow forms the second part of the Pledge. Here the signatory solemnly affirms that he will refuse civilly to disobey certain laws. Volunteers must explain to the signatory the full significance of the word "civilly". For instance, to break moral laws is not civil disobedience, nor is it civil disobedience to be discourteous to officials with whom one may have to deal, while disobeying laws. On the other hand the possession and distribution to the public of literature proscribed by the Government and which one sincerely believes to be harmless, would be civil disobedience. Volunteers must explain to the would-be signatory with the help of several such illustrations the full significance of the Pledge.

Volunteers must explain to every intending signatory that he must be prepared to bear every kind of suffering and to sacrifice, if necessary, both his person and property. He should also be made to understand that he must be prepared to carry on the struggle single-headed even if left alone. The volunteer must accept the signature only after satisfying himself that the signa- tory is prepared to take all these risks.

The third part of the pledge declares that the Satyagrahi will during the struggle fearlessly adhere to truth and ahimsa. For instance he must not misrepresent anything or hurt anybody's feelings. Volunteers must urge upon people (the) necessity of fully realizing the grave responsibility of adhering to truth and ahimsa before signing the Pledge. Volunteers must not speak of things they do not understand and must not hold out false hopes to anybody. If they find themselves unable to explain anything, they must consult the Committee or refer the would-be signatory to it. Ahimsa includes advesha (absence of malice). Volunteers, therefore, must never, even unwittingly, report to unfair criticism of the opponents of the movement. If in performing their duties they are obstructed by the police or others, they must not lose their temper, but most courteously explain to those opposing them their (volunteers') duty and their determination under any circumstances to perform the same.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

1. Every volunteer taking signatures has to remember that a single intelligent recruit to Satyagraha is worth a hundred signatories who have not realized their responsibility. Volunteers must therefore never aim at merely increasing the number of the signatories.

2. The volunteer shall have to carefully read and understand the summary of the Rawlatt Bills and must explain the same to such would-be signatories as have not read the Bills or the summary.

3. In explaining the Pledge the volunteer must lay due emphasis upon the fact that the real strength, the true test of the Satyagrahi lies in his capacity to bear pain and must warn the signatory that report to Satyagraha may lead to loss of personal liberty and property and ask him to sign the Pledge only if he is prepared for these sacrifices. If the volunteer is then convinced that the would-be signatory has made up his mind he will take his signature.

4. Volunteers must not accept the signatures of persons under 18 and of students. And even in the case of those over 18 he must make sure that the signatory has decided after careful consideration. Volunteers must not induce those persons to sign the pledge upon whose earnings their families are solely dependent for their maintenance.

5. After taking the signature, the volunteer must himself take down the designation and full address of the signatory in neat and legible handwriting. If the signature is not legible the volunteer should copy it down neatly. He must note the date on which the signature is taken.

6. The volunteer must attest every signature himself.