the Government of India or the local Governments attempt to make our political existence or agitation, no matter how peaceful, an utter impossibility. May we not resist such attempt by every lawful means at our disposal. I cannot imagine anything more lawful or more natural than we should continue our volunteer organisation purging them of every tendency to become violent and continue also to hold public meetings taking the consequences of such a step. Is it not proof of the law abiding instinct of hundreds of young men and old men that they have meekly, without offering any defence and without complaining, accepted imprisonment for having dared to exercise their elementary rights in the face of Government persecution, and so it is the Government which is to prove its genuine desire for a Conference and an ultimate settlement. It is the Government which has to arrest the fatal course along which repression is taking it. It is the Government that is to prove to non-co-operators its bona fides before it can expect them to take part in any Conference. When they do that, it will find that there is an absolutely peaceful atmosphere. Non-co-operation when the Government is not resisting anything except violence is a most
