Page:MKGandhi patriot.djvu/152

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IN SOUTH AFRICA
137

uprising. It need not look forward to the necessity of maintaining an army to keep the natives in awe. Its future will be much brighter than its past has been.

These are arguments which the Indian leader uses whenever the great question is discussed. "Passive Resistance," he says, "has come to stay; well, thank God for that—it is the herald of peace."

Those who ponder these things think that they can see, with the Indian Dreamer, a brighter day dawning across the veld. Why should not the sword be turned into the ploughshare, and the spear into the pruning-hook? Why should not men learn war no more? And who can tell but that this long-drawn Indian agony may be the beginning of that experience of profound peace?

In view of the unrest at present so apparent in India, I invited him to send a message through these pages to the young men of his native land. His reply in writing lies before me:—

"I am not sure that I have any right to send a message to those with whom I have never come into personal contact, but it has been desired and I consent. These, then, are my thoughts:

The struggle in the Transvaal is not without its