334 EARLIER INDIAN SPEECHES
customs which are not proved to be bad or harmful. Finally I venture to warn you and Mr. Irwin that you and he will ill-serve the cause both of you consider is in danger by reason of my presence in Champaran if you continue, as you have done, to base your strictures on unproved facts. I ask you to accept my assurance that I should deem myself unworthy of the friendship and confidence of hundreds of my English friends and associ- ates not all of them fellow-cranks if in similar circumstances I acted towards them differently from my own countrymen,
THE HINDU-MAHOMEDAN PROBLEM.
��The following is an extract from a Gujarati letter addressed by Mr. Gandhi, to a Mahomedan corres- pondent :
I never realise any distinction between a Hindu and a Mahomedan. To my mind, both are sons of Mother India. I know that Hindus are in a numerical majority, and that they are believed to be more advanced in know- ledge and education. Accordingly, they should be glad to give way so much the more to their Mahomedan brethren, As a man of truth, I honestly believe that Hindus should yield up to the Mahomedans what the latter desire, and that they should rejoice in so doing. We can expect unity only if such mutual large- hearted- ness is displayed. When the Hindus and Mahomedams act towards each other as blood-brothers, then alone can there be unity, then only can we hope for the dawn of India.
�� �
