APPBEOIATIONB 47 the attempts of the Press to justify our Government’s action ; and hitherto apart from the mass and abuse which all reliable evidence of the Mahatma’s character and actions shows to be irrelevant, have found nothing which could not have been written with equal accuracy by an apologas; for Caiphas or Pilate. And the result has given us a shriek the more unpleasant because here, also, it is not the particular wickedness or failure of any one individual, but the unchristian quality of the whole system that is revealed. We do not believe that any special persons are individually to blame, it is simply that our accepted outlook and standards have come into conflict with a singularly pure and sincere idealist. We have judged him, and, in doing so, have condemned ourselves. THE NATION (NEW YORK) Consider the man. In the space of a few years he has done more for his people than any government in centuries. He has been the bearer of new hope and human dignity to the untouch- ables; he has been the weaver of bonds of unity between the `Moslems and Hindus whom the British would keep asunder ; he has fought the liquor traiiic which was debasing his people, and the nnfamousopxum monopoly by which, for its own profit, the British Government menaces not only India but all mankind. He has given to revolution non·violent instruments which promise the release of humanity from the seeming necessity of wars for freedom. He has sincerely preached love for the enemy. Not he, but Lord Reading by his refusal to abandon repression prevented the proposed Round Table Conference which might have turthered the peaceful settlement of grievances. Even on the vexed question ol the Cabinet, we believe that Gandhi’s voice might have been potent in persuading his Moslem friends to grant to non-Moslem communities thejustice they seek for themselves. And it is this hope which the British Government has almost shattered- apparently with the consent of those British liberals who would approve the deportation or imprisonment of Gandhi while they prattle his saintliness. Yet that hope is not dead while Gandhi’s spirit is powerful nn India. How long his people will lol- low the way he pointed out we do not know; already there are eigns of revolt. But this we know. If the Indian people, like the oppressed oi other lands, finally take the way ot the sword, the pri- mary blams for the tragedy that will follow must rest not on those who have preached freedom and justice or even on those who seek them by violence but on these who have made violence the very foundation of their continuing dominion over unwilling subjects.
