cost of their
humanity. General Dyer has been haltingly blamed, and his evil genius
Sir Michael O'Dwyer entirely exonerated because Englishmen do not want
to leave this country of fields even if everyone of us has to be killed.
If we go mad again as we did at Amritsar, let there be no mistake that a
blacker Jallianwala will be enacted.

Shall we copy Dyerism and O'Dwyerism even whilst we are condemning it?
Let not our rock be violence and devilry. Our rock must be non-violence
and godliness. Let us, workers, be clear as to what we are about.
_Swaraj depends upon our ability to control all the forces of violence
on our side._ Therefore there is no Swaraj within one year, if there is
violence on the part of the people.

We must then refrain from sitting _dhurna_, we must refrain from crying
'shame, shame' to anybody, we must not use any coercion to persuade our
people to adopt our way. We must guarantee to them the same freedom we
claim for ourselves. We must not tamper with the masses. It is dangerous
to make political use of factory labourers or the peasantry--not that we
are not entitled to do so, but we are not ready for it. We have
neglected their political (as distinguished from literary) education all
these long years. We have not got enough honest, intelligent, reliable,
and brave workers to enable us to act upon these countrymen of ours.

IX. MAHATMA GANDHI'S STATEMENT

[The following is the Statement of Mahatma Gandhi made before the Court
during his Trial in Ahmedabad on the 18th March 1921.]

Before reading his written statement Mahatma Gandhi spoke a few words as
introductory remarks to the whole statement. He said: Before I read this
statement, I would like to state that I entirely endorse the learned
Advocate-General's remarks in connection with my humble self. I think
that he was entirely fair to me in all the statements that he has made,
because it is very true and I have no desire whatsoever to conceal from
this Court the fact that to preach disaffection towards the existing
system of Government has become almost a passion with me. And the
learned Advocate-General is also entirely in the right when he says that
my preaching of disaffection did not commence with my connection with
"Young India" but that it commenced much earlier and in the statement
that I am about to read it will be my painful duty to admit before this
Court that it commenced much earlier than the period stated by the
Advoca