The _Interpreter_ is however more to the point in asking, "Does Mr.
Gandhi hold without hesitation or reserve that British rule in India is
altogether an evil and that the people of India are to be taught so to
regard it? He must hold it to be so evil that the wrongs it does
outweigh the benefit it confers, for only so is non-co-operation to be
justified at the bar of conscience or of Christ." My answer is
emphatically in the affirmative. So long as I believed that the sum
total of the energy of the British Empire was good, I clung to it
despite what I used to regard as temporary aberrations. I am not sorry
for having done so. But having my eyes opened, it would be sin for me to
associate myself with the Empire unless it purges itself of its evil
character. I write this with sorrow and I should be pleased if I
discovered that I was in error and that my present attitude was a
reaction. The continuous financial drain, the emasculation of the Punjab
and the betrayal of the Muslim sentiment constitute, in my humble
opinion, a threefold robbery of India. 'The blessings of _pax
Britanica_' I reckon, therefore, to be a curse. We would have at least
remained like the other nations brave men and women, instead of feeling
as we do so utterly helpless, if we had no British Rule imposing on us
an armed peace. 'The blessing' of roads and railways is a return no
self-respecting nation would accept for its degradation. 'The blessing'
of education is proving one of the greatest obstacles in our progress
towards freedom.