Dear Friend,
I wish that every Englishman will see this appeal and give thoughtful
attention to it.
Let me introduce myself to you. In my humble opinion no Indian has
co-operated with the British Government more than I have for an unbroken
period of twenty-nine years of public life in the face of circumstances
that might well have turned any other man into a rebel. I ask you to
believe me when I tell you that my co-operation was not based on the
fear of the punishments provided by your laws or any other selfish
motives. It was free and voluntary co-operation based on the belief that
the sum total of the activity of the British Government was for the
benefit of India. I put my life in peril four times for the sake of the
Empire,--at the time of the Boer war when I was in charge of the
Ambulance corps whose work was mentioned in General Buller's dispatches,
at the time of the Zulu revolt in Natal when I was in charge of a
similar corps at the time of the commencement of the late war when I
raised an Ambulance corps and as a result of the strenuous training had
a severe attack of pleurisy, and lastly, in fulfilment of my promise to
Lord Chelmsford at the War Conference in Delhi. I threw myself in such
an active recruiting campaign in Kuira District involving long and
trying marches that I had an attack of dysentry which proved almost
fatal. I did all this in the full belief that acts such as mine must
gain for my country an equal status in the Empire. So late as last
December I pleaded hard for a trustful co-operation, I fully believed
that Mr. Lloyd George would redeem his promise to the Mussalmans and
that the revelations of the official atrocities in the Punjab would
secure full reparation for the Punjabis. But the treachery of Mr. Lloyd
George and its appreciation by you, and the condonation of the Punjab
atrocities have completely shattered my faith in the good intentions of
the Government and the nation which is supporting it.
But though, my faith in your good intentions is gone, I recognise your
bravery and I know that what you will not yield to justice and reason,
you will gladly yield to bravery.
_See what this Empire means to India_
Exploitation of India's resources for the benefit of Great Britain.
An ever-increasing military expenditure, and a civil service the most
expensive in the world.
Extravagant working of every department in utter disregard of India's
poverty.
Disarmament and consequent emasculation of a whole nation lest an armed
nation might imperil the lives of a handful of you in our midst.
Traffic in intoxicating liquors and drugs for the purposes of
sustaining a top heavy administration.
Progressively representative legislation in order to suppress an
evergrowing agitation seeking to give expression to a nation's agony.