MAHATMA GANDHI

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 4, 30 October 1931, Page 7

MAHATMA GANDHI

London is as keen as was ancient Athens at seeking to hear or see some new thing, and the little monkey figure of Mahatma Gandhi, with his loin cloth, cloak of coarse cotton and sandalled feet, seems to have impressed the public imagination. His claims to represent the dumb, semistarved millions of India, who have accepted him as their champion, but whose demand to be treated as human beings is being tacitly denied by the noisy Nationalists of the National Congress, who are yet shrewd enough to make use of Gandhi and his great influence over his countrymen to further their own ambitious ends. Gandhi is a challenging figure to Britain, not only as a powerful political force, but in that he has deliberately and successfully put into practice the Christian principle of non-resistance to evil which orthodox Christianity has always held to be ideal but impracticable. “After eleven years of trial,” says Gandhi, “we have come to the conclusion that if the dumb millions are to attain their freedom it can only be by the truth and nonviolence in their'efforts.” It was by these means that Christianity conquered the old Roman empire, only to be captured by its spirit in its turn. It would be curious if Christendom should be converted to belief in the practicability of one of its own chief doctrines by a “heathen” agitator.