Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/184

This page has been validated.


REPLY TO NELLORE CONFERENCE

[Replying to a complimentary Resolution moved at the Madras Provincial Conference at Nellore, Mr. Gandhi said]:—

It was an accident that this Resolution followed on two Resolutions, one with reference to his revered master and the other with reference to the noble Viceroy to whom a fitting tribute had been paid by the President. He was there free to acknowledge the indebtedness of his countrymen in South Africa to the noble Viceroy. If his wife and he were worthy of anything that had been said on this platform and on many a platform, he had repeated, and he was there again to repeat, that they owed all to the inspiration they derived from Indian sources, for it was Mr. Gokhale, his love, and his message, that had been his guiding star, and would still remain his guiding star. He would appeal to them not to spoil him and his wife by taking away from the services they had to render by overpraising them. He would make this simple,

66