Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches/Speech at the Nellore Conference
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, but humble, appeal. Let what he and his wife had done in South Africa be buried there. Their countrymen in South Africa would know what had been done. It was impossible for any one, much less for them, to trade on any reputation made in South Africa. He feared that by overpraising them, they might raise enormous expectations about him and his wife that they might in the end, he would not say it was hardly likely, meet with disappointment.