246 EARLIER INDIAN SPEECHES
me, as a father would for his child, a programme that I was to follow in India if I ever happened to see the motherland again, and in connection there- with there was one thing he said : " We lack in India character ; we want religious zeal in the political field." Shall we then follow the spirit of. the master with the same thoroughness and the same religious zeal, so that we can safely teach a child poli- tics ? One of his missions in life, 1 think, was to incul- cate the lesson that whatever we do, we should do with thoroughness. This it is not possible for us mortals to imitate in any degree of perfection. Whatever he did, he did with a religious zeal ; that was the secret of his success. He did not wear his religion on his sleeves ; he lived it. Whatever he touched, he purified ; where- ver he went, he recreated an atmosphere around him which was fragrantj When he came to South Africa he electrified the people there not only by his magnifi- cent eloquence but by the sincerity of his character and by the religious devotion with which he worked. What was that devotion ? Ailing though he was, he was awake the whole night practically when we was to have seen General Smuts ; he did so in order to prepare the case for his countrymen with a thoroughness that surprised the Leader of the Boer Government. What was the result ? The result was that he got the promise from the South African Govern- ment that the 3 tax would be gone in a few years, and the 3 tax is no more. (Cheers.) It is no more there to grind down so many thousands of our countrymen. Mr. Gokhale is dead, but it is possible for you and for me to make his spirit live in us and through us. (Hear, hear). We are about to pass resolutions which would
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