Appendix III.—Appreciations of Mr. Gandhi
formed, it had been a matter of great joy to him that so many students and others came forward willingly and offered their services. Men such as Colonel Kanta prasad and Mr. Turkhud and Mr. Parikh were none of them expected to do the service of hospital orderlies at Netley, but nevertheless they had cheerfully done it. Indians had shown themselves thereby capable of doing their duty, if they received the recognition of their rights and privilegs. The whole idea of the corps arose because he felt that there should be some outlet for the anxiety of the Indians to help in the crisis which had come upon the Empire. (Hear, hear). He had himself pleaded hard with Mr. Roberts that someplace should be found for him; but his health had not permitted and the doctors had been obdurate. He had not resigned from the corps. If in his own motherland he should be restored to strength, and hostilities were still continuing, he intended to come back, directly the summons reached him. (Cheers). As for his work in South Africa, they had been purely a matter of duty and carried no merit with it and his only aspiration on his return to his motherland was to do his duty as he found it day by day. He had been practically an exile for 25 years and his friend and master Mr. Gokhale had warned him not to speak of Indian questions, as India was a foreign land to him. (Laughter) But the India of his imagination was in India unrivalled in the world
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