enjoying with some of them. I knew that I ran the risk of being misunderstood. I could not prevent my fast from affecting my decision. Their knowledge moreover put a responsibility on me which I was ill able to bear. From now I disabled myself from gain- ing concessions for the men which ordinarily in a strug- gle such as this I would be entirely justified in securing. I knew, too, that I would have to be satisfied whh the minimum I could get from the millowners and with a fulfilment of the letter of the men's vow rather than its spirit and so hath it happened. I put the defects of my vow in one scale and the merits of it in the other. There are hardly any acts of human beings whicji are free from all taint. Mine, I know, was exceptionally tainted, but rather the ignominy of having unworthily compromised by my vow, the position and indepen- dence of the millowners, than that it should be said by posterity that 10,000 men had suddenly broken a Vow which they had for over twenty days solemnly taken and repeated in the name of God. I am fully convinced that no body of men can make themselves into a nation or perform great tasks unless they become as true as steel and unless their promises come to be regarded by the world like the law of the Medes and Persians, inflexible, and unbreakable, and whatever may be the verdict of friends, so far as I can think at present, on given occasions, I should not hesitate in future to repea t the humble performance which I have tpken the liberty of describing in this communication.
I cannot conclude this letter without mentioning two names of whom India has every reason to be proud. The millowners were represented by Mr. Ambalal Sarabhai who is a gentleman in every sense of tht term. He is a
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