566 NON-COOPERATION
expected no less. I certainly expect still more. Bengal has great intelligence. It has a greater heart, it has more than its share of the spiritual heritage for which our coun- try is specially noted. You have more imagination, more faith, and more emotion than the rest of India. You have falsified the calumny of cowardice on more occasions than one. There'is, therefore, no reason why Bengal should not lead now as it has done before now.
You have taken the step, you will not 'recede. You had ample time to think; You have paused, you have con- sidered. You held the Congress that delivered to the na- tion the message cf Non-C ^-operation i.e. of self- purification, self-sacrifice, courage, and hope. The Nagpur Congress ratified, clarified, and amplified the first declaration. It was redelivered in the midst of strife, doubt, and disunion. It -was redelivered in the midst of joy, acclamation, and practi- cally perfect unanimity. It was open to you to refuse, or to hesitate or to respond. You have chosen the better, through, from a wordly wise stand point, less cautious way. You dare not go back without hurting yourselves and the
cause.
But for the evil spell that the existing system of government and, most of all, this western education has cast upon us, the question will not be considered as open to argument. Can the brave Arabs retain their independence and yet be schooled under the aegis of those who would hold them under bondage f They will laugh at a person who dared to ask them to go to schools that may be esta- blished by their invades. Is the ease different or if it is different, is it not stronger in our case when we are called upon to give up schools conducted under the aegis of a government which, rightly or wrongly, we seek to bend to our will or destroy t
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