I am glad to be in England again. One of the first men whom I happened to meet here was H. W. Nevinson; and I felt that soul was alive in this country which had produced such a man as that! A land should be judged by its best products, and I have no hesitation in saying that the best Englishmen are the best specimens of humanity.
With all our grievances against the English nation, I cannot help loving your country, which has given me some of my dearest friends. I am intensely glad of this fact, for it is hateful to hate. Just as a General tries, for his tactics, to attract a whole army of men into a cul-de-sac, in order to demolish them, our feeling of anger generalises the whole people of a country, in order mentally to give them a crushing blow on a tremendously big scale.
Things that are happening in Ireland are ugly. The political lies, that are accompanying them, are stupendous, and in retaliation our anger seeks a victim adequately big; and we readily incriminate the whole people of England, though we know that a great number of Englishmen feel shame and sorrow for these brutalities quite as keenly as any disinterested outsiders.
The fact that such a great proportion of people here—whose interest in keeping Ireland tied to the British Empire is so vital—can feel so keenly the tyranny inflicted on the Irish people, proves the inherent love of justice that thrives in the heart of this country in spite of all aberrations. The saving of a people depends upon the noble personalities holding up the moral tradition high above the floods of iniquities that occasionally deluge the land.
Edmund Burke proves the greatness of Great Britain in spite of Warren Hastings; and we are grateful to Mahatma Gandhi for giving India the opportunity to prove that her faith in the Divine Spirit in man is alive still—in spite of a great deal of materialism in our religions, as they are practised, and a spirit of exclusiveness in our social system.
The fact is, that the best people in all countries find affinity with one another. The fuel displays its differences—but the fire is one. When that fire comes before my vision in this country, I recognise it as the same thing which lights our path in India and illuminates our house. Let us seek that fire and know that whenever the spirit of separation is supreme, there reigns darkness. But with the realisation of unity comes truth and light. When we ignite our lamps, we at once send response to the eternal lights of heaven. You yourself are a bearer of a lamp from your own land, and let me in response light my own lamp with love for the great humanity revealed in your country. The following letter 58 was in answer to a lady who had complained that the poet had appeared to give vent to a feeling of anger against the British people in one of his lectures. *