njoyed the security of peace without being called upon to maintain it.
But this is no longer so.

At no time within the recent history of India has there been so quick a
readjustment and appreciation as regards proper understanding of the
aspiration of the Indian people. This has been due to what India has
been able to offer not merely in the regions of thought but also in the
fields of battle.

MASS RESPONSE

And remember that when the world is in conflagration, this corner which
has hitherto escaped it, will not evade the peril which threatens it.
The march of disaster will then be terribly rapid. You have soon to
prepare yourself against any hostile sides. You can only withstand it if
the whole people realise the imminent danger. You can by your thought
and by your action awaken and influence the multitude. Do not have any
misgivings about the want of long previous preparations. Have you not
already seen how mind triumphs over matter and have not some of you with
only a few months' preparation stood fearless at your post in
Mesopotamia and won recognition by your calm collectedness and true
heroism? They may say that you are but a small handful, what of the vast
illiterate millions? Illiterate in what sense? Have not the ballads of
these illiterates rendered into English by our Poet touched profoundly
the hearts of the very elect of the West? Have not the stories of their
common life appealed to the common kinship of humanity? If you still
have some doubts about the power of the multitude to respond instantly
to the call of duty, I shall relate an incident which came within my own
personal experience. I had gone on a scientific expedition to the
borders of the Himalayan terrai of Kumaun; a narrow ravine was between
me and the plateau on the other side. Terror prevailed among the
villagers on the other side of the ravine; for a tigress had come down
from the forest. And numerous had been the toll in human lives exacted.
Petitions had been sent up to the Government and questions had been
asked in Parliament. A reward of Rs. 500 had been offered. Various
captains in the army with battery of guns came many a time, but the
reward remained unclaimed. The murderess of the forest would come out
even in broad day-light and leisurely take her victims from away their
companions. Nothing could circumvent her demoniac cunning. When all
hopes had nearly vanished, the villagers went to Kaloo Singh, who
possessed an old matchlo