been suggested that we should boycott British goods till the Rowlatt legislation is withdrawn, and that the boycott should terminate with the removal of that legislation. In such a scheme of boycott it is open to us to take Japanese or other foreign goods, even though they may be rotten. If I must use foreign goods, having political relations with England I would only take English goods and consider such conduct to be proper.
In proclaiming a boycott of British goods we expose ourselves to the charge of desiring to punish the English, but we have no quarrel with them; our quarrel is with the Governors. And, according to the law of Satyagraha, we may not harbour any ill-will even against the rulers, and as we may harbour no ill-will, I cannot see the propriety of resorting to boycott.
THE SWADESHI PLEDGE
For a complete observance of the restricted Swadeshi vow suggested above, I would advise the following text:-“With God as my witness, I solemnly declare that from to-day I shall confine myself, for my personal requirements, to the use of cloth, manufactured in India from Indian cotton, silk and wool; and I shall altogether abstain from using foreign cloth, and I shall destroy all foreign cloth in my possession."
II.
For a proper observance of the pledge it is really necessary to use only handwoven cloth made out of handspun yarn. Imported yarn even though spun out of Indian cotton and woven in India is not Swadeshi cloth. We shall reach perfection only when our cotton is spun in India on indigenous spinning wheels and yarns so spun is woven on similarly made hand looms. But the requirements of the foregoing pledge are met if we all only use cloth woven by means of imported machinery from yarn spun from Indian cotton by means of similar machinery.
I may add that the covenanters to the restricted Swadeshi referred to here will not rest satisfied with Swadeshi clothing only. They will extend the vow to all other things as far as possible.
ENGLISH-OWNED MILLS
I am told that there are in India English-owned mills which do not admit Indian shareholders. If this information be true, I would consider cloth manufactured in such mills to be foreign cloth. Moreover, such cloth bears the taint of ill-will. However well-made such cloth may be it should be avoided.
Thousands of men believe that by using cloth woven in Indian mills they comply with the requirements of the Swadeshi vow. The fact is that most fine cloth is made out of foreign cotton spun outside India. Therefore the only satisfaction to be derived from the use of such cloth
