New-York tribune., 1922-03-20
Cail(IIsi Advised
r
Court 10 lnfIict
IEIieIaest Penalty
Assumed Fu;l Blame for
Disorders in Madras aud
Bombay: Would Continue
Agitation If liberated
Deuied He Rears I'll VIII
Judge Insisted the Prisoner
Must Have Known His
Articles Led 10 Violence

/ AHMEDARAD, British India March
"a Rv The Associated Press). Asked
ey the magistrate on Saturday. prior
30 being sentenced to six years i'm
prisonmeut, whether he pleaded guilt
50 all the charges made against him
~ the AGvoeato General. Mohandas *.
Candhi, the non-co-o operaOoaist leader,
ropiied in the Affirmative
~ The Advocate General pointed out
LAT the articles Of Gandhi printed in
Young India formed merely 4 part
of the campaign to spread disafection
openly, systematically to render gov
ernment impossible and to bring about
the overthrow Of the government. He
coIterded tiiat the writings Of Gandhi
Nere not those Of an uneducated or
obscure man. Tt was truc that the ar
tclcs insisted on non-violence, but he
asked what was the value of this "if
YOU inccssartly teach disafcction
xa'nst the government and openly
teN 10 instlGate othcrs to overthrow
it."
Admits Passion for Agitation
Theroupon GanGhi made long
statoment in which he admitted that
teaching disaFection against the exist
ng system Of government he'd become
almost q passion with him. He de-
clared he took all the blame fer the
disorders IN Madras. Bombay and
Chauri Chaura; but he added that if
he were liberated he would keep up his
work. Non-violence was the first and
'ast article Of his faith; he bore no
III VIII against any single administra-
Tor nor any disaFecuon toward the
k'ne person.
Gandoi sid he was in court 20 sub
NIT cherrfully to the highest penalty
which could be inflicted. and that there
we're only two courses open to the
nudge. either to resign r he felt the
law he was called upon to administer
vas evil and Gandhi was innocent, or
% lnfiict the most severe penalty if
ne believed Gandhis activity injurious
80 the public veal.
The Judge. In addressing Gaudhi, said
It was impossible to ignore the fact
that ia the eyes of millions of his
countiymen Gandhi was great patri-
otIc leader and man of high ideals,
.oadlnE noble, even a sanity. life;
but ms duty was to Judge him as a
'-" :" 40 e4ii'f eATu eiic Hdu DrOkeN the
law and committed what to the ordi
nary person must appear to be a great
o1ense against the state.
Tlak Sentence a Precedent
The judge said ne was unable to un-
derstand how Gandhi could have con
tlnued to believe violence would not
be the inevitable consequences of his
political teachings. lie quoted the
case Of the agitator Tilak, of twelve
Years ago, and announced that he
would pass the same sentence on
Gandhi as was imposed on Tilak,
namel y, the, simple sentence of two
years imprisonment on each Of the
three counts, making six years alto
aether.
Gandhi in replying thanked the court
for ms courtesy. He said he consid-
cred the sentence as light as any Judge
could possibly have inflicted
The news Of the sentence of the
ron-co- operationist leader spread like
v'ldnre through Ahnedabad, and
crowds besleged the Offices of Young
india TO read Gandhi's statement.
There was no disorder