85. World's Most Colossal Experiment

"Gandhi gave us a scare. His was the most colossal experiment in history, and it came within an inch of succeeding." This confession was made in private in 1922 - 18 months after Gandhiji had been locked up in jail under a sentence of six years' imprisonment - by Lord Lloyd, who was Governor of Bombay from 1918 to 1923, to Mr. Drew Pearson, the well-known American journalist, when the latter called on the former at Poona. A report of Mr. Pearson's interview with Lord Lloyd appeared in The Advertiser of Adelaide, Australia, wherein Mr. Pearson referred to the latter only as an "official"- "one of the highest in India".

The ex-satrap refused point-blank permission to Mr. Pearson to visit Gandhiji in prison, remarking, "The only way to goal Gandhi is to bury him alive. If we allowed people to come here and make a fuss over him he would become a martyr, and the goal would be a Mecca for the world. We didn't goal Gandhi to put a crown of thorns on his head."