Autograph Note Letter Signed by Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Leader India (1 results)

Note: 8vo (130 x 232 mm). 2 pp., text on rectos only. Letter: 8vo (115 x 182 mm). 1 p. A letter relating to Gandhi's famous response to the Amritsar Massacre (or Jallianwala Bagh Massacre), an event that shocked India and marked a step towards independence. - Following the massacre on 13 April 1919, Gandhi had called on Indians to boycott the possibly biased official investigation and crafted, almost by himself, an extensive report which was published on 25 March 1920. Known as the Congress Report on the Punjab Disorders, it put the massacre into the context of a broader campaign of violent suppression of unrest, its 19 conclusions including the firm statement: "The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was a calculated piece of inhumanity towards utterly innocent and unarmed men, including children, and unparalleled for its ferocity in the history of modern British administration" (CWMG XVII, 291). - In the present note, Gandhi acknowledges two mistakes in the Report, brought to his attention by "an esteemed friend": firstly, the statement that four Europeans were killed in the massacre, when "the number should be seven"; secondly, the long list of convicted protesters included Kundan Lal as one "sentenced to face transportation for life for waging war", when he had been in fact acquitted. Finally, Gandhi apologizes for these errors, explaining that they "were due to the extraordinary difficulty under which the report went to the press". The attached short letter, addressed to "The Manager, The A[ssociated] P[ress], B[om]bay", likely the journalist A. C. Chaterjee, requests that the corrections be circulated to the press. - Note previously pinned; a minor ink stain with partial fingerprint, some browning. Letter shows some spotting, a tear to the margin not affecting text. - Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi XVII (Ahmedabad,1965), pp. 114-292.