The News Chronicle

The News Chronicle, London

A high religious tragedy The darkness which is over the earth today is but the deepening of a shadow which has fallen across all generations of men. The murder of Mahatma Gandhi is something far more terrible than any political crime. It belongs to the supernatural realm of high religious tragedy.

The hand that killed the' Mahatma is the same hand that nailed the Cross. It is the hand that fired the faggots. It is the hand that through the ages has been growing ever more mighty in war and less sure in the pursuit of peace. It is your hand and mine…

Yet after the work of the Mahatma, it is not too presumptuous to hope for a miracle. It may be that the death of this leader, who was held in so much reverence by so many millions, will raise men to heights they have not hitherto attained. It may be that love against which the gun has no power will evoke out of this great tragedy the beginnings of peace and unity for India.

Now in the pain of Mahatma Gandhi's death it is possible to realise how lasting and how strong is the faith which he preached. Now we can see that the light which was kindled in the East has not been put out, but is made one with the white radiance of eternity.