Rolland expressed similar reactions on going through the interview with the paper, "Christopher Science Monitor".
On the other hand, Rabindranath informed his fellow feeling on reading his "Jna Christab" while he was in the nursing home in 1913.
Hnce they had developed a kith and kin relationship well in ahead. That was why Rolland thought of Rabindranath only while sending the proclamation to India. Romain wote his first letter to Rabindranath from Villeneuve, Hotel Byron, Switzerland on 10th April, 1918;
" Certain free spirits, who feel the need of standing outagainst the almost universal oppression and servitude of the intellect, have conceived the project of a Declaration of Independence of the spirit, a copy of which I enclose. Would you giveus the honour of uniting your own name with purs? It appears to me that our ideas are not out of harmony with yours....We think of collecting at first three or four signatories for each country , -- if possible, one writer, one savant, one artist, - and then publish the declaration, making the appeal cheifly to the intellectual elite of all the nations...I could wish that henceforththe intellect of Asia might take a more regular part in the manifestation of the thought of Europe. My dream will be that one day we may see the union of these two hemispheres of the Spirit; and I admire you for having contributed towards this morw than anyone else. Rolland wrote ; "Not only Henry Barbusse but also others like Paul Signac, Dr. Fredrick van Eeden, Prof. George Fr, Nicolai, Henry van de Velde, Stephen Zweig supported this declaration. We hope that Bertrand Russel, Selma Lagerlof, Upton Sinclair, Benedetto Croce may join with us."
