Mohandas K. Gandhi

“ Please assure the self-sacrificing ladies that no Indian could have declined to assist from want of sympathy. We are all fired by one spirit, viz., the imperial, and we all know what sacrifice volunteers and those they have left behind have committed. The existence-it be so— of a few selfish persons need not, in my humble opinion, cause us to think uncharitably of the whole class to which they may belong. And, after all, the Coolies are as much Indians as Arabs. ”

“ But while the Colonists gladly availed themselves of the services of Indians as hewers of wood and drawers of water, they have constantly attempted to deprive them of those rights of free competition in trade which should be their inalienable privilege as British subjects. They decline to compete with the Indian traders in the open market, and endeavour to foster Protection in its most contemptible form by hedging them round with vexatious restrictions. ”

“ If an unflinching devotion to duty and extreme eagerness to serve our Sovereign can make us of any use on the field of battle, we trust we would not fail. It may be that, if in no other direction, we might render some service in connection with the field hospitals or the commissariat.
The motive underlying this humble offer is to endeavour to prove that, in common with other subjects of the Queen-Empress in South Africa, the Indians, too, are ready to do duty for their Sovereign on the battlefield. The offer is meant to be an earnest of the Indian loyalty. ”

“ Your Memorialists have always respectfully insisted that the Law does not apply to the better-class Indians from which class the traders are drawn, and against whom alone the whole agitation is, in fact, directed. Can it be too much to request Her Majesty’s Government to keep the Government of the South African Republic to the exact wording of the Law which applies to ‘aboriginal races of Asia, among whom are comprehended the so-called coolies, Arabs, Malays, and Mahomedan subjects of the Turkish Empire’? ”

“ The dissatisfaction that the latest move on the part of the Natal Government in the matter of education has caused amongst the Indian to Christianity, of whom there is a large number, is indeed very intense. They, of all others, know fully, and have been taught to understand, the advantages of Western culture. They are taught by their religious teachers the doctrine of equality. They are told, Sunday after Sunday, that their Great Master knew no distinction between a Jew and a Gentile, a European or an Asiatic. ”

“ It is in the highest degree humiliating to know that the traditions of British impartiality to men of all races and creeds have been so far departed from in South Africa that British subjects are being compelled to seek sanctuary upon Portuguese soil from the tyrannous oppression of men with whom they are supposed to enjoy common rights under the British Crown. The injustice suffered by Indian traders in Africa will never be removed until the Home Government decides to accord to them the protection they have a right to expect. ”

“ The Indians have noticed with satisfaction and gratitude the fact that the Government are anxious to see that the vested Indian interests are not injured, in that they have addressed letters to the several Town Councils and Town Boards to the effect that unless they took care not to touch vested interests, legislation giving Indians right of appeal to the Supreme Court might become necessary. I am, however, to point out that such an appeal to the Boards may not have a permanent effect if at all, and would still leave the Indian traders in a state of dreadful suspense. ”

“ If an Indian parent has six children, of whom five have received their education in the primary schools, he cannot now give the same education to the last child. If there is a parent ready to disown his Indian nationality, he can send his child to the public schools, thus, unfortunately for the Government, crushing their argument to the effect that the admission of the Coloured children leads to ill-feeling and uproar. ”

“ The Volunteers who have gone to the front to fight for the Queen’s cause are mostly those who took the most prominent part in the now notorious anti-Indian demonstration of 1897 in Durban. Some local English-speaking Indians met together a few days ago, and decided that because they were British subjects, and as such demanded rights, they ought to forget their domestic differences, and irrespective of their opinion on the justice of the war, render some service, no matter how humble, on the battlefield during the crisis, even if it were to act as bearers of the wounded in the Volunteer camp. ”

“ An Indian may fancy that he has a wrong to be redressed in that he does not get ghee instead of oil. The complaint would, in all probability, be treated as frivolous by a Magistrate or Protector; nonetheless, I hardly think the frivolity is so great as to turn him from complainant into defendant. I submit that every facility should be given to a man, who honestly believes that he has a complaint, to make it, and this the proposed amendment does not do, unless a legal and logical mind is to be attributed to an average indentured Indian. ”

“ Everybody seemed to think that the Indians were attempting to claim a new privilege which had been, hitherto, withheld from them, that they wanted a vote for each Indian, that they never possessed any franchise right in India and that if the Natives of South Africa could not possess it, much less could an Indian. ”

“ The above legislation, although nominally directed against all persons, is in practice applied to the Indians alone. We have, therefore, to endeavour not only to get the legislation repealed or modified, but we have also to watch the operation of the various Acts and so far as possible to induce the authorities not to make it unduly severe and irksome. All that requires on our part constant efforts, unceasing watchfulness, un-breakable union amongst ourselves, a large measure of self-sacrifice and all those qualities that ennoble a nation. ”

“ In the Transvaal, business amongst the Indians is suffering seriously. Several unfortunate hawkers came to Natal to buy their stuff; they are now most of them shut out. They have left their goods and their book debts behind them. As may be imagined, they cannot afford to obtain the permit; nor could they, without much difficulty, pass through the examination by the Transvaal officials. It is said—that is to say, the hawkers themselves complain—that in the Transvaal itself they are not allowed to hawk their goods about. This reacts upon the Indian firms that are dependent on these hawkers. ”

“ In the Transvaal we awoke when half the ground was lost, and because we raised our voice against the European opposition we have yet hopes that, though we may not be able to recover the lost ground, we would at least be able to retain what little yet remains to us. Similarly, in Natal we woke just when the anti-Asiatic feeling was being crystallized into legislation and, therefore, our position is not what it might have been otherwise. ”

“ This is good so far as it goes, but it does not give the relief that is required. To leave after the actual hostilities commence may be impossible. The Government have been further approached, and it remains to be seen what they will do. I write this to show how awful our position is in South Africa. To find that British subjects cannot find shelter from danger on a British soil is truly heart-rending. The Natal Government would seem to have done their best, if they could, to shake the faith of the poor Indians in British justice, and in the enchanting power of the phrase “British subjects”. ”

“ They can safely take such as can read and write English fairly well, and there should be no hesitation in taking any Indian passengers who would give them an undertaking, depositing money, if necessary, to the effect that, if they are not allowed to land in Natal, they would at their own expense return or disembark at the next port of call. . Our great companies should either themselves give such facilities as are in their power to poor Indian passengers, or should be made to do so by our public bodies, such as the Chambers of Commerce, within whose province such matters lie specially. ”

“ The second case in Port Shepstone is an instance in point.
There is no grievance more keenly felt than the one under the Act; for, it affects the bread and butter of hundreds of industrious and peaceful Indian traders from the lowest to the highest. There is no certainty that because the best of us have received a licence this year we would receive it the next also. In a state of such insecurity business naturally becomes paralysed and uneasiness takes hold of our minds. The sole hope lies in something being done by and through the Imperial Government. ”

“ A child born of prostitution, where one parent is European, is admissible. It is the full-blooded Indian alone who has the ban of excommunication stamped upon him. The Government seem to have shrunk from their own unjust action, and as a sop to their conscience and in order to satisfy the claim of some of the Indian applicants for the admission of their children to the public primary schools, have opened what they are pleased to call a higher grade school for Indian children, which is supposed to be, in all respects, equal to the above schools. ”

“ If only, therefore, the European Colonists could be induced to see that their attachment would be incomplete unless justice was done to the Indians, they would not fail to respond. There is no mistaking the sign of the wave of Imperial unity. The present war is entirely in the interests of the Uitlanders, whose sufferings may be said to fade into insignificance when compared with those of the Indians. ”

“ If it is an Indian ship it must have a secret manifest. Infection, unlike everywhere else, is in South Africa personal to the Indian. He and his goods only can bring the infection. No objection is taken to other passengers, even though they may come from infected districts. The steamship companies that touch Madagascar and Mauritius, which are declared to be infected ports, may bring European passengers but dare not bring Indians. It must be admitted that the Natal Government, as well as the Cape Government, are most anxious to avoid injustice being done during the panic. ”

“ Chamberlain is alive to the danger that besets the Indians in the Colony If the strong arm of protection from the imperial Government is not stretched forth in their behalf, and that the Natal Government is evidently anxious in some way or other to meet Mr. Chamberlain. But at the same time it is extremely desirable that the real bearing of the above letter should be understood, and that the Colonial Office, or the sympathizers, should not be lulled into the belief that the letter in any way solves the difficulty or removes the anxiety that is preying upon the Indian mind in Natal. ”

“ If the Indians think of leaving the Transvaal at such a time, it cannot be wondered at. They naturally cannot go to Delagoa Bay, because of its malarial climate, nor could they go to the Cape in any large numbers because of the great distance and the consequent heavy charges and the small Indian population there. There are no public homes for them. They have to depend upon the help of private friends whom they can find only in Natal. They have approached the Natal Government with a view to obtain suspension of the Immigration Restriction Act during the crisis. ”

“ Booth, a venerable gentleman very much loved by the Christian portion of the Indian community. These schools receive from the Government a grant by no means adequate for their support. The buildings, as a rule, are of the most primitive type—a few corrugated iron sheets and a few planks of wood composing the material. They are wretchedly constructed and, in country places, are devoid even of flooring, mother earth serving the purpose. In one instance, a stable has been turned into a school. The pupils, being drawn from the poorest Indians, are naturally not well clad. ”

“ After the Colony became a self-governing Colony, Sir John Robinson, the first Prime Minister under the new form of Government, in introducing the Indian Disfranchising Bill, said that the Colony—that is to say, in his estimation, the Europeans—were fully aware of the increased responsibilities that naturally went with the increased freedom they enjoyed, and their still further increased responsibilities in that they were depriving the Indians of the franchise they possessed. ”

“ It is humbly submitted that it is a serious matter when one man, because he is an Indian, cannot sell his business to another, also because that other is an Indian, for the refusal to grant the license in such cases is tantamount to forbidding a purchase and sale unless it were done in an underhand manner.
An Indian who had sold out his premises to Dundee Coal Co., and had therefore entirely wound up his business, came down to Durban, and purchased a previously licensed store on the Umgeni Road and applied for a license for himself. ”

“ The few Indian merchants that are to be found in Church Street have such large businesses and keep their stores and courtyards in such good condition that, in your Petitioner’s humble opinion, to disturb them would be wanton injustice as, indeed, it would be in all the other cases, only the effect would not be so disastrous as in the cases of the Church Street merchants, whose long-standing businesses have given the positions they occupy considerable trade value. ”

“ Having frequently occasion to visit the better class of the Indian population of Johannesburg (merchants &c., coming from Bombay) in my professional quality, I give as my opinion that they are as clean in their habits and domestic life as white people of the same standing. Over thirty European firms of Johannesburg said:
The aforementioned Indian merchants, the majority of whom come from Bombay, keep their business places as well as their residences in a clean ant proper sanitary state—in fact, just as good as the Europeans. ”

“ No law will be, can be, sufficient for those who would not work and would rather ‘rot’ in the gaol than do honest work. If, however, the Government consider it necessary to conciliate the employers and make the existing law more explicit, I feel that nothing need be said from the Indian standpoint against the proposed amendment so far as the first two alterations are concerned. ”

“ If Her Majesty’s Government succeed in establishing the point that the Transvaal Government would not remove those Indians who produce satisfactory evidence as to their sanitary condition, I venture to submit that the rest of the burden could be discharged by parties affected, without having to trouble Her Majesty’s Government. ”