Mohandas K. Gandhi

“ Does it not appear a far-fetched view that the Indian vote can ever swamp the European vote? A mere superficial observer can see that such a thing can never happen. A sufficient number can never command the property qualifications to be able to outdo the European vote. They are divided into two classes--the traders and the labourers. The latter are by far in the majority, and have no votes as a rule.
Poverty-stricken, they come to Natal on starvation wages. Can they ever dream of having enough property to qualify themselves for voting? ”

“ They will earn the gratitude of the 40,000 Indians in the Colony, indeed of the whole of India, and will render true service to the Colony by disabusing the minds of the Europeans of the notion that the Indian is a curse to the Colony; they will serve humanity by rescuing or assisting to rescue a portion of an ancient race from unwarranted persecution which they know exists in the whole of South Africa, and last but not least, in common with the noblest Britons, be the forgers of the links that will unite England and India in love and peace. ”

“ Centuries of foreign rule and oppression have failed to make him a dangerous member of society. Wherever he goes, and under whatever conditions he is placed, he bows to the decision of the majority represented by those in authority over him. For, he knows no one can be in authority over him, unless he is tolerated there by a majority of the body to which he belongs. This principle is so ingrained in the Indian heart that even the most despotic princes of the Indian States feel that they are to rule for the people. ”

“ Colonists know that it would be dangerous to the well-being of the Colony to grant what Mr. Gandhi demands; they know that the fundamental and abiding racial distinctions between the Asiatic and European for ever preclude anything like social equality, and that no argument will ever bridge the gulf; they know that, even though abstract justice may apparently be against them, the instinct of self-preservation warns them that theirs is the only safe position; in short, they know that the Colony cannot remain a white Colony if no limit is put to Asiatic immigration. ”

“ III To say that the Indian does not understand the franchise is to ignore the whole history of India. Representation, in the truest sense of the term, the Indian has understood and appreciated from the earliest ages. That principle —the Panchayat—guides all the actions of an Indian. He considers himself a member of the Panchayat, which really is the whole body civic to which he belongs for the time being. That power to do so—that power to understand thoroughly the principle of popular government—has rendered him the most harmless and most docile man on earth. ”

“ In token of our joy at the approaching completion of the 60th year of your glorious and beneficent reign, we are proud to think that we are your subjects, the more so as we know that the peace we enjoy in India, and the confidence of security of life and prosperity which enables us to venture abroad, are due to that position. We can but reecho the sentiments of loyalty and devotion which are finding expression among all your subjects and in all parts of your vast dominions on which the sun never sets. ”

“ The free coolie labourer, if an artisan, will work longer hours and take a lower wage cheerfully than the European mechanic, and the coolie trader will sell a cotton blanket three half-pence cheaper than the white storekeeper. That is all. Surely the great economic cry of supply and demand, your patriotic league of British subjects, your glorious cry of Free Trade, which John Bull pays through the nose for to show his faith in, all forbid this outcry. Australia has forbidden coloured immigration. The strikes and band smashes do not make that a grand example. ”

“ The possibilities of South Africa, and particularly of Natal, from a vegetarian standpoint, are too numerous to mention, only there are no vegetarian workers. The soil is so fertile that it would grow almost anything. Vast tracts of land await only a skilful hand to turn them into real mines of gold. If a few men could be induced to turn their attention from the Johannesburg gold to the quieter method of earning money by cultivation, and to get rid of their colour prejudice, there is no doubt that every variety of vegetable and fruit could be grown in Natal. ”

“ One would, indeed, like to belong to such a blessed class of traders, especially in the present critical condition of the trade all the world over.
It seems, on the whole, that their simplicity, their total abstinence from intoxicants, their peaceful and, above all, their businesslike and frugal habits, which should serve as a recommendation, are really at the bottom of all this contempt and hatred of the poor Indian traders. And they are British subjects. Is this Christian-like, is this fair play, is this justice, is this civilization? ”

“ Durban is not east of Suez, being situated on nearly the same great circle; but the Durbanites seem to enter into the category of those among whom ‘there aint no ten commandments’, to say nothing of the Imperial Statute-book. It is not a method of civilized men to bring about reform by shooting one another in the streets. If the principles of economy are too hard for them, let them at least sail inside the law, which will be found a better friend than rioting, and the ‘thousand armed men’, that one imaginative agitator conjured up. ”

“ But a thing far higher and far nobler, too, lies within your reach—a thing that would bring you not only greatness, but goodness, and what is more, the gratitude of a nation that has not been crushed under 1,200 years' tyranny and oppression, a fact by itself a miracle,—and that thing is to educate rightly the Colony about India and its people. ”

“ It is about time that those who cry out against the Indian merchant should have pointed out to them, who and what he is. Many of his worst detractors are British subjects enjoying all the privileges and rights of membership in a glorious community. To them the hatred of injustice, and the love of fair play is inherent, and when it affects themselves, they have a method of insisting upon their rights and liberties, whether under a foreign government or under their own. ”

“ To the outside world, the fierceness of the agitation, which has suddenly risen at Durban against the landing of more Indians, is in strange contrast to the fact that Natal has all along been, practically, the one gateway through which these Asiatics have found admittance to South Africa. It was hardly to be expected that the country which had for so long openly encouraged Indian immigration should quite suddenly turn round upon two ship-loads of them awaiting disembarkation at Durban, and ostentatious ly threaten to resort to violence to prevent their landing. ”

“ It is little comfort to those who are already on the List to know that they may vote, while their children never can, no matter how well educated and well qualified they may be. Indian parents who settle in the Colony will have, if the Bill becomes law, the best stimulus to give higher education to their children taken away from them. They would hardly like to see their sons pariahs of society, without a status or without any ambition in life. Even wealth becomes useless if it gives a man no place in society. The very aim with which men collect wealth is thus nipped in the bud. ”

“ India belongs to England and England does not wish to lose her hold of India. Every act done by a Briton towards an Indian cannot but have some effect in moulding the final relations between Britons and Indians. It is, moreover, a fact that the Indian is in South Africa because he is a British subject; he has to be tolerated whether one likes it or not. Is it not then better that nothing should be done that would unnecessarily embitter the feelings between the two communities? ”

“ That the Indian is more successful in competition and lives on less than the English merchant is the unfairest and weakest of arguments. The very foundation of English Commerce lies in the fact of our being able to compete more successfully with other nations. Surely, it is protection running to madness when English traders wish the State to intervene to protect them against the more successful operations of their rivals. ”

“ Eat what food you will, it is impossible, it seems, to make physical and mental strength go together except, perhaps, in rare cases. The law of compensation will require that what is gained in mental power must be lost in bodily power. A Samson cannot be a Gladstone. And granting the argument that a substitute is required for vegetables in the present state of society, is it conclusively proved that flesh or meat is that substitute? Then take the case of the Kshatriyas, the so-called warlike race in India. They are, of course, meat-eaters and how few of them there are who have wielded a sword! ”

“ If I could but convince you that the ‘greatest kindness’ is not shown to the Indian in South Africa and that the Europeans are also to blame for the prevailing state of things, a way will have been paved for a dispassionate discussion of the whole Indian question, and perhaps it will be solved without any intervention from Downing Street to the satisfaction of both the parties concerned. Why should the Clergy remain silent on this momentous question, momentous because it affects the future of South Africa? They do take part in politics pure and simple. ”

“ These clauses, your Petitioners are afraid, show most clearly that the Bill is to operate against the Indian community alone. To deny a subject the right to appeal to the highest tribunal of justice against the decisions of persons or bodies who are not unoften guided and carried away by popular feelings or prejudice would be deemed to be an arbitrary measure in any part of the civilized world; in the British Dominions, an insult to the British name and its Constitution which is rightly termed the purest in the world. ”

“ I should like educated traders who have a good knowledge of English to go there, mix with the people, see the secret of their success and then return to India, open up branches in England and India in an improved style. I have been told that we stand a fair chance of doing a good business in selling carved wood and stones and feathers in England. Everyone knows how many feathers are daily wasted away in almost every part of India. Since they are a saleable commodity in Europe, we are wasting away real wealth simply through sheer ignorance or indifference. ”

“ The new Indian Immigration Law Amendment Bill, which virtually proposes to reduce Indians to a state of slavery, is another example. The thing is a monstrous wrong, an insult to British subjects, a disgrace to its authors, and a slight upon ourselves. Every Englishman is concerned to see that the commercial greed of the South African trader is not permitted to wreak such bitter injustice upon men who alike by Proclamation and by Statute are placed upon an equality with ourselves before the Law. ”

“ I suppose there can be no doubt that the Indian is a despised being in the Colony, and that every opposition to him proceeds directly from that hatred.
If that hatred is simply based upon his colour, then, of course, he has no hope. The sooner he leaves the Colony the better. No matter what he does, he will never have the white skin. If, however, it is based upon something else, if it is based upon an ignorance of his general character and attainments, he may hope to receive his due at the hands of the Europeans in the Colony. ”

“ We have heard a great deal in this country about the ignorance of the Indian people and their unfitness for appreciating the great advantages of representative government. All that is really very foolish, because representative government has nothing to do with education. It has a great deal to do with common sense, and the people of India are gifted with as much common sense, as we have; we exercised the right of election and we had representative institutions many hundreds of years before we possessed any education whatever. ”

“ There are people to tell you that it is impossible to do without tea in England. Some say you cannot do without coffee, others say you would die without tobacco, wines or meat. All these gentlemen must be questioned as to the source of their information and the difficulty will be solved. It is all humbug and hearsay. There is difference of opinion as to flesh foods. As to the rest, every Indian who has gone to England would tell you that not one of them is necessary except for the sake of pleasure of luxury. ”

“ One great critic has freely called the Taj a feminine structure. There is nothing masculine about it, says he; its charms are all feminine. This creamy marble is inlaid with fine black marble lines, the entire Koran, in Arabic letters, it is said, being thus interwoven. . . Till the day I die, amid mountain streams or moonlight strolls in the forest, wherever and whenever the moon comes, when all that is most sacred, most elevated and most pure recur to shed their radiance upon the tranquil mind, there will be found among my treasures the memory of that lovely charm—the Taj. ”

“ The truth is that the Indians are earning the right to be regarded as worthy fellow-subjects in more ways than one. The battle-field has always formed the short cut to an honourable equality among races. But the Indians are also proving their title to our respect by the slower and more difficult methods of civil life. There was a greater experiment made in the constitutional government of dependencies than the expansion of the Indian Legislative Council on a partially elective basis three years ago. ”

“ Of course, we should resist the passing of any laws to restrict the freedom of Indians entering the Colony. I would naturally expect to have the full support of the Indian Government on that. There is absolutely no danger of the Colony getting swamped. The Courland, on one of her voyages, took back as many as a hundred new arrivals, and I, therefore, submit that the leaders should make sure of their facts before they put a drastic policy before the Colony. The free Indian population really remains stationary. The law of supply and demand regulates the inflow and outflow of passengers. ”