Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/327

 declined to remove the statutory racial bar and substitute for it general legislation, though it was clear that the Asiatic Act was doomed. The deputation, which had been led by Mr. Gandhi, therefore returned to South Africa, having accomplished only a part of what it had hoped to achieve, but having arranged for a body of volunteers who undertook to collect funds and keep the subject before the public.

The deputation to India, heralded by the tragic death of Nagappan shortly after his release from prison, was of a different character. Mr. Polak, who was the sole remaining delegate, placed himself unreservedly in the hands of the Hon. Mr. Gokhale, whose Servants of India Society arranged for meetings to be held in every part of the country, from Bombay to Rangoon, from Madras to Lahore. Tremendous enthusiasm was aroused, Indian patriotic pride in the sufferers in South Africa was awakened and funds were energetically collected, following the example of Mr. Ratan J. Tata, some £10,000 being contributed for the maintenance of the struggle, ruling princes, sending generous subscriptions. All sections of the people united in demanding the intervention of the Imperial Government, and at the historic session of the Imperial Council at Calcutta, the Government of India announced its acceptance of Mr. Gokhale's resolution, unanimously supported, to take powers to prohibit the further