Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/105

 by the Agent-General cannot be allowed to have greater weight) than those of an accused person about} his own guilt.

Tbe faob that the indentured Indians as a ruie do not avail themselves of the return passage we do not dispute, but we oeroainly dispute thafc it is the beat answer to our complaints, How oan that faob disprove the existence of the legal disabilities ? It may prove that the Indians who do not take advantage of the return passage either do nob mind the disabilities or remain in the Colony in spite of suoh disabilities, If the former be the case, it is the duty ot those who know better to make the Indians realise their situation and to enable them to see that submission to them means degradation* If the latter be the oase it is one mora instance of the patience and the forbearing spirit of the Indian Nation which was acknowledged by Mr. Chamberlain in his Despatch in connection with the Transvaal arbitration. Because they bear thejn is no reason why the disabilities should not be removed or why they should be interpreted into meaning the best treatment possible.

Moreover, who are these people who, instead of returning to India, settle in the Colony ? They are the Indians drawn from the poorest classes and from the most thickly populated districts possibly living in a state of semi-starvation in India. They migrated to Natal with their families, if any, with the intention of settling there, if possible, Is it any wonder, if these people after the expiry of their in- denture, instead of running ' to face semi-starvation,' as Mr. Saunders has put it, settled in a country where the climate is magnificent and where they may earn a decant Jiving? A starving man generally would stand any

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