Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/315

 EARLIER INDIAN SPEECHES.

THE DUTIES OF BRITISH CITIZENS)-? IP.

The following statement made by Mr. Gandhi at the time of the troubles in the Transvaal explains his atti- tude towards law and legislators and enunciates the duties of true British citizenship :

I consider myself a lover of the British Empire, a citizen (though voteless) of the Transvaal, prepared to take my full share in promoting the general well-being of the country. And I claim it to be perfectly honour- able and consistent with the above profession to advise my countrymen not to submit to the Asiatic Act, as being derogatory to their manhood and offensive to their religion. And I claim, too, that the method of passive resistance adopted to combat the mischief is the clearest and safest, because, if the cause is not tru^. it is the resisters, and they alone, who suffer. I am perfectly aware of the danger to good government, in a country inhabited by many races unequally developed, when an honest citizen advises resistance to a law of the land. But I refuse to believe in the infallibility of legislators. I do believe that they are not always guided by gene- rous or even just sentiments in their dealings with unreptesented classes. I venture to say that if passive resistance is generally accepted, it will once and for ever avoid the contingency of a terrible death struggle and bloodshed in the event (not impossible) of the natives being exasperated by a stupid mistake of our legislators.

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