Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/189

 the privilege of Franchise, and it was stated further, during the debate, that the Asiatics were not fit to exercise the Franchise. These were, then, the two chief reasons alleged for the exclusion of the Indians from the privilege of the Franchise. Your Petitioners venture to believe that the petition to the Honourable Assembly sufficiently disposes of the two contentions above-mentioned.

11. Although it was not openly acknowledged that the two objections to the Asiatics exercising the Franchise privilege had fallen through, it seemed to be tacitly recognized that such was the case, for it was more openly declared in the third reading of the Bill in the Honourable Assembly, that the exclusion was to be justified, not on moral and equitable grounds, as was contended at the time of the second reading, but on purely political grounds. It was said that, if the Indians were allowed to vote, their vote would swamp the European vote, and that there would be a Government by the Asiatics instead of by the Europeans.

12. Your Lordship's Petitioners venture [to submit], with the greatest deference to both the Honourable Houses, that the above fears are entirely groundless. Even at the present moment there are very few Indian electors as compared with European electors. The Indians who come under indenture cannot possibly have the sufficient property qualifications to be qualified for voting during their term of indenture, and for many more years afterwards. It is, moreover, a notorious fact that those who come on their own means do not remain for good in the Colony, but after a certain number of years, return home and are replaced by other Indians. Thus, so far as the trading community is concerned, the number of votes would, as a rule, always remain unchanged. Another fact, too, cannot be lost sight of, viz., that the Indians do not take such an active interest in the political affairs of the Colony as the European section of the community. It seems that there are 45,000 Europeans, and the same number of Indians; that fact alone shows how material is the difference between the European and the Indian vote. And Your Lordship’s Petitioners submit that it is well nigh impossible that any Indian can hope to enter into the Natal Parliament for generations to come. This, Your Lordship's Petitioners humbly submit, hardly needs any proof to support it.

13. And if Your Lordship's Petitioners are not unfit to exercise the privilege, should it matter that they have some voice in