Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/208

 d not allow the Indian or the Native the precious privilege under any circumstances, because they have a dark skin. You would look to the exterior only. So long as the skin is white it would not matter to you whether it conceals beneath it poison or nectar. To you the lip-prayer of the Pharisee, because he is one, is more acceptable than the sincere repentance of the publican, and this, I presume, you would call Christianity. You may; it is not Christ's.

And in spite of such opinions held by you, a respectable newspaper in the Colony, you impute falsehood to The Times of India. It is one thing to formulate a charge, it is another to prove it. You end with saying that “Rammysammy” may have every right a citizen can desire, with one exception, viz., “political power”. Are the heading of your leader and its tenor consistent with the above opinion? Or is it un-Christian, un-English to be consistent? “Suffer little children to come unto me,” said the Master. His disciples (?) in the Colony would improve upon the saying by inserting “white” after “little”. During the children's fete, organized by the Mayor of Durban, I am told there was not a single coloured child to be seen in the procession. Was this a punishment for the sin of being born of coloured parents? Is this an incident of the qualified citizenship you would accord to the hated “Rammysammy".

If He came among us, will he not say to many of us, “I know you not”? Sir, may I venture to offer a suggestion? Will you reread your New Testament? Will you ponder over your attitude towards the coloured population of the Colony? Will you then say you can reconcile it with the Bible teaching or the best British traditions? If you have washed your hands clean of both Christ and British traditions, I can have nothing to say; I gladly withdraw what I have written. Only it will then be a sad day for Britain and for India if you have many followers.

Yours, etc.,

M. K. GANDHI

The Times of Natal, 26-10-1894

35 This was published under the title "Rammysammy".

Books for Sale (Before 26-11-1894)
DURBAN, [