Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/378



Dealing particularly with this question of franchise and the figures compiled from the Natal Government Gazette and now accepted as correct, the same paper says, under date 31st January, 1896 (Weekly edition):


 * According to this return, there are in the Colony 9,309 European registered voters against 251 registered voters of British Indian origin. . . . Nor, if Mr. Gandhi’s statements are correct, does it seem possible that the Indian vote can swamp the European at any period within the range of practical politics. . . . Not only are all Indian immigrants under labour contracts excluded but also all British Indians whatsoever, except an extremely small class, who, by intelligence and industry, have raised themselves to the position of well-to-do citizens. . ..
 * The returns show that even under the existing law it takes a long time for a British Indian to attain the franchise in Natal. With the exception of 63 British Indians, many of whom started with capital, and whose residence in the Colony is under ten years, the rest of the 251 voters seem to have resided during more than 10 years and the majority over 14. An analysis of the British Indian Voters’ List according to occupation yields equally encouraging results to those who wish to see this question settled. . ..
 * It is precisely this class of men who form the most valued element in the municipal and other electorates in India. The argument that the Indian in Natal cannot claim higher privileges than he enjoys in India and that he has no franchise whatever in India is inconsistent with the facts. . . . So far as government by voting exists in India, Englishmen and Indians stand on the same footing, and alike in the Municipal, the Provincial, and the Supreme Councils the native interests are powerfully represented. Nor does the plea that the British Indian is unacquainted with the nature and responsibilities of representative government beat inspection. There is probably no other country in the world in which representative institutions have penetrated so deeply into the life of the people. . ..


 * The question now before Mr. Chamberlain is not an academic one. It is not a question of argument but of racefeeling. The Queen’s Proclamation of 1858 gave the full rights of British subjects to the Indians and they vote in England and sit in the British Parliament on the same terms as Englishmen. But these questions are inevitable in a vast Empire made up of many peoples and as the steamship brings the component population of Greater Britain into closer contact they will present themselves in more acute forms. Two things are clear. Such questions will not settle themselves by being ignored, and a strong Government at home affords the best Court of Appeal to adjudicate upon them. We cannot afford a war of races among our own subjects. It would be as wrong for the Government of