Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 2.djvu/189

 to stop the organized attempt to flood the Colony with Asiatics Mr. Gandhi had made a big mistake in imagining that the Europeans of Natal would sit still while he organized an independent emigration agency in India to land his countrymen here at the rate of from 1,000 to 2,000 per month. He judged the European character badly in thinking that he would be allowed to work such a scheme with impunity. Despite all his cleverness, he has made a sorry mistake, and a mistake that will most certainly defeat absolutely the object he had in view. As the dominant and ruling race in this British Colony, he has forgotten that we have a trust reposed in us. Our forefathers won this country at the point of the sword, and left us the country as our birthright and heritage. That birthright we have to hand down to our sons and daughters, as it was handed down to us. It was left to us an entailed estate for all of British and European blood, and we should be false to the trust we have received were we to allow this fair land to be overrun with a people alien to us in blood, in habits, in traditions, in religion, and in everything that goes to make up national life. We have also a very serious responsibility as guardians of the welfare of the aboriginal inhabitants of the land. In Natal there are half a million of natives who look to the white man as the child looks to his father, and as a matter of fair dealing, to put the matter in its mildest aspect, we must safeguard, as far as possible, the rights of the natives of Natal, as the legitimate labourers of the Colony. Then, there are Indians already in the Colony. We brought most of them here, and it is only our duty to see that they are not subjected to the disabilities and disadvantages that would follow on such an influx of their countrymen as would make it a difficult matter for them to make an honest living. We have at least 50,000 Indians in the Colony at present—a population in excess of the European— amply sufficient. As regards the attitude of the Government in the matter, that was very ably explained by Mr. Wylie on Thursday afternoon. ..


 * . . . Dr. MacKenzie said he was thoroughly satisfied with the action of the Government, and all the members of the Committee were with him in that feeling of satisfaction. All, therefore, being in accord on the subject, it is sincerely hoped that the Demonstration will be a peaceable demonstration in every sense of the word. It should be used as an object-lesson to the Indians that the long-open doors of the Colony are about to be shut and that they must not, as hitherto, try to induce their friends and relations in India to follow them. A demonstration in itself, if it is kept well in hand, and if the programme outlined by the leaders is faithfully carried out, can do no harm. Only, as we have already pointed out, crowds are not easily controlled, and therefore, special responsibility attaches to the leaders. The leaders, however, seem