Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 2.djvu/200

 a band of natives and incite them against the Indians may even yet be productive of serious trouble. The native has no reasoning powers in a matter of the kind. His passions are like tinder and his instincts are warlike. The slightest provocation, and he is all aflame and ready for anything where there is shedding of blood. An even more disgraceful incident was inciting the natives to attack Indians after Mr. Gandhi landed and was lodged in Field Street. Had the police not been on the alert and succeeded in dispersing the natives, Wednesday night would have ended in one of the most disgraceful riots any British Colony ever witnessed, in so far that a savage warlike race had been set upon a more civilised, peaceful people by men of a higher race than either. The disgrace would have clung to the Colony for many a long day. Instead of arresting the four kaffirs who flourished their sticks and whooped in Field Street on Wednesday evening, the white men who brought them there and encouraged them ought to have been brought up before the magistrate and fined as heavily in proportion as the Kaffirs were fined. It was rather hard on the kaffirs to make them scapegoats for really obeying the orders of men who ought to have known better. To call in the natives in a matter of the kind is to exhibit to them a weakness which, above all things, should be avoided, and we trust there will never be a repetition of so dangerous and disgraceful a practice as exciting the racial prejudices of so inflammatory an element as the natives.—The Natal Mercury, 16th January, 1897.

It would perhaps assist Her Majesty’s Government in coming to a conclusion if certain facts were placed before them pertaining to the matter. The demand for restriction of free immigration of Indians has been based on the supposition that, of late, there has been a very large influx of Indians into the Colony, irrespective of any organization. Your Memorialists, however, have no hesitation in saying that the alarm is not justified by facts. It is not correct to say that more Indians have come to the Colony during the last year than during the last but one. Formerly, they came by the German boats as well as by those of the B.I.S.N. Co. Since the latter boats transshipped their passengers in other boats at Delagoa Bay, the Indians came in small batches and were, naturally, not much noticed. Two Indian merchants bought steamers last year and established a fairly regular and direct service between Bombay and Natal. Most of the Indians wishing to come to South Africa availed themselves of this service, and thus, instead of being divided into small batches, they came all at once, and thus drew attention. Moreover, no one seemed to take any notice of those that returned to India. From the following list it will be clear that there has not been