Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/956

18 APPENDIX II with rt certain iodefinable suggestion of saintliness. Hts patria- ttsm. which IS combined with an enthusiastic support of England against Germany, is interwoten with hts religion, and aims at the moral regeneration of India on the lines of Indian thought, with no barriers between one Indian and another. to the exclusion as f..r as possible of the influence of the West with its industrial sltvery, its material ctvtltsattrn, its monty- worship, and its wars. (I am merely stating this view, of course, not either crtttctsing tt or suggesting that it is right.) Oriental peoples, perhaps owing to causes connected with their form of Olvlllsatlun, are apt to be etlormouely influenced by great saintliness of charaeter when they see it lnke all great masses of ignorant people, however, they need some very plain and simple test to assure them that their hero ts really asatntand ncta humbug, andthe te=t they hebittrsllv apply is that of self denial. Take vows of poverty, live on rice and water and they will listen to your preaching as several of our missionaries have found ; come to them eating and drinking and dressed in expensive European clothes-—and they feel dtnerently. It ns far from a perfect test, but there is something in tt. At any rate I am told that Gandh1’s influence in India is now enormous, almost equal to that of his friend, the late Mr. Gokhale. Xnd now for the battle. In South Africa there are some 150,000 Indians, chiefly in Natal ; and the South African Govern· ment, feeling that the colour question in its territories was quite suiiiciently difficult already, determined to prevent the immigration of any more Indians, and if possible to expel those who were already there. This last could not be done. It vnolateda treaty ; it was opposed by Nttal, where much of the industry depended on Indian labour; and it was objected to by Indian Government and the Home Government Then began along struggle. The whites of South Africa determined to make life in South Africa undesirable, if not for all Indians, at least for all Indians above the coclie class. Indians were specially taxed; were made to register in a degrading way; they were classed with Negroes ; their thumb- prints were taken by the police as tf they were criminals. If, owing to the scrnples of the Government, the law was in any case too lenient, patriotic mobs undertook to remedy the defect. Quite early in the struggle the Indians in South Africa asked Mr. Gandhi to come and help them. He came as a barrtster tn 1893; he was forbidden to plead. He proved his right to plead ; he won his case against the Asiatic Exclusion Act on grounds of constitutional law, and returned to India. Gandhi came again tn 1895. He was mobbed and nearly killed at Durban. I will not tell in detail how he settled down eventually in South Africa as a leader and counsellor to his people; how he found a settlement in the country outside Durban, where the workers should live directly en the land, and all be bound by a vow of poverty. For many