Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/338

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M. K. Gandhi

of the system for every part of the Empire. I am bound to mention that the struggle would not have ended so soon or even as satisfactorily as it did, but for the generous support rendered by the Motherland under the leadership of the great and saintly patriot, the late Mr. Gokhale, and but for the very sympathetic and firm attitude taken by the nobleman who at present occupies the Viceregal chair.

HISTORY OF PASSIVE RESISTANCE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Mr. Gandhi in the course of his letter to the Secretary, South African Committee, gives the following brief account of the struggle of passive resisters in South Africa, to the maintenance of which India contributed so generously.

"Whilst the actual courting of imprisonment has ceased, the struggle itself has by no means ended. In its last stages nearly 25,000 Indians actively participated in it, that is one sixth of the total Indian population in South Africa. The rest of the community practically with but few exceptions, supported the struggle either by contribution in cash or in kind or by holding meetings, etc. It began in Transvaal with the passing of the now famous Asiatic Registration Bill. In the year the struggle rolled on with temporary settlements. It included many other things besides the Asiatic Registration Act, and covered the whole

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