amply justified the contention of the Indian community that the Indians are the most hated and misunderstood community in the Colony. They were called “black vermin”. A speaker at one of the Maritzburg meetings said: “A coolie could live on the smell of an oily rag.” One of the audience at that meeting said: “They breed like rabbits, those that are here”, and another added: “The worst of it is we can’t shoot them down.” At one of the Durban meetings, a voice from the audience said, with reference to the application: “If the Indian artisans come, we will go to the Point and stop them.” Another said at the same meeting: “A coolie is not a man.” Thus, it will be seen that the material for the events of January last was being prepared in August, 1896. Another feature of this agitation was that the working classes were induced to take an active interest in the matter.
Hardly had the time for proper reflection over the action of the Trust Board come, when the following telegram appeared in the newspapers, on September 14th, 1896, through Reuter’s agency:
- A pamphlet published in India declares that the Indians in Natal are robbed and assaulted and treated like beasts, and are unable to obtain redress. The Times of India advocates an inquiry into these allegation.
This telegram naturally roused the indignation of the Colony, and added fuel to the fire. The pamphlet referred to was a statement of the grievances of the British Indians in South Africa by Mr. M. K. Gandhi, who was appointed by the representatives of the Indian community in South Africa to “represent the grievances the Indians are labouring under in South Africa, before the authorities and public men and public bodies in India”.[4]
It is necessary for your Memorialists to digress a little, and to clear up the position. Your Memorialists have no hesitation in saying that the contents of the telegram are not borne out by the pamphlet. This was admitted by all who read both. The Natal Mercury, on reading the pamphlet, changed the angry attitude it had taken up on seeing the telegram, in the following words:
- Mr. Gandhi, on his part and on behalf of his countrymen, has done nothing that he is not entitled to do, and from his point of view, the principle he is working for is an honourable and a legitimate one. He is within his rights, and so long as he acts honestly and in a
