Under the circumstance, I think a fair sentence to meet the case would he two months' imprisonment without hard labour.
Mr. Gandhi was then removed in custody.
ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE ASSAILANTS
As licences to trade or to hawk were refused without the production of the new registration certijicates many men were sentenced to imprisonment for hawking without a licence, until the Johannesburg gaol was uncomfortably crowded. Realising that there was no sign of the passive resistance movement breaking down and impressed by the determination of the Asiatic communities, as well as the increasing pressure of public opinion not only in England and India, but also in South Africa and the Transvaal itself, General Smuts decided to try a truce, and accordingly invited negotiations from the imprisoned Indian leaders. As a result of these negotiations, General Smuts suspended the operation of the Act, and agreed to accept voluntary re-registration promising at the same time to introduce repealing legislation in the next Session of Parliament, provided that voluntary re-registration had been satisfactorily effected. True to his promise, Mr. Gandhi took to voluntary re-registration and began advising his countrymen to do so.
One morning in February, 1908, when Mr. Gandhi set out to fulfil his pledge to the Transvaal Government that he would undertake voluntary registration, he was attacked by a small section of the Passive Resistors who imagined, that Mr. Gandhi was playing the coward and betraying his trust. Though bleeding profusely he refused to seek
