Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/361

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Appendix III. — Appreciations of Mr. Gandhi

complaint and they are spreading the movement in all directions with wonderful zeal. The horrors of jail-life in South Africa with Kaffir warders devoid of all notions of humanity for Indian prisoners do not deter them and they are lifting the whole struggle to a plane which the last struggle even at its highest did not reach. Already two thousand families of indentured and exindentured men have joined the struggle. They are suspending work in collieries and on fields and unless Government guarantees repeal of £3 tax next season, industries which depend on Indian labour will soon be paralyzed and Government will have big job on its hands. Mr. Gandhi also went on to say that a growing minority of English is showing itself increasingly favourable to Indian demands and that the leaders of the Unionist party who did so much for us last session will, it is expected press Indian case with vigour when Parliament reassembles. But even if no assistance comes from any quarter, if the bulk of passive resisters retire from the struggle after enduring hardships for some time and if the prospect is altogether dark instead of being hopeful even then one hundred men and forty women are determined to perish in this struggle if need be rather than withdraw from it without achieving their object. They think that if everything else fails this supreme sacrifice on their part is necessary to prevent the Indian community in

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