- I do not know what is meant by civilizing the people of India. In the theory and practice of good government they may be deficient; but if a good system of agriculture, if unrivalled manufacture... if the establishment of schools for reading and writing, if the general practice of kindness and hospitality... are amongst the points that denote a civilized people, then they are not inferior in civilization to the people of Europe.
22. Professor Max Muller thus speaks of the much abused and more misunderstood Indian:
- If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problem of life, and has found solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant, I should point to India.
23. To appeal to the finer feelings, your Petitioners respectfully venture to point out that the Franchise Law Amendment Bill, if passed, would have a tendency to retard, instead of hastening, the process of unification the flower of the British and the Indian nations are earnestly striving for.
24. Your petitioners have purposely let the English authorities speak on their behalf, without any comments to amplify the above extracts. It is yet possible to multiply such extracts, but your Petitioners confidently trust that the above will prove sufficient to convince your Honourable Assembly of the justice of their prayer, and they earnestly beseech your Honourable Assembly to reconsider your decision; or to appoint a Commission to enquire into the question as to whether the Indians resident in the Colony are fit to exercise the privilege of franchise, before proceeding further with the Bill. And for this act of justice and mercy, your Petitioners, as in duty bound, shall for ever pray, etc., etc.
Colonial Office Records, No. 179, Vol. 189: Votes and Proceedings of Parliament, Natal, 1894
- 7↑ First it was addressed to both the Council and the Assembly, Then it was amended and addressed only to the Assembly, and a separate petition was addressed to the Council; vide "Petition to Natal Legislative Council", 4-7-1894.
- 8↑ 1822-88; eminent jurist whose works include Ancient Law and Early History of Institutions. He was a member of the Indian Council, 1862-69 and 1871.
- 9↑ 1816-73; lawyer and politician; Member of Parliament, 1847-52
- 10↑ 1832-1917; served in the Bombay Medical Service in 1854, and later for thirty years in the India Office, London, Author of Report on the Miscellaneous Old Records of the India Office and The Industrial Arts of India.
