For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment

A. H. West and Mahatma Gandhi

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. - 09404955338, 09415777229

E-mail-dr.yadav.yogendra@gandhifoundation.net; dr.yogendragandhi@gmail.com

A. H. West and Mahatma Gandhi

Mr. A.H. West was a theosophist and vegetarian. He lived in phoenix ashram, which was set up by Mahatma Gandhi during South African Satyagraha. His sister Ada West taught in phoenix and Tolstoy farms. He had taken part in South African Satyagraha. He was arrested in 1913 for taking participation in it. He was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He wrote many letters to him. Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “This is to introduce to you Mr. A. H. West who has been managing the International P. Press and sub-editing in Indian Opinion. Mr. West is one of the founders of the scheme under which the paper is being published. Mr. West is paying a short visit to his people and during that time he will do what public work he can.”1 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “Ever since Saturday last I have not had breathing time, and except for one night I have not been able to go to bed before one o’clock in the morning. I have written a very long letter to Polak, and have asked him to send it on to you for perusal. Please read it yourself and show it to Chhaganlal. It will give you in full detail everything about my movements. As this is being typed at 8.30 p.m. you will excuse me for not giving you a long letter. I see that I shall be busy up to the end of my stay here. Under the circumstances it is hardly possible to cut myself away from London for full one day. I have, therefore, asked Miss Pywell to see me in London by appointment, and have offered, if you will let me, to defray her expenses. I am only hoping that she will come. I have had a chat with Mr. Mukerji about his contribution.”2 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “The enclosed tells you all I have to say: I am too busy to say more. I had a letter from Miss Pywell in reply to mine. I shall endeavour still to run up to Leicester, if I can.”3 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “It seems impossible for me to leave next week; not that I ever thought that there was much chance. I shall probably leave here on the 24th November. I am going to see Miss Pywell tomorrow unless she countermands my letter posted yesterday. I hope that Mrs. West is getting on nicely, that she is comfortable, and that Mrs. Gandhi received her well.”4

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “It cuts me but does not surprise me. It is impossible for me to leave here unless I pay the fine which I will not. When I embarked upon the struggle I counted the cost. If Mrs. Gandhi must leave me without even the consolation a devoted husband could afford, so be it. Please do what you all can for her. I am wiring Harilal to go there. I expect from you or someone a daily bulletin not that I can help thereby. Please let me know by wire what the disease is exactly. I am writing to her. I hope she will be alive and conscious to receive and understand the letter. The authorities will allow me to receive the letters daily. The enclosed is for Mrs. Gandhi. Let Manilal read it to her.”5 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I am still left-handed. The right hand I can use only with difficulty. The authorities will not grant permission for me to write to Mrs. Gandhi in Gujarati. I am sorry for her and Harilal’s wife. I do not know whether wife would like me to write in English. I know that I can write nothing new. She wants to read my own writing. I feel that it is more dignified not to take advantage of a privilege grudgingly given. You may write to me, or Manilal may, in English how she progresses from day to day and also about Harilal’s wife. If they wish to, they will let me have these letters and I shall know something about the health of the patient. Please tell Mrs. Gandhi that I am all right. She knows that my happiness depends more upon my mental state than upon physical surroundings. Let her cherish this thought and not worry about me. For the sake of the children, she should help herself to get better. She should have the bandages regularly and add hip-baths if necessary. She should adhere to the diet that I used to give. She ought not to start walking till she is quite restored. Harilal’s wife has all the directions. I shall be glad to learn that she follows them. She ought on no account to omit sago and milk in the morning. Let Manilal watch that she takes it. Rami should have the breast yet for a month. She can only be gradually weaned. I am told that even if a letter in Gujarati were passed, it would take quite ten days before it could be transmitted.”6

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I knew nothing about the financial difficulty with the exception of a letter Mr. Cordes sent me as from Mr. Kallenbach As my movements will be uncertain, I have written to Mr. Kallenbach. I am sorry for the position. I made all the arrangements. I was capable of making. My instructions about printing several things are to be read together with this except the order from Dr. Mehta. Miss Smith has of her own accord advised me that henceforth she does not want to charge for her monthly letter but that she would continue to send her contributions all the same. I have told her what she may write upon. I suggest your writing to her a letter of thanks. You may make any other changes you may consider necessary in order to put the financial position on a satisfactory footing. I would plead, however, for Kababhai. I suggest that he be not touched. As to the closing of the Durban Office, the matter requires very careful thinking. But if you think that it had better be closed, by all means do so. You may cut about the exchange and complimentary list as you may think fit and may reduce the size of the English columns. I suggest that all this should be done in consultation with Mr. Kallenbach. I am likely to meet him before I am gaoled. In that case, I shall discuss things fully with him. With reference to Chhaganlal, Dr. Mehta offered to send one of my boys. I then suggested that he should not restrict me. He was prepared to send another also of my selection. I was disinclined to accept the double offer. So I asked him to let me send Chhaganlal or Maganlal to London in lieu of my boys. It was not a scholarship for competition. I felt that I could decide as to who should go to London in place of my boys but that I should ask for your permission to free the one I may select. I have not been able to discuss the reasons for coming to the decision I have. They are too elaborate for me to reduce to writing and that now when I have not a minute to spare. The scholarship for the school still stands. Several have been offered from India also. But I have not seen my way to accept them whilst we are in a state of uncertainty. Nor have the scholarships been rejected. The Indian scholarships have been offered through Mr. Polak. I asked him to invite these scholarships when I discussed the matter with Dr. Mehta. I look to you all to see that Manilal is not disturbed. As a father, I have felt it to be in his interest that he should not yet go to England. Further progress depends entirely on what Chhaganlal can do. I suppose everybody realizes that the conditions of these donations are stiff. Acceptance of poverty and continuance of Phoenix work, no matter where, are indispensable. Mr. Cordes asked me a question as to what should be done for payment of schemers who may be laid up with sickness for a long time. My answer is that we are a family and that we are bound to support them and even find what medical help as poor people we are capable of finding. I am quite willing that my guarantee should stand for such cases. I would add that the same condition should apply within reasonable limits to the non-schemers. It is in such matters that in my opinion we best realize our ideals. We are trying to live a life of perpetual self-sacrifice and find joy in it. But the latter suggestion is for you to accept or reject, as you may think best.”7

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I should like to keep them for Natesan if I may. If there is not sufficient to pay wages, I, being the manager of the Trust, must make provision. In any case, the whole estate is liable for wages. Such is the legal position. The moral position is this: We do not make two ends meet; I fail to find money; we close down the Press, try other means; if we do not succeed and if we do not want to die on the land in the attempt to make it pay, we disperse or those who are dissatisfied will disperse. What do owners do, when they find their enterprise not paying? Settlers are virtually owners. Yes, it is possible for the majority to sell the land. I think we ought to leave the door open. You will remember I once remarked that Indian Opinion. Only may be taken over by the settlers, or some of them. Hence the clause. Throughout I have presumed that the majority of us at least may be expected to carry out the ideals. The settlers will be those who will sign the list of settlers to be appended to the Trust. The wives and children are not ‘Settlers, in the sense of the Trust. Polak and Harilal who have joined the scheme are. Miss Schlesin can be one. Mr. Doke and Miss Smith are not. The earnings will pay for all they can. For the present we only contemplate a deficit. The scope has been changed in that the settlers are paid according to needs and not according to income or ability. I shall still await your concrete suggestions for amendment or alteration or addition.”8

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “Without going into the argument, the following is my opinion. Health As to sanitation, I will say nothing. I have already given my opinion as to medical expenses. Reasonable medical expenses of all should come out of the business. What is reasonable should be decided in each case separately in consultation with the patient. The scheme is based on mutual trust and we must expect everyone not to willfully fall ill or to willfully ask us to incur expenses. If I do not want a doctor, I cannot impose the idea on others. In coming to this conclusion, I fancy that the ordinary law of human life is health and not sickness. If Dr. Nanji will not come to Phoenix, another doctor may be consulted. The School The school should vegetate and as to the material, Mr. Gora may be asked as to what he proposes to do with it. I suggest you’re personally seeing him. For the present, Purshottamdas alone may do what he can for the school. Indian Opinion The size should be changed as suggested. No apology need be offered in the paper for it. The English columns should be reduced. No leading matter of opinion is given for the present except explanatory notes. All matter should be severely condensed. Energy should be devoted to the art of condensing. It may be divided into Passive Resistance, Natal notes, Cape notes, etc. Reports of Bombay and other meetings may be considerably shortened. Original papers from which condensation is made should, if possible, be kept pasted in book form. The English columns then should simply give news on the disabilities throughout South Africa and about matters we are interested in. When Mr. Polak returns, he may enlarge the scope and size if funds then permit. Mr. Kallenbach should be advised as to how much will be required monthly under this heading, the ideal being not to ask for any support at all. The Gujarati columns ought not to be reduced, but if the Gujarati subscribers fall off, even that may be reduced almost to any extent, you there, in Mr. Polak’s and my absence, being the sole judge. You may put a limit to the credit for subscribers. Mr. Dawd Mahomed and such others foreign or local may be placed on the complimentary or separate list, so that we know that we have to collect from them. You may cut about the complimentary list as you think fit. As to libels, you need not fear or bother. All facts, you cannot vouch for, should be signed by those who give them no law need be read on it just now. If I find a simple book, I shall send it. No legal adviser is necessary. But in emergency, Mr. Khan will advise. Scheme All except Kababhai and Mrs. West should be invited to join the scheme or leave. I am so firmly of this opinion that I would do away with the Kaffir labour. We would simply do what we can with the schemers and no more. All should be voters. They should appoint a sub-committee or managers the final veto being retained to me. Personally I feel inclined to treat Mrs. West and Kababhai too as schemers with full rights except as to the drawings. All decisions to be by votes of majority, pure and simple. You may frame rules for guiding deliberations and defining the duties of the sub-committee and managers. A wife working in the Press does not forfeit the privileges of a schemer’s wife. I send herewith draft for £75 which please place to my credit. Mr. Kallenbach has seen this letter. Mr. Sam’s papers will be returned to him with the cession of the bond cancelled.”9

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I have often wished to write a personal letter but I have not been able to. How are you feeling now in body, mind and soul? Are you more at ease than before? How is the home atmosphere? Does the new arrangement satisfy Mrs. West? Is Devi now at peace? How are the other people in the settlement? For me, I am going through many a battle. Circumstances surrounding me just now are not at all congenial. But I think that my mind is at peace. My mind as you know is extremely active—never at rest. I am now trying bold experiments. Ethics of hawking only foreshadows what is coming in my life. The more I observe, the greater is the dissatisfaction with the modern life. I see nothing good in it. Men are good. But they are poor victims making them miserable under the false belief that they are doing good. I am aware that there is a fallacy underneath this. I who claim to examine what is around me may be a deluded fool. This risk all of us have to take. The fact is that we are all bound to do what we feel is right. And with me I feel that the modern life is not right.”10 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I think that Polak will perhaps be in Durban. I have just condensed what I thought was necessary regarding Ritch. All the other correspondence from London I am sending you. When Polak comes there you may show it to him. He may make what use he likes of it beyond what I have prepared. For the time being, I shall be almost every day in town, and, in the event of an unfavorable construction of the first section of the Bill, I may even have to go to Cape Town. Everything will depend upon how matters progress. If there is too much pressure on your space in connection with the Bill, I think it will be better to postpone publication of the judgments in the Chhotabhai case. The Bill places the judgments in the background. I send you also leading article from The Star of yesterday, which should be condensed and reproduced; and, of course, you will get the Press Notices of the Bill from your exchanges. In the event of the Bill not going through the Assembly or being materially altered for the worse, we shall want to make use of the newspaper notices.”11

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “My consolation is that the news may be totally unfounded. In have so much faith in his probity and general purity that I shall continue to disbelieve the charges, so long as I have not your definite judgment. At first I thought I should write to him but I think I shall assist your investigation by not writing so long as he does not mention the matter.”12 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “An otherwise excellent number has been spoilt today by the letter-press on the supplement. It looks altogether too bad to describe the Mayor, Mayoress, etc., as being next to me. It looks very inappropriate, and Mrs. Vogl, who was the centre of the show, ought undoubtedly to have been mentioned. I don’t know whether Miss Schlesin wrote to you, but I told her she should ask you to insert all the names. With reference to the £ 3 tax, the first step to take is not to advice the men to refuse to pay the tax, but for the Congress to send a petition to the Prime Minister, signed by all the Indians in Natal- say 15,000 signatures. There should be a mass meeting held. The Congress should then ask the Indians in the other Provinces to support. We must then await the reply from the Prime Minister. Then there should be a petition to Parliament next year, and, if Parliament rejects the petition, there should be an appeal to the Imperial Government by the Congress aided by the other Associations in South Africa. Finally the refusal to pay the tax! Then, undoubtedly, the Congress should undertake to feed the wives and families of those who may be imprisoned. The men would undoubtedly go to goal, if there is a body of earnest workers. For this purpose, either you will have to be in Durban continuously, or someone else will. The thing cannot be taken up haphazard. If the men were asked to go to goal today, I do not think you would find anybody taking up the suggestion, but if the preliminary steps as described above, are taken, by the time a final reply is received the men will have been thoroughly prepared to face the music. I know, too, that the thing is quite capable of being done, but one man at least must be prepared to devote the whole of his time to the matter. If it were a question of deciding whose word was to be accepted, I should any day prefer Thakar’s to Virji’s. However, I have written to Virji, and there may be letter waiting for me at the Farm. Thinking over the teachers for Campbell’s Estate, I think it might be as well for you to tell Campbell that you would want three or four months’ notice to supply him with a teacher. He should also give you the salary he is likely to offer. For Hindi we might spare a Gujarati man from Phoenix. The experiment will be so valuable, that we might lend the services of one reliable man and, for a good Tamil teacher; we might have to import a good man from India. I am glad you were present at the function to Hosken & Co., and that you subsequently drove with Hosken. He is, you must have noticed, a very frank and enthusiastic man. I hope he will visit you at Phoenix. Who drew up the address to Hosken and the others? I consider Lutchman Panday’s suggestion to be quite impracticable. There are not sufficient workers to form an Association of the kind he suggests, nor is the movement of Indians in the different Provinces so unhampered as to allow of such an Association doing useful work.”13

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “My own opinion is unformed. Appearances are all against and so is his letter to me. And yet the thing seems to me to be unbelievable. I do not believe in the innocence of the girls. If . . . did it, they knew that it was wrong. The excessive tickling betrays a corrupt mind it may be unconsciously. If . . . has done it he has meant no mischief. I should not consider the offence itself of a very serious nature but his hiding the guilt is certainly serious. I do not make light of the offence. What I say is that concealment is more serious. I have written to him in this light. Manilal is a lad. He must obey. He ought therefore to stay even unwillingly. Anandlal will leave here at the latest on Saturday. He will take in H’Burg and Standerton on his way. I suggested to him that he should be there on the 1st of January at the latest. He seems to have done well here. He has not stayed beyond a day at the Farm. There is no doubt that he likes collecting.”14 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I do not want to keep it here. At the same time, I do not wish to destroy it. Your report on Eastern Vlei is very good. I certainly think that we ought to take notice of the Henwood case. Even if the man was a thief, it was nothing short of persecution; and, if you do not consider the thing to be stale now, you should still punish it. When the man has finished his sentence, he may be interviewed and more may be published, but the case should be followed up. Indeed, it would be well to post up somebody in order to meet him upon his discharge. So far as I am aware, Magistrate’s notes can certainly be seen as a matter of right by interested parties. I intended to write to Khan asking him to waive his fees about Muthuswamy because the amount has to come out of passive resistance funds, but I thought that I should ask you whether I should do so before writing the letter. This I forgot to do. Shall I now write or do you think that the amount should be paid without more ado? With reference to the supplement, if the dog were in the centre, I think that your remarks would have been justified. As it is, the dog in the present instance was not sitting in the centre, but Mr. Hosken was, and, if you had said ‘Mr. Hosken is in the centre with Mrs. Ellis to his right’ and so on, it would have been all right. I went there at the last moment, and, so many important persons having come in, I hardly think that Mrs. Vogl also could control the thing. Without giving the official designations, the names could have been printed. But, of course, you could not reason this way, not having seen the Bazaar and not having been intimately connected with the work. But I do say that you should have seen the impropriety of introducing the chief members of the group through me. I consider you to be entirely capable of handling the £ 3 tax business, but I am not just now in a position to feel the pulse of the community there. Whether, therefore, they would rise to the occasion or not is entirely for you to judge. You should, therefore, discuss the thing freely with them, tell them that you would be prepared to stay for a month in Durban and work the thing up, if they want you to do so. But, of course, after having gone into it, it would not do for you to limit yourself in any way. You will have either to do or die. You may stay in Durban for a month less or more. I personally cannot set any limit to work and say, ‘All right, work for a month, and then things may be left to take their course’. That could be done, if I were managing the thing, but, in this instance, if the thing is to be done at all, I want you to become the initiator and organizer. Your responsibility will, therefore, be towards yourself and your God. If I felt like being free to head the movement, I should plunge without a moment’s hesitation. But just now, I am not in that condition at all. I shall certainly criticize you freely, and watch the working, and give advice. More I cannot do. You should also take care that you do not in any way clash with what Aiyar is doing. I have now learnt something about Munroe. I have distrusted the agitation from the commencement, that is, I have not been able to consider it to be unselfish. Apart from this question, if it is necessary for you to stay in Durban with the family for a month, of course you should do it, looking to me for the deficit for that month’s expenses. I should like to see the text of this address to Hosken. Was it so long-winded as suggested by Aiyar? You will do what you think is proper regarding Jamni. Anandlal has commenced collections. I share the view you have expressed about him. If Manilal is not to come during the month, you will have to get him to cheerfully reconcile himself to the delay. The coming here is with him on the brain now, and I do not wish to discourage him at all. I do not know what is going to happen to him or to any of us in March. If you detain him there, let him realize that he should put the exigencies of the work there before his inclination and take pleasure in the thought. I shall go through the essay you have sent, and we shall certainly publish it if the ideas are at all acceptable. You may nurse the lad, even while he is out of Phoenix.”15

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “In the papers I am sending today you will find interesting correspondence regarding the £3 tax. Here is work for you. Can you, and will anyone assist you, to collect statistics showing in what cases the tax has been remitted? Is it possible also to find out all the serious cases in which remission has not been granted? The more statistics we can give the earlier will be the repeal of the tax. It seems to me that it is possible perhaps to get Europeans in Natal to sign a petition for its repeal, and, if we can get an influentially signed document, we can certainly bring about repeal during the forthcoming session without resort to passive resistance.”16 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “Yes, with reference to Obbligato, we ought to get the charge sheet. I want to see the two counts on which he was prosecuted. You will see the Prosecutor accepted his plea of guilty on the first count and was satisfied. Generally, when a Prosecutor does that, you may depend upon it that he has a very weak case, and, as a matter of fact, this plea of guilty ought never to have been accepted by the Magistrate as a plea of guilty, because the accused has qualified it, saying he was in want of this money and took it. This qualification immediately takes away guilty knowledge. The mere taking of the money was certainly not theft. The sentence, of course, is preposterous. Of course, the leaders will not take up the £3 tax agitation without your harassing them. Aiyar may be left to himself and he may have all the credit and all the glory. We simply do the work if the leaders are ready to do their share of it. Am taking copy of draft copy of Immigration bill with me Johannesburg tomorrow and am asked by Minister to show it to you for your personal information. Can you conveniently call at the Minister of Mines room during morning”. S. N. 5598. Gandhiji’s reply is drafted in pencil at the bottom of the above telegram. of course we shall have to get Mr. Alexander to ask questions. Meanwhile you should get the facts independently of the Ministers. They will not help. I have asked Manilal to pocket his own inclination and do as you advise him, and I think that his feeling need not be considered so long as his services are required there. I have written to Muthu exactly in the same sense that you have spoken to him, and, if you want him, by all means have him, but it must be understood that he will have to do plenty of out-door work.”17

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “You all say that you had not heard from me at all. That’s strange. Certainly, not a mail has been missed by me either I wrote myself or Sorabji for me, at least to someone or other in Phoenix. It is evident, therefore, that my letters have all, or some of them, miscarried. I wish that your surmise was true and that I was working among our wounded soldiers. Most of the members of the Corps are certainly doing so, at Netley. When the last batch went I was bedridden. In any case, my presence was necessary here, in order to get together the required number of men. I was to have followed, however; but now unheard of difficulties are being put in my way and are prevented from going to Netley, or to any of the other hospitals where our wounded soldiers are being received. It seems to me that I am being prevented, because the officials immediately in charge fear that I might make mischief. The ostensible reason given to prevent my going is ill health. I may be quite wrong in my surmise, however. At any rate, I have placed the whole facts before Mr. Roberts, the Under Secretary for India and I should know before long probably. So you will see that I have not yet been separated either from Mrs. Gandhi or Mr. Kallenbach. We are all now living under Mr. Gandevia’s roof. He, as you know, is the Secretary of the Corps. He is the proprietor of a boarding house for Indian students. He has placed one of his best rooms at our disposal. I envy you your gardening work. Just now my own health seems to have been completely shattered. I feel that I hopelessly mismanaged my constitution in the fast. I was in a hurry to regain my lost energy. I, therefore, overfed the system and overstrained the body in compelling myself to take long strenuous walks. I was too impatient and am paying the penalty: I can now scarcely walk with any strenuousness without the original pain starting. The ribs seem to have become shattered they will not stand any strain, or the groins. I, therefore, am obliged largely to keep indoors and remain in bed. Of food I can take very little the slightest excess would upset me. In spite of all this, I am able to attend to my work. Nor does all this imply that I am only skin and bones. By carefulness I am able to undo the mischief done. The mental and moral atmosphere is also a great drawback. Everything appears so artificial, so materialistic and immoral that one’s soul almost becomes atrophied. I am longing to go to India and so is Mrs. Gandhi; but a sense of duty and I am not sure that, on this occasion, it is a right sense of duty that compels me to remain here. I share your views about the War. If I had the moral strength, however, I would certainly be the passive resister that you have pictured in your letter. I am glad that you all are getting on well there and that your little ones are doing so well and add to the joys of your life. I hope that everything there is going on peacefully. Please remember us to all. I may not be writing any other letter this week so that I would like you to show this to everybody. This letter is being taken down, you will be glad to know, by an Indian friend. After James, he is the first Indian friend I have found capable of taking shorthand notes. He is just now staying in the same house with me awaiting instructions to proceed to one of the hospitals where our Indian troops are. His name is Manic Lal Chandra, and has been in England for about four years. Mr. Chandra, from what I understand, is a much-travelled man. I shall try and write to Polak, but you may pass this letter on to him lest I fail to do so.”18

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I am thoroughly done up now but on the approach of Xmas eve I cannot help sending you loving thoughts. Our departure was sudden & early. We are keeping well considering the stormy weather. My health improving I hope to resume writing for I.O. Please send to Miss Smith a message of condolence on her mother’s death. I have been so often prevented from reaching India that it seems hardly real that I am sitting in a ship bound for India. And having reached that what shall I do with myself? However, ‘Lead Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, led Thou me on.’ That thought is my solace & may it be yours in the darkest moments.”19 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I will take your letter as it comes. It is no use you’re qualifying as a lawyer. It is possible you may get some guilty ones discharged on technicalities and you may get the innocent also saved from imprisonment. But when you consider what a small percentage of the population passes through the courts, you at once see that it is no part of humanitarian work to take up law. All that you can do, without getting the title of a lawyer you are doing. More you do not need. If you have leisure, read up your laws by all means as Mr. Gokhale did, though he never was a lawyer. I am nearing the end of my first tour. I hope then to write more regularly and to write for Indian Opinion also. I am going through very varied experiences. India continues to satisfy my aspirations. I see much to dishearten me and I see much to encourage me. We are both keeping fairly good health. If we can settle down somewhere, we should do better. More than this, I have not the time to say just now.”20 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “This is for you and Chhaganlal herewith Passive Resistance Fund a/c with my covering letter which speaks for itself. You may publish the a/c here. You will see some items allocated in anticipation. £2,023 has been allocated to the improvements there. This enables you to develop agriculture and keep the ground in such order as tenable you to cope with emergency, it being understood that the property is open to receive more Passive Resisters than there at present. Of course you will not expend this amount if it is not required. Allocation of £3,000 to Phoenix settlement includes assistance to Indian Opinion. This enables you to report cases of hardship and to help such cases also. You may even open a branch office in Durban and collect information about hard cases of immigrants and give them free help, you can engage men for reporting cases, etc. The expense will be justified only as far as you use the paper to attend to local relief. Allocation to passive resistance relief means relief given both here and there. I am supporting the widows, etc., you have there your cases in Phoenix and elsewhere. I have made a rough calculation. For Valliama Hall up to £4,000 may be expended. It is possible that there will be some talk about the Phoenix allocations. But I could not do otherwise than to deal with the whole matter as I have done. Your work if it is fruitful of results will silence cold criticism in the end. If there is any further information please let me know. I am having this letter copied so that I should know the contents if you referred to it in your correspondence.”21

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I note the changes made and I accept them. The central idea is that Indian Opinion should be kept up at any cost. This means revision of the account sent to you by me. Fortunately there was delay on my side. The new scheme requires a revision which I shall do shortly. I am not going to keep the large sum with me but it will be handed over to the Trust. As for part of the payment to Pragji and Imam Saheb being, debited to the P. R. Fund, I am inclined to think that they were present at the meeting, where the matter was settled. But if they object, the amounts could be debited to the P. R. Fund as assistance to Indian Opinion. In either case, the money has to come from the P. R. Fund. It was debited by way of relief as the whole amount could not be a legitimate charge against Indian Opinion. But for their being passive resisters, we could not have availed ourselves of their services. But it was a matter of account keeping. I should be prepared to defend the outlay in any case. Unless Chhaganlal is bodily incapable, his withdrawal from Indian Opinion is a bad sign. However I must not grumble. You who are on the spot must know what is best. The ideals we are working are common to us and you will work according to your own way. Hence the Phoenix Trust. I can only advise from this distance. Auditing, if it is to cost anything appreciable, is useless. Our books contain all the transactions. The bank-balance represents the savings from the Fund, etc. However, even in this matter you know best what should be done. Mr. Rustomjee’s warning is now superfluous as I shall not be handling the funds any more. For the Phoenix funds there are the trustees and they may, subject to the sanction of the schemers, do the needful. This exhausts the points raised by you. The amount fixed for Polak should stand until he himself feels that he can dispense with it.”22

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “If you do not speak out, who would? I value your friendship just because you always say exactly what you mean. I could not consult anyone there as to allocations because I was not there. The Phoenix allocations were discussed between us there. Relief allocations needed no discussion. Valiama Hall allocation was settled there. The £1,000 for Polak’s expenses, should he have to return to England penniless, was a matter which was fixed there but I am not able to say that it was positively discussed. But I suggest that it is again an expense about which I should not deem consultation necessary. If the community has any respect for itself, it could not send them away starving. It would be pure passive resistance relief. I would not dream about publishing it in the accounts sheet. We are not bound to disclose the names of the resisters helped. Mr. Petit’s statement was published after consultation with me. Mine was delayed at his instance. I have brought every item; including Polak’s £1,000 to the Committee’s notice. I am even going to bring to Mr. Petit’s notice your and Rustomji’s dissent. You suggest that you could not take interest which is tainted nor would you take the help offered. I congratulate you. The stronger you are the better. The allocations suggested by me were due to our collective weakness. But you will not find me weakening you if you are strong. You suggest that for Phoenix’s improvement, I would have to send you money from elsewhere. This I could not do. Even when we discussed there, it was clearly understood that the charges should come out of the passive resistance funds, as we were running Phoenix as a P. R. farm and wanted to make it more and more a refuge for indentured Indians who may be in distress. If therefore you want the help, it can only come out of the fund. I would certainly welcome any decision you may come to as to not receiving any help. The money does not belong to South Africa. The Committee here has control over it. They asked that the funds be transferred to them, subject to such allocations as I may suggest. I am now having no definite allocations but shall receive monies for you in S.A. as you there may desire from time to time. This gives the Committee here the fullest control. I shall act as the go between. As to books, you are quite wrong. Our books contain all the receipts and all disbursements. We need no audit, we owe nobody anything and no one has a legal right to ask us to do anything except the Committee. Individual subscribers may ask. Then we could satisfy. Not a penny has been yet spent which could not be brought within the scope of the fund. Relief to resisters includes Polak, Thambi and even Mr. Cachalia. I do not think we have received the loan given to him. So will it include Chhaganlal, Maganlal, Pragji, etc? It will most decidedly include Naidu’s and other passive resisters’ children. It will not include me and my family simply because our expenses are found otherwise. As I am or rather have been the controller of the funds, I have desired to remain free from personal help. But if I had no one else to help me, I should not hesitate to draw for self and children. Only then I would at least make that clear to the public. No such precaution is necessary regarding other passive resisters as I cover them. I need not discuss your proposal to invest in land, as we no longer have the funds under our control. I have cabled you regarding Chhaganlal. He seems to be breaking up. If so, he should be sent here. And unless Pragji and Imam Saheb undertake the work, I must send someone from here. All I know is this that you must continue I.O. even if you have to labour in the streets and if you burn your boats, so much the better. If you cannot, you and your family, so long as you are at Phoenix turning out the paper, will be supported at all costs. I think I have now exhausted all the material points raised by you. I mean material in view of the new state of things. Now you may all consider and let me know your decision. I have P. R. a/c to 31st Jan. If Chhaganlal is there or if Pragji can manage it, you should let me have further a/c.”23

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I forgot to mention that Valiama Hall had to go. I saw that the Committee do not like the idea. It would have sanctioned it if I had insisted, but I did not especially in view of the condition of the community there. I have your wire about Chhaganlal. Letters recently received from Chhaganlal have been alarming. And I felt that if he was not keeping well, it was better to send him here. The latest from him says that even if he was well, he could not only be spared but that his retirement would cause relief. If he can be spared, he may be sent. If you need an assistant from here, I would send after months or thereabout. I cabled too saying that audit was unnecessary. You could gain nothing by auditing especially now. If we decide not to take any public funds, our books can be only simple. All you will then have will be receipts from Indian Opinion and book sales and expenditure. What is left for Polak is earmarked. If you would not handle it there, it now could be transferred here. But I hope that you will all consider that allotment to be necessary. Valiama Hall ground may be kept or it may be sold and the proceeds returned here. Maganlal has gone to Madras to finish his Tamil studies. His wife accompanies him and also Fakiri Naidoo.”24

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “We must agree to differ as to the accounts. All I want is passive resistance expenditure after the date of the last account published and bank balance. Surely this is all in your books. I should despair if you told me that we had no passive resistance a/c in our ledgers. I know that this is not so. Will you kindly send me these items? Your conversational letter I have. It is naturally full of you as I have known you. I never doubted that you would be able to make your way among the officials by your very bluntness. The novelty of resistance may shock them at first but pleases them afterwards. Even they must get tired of ‘nodders’ if one may coin that noun. And you will have to continue to do that work whether the people appreciate it or not or rather want it or not. Appreciation need not be looked for. Do please send me all the correspondence you wish to. I promise to go through it all. Do not think that South Africa disappears from my mind. How can it? I owe much to S.A., i.e. to friendships formed there. In my moments of sadness recollection of friends working there is no small comfort. Your successes and your failures are alike matters of deepest interest to me. Is your little school still going on? How is Granny doing? Is she still as fresh as before? The very thought of her and her working away is an inspiration. Just now I am reading to the Ashram at prayer time Pilgrim’s Progress. I often think of Mrs. West’s sweet voice and want her to sing to us “When I survey the wondrous cross”! The whole of Phoenix rises before us whenever we sing our favourite hymns.”25 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “You know that my heart is with you. I will say nothing about your letter except to say that it hurts me to think that you felt so hurt. For once you have taken Mr. Rustomjee seriously. I know that you must soon after writing that letter have regained your usual gaiety and philosophic calm. In any event this is merely to say that you have the power to vote to yourself as much as you need per month. Please use it without hesitation. Funds you have there. I shall answer for you and your use of them. I see nothing wrong in your using the funds. They were sent for the struggle. You and a few others now are in the struggle which must be maintained. I hope therefore that you will not argue with me again about the rightness of the act. Imam Saheb now sees the thing properly. Mr. Petit has asked me more than once for the balance of the fund. What is the balance there now? Do please also send me the items of expenditure after the date up to which the accounts were rendered. We return only the balance which is left after providing for your losses there. It is sad to think that Polak leaves South Africa. He is a big asset. We are mad after handloom work.”26

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “We have all thought over your proposal and feel that we can no longer rely upon support from the P. R. fund. The Phoenix trustees are not all agreed upon the support being so received. The Committee here will at the most just tolerate the withdrawal of funds for sustaining Indian Opinion. And the public there will also look upon such support with strong disfavor. In the circumstances, we can only fall back upon local support or failing that reduces the paper to any extent we choose. In this matter you should have absolute control. By you, I mean you, Devi and Sam and anyone who may be sent from here. I observe that Pragji must now leave. He wants to. Bhaga too goes. Chhaganlal is ready to come over and work under you loyally. Or if you will not shoulder the responsibility, he will work the paper with your loyal co-operation. I do hope you will agree to Chhaganlal’s return. If you don’t, Chhaganlal will come with his family to work on the same terms as above. And if you do not favour Maganlal’s return, Manilal and Ramdas can be sent. They of course can only work under your directions. Manilal should find no difficulty in gradually editing the Gujarati part. For the time being, he will simply translate what you want him to. If you favour Chhaganlal’s return, cable simply ‘Chhaganlal’ and I shall know. If you want Maganlal, cable simply ‘Maganlal’. And if you want Manilal and Ramdas, cable simply ‘Manilal’. If you want only Manilal, you may cable ‘Manilal without Ramdas’. I shall write later about the accounts. We do not need to publish them now. I have only to inform Mr. Petit how we propose to deal with the balance. Transvaal Indian Women’s Association funds are not with me. They are in the balance with you. Even if you disagree, you should bank the amount due separately in consultation with Miss Schlesin and hand the receipt to her. They want it banked to bear interest. And they are right. Polak has gone to Madras. I am preparing for the Congress. I want to write on many matters, not about the press or Phoenix. But this must wait till after my return from Lucknow.”27

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “My view is that if you can turn out Indian Opinion only by removing to Town, you should suspend publication. I do not like the idea of your competing for jobs or advertisements. I think that when that time comes we shall have outlived our purpose. I would rather that you sold out Phoenix and you and Sam were engaged in some other independent work. If you can make of Phoenix something without the Paper, I shall like the idea. But if you cannot even eke out a living from agriculture at Phoenix, Phoenix should be sold. Hilda’s education can remain in your own hands. Surely some drastic steps are necessary for a due fulfillment of one’s ideals. If you cannot support yourself out of Phoenix with or without the Paper and cannot secure a decent job for yourself, I must find your maintenance from here. You will then let me know how much you will require and for how long. For I presume that you will try to secure work there. I am quite willing to have Devi here if she would come and even you if you could come alone for a time. But I know that Mrs. Pywell and perhaps Mrs. West too may not like the climate or the surroundings here. If Manilal wants to try his hand at turning out a sheet himself at any cost, he may be allowed to do it. This I know that the proposed attempt in Town must become a dismal failure. We left it because we found it unworkable. We have arrived at all the stages after careful deliberation and as they were found necessary. Your methods cannot be those of ordinary business men. You will soon tire. Why try what is foredoomed to failure? I would like to let Manilal have a hand if he will but try. I am writing to him.”28

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I do not really know what to say. I have read Ritch’s and Debeer’s letters. From their standpoint they are right. For me, you would better serve the work by being a good agriculturist. Manilal’s advice from Johannesburg does not appeal to me. He ought to be in Phoenix to manage the Gujarati portion. But, as I have said, you are the final arbiter and you should do what you think is best. So far as I am concerned the property is as much yours as mine, and so is the cause. Having said so much about Phoenix, I would like to speak to you about my activities here. The very fact that I write so little to you shows how busy I must be here. I think everybody wonders at my output of work. And nothing is of my seeking. I have taken up activities as they have come to me. In Bihar, besides watching the legislative activity, I am opening and managing schools. The teachers are as a rule married people. And both husband and wife work. We teach the village children, give the men lessons in hygiene and sanitation and see the village women, persuade them to break through the purdah and send their girls to our schools. And we give medical relief free of charge. Diseases are known and so are remedies. We, therefore, do not hesitate to entrust the work to untrained men and women provided they are reliable. For instance, Mrs. Gandhi is working at one such school and she freely distributes medicine. We have, perhaps, by this time relieved 3,000 malaria patients. We clean village wells and village roads and thus enlist villagers’ active cooperation. Three such schools have been opened and they train over 250 boys and girls under 12 years. The teachers are volunteers. Then there is the work in Gujarat. It consists in carrying out the programme set forth in the Godhra and Broach addresses. At the present moment I am trying to deal with imminent passive resistance. The activities in Gujarat are multifarious. Lastly, I am endeavouring to lead the movement for the release of the Ali Brothers. I am working on a programme for dealing with cow-protection, sanitation, national system of education, hand-weaving and acceptance of Hindi as the lingua franca of India. Of course, the Ashram and the national school continue. In all this it is my good fortune to be well assisted. This activity involves a great deal of travelling. The Ashram is beautifully situated on the banks of the Sabarmati River. We daily bathe in it. All the children can swim now. The school is under an able Principal who was a distinguished professor of the Gujarat College. The Ashram, of course, is under Maganlal’s management. I do not know what is in store for the Ashram or the school. They are at the present moment popular institutions. In all these activities I often wish for the co-operation of fellow workers there. But I know it cannot be. But, believe me, there is not a moment I do not think of one or the other of you. Many of your exploits serve as apt illustrations for me. I am building on the experience gained there. Please tell Mrs. West that she should not consider for one moment that I have forgotten her or granny. Nor have I forgotten the assurances given by me. New ties and new acquaintances cannot make me forget old ones. This letter is not for publication. I do not wish to talk publicly of my activities.”29

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “The fight is great but it taxes me to the utmost I will not discuss your latest letter; I simply want to say, “Do what you like. Phoenix and all it means are just as much yours as mine. You are on the spot. You must do what you think well. I can but advice.” You are right; my views about the vernaculars must have coloured my view about Indian Opinion. I do want it to appear in English, but I feel that if it could not be published in English it could at least be published in Gujarati. Perhaps you would have me say the reverse. It is enough for me to know that you are on the spot. My affection for you and trust in you remain undiminished. I recall many more of the touching conversations we had in Joubert Park and elsewhere. Then the question of I.O. being published in English at the very least. I was not at all nervous when I received your letter enclosing Manilal’s letter. I knew you would keep calm and take a perfectly philosophic view of the whole thing. I shall keenly watch the progress of your new and bold experiments. Please give my love to Granny & Mrs. West. I wonder how Sam has taken all this. Please ask him to write to me.”30 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “I have your undated letter from Durban expressing your keen disappointment at the absence of any news from me. I simply cannot understand it. I have written to you, Mrs. West and Devi, not many letters it is true, but enough to show you all that you are never away from my thoughts. In one of the letters I expressed my difficulties and wished how glad I should be if you were by my side. I have not left a single business letter of yours unanswered, even when I was practically on death-bed. I remember having advised Mr. Rustomjee to debit me with all the payments made to you in terms of your letter to me. I remember, too, that in one of your letters you asked me to cable to Mr. Rustomjee about funds. I refrained because at that time I felt by computation, and in this I was supported by Mahadev Desai, that Mr. Rustomjee must have received my letter. But it is likely that my letters get lost in transit and it is also likely that the posting volunteer might have carelessly lost some of my letters. For I have received complaints not only from you but from Polak, Ramdas and others, and I must write to you, what I have written to other friends, that they should bear with me and never think that I am neglectful about writing. I wish I had more leisure to write as much as and as often as I would like to but that is not vouchsafed to me at the present moment. I am writing to Mr. Rustomjee again regarding the £70. Recently I wrote to Manilal about Indian Opinion. He asked me to supply him with funds or to let him revert to advertisements and business printing. I still retain the view I held there and the more I see of the jobbery that goes on here, the indiscriminate manner in which advertisements are taken and the more I think how these advertisements, etc., are nothing but an insidious method of indirect voluntary taxation, how all this debases journalism and how it makes of it largely a business concern, I feel more and more convinced of the rightness of my view. Any way it would not be proper to blow hot and cold. Either you must make Indian Opinion a business concern and then not expect the public to take philanthropic or patriotic interest in it, or to make it merely an organ representative of Indian aspirations in South Africa and then rely entirely upon public support and goodwill. I have dissuaded Manilal from making it a business concern. I have not sent him there to do business but to render public service. I feel that Indian Opinion has served its purpose if only partially. It has brought into being several Indian presses and several Indian newspapers. They all in some shape or other somewhat serve the public. Manilal lacks the ability, through no fault of his own, for leadership and for original work. His effort, therefore, cannot be impressive. I have therefore advised him, in consultation with you and Mr. Rustomjee and consistently with the obligations to the subscribers who have already paid, to wind up Indian Opinion, to get up Phoenix, to let you have what you want of the Printing Press, to parcel out the land as you will think best and to use the income also, as you consider advisable, to bring here most part of the books unless they are wanted there for a better purpose and himself to come away with them. Ramdas has gone there primarily for business. He seems to be well fixed, well cared for and happy in the thought that he is at last earning something without doing violence to his conscience. He may stay as long as he likes. I do not think I have made one suggestion in my letter to Manilal which occurred to me possibly after I wrote to him. I make it now. If you think that you would like to add to your business, the turning out of Indian Opinion you may do so. Perhaps it would not be a bad thing. You cannot give the Gujarati portion. Give only the English portion, thus becoming a vehicle for transmission of authentic news to India and England about Indian disabilities and Indian doings in South Africa. I would like you to consider it purely as a business proposition. If you find it workable, then only elaborate my proposal. If you find that as a business proposition it is useless, dismiss it altogether from your mind. I am moving heaven and earth for getting redress about the Trade and Land Bill regarding Transvaal. But I am handicapped for want of information. Ritch has written to me, Naidu wrote to me but once, there was cablegram from Asvat on which I took immediate action but there is no reply to a cablegram I sent now nearly a fortnight ago. I am anxious to know the latest news about the Bill. Will you please collect the information and write to me? Or ask the proper parties to write? Of the doings here you should know from Young India which is practically under my charge. I wonder if you see the paper. It is being sent to Phoenix. Do please write to Devi telling her that I have written to her also fairly regularly. How is she doing? Is she in Maritzburg? Where is Mrs. Doke living now? And Mr. Phillips? Please tell Parvati that she never wrote to me again as she promised: I wonder whether she received my letter which I wrote to her months and months ago. I believe it was written when I was last in Champaran. Do you find Manilal any better towards you than before? Hilda must have grown up into a big girl. Why can’t she favour me with a line? Please remember me to Grannies. She must be a perfect wonder to all about her. And remember me also to Mrs. West and Sam. I wonder what he is doing with his gun!”31

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “My heart goes out to you in all your mental worries. I am sorry about your mother’s death. When I asked Mahadev inquiring about Devi, there was no letter from her for some time. And as she is a most regular correspondent, I grew anxious. I do read Indian Opinion when I am in the Ashram. What I wanted was what you could not give me through I.O. I am positive that I instructed Parsi Rustomjee long before my second letter. But my post going through many hands at times does miscarry. Please give Manilal a month’s notice and stop editing for him. I quite agree with you that if he has not acquired the habit of writing given now, the paper may stop. I do not still approve of job or advertisements, but as I do not want to finance Manilal, I have said he could do what he liked on his own responsibility. Mr. Andrews is no good for details. He therefore gave me only general information. But I waive your weekly letter, private or public. You will write when you can. About South Africa letter I suggested your name to the Chronicle. They will pay you if you could write. I see no harm in your accepting payment. I am immersed in work as ever. My arrest is reported to be imminent. The Ashram is increasing. Harilal is in Calcutta. His children are with me. Devdas is just now travelling with me. Chhaganlal and Maganlal are with me. Anandlal is managing the Navajivan Press. The schools and weaving are making steady progress. I wish you could see these things one day with your own hands.”32 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “The Phoenix experiment for me was a life-work. And so, if you ever come to India, you will find me amid conditions simpler than in Phoenix.”33

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “The Obliged matter is a dastardly affair. The Protector should be asked not to sanction the contract. I was going to write but I suppose the mischief is done. But certainly a letter should be written to the police inquiring why the friend was prevented and then a letter may go to the Minister of Justice. The Protector should also be written to. Could not someone still see obliged and get from him a clear statement? Why has he signed the contract? Who was present? Who interpreted? You will make sure of course of your facts in the report. You know all about the Immigration Bill now. The Council’s reply is very clever. The Council has bluffed poor Joseph and he can do nothing. Its reply regarding licenses is technically correct. It is no use writing a leader on it. That is to say we could not give an effective leader. If the deputation were plucky men, they could send an effective reply and challenge the Council on some of the matters. On this side of course, you will understand that I am still in telegraphic communication with General Smuts on the Bill. If his reply is not satisfactory, the campaign will reopen, we are all quite ready here.”34

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