64 THE SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN QUESTION not be possible for him to give any assurance that legis- lation on the lines indicated by him would be introduced at the next session Mr. Gandhi thereupon replied on 28th September:-— Dear Mr Gorges,--1 do not know that I am justihed in writing this letter to you, but, as you have been personally solicitous about the non·revival of passive~ resistance, and as, in the course of my conversations with you, I have so often told you that I have nothing to withhold from the Government, I may as well in- form you of what is now going on. I wrote to you from Phoenix in reply to your last letter, and if you have not yet replied to my com- munication but intend to do so, I would suggest your sending your reply to my Johannesburg address, as I shall be here for some time atleast. The campaign has started in earnest. As you know, sixteen passive resistors, including four women, are already serving threifmonths ’ imprisonment with hard. labour. The resistors here were awaiting my arrival and the activity here will commence almost immediately I cannot help saying that the points on which the struggle has re-started are such that the Government might gracefully grant them to the community. But what I would like to impress upon the Government is the gravity of the step we are about to take. I know that it is fraught with danger. I know also that. once taken, it may be difficult to control the spread of the movement beyond the limits one may set. I know also what responsibility lies on my shoulders in advising such a momentous stop, but I feel that it is not possible for me to refrain from advising a step which I consider
