them, and coloured people also got the benefit of it more or less. With the coming of the officers from Asia, came also its autocracy, and the habits that the autocrats had imbibed there. In South Africa there was a kind of responsible government or democracy, whereas the commodity imported from Asia was autocracy pure and simple; for the Asiatics had no responsible government, there being a foreign power governing them. In South Africa the Europeans were settled emigrants. They had become South African citizens and had control over the departmental officers. But the autocrats from Asia now appeared on the scene, and the Indians in consequence found themselves between the devil and the deep sea.
I had a fair taste of this autocracy. I was first summoned to see the chief of the department, an officer from Ceylon. Lest I should appear to exaggerate when I say that I was “summoned” to see the chief, I shall make myself clear. No written order was sent to me. Indian leaders often had to visit the Asiatic officers. Among these was the late Sheth Tyeb Haji Khan Muhammad. The chief of the office asked him who I was and why I had come there.
“He is our adviser,” said Tyeb Sheth, “and he has come here at our request.”
“Then what are we here for? Have we not been appointed to protect you? What can Gandhi know of the conditions here?” asked the autocrat.
Tyeb Sheth answered the charge as best he could: “Of course you are there. But Gandhi is our man. He knows our language and understands us. You are after all officials.”
The sahib ordered Tyeb Sheth to fetch me before him. I went to the sahib in company with Tyeb Sheth and others. No seats were offered, we were kept standing.