Gandhi took heart from the fact that British officials in India tended to side with his people in South Africa. A leading member of the Indian Civil Service had chastised the Transvaal Government for placing members of an ‘ancient and orderly civilization’ on a par with ‘uncivilized African labourers’.63 A second ICS man told a delegation from Natal that ‘the Indian is not on a level with the kafir; he belongs to a higher class. The Indian trader is almost as advanced as ourselves.’64
