Gandhi's first success

It was late in the evening when the train pulled into Pretoria. There was nobody to meet Gandhi at the station, so he had to spend the night in a hotel.

The next day a friend moved Gandhi to a house where he lived as a lodger. There he began his study of the Abdulla law suit. Even while he was engaged in it, he found time to call a meeting of the Indians in Pretoria.

This he did with the help of Tyeb Haji Khan Muhammad, an influential Indian merchant. Only a handful of Indians attended it. It was the first time that Gandhi had addressed a meeting.

“There is too much division among us, “he said, “Why should we be kept apart by differences in birth, family, caste and religion? Let us form a league representing every group and keep the government informed of our difficulties and our needs”.

The audience listened to him with great interest. It was decided to hold regular meetings of all the Indians in Pretoria.

Meanwhile, Gandhi was entrusted with the task of translating into English all the correspondence exchanged between Dada Abdulla & co and the rival party. After studying all the facts, Gandhi was convinced that his clients’ claim was just, He knew, however, that if the case was taken to court it would drag on for a long time, so he called together representatives of both the parties.

“Why don’t you choose a good man, whom you both trust, to arbitrate between you?” he said.

The representatives listened to him with great attention. They were astonished at this new idea he put forward. This young man was not the kind of lawyer they were familiar with, but they appreciated his stand and agreed to his suggestion.

An arbitrator was appointed, and he gave his decision in favor of Gandhi’s clients, Dada Abdulla & co.

Although they had won, Gandhi persuaded his clients to be lenient with their opponent. They agreed not to demand the money due to them all at once, but to accept payment in easy instilments spread over a long period. Both parties were happy over the settlement.

Gandhi’s first success as a lawyer was not a crushing victory over an opponent, but the triumph of good sense and humanity.