every British subject desiring to plead, shall have his way to court cleared.
While this was going on the Member of Parliament for Vancouver constantly inter- fered, doing his best to inflame popular feel- ing, so as to influence the courts, and subor- dinate the course of justice to merely partisan and anti-Imperial considerations. On appeal,
and during this inflammation of popular feel- ing, in which the M.P. openly used intimida. tory language towards the courts, the decision of the court below was sustained.
There was now a conflict of the decisions, and the Sikhs desired to carry the case to the Privy Council, and offered to put up half a million dollars bail for the production of the men confined оп the Komagata Maru. They wanted their exact status in the Empire properly settled. At every turn they were defeated. At this time one of the Hindus who had gone to Ottawa at great personal trouble and expense, to lay the case before the Dominion Government, asked for an impartial investigation of the whole case. had interviews with the Minister of the In- terior and the Premier, but as a matter of course was passed on to a minor official of the Department. Exclusion at all hazards to the Empire was announced by the local politicians as the policy of the Dominion Government.
He
Here is the story of the Komagata Maru, as given by a well-known Canadian lady, Mrs. Anna Ross:-
"One would think that the decent way for the authorities to act toward these men on the Komagata Maru, who had so accommodated themselves to the Canadian rule, would be to receive them politely, and to deal with each ease fairly and squarely according to law, pass. ing those eligible, and rejecting non-eligibles. Then if the will of the Canadian people was still for shutting the door, to do so by straight statute, No Hindu need apply.' After that there would at least be no misunderstanding or
lisappointments.
But these men who had accommodated them. " selves to the Canadian rule, who at a cost to themselves of nearly $57,000.00 had come by one continuous route, who now politely asked admission as British subjects and expected it, received instead indignity after indignity. It is almost inconceivable the lengths to which official insolence went in the treatment of these strong, proud, independent men. They were not allowed to set foot on shore at all. They were not allowed to communicate with the Sikhs on shore at all. They were not allowed to communicate with their own lawyer. Even when their case for admission was in court, their lawyer, Mr. Bird, was not allowed a per- sonal interview with any of them, so that he was conducting their case in the dark. After
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the case was decided under these circumstances against them, Mr. Bird was allowed to visit them, and discovered that very important ele- ments in the case he had not understood at all, and had not presented. If this is Canadian justice, it is not British justice.
The
"When the case had been decided against them, they expressed their willingness to leave, only requesting that they should be supplied with provisions for the return voyage. immigration authorities refused provisions, but tried to compel the captain of the ship to sail at once. Though they had been unnecessarily delayed by the authorities for six weeks; these officials endeavored to force them to commence their long voyage without provisions. This roused the man and the soldier in these Sikhs, and they prevented the captain from obeying. A hundred and seventy-five policemen and the stream from a fire-hose only roused them the more. They beat back the policemen with fire- bricks and lumps of coal. Then in the dignity of her might, Canada ordered the cruiser 'Rainbow' to proceed alongside the
Koma-
gata Maru' and compel submission. By this time the inhuman attempt to send 350 men across the Pacific starving had been abandoned, and offers of abundant provisions were made. But by this time the fighting blood of the Sikhs was up. They knew they had been barbarously treated by representatives of the Canadian Government, and they were resolved to put no trust in any offers now made to them, but just to fight and die, if need be.
"That was the position Canada found her- self in July 22nd, 1914. The guns of the 'Rainbow' were trained on the little 'Koma- gata Maru.' The Sikhs on board her had used timber to construct barricades, and the black- smiths among them were working at fever heat making swords and pikes.
The Government
then in extremity sought the good offices of the Sikhs on shore, and though they had refused to allow them intercourse with the men on the 'Komagata Maru' before, they were now glad to have a deputation of shore Sikhs endeavor to convince them that the Government this time was really acting in good faith, to accept the offers of provisions, and leave. They were finally successful, and the little ship saile
away.
"It is a sad story. It is a shameful story. They could at least have been treated courte- ously and given a chance to plead their own cause fairly, cren if the law had refused them admission in the end."
It may be well to mention here that the degradation of British prestige by dema- goguery assuming the functions of authority, was made shamefully apparent to other nations. During the trouble several Japanese cruisers appeared, and the politicians appealed to
Ottawa to request that foreign crews should board a vessel in a British harbor, subdue by arms British passengers, and forcibly escort them across the ocean. What transpired in this connection, we know not, but the whole thing is so singular that I am sometimes tempted to think that only an Oriental mind can grasp the effect produced on the shrewd, diplomatie Japanese nation of this attempt on the part of our esteemed friends, the politicians. I am sure I shall be forgiven for calling attention to this matter, for my excuse is that native- born members of the Empire in Asia, have a stake in its standing among the Asiatic peoples, even though in British Columbia, neither edu- cation, nor property, nor medals won by valor for the Empire, can procure a Hindu a vote, though two Hindus have sat in the Imperial House of Commons.
Of the plight of the men on board the Koma- gata Maru, their enforced confinement within a vessel for months, and the inevitable effect of the news in India, I do not now speak. But it is not to be denied that politicians and their minions usurped the essential authority of the law, and caused British subjects on a vessel in a British harbor to be treated as none have been treated with impunity within sight of a British shore, since the slave trade was suppressed.
In this connection it is well to mention here that the Government had passed an order-in- council prohibiting the entry to British Co- lumbia of immigrants of the laboring classes. They knew very well if European immigrants were to come to British Columbia they would not try to enter it through B. C. ports, but by ports on the Atlantic coast. In all legisla tion there is a principle of equity and justice, and laws have to be male in such a way that people can, under or linary circum- stances, fulfil them. Whilst the Komagata Maru was lying off Vancouver harbor, the British subjects on board her had the mortifica- tion of seeing over five hundred Chinamen land without a hindrance raised. I make no in- vidious comparison between them and my own countrymen, but will quote from the ex- clusionist Victoria, B.C., Times' account of the Komagata Maru passengers on the day of their arrival:-
When the Times' launch slipped along- side the steamship the men were lined along the bulwarks of the forward and after wells. They presented a very brilliant spectacle as the many different colored turbans moved quickly and silently about. The men were dressed in various colors. There were some in complete European outfits, others wearing riding breeches and helmets, numbers with Mohammedan red caps pressed tightly down on their thick black hair, still others in native costumes, and a few wearing Khaki uniforms,
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which they had used when serving in the army.
The majority of the men have served in the British army, and they are a tall and handsome lot. They seem superior to the class of Hindus which have already come to this province. They stand very erect and move with an alert action, All their suits were well pressed and their turbans spot- lessly clean. The most of them know a little of the English language, and some of them converse in it remarkably well. Of the 376 who comprise the party, but 21 have been in Canada before. In the party are students, merchants . . . in fact represent every class in India."
As showing the spirit which governed the treatment of these men in the name of the Canadian people, I may quote further:-
"This morning a party of local Hindus left here in a launch and attempted to go along- side the Komagata Maru. Rev. Mr. Hall was in the craft. Their intentions were not stated. The patrol boat overhauled the in- truders, and a severe reprimand was given them by Dr. Milne, the immigration agent. None of the Hindus is desirous of making his escape. They all wish to go through with the matter in a perfectly open manner.
Mrs.
Elizabeth Ross Grace last summer wrote regarding the Sikhs to a church paper, "Your last issue referring to the Komagata Maru incident, says: 'Gurdit Singh can now write: Veni, vidi, non vicialmost Cæsar."
Permit me to say that it is a deep and disturbing conviction that he can quote Cæsar exactly. He got what he wanted. Those whom he
cared represented nothing for the poor men who hoped to enter the fair Dominion. But they did want to force Canada to a clearly defined position.
Thus far Canada has contented herself with indirect methods of exclusion. None of the three Orders-in-Council which discriminate But they against the Hindu mention him. accomplish the work of exclusion just the Now, however, Canada has come out plainly with troops and warship. The time- expired soldiers in the ship's company were given indisputable evidence of the lengths Canada would go to keep them out. Why tarry longer. He got what he came for. Imperial and Christian considerations alike should have made this affair impossible. But there was dominant the little Canada spirit. It is splendid now, to come to the aid of the Motherland. Our brave men and our ship loads of flour mean much in this hour of need. But it would mean vastly more to the Empire if the Komagata Maru incident could be obliterated. Instead, it is a living, growing. disintegrating force.
same.
"But they (the Hindus) are declared un- desirable cruelly suggestive description, Lecause positive, yet yague. It seems strange that the Government of British Columbia is
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