He asked Joseph Chamberlain, the British Colonial Secretary, to reconsider his position on this bill.[2] Though unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. He helped found the Natal Indian Congress in 1894,[59][4] and through this organisation, he moulded the Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force. In January 1897, when Gandhi landed in Durban, a mob of white settlers attacked him[75] and he escaped only through the efforts of the wife of the police superintendent.