Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/130

 HIS CAREER AS A CIVIL SERVANT AND HIS DIFFICULTIES. 121 charge which Mr. Prinsep and his Colleagues found against him ? Nor is this all. The whole case ma? be said to lie in- a nutshell. Babu Surendra Nath passed the order in the case complained of, with a view to avoid the necessity of giving an explanation in regard to the case which had been pending for a long time. That is the alleged motive for the transfer of the case to the Ferari list His explanation was that he knew nothing about the order, and that he signed it along with other orders. That his explanation must be accepted as correct is clear from what followed. Called upon within a short time of this order to furnish an explanation as to why another case was pending, and not having the papers before him he furnished an ex-, planation with regard to this case. Now if he had passed the ferari order with the full knowledge of its effect, and with the deliberate intention of avoiding explanation, how came he to give an explanation about this very case, in regard to which by reason of the ferari order no explanation was needed ? The mistake in our judgment is conclusive evidence of his innocence. The most eminent Hindoo gentlemen of the time took precisely this view of the matter, and among others Raja Degumber Mitter who wrote a statement which is printed among a batch of papers which were circu- lated at the time in connection with the case. Be that as it may, and considering this matter at this distance of time when we are free from the excitement of the case, it will be admitted even by moderate members of the Civil Service that the order for his dismissal was ex- ceedingly cruel and hard. Looking at the matter from the broad point of public interests, we rejoice that Su- rendra Nath was dismissed. The public interests have thereby been greatly benefitted. If Surendra Nath had been in the Civil Service, he would probably have been a distinguished Judge or a distinguished Magistrate ; but he would hot have been the eminent journalist, the great orator, the devoted political reformer, the fore- 16