Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/140

 THE CbNtHMPT CAS* tti amiability of his character, the Brilliancy erf hfs oratory* and above all by his public services as an exemplary school-master, an active Municipal Commissioner and as a great agitator and worker in the field of political reform. On the day when he was imprisoned, some four thousand persons asssembled outside the High Court, and were refused admission or* the ground that they would create a row there. To avoid these crowds, Babu Surendranath was conveyed to the jail by atr unusual route and under unusual precautions. Wha* afterwards happened we shall describe m the sober* words of the now defunct newspaper, Tks Ifidian Ente pire. ', "We have, since the memorable 5th May, talked the matter- aver with the oldest that Eve amongst us,*-tluch whose mer? mory carries £hem back to the days of Lord WilKanr- BentinolS aad> we have been assured by them flrat the agitation whidr" has followed Babti Surendra Nath Rmerji's fmpnsottoistib has- been quite unprecedented. At first,' ^eopTe thought *tnat tbe agitation was confined to those who, to' use an Anglo-Indian contemporary's humorous language, "can successfully plead minority in- a Ciril Court." But, every hour, the agitation* began to swell, till it resembled a' wild fire, and spread all oveiK the length and breadth of the vast peninsula, among all shades of different positions in society. It is no> exaggeration td say : that there is scarcely any remarkable town in all India tbathajr J not echoed the Sound of sorrow, sympathy and indication ; and", '. we are "strictly within the limits of truth when we say that there is scarcely an educated community in India that has not. contributed its mite to swell the universal chorus, nay, the masses* proverbially inert and indifferent ad to the outside world, have spoken and made signs. Tfce»» are murks' of soiv row and joy, despair and hope^ determinatfctt and earne'afcriepfr ! on every JnteHigent face-; t&e-naHrv* Calcutta; & aff Bustle 1 afod J
 * f creeds aud castes, and compassed mett of different ages- and '