Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/89

 80 LIFE OF HimiSH CHUNDER HUKHEBJEE. The late lamented Babu Sree Gopal Pal Chowdry] Zemindar of Ranaghat and the father of Babu Surendra Nath Pal Chowdry in his deposition before thi Commission said in answer to the - question put b| Babu Chundra Mohun Chatterjea, the representative of the B. I. Association on the Commission! — whjj did he give lease of his property to the planters— "that my first reason is the inequality of the laws ; the planters enjoy equal rights with us, but they are noi amenable to the local courts. For similar offences Ze4 mindars would be imprisoned, when the Europeans would be fined. Besides the officials usually help thd planters ; therefore we are all anxious to avoid colli«j sion with planters, to prevent affrays and disgrace] Besides, I know, for certain, ' if an European Assist tant planter who holds a lease from us, is summoned into Court, he will get a chair near the Magistrate^ while we, the Zemindars, who created the lease, will have to stand at a distance. " (Vide p. oa Minutes o( the evidence taken before the Indigo Commission at{ Krishnaghur.) It was at this hideous and appalling crisis of an agrarian rising of the entire mass of the agricultural people of Bengal, that Hurish Chunder came to their rescue and /ought their battles, almost single handed in the public press. Week alter week, month after month, he, with marvellous courage, thorough com- prehensiveness and grasp of the intricate relations between the ryots and planters, dwelt in the columns of the Hindoo Patriot, on the manifold grievances and hardships endured by the former. The scene of the conflict is now changed from the wide plains of Ben- gal to the forum of public opinion as repre- sented in the Press. In a constitutional form of Government such as that we have the privilege of enjoying, the momentous issues involved in this hideous conflict were to be decided by the unbiased public opinion created and moulded by the Press. The.