Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/108

 and of the Missionary College at Serampur. Schools also were founded at Chinsurah and Benares.

The reader has already been told that the Hindu College was established under the joint exertions of David Hare, Raja Rammohan Roy and Baidyanath Mukerjee, backed by the Chief Justice, Sir Hyde East. After these four gentlemen had come to the conclusion that there should be in Calcutta an English College for the education of Hindus, one of them, Baidyanath Babu, went round collecting the opinions of the public. They gladly embraced the project; and on the 14th of May 1816 a meeting of the chief Hindus of the city was convened in Sir Hyde’s house. At this meeting, matters went smoothly for some time; when, someone having mentioned that Raja Rammohan Roy was one of the chief projectors of the college, and suggested that he should be a member of the Managing Board, all the Hindu gentlemen present passionately exclaimed, “Then we will have nothing to do with the proposed college!” — so greatly was the Raja hated for obeying the voice of his conscience rather than man. Sir Hyde did not know what to do. He was in a dilemma. To offend these magnates was to aim a death-blow at the project, while to exclude Rammohan from the Managing Committee would be discourteous in the extreme. At a loss to decide his course, he consulted Mr David Hare, who extricated him from the difficulty, saying, “Sir Hyde, there is no cause for anxiety. Rammohan will, on learning the feelings of these gentlemen, withdraw his name from the Committee.” Mr Hare was right in his conjecture; for no sooner had he told his friend what had happened than the latter said, “What, shall I insist on my name being in the Committee and thus jeopardise the noble scheme?” And immediately after this, he