Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/119



propose in this chapter to illustrate the processes by which a new epoch in the political, social, and educational history of Bengal was introduced during the twenty years following 1825.

It is known to every reader of history that the English had come to this country as merchants, and that as merchants they had conquered it. Even when they had virtually become the masters of India, they were governed and guided by the purely mercenary spirit, the spirit of making money by hook or by crook; and it took some time to obliterate this stain.

In the early history of British India there was a class of officers under the East India Company called factors, whose business it was to superintend the Company’s factories, and the purchases and sales made in its name, to keep accounts, and in general promote to its mercantile interests. When, in 1765, the Company was entrusted with the civil administration of the country, these factors became the collectors of revenue; and the chief feature that marked them was their desire to enrich themselves in every way they could. Having no love for the people, they screwed money out of them by fair means or foul; and did nothing for the benefit of the millions over whom it had pleased Providence to place them, because it never entered their minds that they were responsible for the comforts or discomforts of those under them. Their