Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/168

144 for a more important post. His knowledge and industry attracting the attention of the officials of the Society, he was appointed a clerk in the office. Later he became native secretary, and continued to rise step by step, his capability and activity keeping pace with each new advance, until he eventually rose to be a member of the Council of the Asiatic Society whose service he had first entered as a type-setter on eight rupees a month. His abilities becoming widely recognised, he was offered the responsible and distinguished post of Treasurer of the Calcutta Mint. His success in this post led to the Dewanship of the Bank of Bengal with an income, of 2,000 Rs. a month and an assured and influential position in public life. Unspoilt by his marvellous success, his strenuous efforts for the welfare of his fellow-countrymen kept pace with his own advancement. In the establishment of the Hindu College in 1817, and the Sanskrit College in 1824, he took a keen interest, while to promote the acquisition of English by his countrymen he entered upon and carried through the great labour of producing a dictionary in English and Bengali, which Dr. Marshman, the celebrated Serampore Missionary, spoke of as 'the fullest, most valuable work of its kind which we possess and which will be the most lasting monument of Ram Kamal Sen's industry, zeal and erudition.' His work on behalf of education was supplemented by exertions in the cause of sanitation on