Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/22

10 long distracted country and it was his keen endeavour to awaken his fellow-countrymen to the advantages that it offered them, and to raise them, moraly [sic] and mentally, from the slough of despond into which they had fallen.

It was in 1815 that Ram Mohan founded the Atmiya Sabha, the Friendly Association, the first Society of its kind in Bengal. It was a development of the informal gatherings for reading and discussion which he had long held privately in his own house, and its object was mental, moral and spiritual improvement. It met once a week for recitation and reading of the Hindu sacred books and at its gatherings were to be found most of the more ardent younger spirits of the day in Calcutta. From this small beginning came great events. Gradually it was borne in upon Ram Mohan Roy and his little circle of followers that the first and most urgent need of their fellow-countrymen was a more modern system of education, adapted to the needs of modern conditions, which in the last half century had so completely changed the face of Bengal. After many discussions a practical scheme was determined upon. An English College for the education of Hindus in English and western Science should be forthwith started in Calcutta. Gaining the sympathy of such man as David Hare, the one-time watchmaker who had so zealously espoused the cause of education in Bengal, Sir Hyde East, the Chief Justice, Baidyanath