Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/261

Rh by its importation of no less than forty thousand tons of rice, of which even the most generous distribution was unable to dispose of scarcely half. It was the first great natural calamity on such a scale with which the British Government had had to deal and bitter as the experience was it led to the organised measures of famine relief which have coped so effectively with similar calamities in more recent times. Throughout all the anxious days of 1866 Jotindra Mohan loyally supported every scheme of Government relief and himself took energetic personal measures to lessen the distress among his own tenants.

From this time onwards Jotindra Mohan Tagore figured largely in the public eye. In 1870 he was appointed a member of the Bengal Legislative Council by Sir William Grey who in the following,year recommended him to the Government of India as deserving some mark of distinction for his valuable services. "Babu Jotindra Mohan is a man of great enlightenment," he wrote in making the recommendation, "and has had a thoroughly good English education. He is one of the leading members of the native community, is of unexceptional private character and is held by his fellow-countrymen in the highest respect. He is a useful member of the Council of the Lieutenant-Governor and takes a deep and thoughtful interest in the progress of the country. He has always been