Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/42

30 minds of the orthodox by degrees to this step, and that his friends might in the meantime increase in numbers and confidence. He now judges that the time is come and that the public mind is equal for the exploit. The good which this excellent and extraordinary man has already effected by his writings and example cannot be told. But for his exertions sati would be in full vigour at the present day and the influence of bigotry in all its current force. He is withal one of the most modest men I had ever met with. It is no small compliment to such a man that even a Governor General like the present, who, though a man of the most honest intentions, suspects everybody and trusts no body, and who knows that Ram Mohan Roy greatly disapproves of many of the acts of Government should have shown him so much respect as to furnish him with introductions to friends of rank and political influence in England.'

He was careful, even when breaking so far with Brahmanical tradition as to cross the sea, to observe the laws of caste. He took with him on board the Albion by which he sailed in November the 19th, 1830, two Hindu servants and two cows to supply him with milk, and throughout the voyage and during his stay in England he endeavoured to continue the strict Brahmanical observances which he had always carefully maintained.

Ram Mohan's three years in England were fraught with far-reaching results. His journey to Europe