Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/93

Rh continued to occupy for four years. Here immediately after his public renunciation of Hinduism he was subjected to much persecution from orthodox Hindus. No servant would stay with him, and he and his wife were often compelled to do all the menial work of the house themselves. Some of his friends, seeing his distress, urged him to yield on small points, such as readopting the paita, which would have made him outwardly conform and would have enabled him to be received again among the orthodox. There can be no doubt that the smallest sign of yielding would have been welcomed by the opposite party which fully realised Ramtanu's influence and how great a danger he was to the faith to which they still clung. But Ramtanu steadfastly refused to yield. He would not purchase ease and immunity from persecution by means of a lie, by conforming outwardly while inwardly he did not believe. He was content to abide by what he had done, consoled by the knowledge that he had done only what he thought to be right.

In 1854 came the inauguration of the new educational policy of government. The Court of Directors sent out a despatch, said to have been drawn up by John Stuart Mill, which directed that the Governor-General should establish an Educational Department as a separate Department of the Government of India, that a University should be established in each of the Presidency cities, and that new schools