Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/96

80 reluctant to leave Krishnagar where he had only so recently returned, he welcomed the opportunity of again enjoying the society of his friends in Calcutta.

Once more Ramtanu was in close touch with the great movements that were rapidly changing the condition of life and society in Bengal. These were eventful years. The mutiny of 1857, after a brief period of anxiety, had passed, leaving the British government stronger and more firmly rooted than before, while the transfer of the Company to the Crown had paved the way for the proclamation of the Indian Empire which was to come twenty years later. The indigo disturbances were rousing the keenest interest, the Hindu Patriot, that fore-runner of the power of the Press in Bengal, entering with zest into the controversy. Young Bengal was producing some of her first literary men. Ishvar Chandra Gupta, the poet, followed by Michæl Madhu Sudhan Dutt, Haris Chandra Mukherjee, editor of the Hindu Patriot, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the novelist, Dinanbandhu Mitter, the dramatist, were proving themselves redoubtable champions of the new learning, while Keshub Chandra Sen was already beginning to make his mark as a reformer and as the refounder of the Brahmo Samaj.

Ramtanu's stay at Rassapagla, however, was short and he was transferred to Barisal as Head Master of the Zilla school there. This appointment he held