Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/139

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LIFE OF BABU KJRENDBA KTATH BANERJEK temp* against Judges of the High Court commit- ted by Mr. William Tayler, the then Commissioner pf Patna, and the Editor of the Englishman Cap- tain Fenwick, as also in another case reported in page .79 of Hyde's Report, apology was not only suggested to be made but accepted, the same precedent ought to be a guide in this matter too which was of a less se- rious character than the cases cited. As regards the Printer, Babu Ram Kumar Dey, he was left off, Babu ; Surrendra Nath having taken the entire responsibi- lity pf the publication on his shoulders. The sen- ' tence of imprisonment he took with calmness and shewed much self-possession. He knew beforehand what the verdict would be in his case and was fully prepared for it. He had come from his home pt Manirampur that morning fully prepared for the punishment of imprisonment. He had brought down with him in his bag his favouritebooks and the necessary articles of clothing &c. not omitting his brush and comb, so that on the afternoon when his brothers went to see him in jail they found that he was provided with every necessary article ( towels &c ) with the excep- tion of the bedding which Babu Surendranath was under the impression the jail authorities would provide frim with. He left the High Court by the Judge's entrance and not in the usual prison van, but in company with one Mr. Browne, one of the bailiffs, from the strand side and arrived safely in the Presi-. dency Jail without the vast crowd of men assembled outside the High Court knowing whether he had gone ' or not. From the very day, when he was summoned to answer a charge of libel, down to the time of his in- carceration, national feeling was roused, as Kristo Das put it t "to its inmost depth." Great was the excite- ment at the time, and when the news of his incarce- ration was known, the educated Natives of India . expressed regret and sympathy for him; for Surendra Nath had already wpn their affection and respect by the