Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/24

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
ANECDOTES.
15

Although Raja Degumber was a staunch supporter of the British Indian Association, some of whose members looked with jealousy upon this new aspirant for journalistic distinction, he never hesitated to accord his support to the advancement of the best interests of the Amrita Bazar Patrika.

Instances of such magnanimity are rare in these days. Here was one of the founders of the British Indian Association pushing up an editor whose paper was rising as a rival of the Hindoo Patriot, the organ of the Association which represented the interests of his own class. The foundations of the power which the Patrika has subsequently built up as an organ of Native opinion, were thus laid; and to Raja Degumber Mitter is to be attributed not a little of the credit of placing in the possession of educated Indians, a journal which has done such staunch and invaluable services to this country.

THE HON'BLE KRISTODAS PAL AND BABU DIGUMBER MITTER.

The late Hon'ble Kristo Das Pal once told the biographer himself that, one night, at about 2 am., he was all on a sudden awakened from his sleep by his servants. On enquiry, he came to know that Raja Degumber had sent a note to him asking for a name or something of that kind which the Raja had forgotten.

The note was readily answered, and the Raja was satisfied. This circumstance is an evidence of the close friendship that existed between Raja Degumber Mitter and the Hon'ble Kristo Das Pal, both in private relations and in public life. The late editor of the Hindoo Patriot was renowned for the strength of his memory, and was always referred to by his associates in politics whenever any fact was the subject of question. Digumber Mitter and he were the two master minds whose union was the strength of the then political life of Bengal.