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hereditary bond of friendship subsisted between his family and mine. His brother, Maharaj Kumar Neel Krishna, and he were in one sense my political pupils. They early joined the Indian Association, took an interest in its proceedings, and developed a considerable aptitude for political work. Maharaj Kumar Neel Krishna, whose sincerity of purpose and nobility of character had raised high hopes in the minds of his friends, died early, to the great loss of his country, and the regret of his friends and of those who knew him. Raja Benoy Krishna, with intervals of interruption, followed in his brother's footsteps. He took a leading part in the agitation against the Calcutta Municipal Bill of 1897. He was the founder of the Parisad, or Academy of Bengalee Literature, and of that philan- thropic institution known as the Benevolent Society. For me he had always a feeling of genuine kindness and affection. He helped me to start the daily Bengalee, in raising funds for the Ripon College building, and in all undertakings in which I sought his help. With the limitations imposed by his position and the traditions of his family, which rendered opposition to Government a matter of considerable difficulty, he was a valuable member of the Bengalee community, and his death in the prime of life was a grievous loss to me and the many interests with which he was associated.

The Indian National Congress was to be held in Calcutta in 1896, and we had heavy work before us. A Reception Committee was formed with Sir Romesh Chunder Mitter as its Chairman. It was a great thing to have secured the services of the eminent judge, who had now retired. He needed no persuasion, no pressure to join the Congress ranks. His sympathies with us were open and undisguised, though, like the late Mr. Justice Ranade, he was not able while still on the judicial Bench to associate himself closely with the Congress movement or to influence its deliberations. As Chairman of the Reception Committee, Sir Romesh Chunder Mitter made a notable speech. He asked me for some notes, which I gladly supplied him with; but his speech was his own in every sense, bearing in every line the impress of his views and of his personality. One of the most notable declarations made by him (and coming from him it had a value all its own) was that the educated com- munity represented the brain and conscience of the country, and were the legitimate spokesmen of the illiterate masses, the natural custodians of their interests. To hold otherwise, said Sir Romesh Chunder Mitter, would be to presuppose that a foreign administra- tor in the service of the Government knows more about the wants