Page:A Nation in Making.djvu/54

the dissentients and actively promoted the establishment of the Sadharan Brahmo-Samaj. An ardent lover of what he believed to be the truth, when he took up a cause he threw his whole soul into it. His co-operation in the organization of the new Association was of great value to us; and so long as health and strength were spared to him he worked in the cause of the Association with an energy and devotion, the memory of which, now that he is dead, his friends cherish with affectionate gratitude.

After a year’s preparation, the Indian Association was established on July 26, 1876, The name was the subject of anxious consideration among our friends. Pundit Iswar Chunder Vidyasagar and Mr. Justice Dwarakanath Mitter, while still a member of the Bar, had formed the idea of organizing a similar Association which was to be the voice and the organ of the middle classes. The idea had to be given up as it did not at the time meet with much support; but the name they had chosen for their proposed organization was the Bengal Association. We thought that such a name, or anything like it, would restrict the scope of our work. For the idea that was working in our minds was that the Association was to be the centre of an all-India movement. For even then, the conception of a united India, derived from the inspiration of Mazzini, or, at any rate, of bringing all India upon the same common political platform, had taken firm possession of the minds of the Indian leaders in Bengal. We accordingly resolved to call the new political body the Indian Association.

The inaugural meeting was marked by an incident that deserves a passing notice. Babu Kali Churn Banerjee, who, next to the Rev. K. M. Banerjee, was the foremost Indian Christian leader of his generation, and who subsequently became President of the Indian Association, opposed its formation, chiefly on the ground that a similar Association, under the name of the Indian League, had been established a few months before. I replied to his arguments, and the public meeting ratified the resolution creating the Association.

The Indian League did useful work. Babu Sisir Kumar Ghose of the Amrita Bazar Patrika, Dr. Sambhoo Chunder Mookerjee of the Rais and Rayyet, and Babu Motilal Ghose, were its moving spirits. It has ceased to exist and some of its leading members have joined the Indian Association.

I attended the inaugural meeting of the Indian Association under the shadow of a great domestic bereavement. At eleven o’clock