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was presided over by the Chief Justice, the late Sir Richard Garth. I had moved from Calcutta to Barrackpore in 1880 and was living there at the time. I came down to attend the High Court that morning from my residence at Barrackpore. I told my wife. when taking leave of her that I was likely to be sent to prison, and I came prepared for it with my bedding and the books that I wanted to read during my enforced leisure.

I was in Court by about half past ten. The Court premises and the environments were swarming with a surging crowd; and a large body of police, European and Indian, were in attendance. The student community had mustered in strong force, and among them I noticed some who rose to high distinction as servants of the Crown. In the demonstration that followed the passing of the sentence they took a leading part in a fashion common among young men all over the world, smashing windows and pelting the police with stones. One of those rowdy youths was Ashutosh Mukherjea, subsequently so well known as a judge of the High Court and as Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University. Another young man who was rowdy and broke the law was sent to prison for a week. His cell in the Presidency Jail was opposite mine; and every day he would make it a point to catch my eye in the early hours of the morning and salute me with a pranam. The young man, I understand, afterwards became a Sub-Registrar. Neither the Government nor he was the worse for this episode in his life. The mistake that is so often committed is to magnify such incid- ents and read into them a purpose and a meaning that they do not bear. Rowdyism of this kind committed now by a young man would, I fear, condemn him to lifelong exclusion from the service of Government. The struggle for equal rights had then just begun, and official feeling was perhaps somewhat more generous and less unrelenting than now. There are, however, happily growing signs of a return to the old days.

But from the streets adjoining the High Court let me turn to the Court-room where the judges were to assemble. It was densely crowded. Not an inch of space was left on the floor or in the galleries. I had to elbow my way along with my counsel. It was past eleven o'clock; but the judges had not yet come. They were closeted in the Chief Justice's room in close conference. We came to know afterwards what the conference was about. There was an eager discussion about the sentence to be passed. The majority of the judges, and they were Europeans, were for sentencing me to