Unlike some other political enthusiasts, included in this series, Bannerjea has, from the beginning been quite untrammelled by conservative social tradition or narrow religious orthodoxy. Though Hindu to the back-bone, Bannerjea has always appreciated deeply the beautiful and inspiring teach ings and ethics of Christianity, and being a life-long member of that progressive Hindu denomination called the Brahma Samaj, has ever insisted on the need for maintaining a conciliatory attitude towards other religions. Besides, he has been just as unrelent ing and unintermittent in his attempts at reforming the Hindu religion, as he has been in insisting that the fresh breath of British Liberalism may blow on the surface of the stagnant waters of bureaucracy. He married a wife of his own choice, who fully entered into the spirit of his life-work, and to whom he showed the spontaneous loyalty that springs from a happy and suitable selection. His sense of public duty may be judged from the interesting little incident that on the day when his heart was filled with a sense of utter bereavement over his wife's death he pulled himself together and dictated his usual leader for The Bengalee newspaper. His general attitude towards social reform may be summed up in the brief excerpt that we take from The Bengalee : " We have worshipped the goddess of Sakti (i.e., energy) for centuries ; how is it that through those very centuries we have remained so weak and helpless as a nation-? We are the devout wor shippers of Sarasvati ' (the goddess of learning), and at the same time have received a scant share of her blessings. The priests who are the monopolists of the religious rites and ministrations are for the most part as innocent of Vedic knowledge at the present day as the ' Sudra ' was in the days when the gates of knowledge were shut against him by the iron rules of caste. We offer our devotions to ' Lakhshmi ' (the goddess of wealth) every recurrent year ; and we remain none the less a nation of paupers.
" The orthodox Hindu makes a fetish of certain rules of hygiene formulated by his ancestors in the dim past ; he regards it as sin, for instance, to take his meals without bathing, or to remain in unwashed clothes for more than a day ; but with all his religious devotion to the traditional rules of cleanliness, he betrays a strange indifference to the principles of sanitation evolved by modern science. . . . It requires little reasoning to convince oneself that the extreme conservatism of the orthodox section of the Hindu community . . . which looks upon the least modification of existing institutions as a profanity and desecration is necessarily the negation of progress." Mr. Bannerjea came into touch with the champions of British Liberalism, during the formative years of undergraduate life in London, and the influence exercised on his mind by such illustrious Liberals as Gladstone, Bright, Cobden and others, during these impressionable years, • has produced in him a men tality that is at once friendly disposed towards the great traditions of democracy and freedom in England, and is suspicious of the secret intrigues and the intricate diplomatic juggleries practised by bureaucratic governments. Professor Henry
Morley, of University College, London, took an especial interest in Bannerjea while the latter was, in 1869, qualifying for the I.C.S. competitive examination in London. Bannerjea's gratitude for the numerous little acts of kindness shown by the professor was quite enthusiastic and forged links of affection for England. Like the late Sir Pheroz Shah Mehta, Gokhale and others, Bannerjea would seriously read—" devour " may be the right word—best English masterpieces, not simply to acquire cultured style, but also to imbibe ideas that burned with such radiant glow in the pages of Burke, Macaulay, Mill, Spencer, and Morley, to mention only a few from among the Intellectuals that were Bannerjea's favourites. It is surprising how much he learned from these men, and especially what valuable asistance he almost subconsciously derived in the matter of command over style from these past-masters in style. English admirers of Mr. Bannerjea almost instinctively liken him to Burke and Gladstone. And when in 19 ro he came as India's delegate to the Imperial Press Conference, and later delivered a series of lectures on India, English literary critics compared him to Cicero, Burke, Macaulay and Gladstone, not only having regard to his mastery over style, but also his vigour of tholight and the high moral platform which he always took.
Clearness of political aim and the concentration of all energy, and intelligence on the achievement of that aim, be the obstacles ever so formidable, is another outstanding strain in Bannerjea's character. While on a political mission to England, he very politely but quite firmly repudiated Lord Morley's dictum that the partition of Bengal was " a settled fact." And the tenacity with which he held on to his hopes that the partition would yet be annulled, when British statesmanship awoke from its dogmatic slumbers, called forth from the late Mr. W. T. Stead the compliment that he was Mr. " Surrender-not Bannerjea." Equally firm and polite was he in airing his views on the Indian situation to Lord Haldane—on the same occasion as above—and his lordship was quite impressed with the strength of his conviction and his invincible faith that things will work out all right in the end.
There is a little romance connected with his visit to England. It is said that his mother did not approve of his voyage to England, but Bannerjea seized the opportunity when Romesh Chunder Dutt and Behari Lal Gupta were sailing for England, and ran away from home ! The illustrious trio were an acquisition to University College, London, and showed remarkable powers of industry, intelli gence and general reliability in character. They soon competed for the Civil Service Examination and passed with credit, if not with distinction, Bannerjea, Dutt and Gupta taking high places. By a curious misfortune, which for India turned out to be a lasting blessing in disguise, Bannerjea was, after three years of service as Assistant Commissioner of Sylhet, asked to resign because of the following unfortunate incident.