THE author of this book has been my personal friend for nearly fifteen years, and I have watched with the deepest interest his independent judgment ripening and coming to its fruit-bearing season. He has been, for the greater part of his intellectual life, a professor in one or other of the Arts Colleges in Bengal. As a lecturer in English, he gained the affection of his students and inspired them with a love of study. They have told me frequently what help they gained from his keen intellectual mind and moral fervor. When the Swaraj movement reached Bengal, he was one of the first to respond. At that time he was Vice Principal of the Government College at Chittagong. This government work was abandoned, as he entered into the national movement with all his heart and soul.