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DWARKANATH MITTER.
The life of this eminent Bengali lawyer affords a good example of the fact that genius, in whatever situation placed, will not fail to raise itself. Born in 1833 in an obscure village in the district of Hooghly, he received the best education available at the Hooghly College, and won Government scholarships in every examination. Not only did he maintain his position as the head of the students of his college, but he also strove to acquire a knowledge of English and Mathematics greatly in advance of the class in which he remained for the time being, which stood him in great stead in after life. His mastery over that language was so great that competent English judges pronounced it to be superior to that of most Englishmen. In later life, when he became a Comtist, he learnt French in order to be able to read Comte's writings in the original. He translated Comte's Analytical Geometry into English, which is a proof of his knowledge of Mathematics and of both the languages. It received due praise at that time in England.
After studying at the Presidency College he passed the necessary legal tests, and joined the bar of the Sudder Dewanny Adalawt. There he attracted the notice of the two leaders of the bar, Romaprosad Roy and Sumbhoonath Pandit, and was much patronised by them. The former was the first Bengali judge designate of the High Court, but he did not live to take a seat on the bench. The latter was a judge of the High Court from 1863 to 1868. As junior to Romaprasad he argued his first important case in the absence of his leader, and succeeded. Then he became famous for his learning, ability and eloquence, and was sympathetically mentioned by the judges. His professional honesty and kindness to poor clients were proverbial.
In the great rent-case (commonly known as Thakurani Dasseo's case) under Act 1859 he appeared before the Full Bench composed of all the judges, on behalf of the tenants and argued the case. His speech on that occasion, which
