Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/239

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SYED WALAYET ALI KHAN
209

recognition in the shape of honours conferred, and this, while it serves to perpetuate the memory of that benevolence, furnishes a strong and lasting incentive to others to follow your philanthropic example.

"Believe us, you are as thoroughly esteemed as you are widely known, both for your moral worth and your kindly disposition, and your name is known to fame even in the more distant parts of the world.

"In the dreadful Mutiny of 1857 you consistently and firmly displayed to a just and watchful Government the pleasing spectacle of a subject unhesitatingly honest when his conscientious dissent was based upon personal experiences and peculiar means of knowledge, and throughout all, disinterestedly loyal, regardless of the extreme personal risk involved; and it was for this right loyal service at a most critical time, that His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales perosnally thanked you, for it was admittedly owing in a great measure to your cool vigilance, wise moderation and unswerving loyalty that Patna owed its escape from overwhelming disaster. Nor have matters of great individual, and social, if of less general political importance, escaped your notice; and notably in the cause of education has your liberal hand been at work, so long back as the year 1856 when you made over to the Government a large estate for the establishment and support of an Industrial and Agricultural School, a scheme which we regret has not yet been carried into completion, and again