Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/246

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TWELVE MEN OF BENGAL

him again. The Muhammadan nobles of Patna have lost a recognised leader and the Government and the cause of law and order a prominent supporter. I beg you to accept the assurance of my deepest sympathy and condolence in your sorrow. The Commissioner and myself will come and join the funeral. We accept this opportunity of showing this last mark of respect to our departed friend. The offices of the Commissioner and my own have been closed as a mark of respect."

To devise means to commemorate his memory a public meeting was held in Patna on the 2nd July, 1899. It was presided over by the Commissioner and all the leading men of the neighbourhood were present. It was resolved to raise funds to add a wing to the Muhammadan Anglo-Arabic school to bear his name, and subscriptions were invited for the purpose. They flowed in from all sources, from Europeans and Indians alike, and the building that resulted was a fitting memorial, a tablet perpetuating the memory of him in whose honour it was raised.

It is not, however, in memorials of brick and stone that the memory of the Nawab Bahadur will chiefly live. The influence for good that, throughout his long life which covered nearly the whole of the century, he exercised over the fortunes of his fellow-countrymen is a more enduring monument. In strengthening the loyalty of his co-religionists,