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 Chap. X.]

SURAJAH DOWLAH'S CAPTLTRE AND DEATH.


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shelter ashore in a deserted garden. Orme's account is that he was here acci- ad it.-. dentally recognized at break of day, by a person who had too good reason to remember him, from having been deprived of his ears Ity his orders, thirteen months before, when at this place he stopped short on the expedition to Purneah, and retraced his steps to execute the fatal resolution of expelling the Eneflish from Ben'ral. The native account is, that the person who had been thus maltreated was either a dervise or fakir, and that by a singular coincidence the place where the nabob sought shelter was the cell of this very devotee. He was received with much apparent hos- pitality; but his host, stimulated at once by revenge and the hope of reward, took the earliest opportunity of communicat- ing his important discovery to Meer Cossim, Meer Jaffier's brother-in-law, who was then the commander of Raja- mahal. His capture being thus effected, Surajah Dowlah was hurried back, suffering every kind of indignity consistent wnth the preservation of his life. At midnight he was brought as a felon before Meer Jaffier, in the pjilace which so lately was his own, and, throwing himself on the ground, earnestly asked only for life. Meer Jaftier was or affected to be moved, and a consultation ensued, during which the question of life or death was freely discussed. No formal decision was given ; but Meer Jaffier must have been perfectly aware of what was to follow, when he went off to bed leaving the unhappy prisoner in the charge of his son Meerun, a worthless 3'outh of seventeen, who, having from the first given his opinion for murder, was not slow in bribing a wretch to perpetrate it. Surajah Dowlah had been removed to a distant chamber to await his fate. He was not kept long in suspense. As soon as the murderer entered he saw his purpose in his looks, and begged a few moments" respite to Death of perform liis ablutions and say his prayers. Even this was denied, and he was 'u"™|!|jl speedily despatched by the blows of a poignai'd. In the morning his mangled remains, after being exposed through the city on an elephant, were carried to the tomb of Ali Verdy Khan, his maternal giindfather. He was only in the twentieth year of his age, and the fifteenth month of his government. Worthless though he was. his tragical fjite excited general commiseration, and the question must often have been asked. Why did not the English, whose influence at the court was paramount, not interfere to prevent it ? Clive,

Gateway .at Rajamahal.— From Lieutenant Uiicon's

First Impressions of India