Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/114

96 Ali succeeded in improving the relations between him and the British Government as well as in bringing a certain amount of order and honesty into the management of the ex-king's affairs. For eight years he remained in charge and it says much for his successful administration that at the end of that period he retired with the good will and regret of both the Government and the ex-king. So ably had he fulfilled his difficult task that Government afterwards entrusted him with another of a somewhat similar nature, to settle the debts of the last Naib Nazim of Bengal.

In the last few years of his fresh honours came to him. In 1875 he was given the title of Nawab as a personal distinction, it being conferred upon him by Lord Northbrook at a Durbar held on the 17th of September that year. Two years later he was invited to attend the Imperial Assembly at Delhi, receiving there a silver medal from the Viceroy, Lord Lytton. Shortly before his death he received yet another distinction from the British government, being created a Companion of the newly created order of the Indian Empire. About the same time the Sultan of Turkey bestowed upon him the Companionship of the Turkish Order of the Osmanieh in recognition of his services to the Muhammadan community.

Nawab Amir Ali died on the 16th of November, 1879 and the following letters, one from the Private