Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/124

104 of the strongest traits in the character of Mahtab Chand. Recognising on every side the benefits that British rule had conferred on his distracted country, he gave to it his firm allegiance. His own estates from their geographical position had been especially liable to plunder and devastation during the unsettled years of the eighteenth century, and the remarkable prosperity they had attained in his own day under the peaceful reign of British law and order formed a striking contrast. Twice the Maharaja had the satisfaction of materially assisting Government in maintaining that same law and order. The Santal Rebellion of 1855 afforded him an opportunity of showing his loyalty in a practical way which he showed himself eager to adopt. His estates lay between Calcutta and the scene of the disturbances and the railway running in those days no further than Ranigunj, the Maharaja was able to give Government valuable assistance in the matter of transport and in improving the means of communication. All the vast resources of his great estates were freely placed at the disposal of the authorities. His workmen rapidly opened up new roads, and his elephants and bullock carts speedily transported troops and baggage through the wild country in which the turbulent Santals had hitherto held their own unchallenged. Services of a similar nature the Maharaja rendered again a few years later during the Sepoy Mutiny, again undertaking