Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/247

Rh in setting them an example of straightforwardness and rectitude, in promoting every social and educational movement of the day that tended towards the general advancement and prosperity of the people, his chief work lay, and in them lie his claims to be regarded as one of the greatest figures among the Muhammadan community in Bengal in the nineteenth century. At a time when all was change and uncertainty, when the people of Bengal after long years of oppression and unrest had at length time and opportunity for social, moral and educational advancement, the strong and courageous figure of the Nawab Bahadur was a tower of strength to his co-religionists. The Muhammadans of Behar, not yet in the earlier days of the nineteenth century fully reconciled to British supremacy and not yet recovered from the period of decadence into which they had fallen in the last days of the Moghul Empire, were neither in the mood nor had the equipment wherewith to play a leading part in public life. It is to the lasting credit of the Nawab Bahadur that, beginning in their darkest days, he consistently showed them the better way of loyalty and high endeavour. His own success in public life and the honoured position he rose to occupy in the opinion of all who knew him were themselves sufficient proof of the wisdom of his teaching, and might well serve as an example to inspire each one of his co-religionists to follow in his steps.