Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/66

52 their own successors. Mahomed Mohsin had thus provided generously for his two friends, but so far short did they fall of his trust and confidence that they endeavoured to conceal the will and take possession of the whole property. Sakir Ali Khan dying soon after Mahomed Mohsin, appointed his son Baker Ali Khan his successor as Mutwalli, while Rajib Ali the other original Mutwalli not long afterwards also appointed his son Wasiq Ali Khan to succeed him. The two sons of the first two Mutwallis thus reigned in their stead. So scandalous was their management of the Trust that the Board of Revenue was soon forced to interfere under the Provisions of Regulation XIX of 1810. The finding of the court of Sudder Dewani Adaulat before which the case came, bears striking testimony to their mismanagement. 'The proper objects of the endowment were neglected,' it ran, 'and the Government revenue fell into arrears, while the income was spent on quarrels between the managers, bribes to the police and amins, and gifts to the manager's relatives. They, moreover, in order to increase their own profits at the expense of the Trust, forged a perpetual lease in their own favour and that of their relatives, purporting to have been executed by Haji Mahomed Mohsin before the deed of foundation.' By an order of November the 16th, 1815, Syed Ali Akbar Khan was appointed manager by Government to act in conjunction with the two Mutwallis and to set the affairs of