The
latter immediately sent a party of his retainers, who captured the
nabob without difficulty. He was again placed in the boat, and taken
back to Moorshedabad, where he was led into the presence of Meer
Jaffier.
The wretched young man implored the mercy of his triumphant successor,
the man who owed station and rank and wealth to his grandfather; and
who had, nevertheless, betrayed him to the English. His entreaties so
far moved Meer Jaffier that he was irresolute, for a time, as to the
course he should pursue. His son, however, Mirav, a youth of about the
same age as the deposed nabob, insisted that it was folly to show
mercy; as Meer Jaffier would never be safe, so long as Suraja Dowlah
remained alive; and his father, at last, assigned the captive to his
keeping, knowing well what the result would be.
In the night, Suraja Dowlah was murdered. His mangled remains were, in
the morning, placed on an elephant, and exposed to the gaze of the
populace and soldiery.
Suraja Dowlah was undoubtedly a profligate and rapacious tyrant. In
the course of a few months, he alienated his people, and offended a
great number of his most powerful chiefs. The war which he undertook
against the English, although at the moment unprovoked, must still be
regarded as a patriotic one; and, had he not soiled his victory by the
massacre of the prisoners, which he first permitted and then approved,
the English would have had no just cause of complaint against him.
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