The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-07 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MA.RCII 7, 1849.

Justice has at last been done to the eminent ser
vices and distinguished abilities of Sir CHARLES
JAMES NAPIER, the hero and conqueror of Sinde.
Nominated beforehand by the unanimous voice of the
nation, that renowned Captain has been entrusted with
the command of the British army in India, at the
suggestion of the Government, with the consent of
the Directors, with the gracious approval of his SOVE-
REIGN, and with the cordial acclamations of Parlia-
ment. We may say, without any exaggeration, that
no more magnificent tribute of homage has ever been
paid to a subject of the British monarchy. While
other warriors have been recompensed with heredi•ary
pensions and with the coronets of the peerage, the
victor of Meanee and Hyderabad has obtained
a reward of a more enviable character—he
has been chosen as the man of the emer
gency, and chosen, too, not by a faction,
or a clique, or even by a majority, but by the accor-
dant and simultaneous demand of the people, the
QUEEN, the Company, and the Legislature. Profound
as must be the gratification of Sir CHARLES NAFIER
on such an occasion, the very circumstance of the
enthusiasm with which he has been appointed Com-
mander-in-Chief under the Government of his Excel-
lency the Earl of DALtiousre must fill him with a
serious, and what would be to any other man, an em-
barrassing sense of his responsibi.ities. To Sir
CHARLES, however, the consciousness of the great
things expected from his administration, coupled
with the enthusiasm with which he has been raised
to his great post, will, we are satisfied, act only as an
agreeable incitement. At the same time, the appoint-
ment and the acceptance of the appointment
wall be welcomed with joy by the population which
had already anticipated the selection made by the
chief military authority at the Horse Guards. The
intelligence will at once dissipate all those gloomy
forebodings of disaster which must otherwise have
increased in reference to the progress of our expedi-
tion in the insurgent territories. Now that the Con
queror of Sinde has been declared the successor of
Lord Goucii, there is an universal feeling of con-
fidence that in the end nothing but good can come of
the bloody skirmish at Itimnuggur, and of the yet
more terrible massacre in the battle of Chillian-
wallah.

As an additional mark of honour, and as a means
of satisfying, at once, the convenience of the newly-
appointed Commander-in-Chief, and the general
advantages of the nation, the mail via Marseilles
has had the period of its departure delayed.
Calculating the journey overland at the swiftest rate
that is possible, even with relays of couriers, Sir
CHARLES N APIER could not reach the seat of war until
the campaign has terminated. The overland mail,
therefore, which would have started for Ilindostan this
evening, would merely have contained the intelligence
that the illustrious General has received the rank thrust
upon his acceptP.nce by the inhabitants and the Go-
vernment of (irs:at Britain. Although it is under-
stood that 'the newly-appointed Commander-in-Chief
announce..,cl his readiness to staitfor the Punjaub on this
very day, without leaving himself there than a few
bows for preparatior, it was recognised that such
desperate and inconvenient precipititioo would be
productive of no compensative advantage, seeing that.
whatever is to be the result of Lord Gouon s system
‘
of generalship, that result would have been neoesL
sarily accomplished before his successor could reach
the banks of the Jhelum. Under any circumstances,
Sir CA/ARLES could not enter upon his duties as leader