The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-08 00:00:00

---- -7---7_
SIR CHARLES JAMES NAPIER.
(From the Herald.)
The recent motions, in both Houses of Parliament, fo'r ad-
dresses in answer to her Majesty's Messages respecting the
pensions proposed to be bestowed on Viscount Plardinge and
Lord Gough, have been assented to with an enthusiasm
worthy of their object. To have conferred upon these dis-
tinguished men milk and honours, without affording them at
the same time the means of supporting them with dignity,
would have been but a mockery of the intentions of the il-
lustrious Personage with whom those honours have origi-
nated. On their military career, after the interesting details
communicated in the speeches of Sir Robert Peel and Lord
Ripon, it would be idle to dwell; suffice it to say that never
at any time were rank and emoluments more worthily or
less grudgingly bestowed. It may appear ungracious to
associate with our cordial approval of the liberality which
has been displayed upon this occasion anything like the lan-
guage of complaint or disappointment • but we have al-
ready expressed our belief that the skill and heroism of
Sir Harry Smith have not as yet been adequately rewarded;
and the opinions of several Members of both Houses
of Parliament on the subject have but confirmed the im-
pression. We rejoice, therefore, to observe that something
like an intimation has been drawn from the Government
that the hero of Aliwal will obtain a further recompense for
his services. If, however, there be one officer of the Anglo-
Indian army who has more unanswerable ground of com-
plaint for the neglect which he has experienced, on all hands,
than another, it is Major-Gieneral Sir Charles James Napier,
who gained the glorious victory of Meeanee over a force of
35,000 Beloochees, strongly entrenched, with little more than
2,000 European and native troops; and who received, if we
except the "permission to wear his red ribbon over his
shoulder, instead of around his neck," no other mark of the
nation's gratitude than the thanks of Parliament, and those
only a year after the battles to which they referred had
been gained. With the generosity which is character-
istic of his nature, Lord Brougham made a pointed allu-
sion on Tuesday night, in the House of Lords, to the ex-
traordinary neglect which that gallant veteran had
experienced both from the Government and the East India
Company._ After the graceful allusion of Lord Ripon to the
fact that highly as her Majesty appreciated the gallant ser •
vices of Viscount Hardinge and Lord Gough on the Sutlej, it
was not on their account solely that she had desired to
confer upon them the distinction they had received at her
hands, and the interesting account given by his Lordship and
Sir Robert Peel of the earlier military career of those dis-
tinguished men, it may not be irrelevant to bring under the
notice of our readers a few of the achievements of Sir C.
Napier. It is as difficult to account for the treatment he
ohrasigimnaettewd!thTasheipt is to difscovvveernitohgte qonuntoer
hisin wphiaicceh
initpharas.
Par-
liament, described him as° ' a man of
. the greatest sagacity,
prudence, and foresightoinh
ihlygdheersatbaedu,logwihuomre hisprofesston," and pronounced the
upon fis
said
to have
at Meettnee, and
duffaciscreultitoopern!anaad
oansbioliftywaorf.,Ti oisfuefooorrehafrve
imitaTifwesithtedth"eallmothet
services in- other parts'
of the worij, rerr' lv,jeflitt,, atiAlli°
achievements in India during the last four iear-s. in tinde
he conquered what may fairly be termed a kingdom, occu-
pied by an army 80,000 strong, with a force, European and
native, varying in numbers from 3,000 to 5,000 men. This
he accomplished by two hard-fought battles, in one of which
the disparity between his force and that of the enemy was
ten to one, and in the other five to one. By extensive and
complicated operations, with the thermometer from 120 to
130 in the shade, ho defeated a bold attempt of Shere Ma-
hommed to renew the war; dispersed his entire force, and
took the Ameer prisoner. He has since employed himself
in tranquillising Sinde with such success, that he has
been enabled to lee'.ve it on a late occacion, along
with the greater part of its army of occupation,
for the purpose of assisting in the operations on
the Sutlej. This conquest was unattended by any
of those acts of plunder, outrage, and blood-
shed (save in open fight) which have so often detracted from
great military successes. As a governor, Sir Charles Napier's
conduct has been characterised by wisdom and moderation;
and such have been the effects of his rule, that Sinde has
been, since its subjugation by him, orderly, quiet, and con-
tented ; improving in commerce and in the useful arts, until
it has become one of the fairest and most valuable of our
Indian dependencies. We have now to speak of Sir Charles
Napier's earlier services. He has been fighting the battles of
his country for more than half a century. He commanded
the 50th Regiment throughout the campaign which termi-
nated with the battle of Coruna, where he was made pri-
soner, after having received five severe wounds--namely, his
leg broken by a musket-shot, a sabre cut on the head, a
bayonet wound in the back, two ribs broken by a cannon-
shot, and several contusions from the butt-end of a musket.
In the latter part of 1809 he returned to the Peninsula, where he remained on active service until 1811. During that in-
terim he was present at the battle of Coa (where he had two
horses shot under him); at the battle of Busaco (where he
had his jaw broken and his eye much injured) ; at the battle of
Fuentes d'Onor ; at the siege of Badajos, and several other
actions of less importance. In 1813, he accompanied
a floating expedition to the coast of North America, and
landed several times at Craney island and other places. He
served also in the campaign of 1815, and assisted at the
storming of Cambray. Sir Charles Napier has ever been the
warm friend of the soldier, and has written an admirable
work on military law, in which he has evinced much of the
sagacity for which the Duke of Wellington has so highly
complimented him. As a military reformer he has rendered
essential service to his profession. Such is the man whom
the world " hath delighted to honour," but whom the East
India Company and the Government appear to have agreed
to neglect. The command of a regiment must have been
conceded to him on account of the length and brilliancy
of his former services, as a matter of course. A.
clasp he earned by his gallantry at Coruna ; and the
Companionship of the Bath was subsequently conferred
upon him.. His promotion from this rank of the order
to that of Commander is, however, the only honour which
has rewarded his glorious services in Sinde. We have
heard a good deal from newspaper report of the Sinde prize
money, but we have reason to believe that Sir Charles
Napier has as yet received no part of it, and that he will not
under auy circumstances receive much. Were it otherwise,
such a windfall ought not to interfere with the just and legi-
timate reward of his high deserts. It is, as we have said,
difficult to unt-Iftrstand the cause of the neglect of which this
distinguished officer ,I.laa been the victinr. Some ascribe it
to the fact that the galiaZ!, Governor of Sinde is regarded
with jealousy by the political .servants of the East India
Company, who are chagrined to find that he can manage so
well without their aid; others assume that the position in
which he stood as the confidential friend and favoured com-
mander of the late Governor-General (an object of fear and
dislike equally with himself to the department they had
attempted to reform) had damaged him with the Directors.
However this may have been, as the Government at home
has declined to adopt the prejudices of that body in the case
of Lord Ellenborough, it might have been expected that they
would have repudiated them in that of Sir Charles Napier.
Sir Robert Peel, after speaking of the "personal nobility" of
the gallant General, has admitted that "he has not been
sufficiently rewarded." The present Governor-General of
India, than whom no man more warmly appreciates his
merits, has afforded practical proofs of the estimation in
which he holds him, not the least of which is his having
sent for him to take the post of second in command in the
Punjaub. " What higher honour," says Sir Robert Peel,
"could be conferred?" The termination of the war, how-
ever, prevented that intention from being carried into effect;
but how this mark of the estimation in which Sir Charles
Napier's qualifications are held by the Governor-General can
be referred to as a proof of the desire of the Government to
reward his distinguished services, we are at loss to conceive.
Such a compliment could not fail to soothe the " wounded
spirit" of the gallant veteran, but it does not explain the
omission of which the Minister admits him to have been the
victim. The man who achieved the conquest of Sinde, and
fought the battle of Meeanee, and who afterwards, by his
wisdom and tact as a civil governor of the kingdom he had
subjugated, induced its military marauders to convert their
swords into pruning hooks, has certainly claims upon his
country which ought not to be overlooked.

. •

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—I am happy to see the very proper rewards conferred
upon Lords Hardinge and Gough, and could have wished to
have seen more attention paid to the services of Sir Cherie;
Napier and Sir Harry Smith.
I will explain some of the circumstances to you. Sir R.
Peel has again and again expatiated upon the superlative
military merits of Lord Harding° with great gusto. Would
you believe it, Lord Hardinge never in his life commanded
even a corporal's guard of British troops before an enemy
till these late affairs in India? It is true he commanded, for
a short time, at the very end of the Peninsular war, a bri-
gade of the Portuguese troops, and I dare say commanded
them well. But all his services at Albuera, Icc., were only
those of a messenger or staff-officer, carrying orders.
H.l 7,
then, all this puff of the Prime Minister r Lord is a
'second in that important national
him) was the Duke of W. a . (luckily for
bbartottlheer:viinth-
• lifeßritish troops in fire. And
who has all his commanded
atrhleolfateWLinolsaleat.lereaLogrdh'Ganodugh is a man
there can be no doubt his patient submission, when superseded
lathy' the Earl
at Madras by an inferior officer, was very creditable to him.
Sir Robert Peel ahoald have added, that the junior officer
who stepped over his bead is the father-in-law of the Duke
of W.'s son, Lord Douro.
Sir Charles Napier and Sir Harry
Smith are prime fellows
before an enemy, but neither of them are connected with the
Duke of W. or Sir Robert Peel, by either • private friendship,
private service, or political connexion • and stherefore may
seek redress or honours where theycan.
in splendid style, and the Duke's Napier took Sinde
private pet, Ellenborongh,
service. got an earldom for that • ce. " Kissing
goes by favour."
MILES.