The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-23 00:00:00

FRANCE.

BOURSE, Sept. 21, Two o'clock.—The market is
satisfactory, with a good deal of business. French
Threes are 69f. 30c., better by 12c. Italian Fives
are active, at 48f. 70c., without change. Credit
Mobilier, 232 f. 50c., with an advance of 2f. 50c.
Spanish Mobilier, 177150 c., higher by sf. Credit
Foncier gains 5f., at 1,333 f. 75c. Comptoir
d'Escompte firm, at 667 f. 50e., with a gain of 2f.
50c. No remarkable feature in French Railway
shares.

Three o'clock.—The close was as follows :-
4/ per Cents 9B 25
Do. end month —
3 per Cents. G9 35
Do. end month 69 22/
Credit Mobilier
Do. end Month
Credit Fonder 1q35
DJ. end month 1325

Bank Shares 3330
Italian Loan 4B 80
Do. end month 4B 60
Mexican Loan ll
Do. Bonds lO5
Spanish Threes 341
Home Debt —
Deferred -
%&rfil.

RAIL

For Account.
Orleans
Northern 1165
Lyons and Mediterranean 9OO
Southern 587 50
Western
Eastern
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard
North of Spain
Saragossa
Roman

486 25
082 50

55 -

711 E COMIANDER-IN-C.HIEI7 IN

ARYSSIATIA.

Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Napier, Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army, who has
been nominated to the command of the Abyssinian
expedition, with full civil powers, belongs to the old
corps of Bengal Engineers, a regiment which has
occupied a distinguished place in the Indian services,
but the identity of which has now become merged
by its amalgamation with the Royal Engineers. H e
entered the service in 1827. For the first 18 years
from that time he was employed in the Public Works
Department, and first came prominently into notice
in 1842, when on the large frontier station of Kur-
nool, on the borders of the Punjab, being abandoned
on account of its extreme unhealthiness, he was
selected to lay out the new station of Umballa, and
to design and construct the extensive military
buildings required for the garrison. Up to this time
Indian barracks had been wretchedly insufficient in
size, ventilation, -and convenience ; but Captain
Napier took the opportunity thus offered by the
creation of an entirely new cantonment, the details
of which were left wholly to his own discretion, to
discard the conventional idea then held about bar-
rack building. For the first time since our occupa-
tion of India the British soldier was properly housed
in the spacious buildings erected by Captain Napier
at Umballa. The " Napier Barrack " was, indeed,
in its day considered one of the wonders of the
time ; and althouh the advance of sanitary science
has since led to further improvements being sug-
gested in them, the Umballa barracks still stand as
a proof of the enlightened intelligence of their de-
signer, and the care and sympathy he has always
shown for the European soldier.

On the sudden breaking out of the Sikh war, i n
1845, Captain Napier obtaining leave of absence
from his civil duties, was in time by a 60 mile ride
to be present at the battle of Moodkee, where his
horse was killed. A second horse was killed under
him at the succeeding battle of Ferozeshah. He was
also actively employed on the staff at the battle of
Sobraon. On the subsequent occupation of Lahore
by the British army Lord Hardinge selected Major
Napier for the duty of constructing temporary bar-
racks for the large European garrison quartered in
that city—an arduous duty, admirably performed.
While thus employed he was sent, on the outbreak
of the insurrection at Mooltan in 1848, as Chief
Engineer of the force which marched from Lahore
under Gen. Whish to recover that place, and served
throughout the campaign in that capacity, and
afterwards, when the force was augmented, as
second in command. He was severely wanded on
this occasion.

On the annextion of the Punjab, in 1849, Lord
Dalhousie selected Major Napier for the post of
Chief Civil Engineer in that country, and from this
time dates the introduction of anything deserving
the name of public works in India, with the sole
exception of the Ganges canal, which had been
commenced a short time before.

The Punjab was Lord Dalhousie's favourite pro-
vince; Sir Henry Lawrence was at the head of the
local Government ; with their support and encou-
ragement a new ideal of progress was developed. In
eight years Napier and his Staff had placed that
country in advance of all our old acquisitions in
India, and it may be said, without exaggeration,
that the development since given to roads and other
public works in India is due in a great measure to
the extraordinary energy displayed on this occasion.
The Indian official mind, under the influence of the
example thus set in one corner of the empire, then
first. shook off the laissez-aller maxims of earlier
days, represented by the school of Lord Metcalfe
and his contemporaries, and conceived the idea of
that policy of progress now happily accepted as a
necessary condition of good government in India.
The merit of this great reform is due in very large
measure to Sir Robert Napier.
The outbreak of the mutiny in 1857 found Colonel
Napier in England on sick leave ; but he immedi-
ately returned to India, and was at once appointed
Chief of the Staff of the force which, under Outram,
first relieved Lucknow. Recovering from a wound
received on this occasion, he was then appointed

Chief Engineer, with the rank of Brigadier, of
Lord Clyde's army, and in that capacity presided
over the Engineer department during the highly
successful operations which resulted in the capture
of that place. Shortly afterwards he was sent, as
Brigadier-General, to relieve Sir Hugh Rose, on
that officer falling sick, in the command of the
Central India Field Force, and after several dashing
cavalry affairs with different bodies of rebels, among
others that headed by the notorious Tantia Topec,
succeeded in pacifying that part of the cou'itry.
His next active employment was in the command of
one of the two infantry diviiions composing the
army which in 1860, under Sir Hope Grant, cap-
tured the Takoo forts and extorted peace from the
Emperor of China under the walls of Pekin. Re-
turning to India in 1861, Sir Robert Napier was
appointed member of the Governor-General's Coun-
cil, and conducted the military department of the
Government until 1865, when he was nominated to
the less lucrative, but, perhaps, to a thorough sol-
dier, the more congenial post of Commander-in-
Chief of the Bombay Army.
Although Sir Robert Napier has thus reached
almost the top of his profession while yet in the
full possession of his physical and mental qualities,
perhaps no man in the army has won his different
grades more thoroughly. The Sutlej campaign
gave him a brevet majority ; his great services at
Mooltan were recognised by another step of brevet
rank, a reward given to every Staff officer engaged
in the campaign, whether distinguished or not.
The mutiny found him a brevet - colonel by
seniority, and so, while other officers serving in the
same campaign obtained a step of *rank as well as
the C. 8., the Chief of Outram's Staff received only
the latter. For his services at the capture of Luck-
now, under Lord Clyde, Colonel Napier was
knighted, but his subsequent command in Central
India did not lead to any promotion. Yet some of
the most brilliant cavalry affairs in the mutiny were
the actions in Central India fought by Sir Robert
Napier at the head of a handful of native cavalry
and the 14th Light Dragoons, and they will doubt-
less have been brought more under notice if under-
taken by a less modest or more pushing man. For
his services in the China war of 1861 he was promoted
to the rank of Major-General, which advancement,
as he was at the time second senior colonel in the
army; gave him exactly one step. Within the last
few days Sir Robert Napier has been nominated a
Knight Grand Cross of the Star of India.

Thus each step of promotion to his present place
has been well and hardly won. The popularity with
which Sir Robert Napier is regarded in the army
has steadily increased with his reputation. A splen-
did horseman,—good horsemanship and great power
of bodily endurance are valuable gifts in a General,
—he has won the hearts of the troops under his com-
mand by his love of justice and his kindly sympa-
thy and consideration for the soldier, while every
member who has ever been on his staff during
active service will be ready to offer a tribute of
affectionate admiration for his gallantry and skill.
If wise selection of a fit General can insure success,
the Abyssinian expedition will not be a failure.

STORIII SIGNALS.

(
tifamt
.hr.