Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1860-03-08
~ From the Richmond Die

Ah0 SAo'S hou oSdICtiy ClOSeQ over England
essayst when she was called upon to mourn tho srea
of her military historians. Sir William Mani, greats
of the Campaigns in the Peninsula" died n.' a0hg
in the 18th year of his age He was born Of ~ lC0t
in Ireland, in the year 1885. His father wao 'stet
Napier, son of Lord Napier by second MARI Ieoa
his mother was the celebrated Lady Sarah Yse a.,
daughter of the Duke of Richmond one Of wbo,Halno
was the mother of Charles James Fox. ;T Sstt1
English statesman and the Peninsular bistore gre
thus cousins German Another son Ct this n wet
was Sir Charles Napier, the hero of ScindoU arraa
was a third who was likewise in the army o. u: lhae
ers were, and served with distinction tbronnts 0rod
Peninsular campaign. In early life LADY S66.0Iut &
nox was the object of the devoted and honoraESun i
ton of George I'LL, then young King two "oe ata
and twenty and he wished to marry her, but WI e
vented by reasons of State. Subsequently, mas "& Pr
Thomas Brenbury, and was widow at the t;O"a 81
marriage with the father of the three heroes Ono be-
is the subject of the present notice. The Dnko whom
mond, the grandfather of Fox and the Nanior~, Ha
son of daughter of Charles H., whose motbon Vas
famous Duchess of Portsmouth. SSt
The subject OF this memoir entered the army MI,
lad of only fourteen Those were stirring timcs "1a
military was decidedly in the ascendant. In 1oSat
pier was, with the army, at the taking of Conor ~
and went along with it to Portugal lie narti atIdSa
in the battle of Vimeira, and was engaged in VI
operations that led to the convention Of Cipra gu
surrender of Junot. Subsequently, when if o SDU h
the command of Sir John Moore he took part in s uCe
dangers, was with it in the advance, bore his bs
the trials which attended upon its disastrous rpra
fought bravely with 1t at COrunna, where his hSa
Major afterwards Sir Chares) Napier was u U.UNe
and taken prisoner. When thearmy after bavrn olE
driven out OF the peninsula, returned to in $40
der the command of Sir Arthur WELLESLEY snhOor w.
Duke of Welington) Napier returned as Major iD Il.
1ortythird regiment of Light Infantry, and roma;s
with it, fighting with it in all the battles of the nn
l and never leaving it until the close of the war IS ~
at which time he was its Lieutenant Colonel M
" Light Division " to which he Was attached Wac n
tinguished above all Others for its galantrv and en
rance. AT what time he conceived the idea Of WIN; a
his great work is not certainly known but It was f
published in 1928. Never did any work prodna Wy
greater uproar, and never was any author assaqd W.T.
greater malignity. The government was still in ~
hands OF the Tories and Napier had ventured o%
nounce their policy in entering upon the war, and l
manner OF conducting it. He had assaied CANNING will
not less truth than bitterness, and had declared that
a miracle alone were the people of Great Britain sr
the necessity of disastrous and humiliating peace IT,
ministry prosecuted the war, according to him. with
bul-headed obstnacy, against reason and common Sens
and for the attainment of an object which they ought
have regarded altogether unattanable and which,
did attain at last only by a chance, upon which NJ
had no more right to calculate than they had 10 fr
system of policy upon the hypothesis that the ear
he
luded, OF course to the campaign of Russia Besijr
Napier conceded to France great herosm in the srr
gle, and greatly abated the braggadOcio of English c
lcers by narratlng events as they actually occurred
Still did he offend the ruling party by bis lotv
probation OF Napoleon whom he placed ,ar above
other warriors OF ancient and modern times treafn
with utter scorn the mean malgniy Of his enemies vi
sought to blackeu his character as man. and to det
from his reputation as a general and statesman Ca
jimmy absolutely foamed at the mouth when he veDtu.
to depart so far from the habit of all who had prey
y written OF British military transactions Nohr
dauned, however, he not only refused to retract w,
of what he had said, but continued to collect maers
for revised edition OF his work. In the meanwheh
work itself acquired an unheard of popularity and sod
with enormous rapidty. On the Continent it soon b.
came translated into all European languages and ga
unbounded satisfaction to all except the Spaniards wit
whom be dealt as hardly as he did with the Tories IT,
French were particularly grateful to him for the geng
Gus Importantly with which he had narrated the egh
OF the war; for they had expected far different treamg
from that which they received at his hands.
At this day the history of the Peninsular Campain
is the most popular military work that was WINE
nor is it at all wonderful that it shoald be Iii
most eloquent narrative which any author wrote
events, nearly all of which he not only witnessed bu
took part ill., 1t combines all the excelences whiha
military history ought to have. 1t is infinitely accur
In detail, and, at the time, glows with all the n
vi d flNIu duu lolty dS lDaIlOn Rams, manUQVTtSa
operations explained with the precision of Caesar
Napoleon, and with eloquence that renders them ire
sistby entertaining. His battle pieces are not surp
ed in grandeur by those of Homer and they present
words, pictures full of life than those that glow
on the canvas of the greatest painters. Nothing in
history can equal and but little in all poetry can 8urpaS
his description upon the March of Napoleon upon Ma
drid, the siege of Saragossa, the retreat of Sir JON
Moore, and the storming of Badajos. The reader seem
transported to the of these tremendous Operations
to witness the martial array of the opposing forces
hear the uproar of the conflict and to feel as though
were himself personally engaged. The ervid imagna
ton OF the writer sweeps everything before it bis ta
is told with an impetuous eloquence which it is mpGa
BILE to resist Much of this is DUE no doubt to the fact
that he saw what he narrates. Horace tells US thai
there is all the difference in the world between actua
seeing and merely hearing another tell what he has
and we all feel that the Anabasis of NenOphon is very
different kind OF history from his Cyropada.
| Napier was Lieutenant General when be died. bar
ing been indebted much to his book, probably,
his services, for his high rank. AT any rate he va
only Lieutenant Colonel when he left the wars and
has seen no service since of any magnitude. lie pull
llshed several other works. among them life OIG
brother, Sir Charles Napier. He was bitter contft
verslalSt, and always ready to take the field in t.
capacity But nothing he ever wrote can be cOmpar,
with his history OF the Peninsuar War.