The Columbus journal., 1885-11-04
LORD NAPIER.
How . Great Military History was Con
ceived and Written.

How . Great Military History was Con
ceived and Written.
One day early in 1923 he went for q
walk with Lord Langdale. one of hi.
intimate friends. over some fields whicf
are now covered by the mansions OF
Belgravia. The conversation turned Oh
Southey's recently published narrative
of the Peninsular war. Lord Langdal.
was greatly struck by Napier's remarks
on the events of the struggle and tn.
characters of the principal actors. Sud
denly he asked him what he was think
ing of doing. DO you mean" replied
Napier. ''where Am l going to dine?"
NO" said Lord Langdale; .'what are
you thinking Of turning to as IN occu-
pation?" Then he urged him to turn
to literature. The article on Jomini
proved that he could write. He must
not waste his life in mere amusement.
Why should he not write a history OF
the war himself? On returning home
Napier told his wife what Lord Lang
dale had said. and added that
he himself felt doubtful wheth-
or he was clever enough to
write properly such a book as q history
of the war. But she. believing firmly
in her husband. encouraged him to try.
For several nights he lay awake think
ing over the matter. At last his scru-
Piles were overcome by the thought that
he might be able at least to vindicate
the illuminated memory of Moore, and
he resolved to make the attempt.
Those of his acquaintance who did not
really know him were surprised to hear
of his intent on, and remarked that
being a comparatively young man. he
was presumptuous to think that he
could write such a history. Having
formed his resolve he lost no time ir
proceeding to execute it. First of all.
he called upon the Duke of Wellington
and asked him for the loan of his
papers. The Duke replied that he had
himself thought Of writing a plain.
didactic history of the a which
should be published after his death.
Till then it would be impossible to make
known the whole truth without giving
pain to many worthy officers. whose
only fault had been dizziness. For
these reasons he told Napier that he
could not lend him his private papers:
but he intrusted him with a number Of
important documents, aud gave him au-
thority to obtain from the Quartermss-
ter-General. Sir George Murray, all his
orders of movements. OF his own &C
cord he promised to answer any ques-
tons as to matters of fact which Napier
might wish to ask him in the course of
his work. MURRAY, however, refused to
let Napier have the orders of move
ments, stating that he reserved them for
3 history which he himself intended to
write. After taking these preliminary
steps Napier went to Paris to collect
materials for the French side. He
walked about the streets. exploring the
contents of the bookstalls. and bought
every book that seemed likely to be Of
any use to him. He also went regular
" to the Depot de Ia Guerre and made
copious extracts from the documents
which were stored on its shelves. On
returning to England he took up his
abode for q time at Strathieldsaye for
the purpose of consulting the Duke.
Marshall oult. with whom when in Paris
he had struck up IN acquaintance. lent
him valuable papers; he corresponded
with Marshal Jourdan, and received in
formation from officers who had served
on the staff Of Ney and Massena- he
also collected IN immense mass Of let
tsrs and journals from British officers
National Dsvie,O.