Charles Pasley General Sir Charles William Pasley KCB ( 1780 – 1861 ) was a British soldier and military engineer who wrote the defining text on the role of the post - American revolution British Empire : " An Essay on the Military Policy and Institutions of the British Empire " , published in 1810 . This text changed how Britons thought their empire should relate to the rest of the world . He warned that Britain could not keep its Empire by its " splendid isolation " . Britain would need to fight to gain its empire , and by using the colonies as a resource for soldiers and sailors it grew by an average of per year between the Battle of Waterloo and the American Civil War . Serving in the Royal Engineers in the Napoleonic Wars , he was Europe ' s leading demolitions expert and siege warfare specialist . Life . Pasley was born at Eskdale Muir , Dumfriesshire , on 8 September 1780 . He was highly intelligent , capable of translating the New Testament from Greek at the age of eight . In 1796 , he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich ; a year later he gained his commission in the Royal Artillery , and he was transferred to the Royal Engineers in 1798 . He was present in the defence of Gata , the Battle of Maida , and the siege of Copenhagen . In 1807 , then a captain , he went to the Iberian Peninsula , where his knowledge of the Spanish language led to his employment on the staff of Sir David Baird and Sir John Moore . He took part in the retreat to Corunna and the Walcheren Expedition , and received a severe wound while gallantly leading a storming party at Flushing . During his tedious recovery , he employed himself in learning German . After discontinuing service , he devoted the rest of his life to the foundation of a complete military engineering science and to the thorough organization and training of the corps of Royal Engineers . Though only a captain , his great success led him to act as the commanding royal engineer at Plymouth for two years and was given a special grant . Because the events of the Peninsular War emphasized the need for a fully trained engineer corps , the war office adopted Pasley ' s views . He was placed at the head of the new School of Military Engineering at Woolwich in 1812 . Concurrently , Pasley was gazetted brevet major . He became brevet lieutenant - colonel in 1813 and substantive lieutenant - colonel in 1814 . The first volume of his " Military Instruction " appeared in 1814 and contained a course of practical geometry which he had framed for his company at Plymouth . Two other volumes completing the work appeared by 1817 and dealt with the science and practice of fortification , the latter comprising rules for construction . He published a work on " Practical Architecture " and prepared an important treatise on " The Practical Operations of a Siege " ( 1829 – 1832 ) , which was translated into French ( 1847 ) . He became brevet colonel in 1830 and substantive colonel in 1831 . From 1831 to 1834 , he focused his attention on the standardization of coins , weights and measures , publishing a book on the topic in 1834 . In 1838 , he was presented with the freedom of the city of London for his services in removing sunken vessels from the bed of the Thames near Gravesend . From 1839 to 1844 , he was occupied with clearing away the wrecks of from Spithead and from St . Helens . All this work was subsidiary to his great work of creating a comprehensive art of military engineering . Railway Inspectorate . On 23 November 1841 , on promotion to the rank of major - general , he was made an inspector - general of railways , replacing Lieutenant - Colonel Sir Frederic Smith . During this period of intense activity on the new railway network , he inspected many new lines , criticising the haste in which some were opened to poor engineering standards . When a cast iron structure collapsed under the weight of a train during the Dee bridge disaster , Pasley came under pressure . He had approved the opening of the Dee Bridge a few months before the tragedy . In 1846 , on vacating this appointment , he was made a K . C . B . , and thenceforward was chiefly concerned with the East India Company ' s military seminary at Addiscombe . He was promoted lieutenant - general in 1851 , made colonel commandant of the Royal Engineers in 1853 , and general in 1860 . He died in London on 19 April 1861 . His eldest son , Major - General Charles Pasley ( 1824 – 1890 ) , was a distinguished Royal Engineer officer . His daughter Margaret married railway inspector and MP Henry Whatley Tyler . In 1826 , as lecturer in architecture and engineering at the Royal School of Military Engineering at Chatham , he began research and experiments on artificial hydraulic cement , attempting to match or make an improvement over natural or " Roman " cement , invented by James Parker in 1796 . In 1830 , he succeeded and with chalk and Medway clay , produced a hydraulic lime equal to the natural " Roman " cement and similar to that produced by Joseph Aspdin in Wakefield . Works . Among Pasley ' s works , besides the aforementioned , were separate editions of his " Practical Geometry Method " ( 1822 ) and of his " Course of Elementary Fortification " ( 1822 ) , both of which formed part of his " Military Instruction " ; " Rules for Escalading Fortifications not having Palisaded Covered Ways " ( 1822 ; new eds . 1845 and 1854 ) ; descriptions of a semaphore invented by himself in 1804 ( 1822 and 1823 ) ; " A Simple Practical Treatise on Field Fortification " ( 1823 ) ; and " Exercise of the Newdecked Pontoons invented by Lieutenant - Colonel Pasley " ( 1823 ) .