BRITAIN'S FAMOUS GENERALS No. 8
Page 24
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SIR CHARLES JAMES NAPIER
1782-1853
.,, —APIER (incidentally a brother of A Sir William Napier whose history -4of the Peninsiular War is one of the greatest of military histories) was himself blooded in the Peninsular War,
• being wounded at Corunna and again at Busaco. He also took part in the lase war which Britain fought against the U.S.A. in the Chesapeake Expedition of 1813.
In 1841 he was given command of the army in Bombay and in 1842 was ordered to Snide, where a ,treacherous • attack on Sir James Outram opened • the war of 1843. His victory at Miani was one 'of the most remarkable in the history of British Armies and can only be paralleled by those of Clive at Plassey and Arcot. Napier's army of less than 3,000 was faced by between 3o,000,and 35,000 from the most warlike of Indian races. Generals,' it was said, fought like . privates. Against tremendous 4 odds Napier showed a power of decision and forcefulness of action that would hardly
., have been less than genius.
He wa a man of high principles and great integrity of character, without gifts or taste for personal intrigue, and came into violent collision both with the East India Company and political parties at home over administrative reforms which he introduced. None could deny, however, that he was the • greatest soldier of his day, and the inscription on his 'statue in London records that by 'far the greater number of those who subscribed for its erection were private soldiers.