Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/58

 not until after many weary marches, with little water to be had, and many sharp fights, that Beja and his men were driven into Traki, a curious fastness, of a basin-like form, with sides of perpendicular rock six hundred feet high all round it with only two openings, north and south. Beja and his followers were captured on 9 March 1845. Lord Ellenborough had been recalled, much to Napier's grief; but Sir Henry Hardinge [q. v.], the new governor-general, was lavish with his praise. No word of recognition of his arduous campaign reached him, however, from home. By the end of March Napier had returned to his administrative duties in Sind.

The first Sikh war broke out on 13 Dec. 1845, and on 24 Dec. Napier received orders to assemble with all speed an army of fifteen thousand men, with a siege train, at Rohri. By 6 Feb. 1846 he was at Rohri with fifteen thousand men, many of whom had been brought from Bombay, eighty-six pieces of cannon, and three hundred yards of bridge, ‘the whole ready to march, carriage and everything complete, and such a spirit in the troops as cannot be surpassed.’ While he was in the midst of his preparations the battle of Ferozeshah was fought. Hardinge ordered Napier to direct his forces upon Bhawalpur, and to come himself to headquarters. Leaving his army on 10 Feb., he reached Lahore on 3 March, to find Sobraon had been fought and the war was over. Early in April Napier was back at Karachi. Cholera broke out, and seven thousand persons died in Karachi, of whom eight hundred were soldiers. He lost his favourite nephew, John Napier (an able soldier), and also a favourite little grandniece. This affliction, with the harassing work and great responsibility, began to tell on his health, and as time went on he had many worries with the court of directors of the East India Company, for whom he had no affection, and who treated him with little consideration. On 9 Nov. 1846 he was promoted lieutenant-general. In July 1847 he resigned the government of Sind, and on 1 Oct. left India for Europe, staying some time at Nice with his brother George. On his way to England, in May 1848, he paid a visit to Marshal Soult in Paris, and recalled Coruña. The marshal paid him the highest compliment, telling him he had studied all his operations in China(!) and entirely approved them. He met with a cordial reception, on arriving in London, from Wellington and Peel, and Lord Ellenborough, whom, strange to say, he had never before met, though they had worked so loyally together in India.

After a short visit to Ireland, where he received an enthusiastic welcome, he settled down at Cheltenham, and occupied himself in writing a pamphlet advocating the organisation of a baggage corps for the Indian army. Early in 1849 the Sikh troubles produced a general demand in England for a change in the command. The court of directors applied to the Duke of Wellington to recommend to them a general for the crisis, and he named Napier. The suggestion was ill received, and the duke was asked to name some one else; he then named Sir George Napier, who declined. Sir William Maynard Gomm [q. v.] was eventually selected, and sailed from Mauritius. Late in February came the news of the battle of Chillianwallah. A most unjust outcry arose against Lord Gough, and there was a popular call for Charles Napier. The directors yielded, but tried to arrange that he should not have a seat in the supreme council. Napier declined to go unless he were given the seat, and this was at last conceded. After the usual banquet at the India House, Napier left England on 24 March, reached Calcutta on 6 May, and assumed the command; the war was, however, over, and Napier unstintedly praised Lord Gough's conduct of it.

In November 1849 a mutinous spirit exhibited itself in the native army, which Napier was determined to put down. The 66th regiment, on its way from Lucknow into the Punjab in January 1850, halted at Gorindghur, where they refused their pay, and tried to shut the gates of the fortress, and were only prevented by the accidental presence of a cavalry regiment on its way back from the Punjab. Napier ordered that the native officers, non-commissioned officers, and private sepoys of the 66th regiment should be marched to Ambala, and there struck off the rolls, and that the colours should be delivered to the loyal men of the Nasiri Ghurkha battalion, who should in future be called the 66th or Ghurka regiment. About the same time the regulation by which an allowance was made to the sepoys for purchasing their food was called in question. Hearsey, the brigadier-general in command at Wazirabad, where the regulation was unknown, deemed it unsafe to enforce it until it had been carefully explained to the sepoys on parade. Hearsey's opinion was endorsed by the divisional commander, Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert [q. v.], and was laid before Napier by the adjutant-general of the Indian army, with a recommendation that the regulation should not be enforced. Lord Dalhousie, the governor-general, was on a sea voyage, and the members of the supreme