Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/59

 council separated from the scene by journeys of weeks. Napier therefore took upon himself the responsibility of suspending the regulation pending a reference to the supreme council. Greatly to his surprise, three months later he received a severe reprimand from the governor-general for exercising powers which belonged to the supreme council. Napier resigned. He left Simla on 16 Nov. 1850, and went down the Indus. At Haidarabad the sirdars collected for many miles round, and presented him with a sword of honour. At Bombay a public banquet was given to him.

In March 1851 he was back in England. He took a small property at Oaklands on the Hampshire Downs, a few miles from Portsmouth. The disease which had settled on his liver ever since his ride to Lahore in 1846 was making rapid strides; but he was not a man to remain idle, and he commenced a work entitled ‘Defects, Civil and Military, of the Indian Government,’ which he did not live to complete, but which was eventually edited and published by his brother William. In February 1852 he published a ‘Letter on the Defence of England by Corps of Volunteers and Militia,’ which did something to prepare the way for the great volunteer movement of 1859. In spite of illness, he took his place as one of the pall-bearers at the Duke of Wellington's funeral, where he caught a severe cold, which could not be shaken off. He never recovered his health, and died on 29 Aug. 1853. He was buried in the small churchyard of the garrison chapel at Portsmouth. His funeral was a private one, but Lords Ellenborough and Hardinge and many distinguished officers attended it, and the whole garrison crowded to the grave.

On the north side of the entrance to the north transept of St. Paul's Cathedral is a marble statue of Napier by G. G. Adams, with the simple inscription of his name and the words: ‘A prescient general, a beneficent governor, a just man.’ In Trafalgar Square, London, is a colossal statue of Napier in bronze, by the same sculptor, which was erected by public subscription. By far the larger number of subscribers were private soldiers. A portrait of Napier, painted in 1853 by E. Williams, is in the possession of Lady McMurdo; another, sketched in oils by George Jones, R.A., is in the National Portrait Gallery, London, having been presented by Napier's widow.

Napier was essentially a hero. With his keen, hawklike eye, aquiline nose, and impressive features, his appearance exercised a powerful fascination; while his disregard of luxury, simplicity of manner, careful attention to the wants of the soldiers under his command, and enthusiasm for duty and right won him the love and admiration of his men. His journals testify to his religious convictions, while his life was one long protest against oppression, injustice, and wrongdoing. Generous to a fault, a radical in politics yet an autocrat in government, hot-tempered and impetuous, he was a man to inspire strong affection or the reverse, and his enemies were as numerous as his friends.

Napier was twice married: first, in 1827, to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Oakeley, and widow of Francis John Kelly; she died on 31 July 1833. Secondly, in 1835, to Frances, daughter of William Philips, esq., of Court Henry, Carmarthenshire, and widow of Richard Alcock, esq., royal navy. She survived him, and died on 22 June 1872.

Napier was the author of the following works: 1. ‘Memoir on the Roads of Cephalonia .... accompanied by Statistical Tables, State of the Thermometer,’ &c., 8vo, London, 1825. 2. ‘The Colonies; treating of their value generally, of the Ionian Islands in particular .... Strictures on the Administration of Sir F. Adam,’ 8vo, London, 1833. 3. ‘Colonisation, particularly in Southern Australia; with some Remarks on Small Farms and Overpopulation,’ 8vo, London, 1835. 4. ‘Remarks on Military Law and the Punishment of Flogging,’ 8vo, London, 1837. 5. ‘A Dialogue on the Poor Laws,’ 1838(?). 6. ‘Lights and Shadows of Military Life,’ a volume containing translations of Count A. de Vigny's ‘Servitude et Grandeur Militaires,’ and Elzèar Blase's ‘Military Life in Bivouac, Camp, Garrison,’ to which were added essays by Napier, 12mo, London, 1840. 7. ‘A Letter to the Right Hon. Sir J. Hobhouse … on the Baggage of the Indian Army,’ 3rd edit. 8vo, London, 1849; 4th edit. same date. 8. ‘A Letter on the Defence of England by Corps of Volunteers and Militia, &c.,’ 8vo, London, 1852. 9. ‘Defects, Civil and Military, of the Indian Government. … Edited (with a supplementary chapter) by Sir W. F. P. Napier,’ 8vo, London, 1853. 10. ‘William the Conqueror a Historical Romance … Sir W. Napier, editor,’ 8vo, London, 1858. He also edited ‘The Nursery Governess (with the addition of two other stories),’ London, 1834, 12mo, written by his first wife, Elizabeth Napier; and contributed to ‘Minutes on the Resignation of the late General Sir Charles Napier,’ London, 1854, 8vo. A compilation of his general orders issued between 1842 and 1847 was published in 1850 by Edward Green, and ‘Records of the Indian Command of General