On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    844 THE LEADER. [Saturday ,

  • 

    THE HOME SECRETARY AT HOME. Lord Pai/Mee...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Sir Charles James Napier. The Death Of A...

    disasters of Calral and Guznee , by the attacks of the Hill Belooches , the defeat of Colonel England , and the isolated position of General ] STott , besieged in Candahar . But Sir Cliarles wrote , " Danger from their warfare , I can see none , I can beat all the princes in Scinde . " Gradually arranging his plans for the campaign— , settling his points of defence and selecting his points of attack , but still negotiating with the treacherous Ameers—Sir Charles at length brought matters to a head . Leaving , for the present , the Ameers' troops unmolested , he pushed through a wild countrynearly desert—to a mysterious fortification called Euiaum Ghur , which no European had ever seen , and

    which he ultimately reached with fifty cavalry , two howitzers , and 300 Irish infantry . With his handful of men he mined the whole place , blew it up , and returned across the desertwithouthayinglost a single man . A hostile army—ten times the number of the British , hung upon his flank , but did not venture to attack him . His next fight was with the Belooches , at Meanee . They were 35 , 000 in all , and he had but 2600 ; their cavalry numbered ten thousand , and his but eight hundred . They were also strongly posted in the bed and on the bank of a dried-up river . Finding that he could not turn their flank , he , as daring as Wellington at Assaj ' e , attacked them in front . The enemy fought behind their fortifications . In their wall there was one

    opening , through which the outnumbering enemy was preparing to rush , but Napier ordered eighty men of the 22 nd to block it up with their bodies . Many of the brave fellows died at their post , but six thousand of the enemy were stopped by the firm front ' of" eighty men . The vast multitude of Belooches , after a first fire , rushed upon the 22 nd with a terrific cry , waving their swords , and covering themselves with their shields . With shouts as loud and arms as strong , the gallant Irish 22 nd met them with that " queen of weapons the nmsket , and sent their foremost masses rolling back in blood . " During this struggle , the English Sappers

    fought gallantly , protecting the artillery , which , having gained the flank , swept diagonally with grape the crowded masses of the Belooches , who " gave their breasts to the shot , and leaping at the guns were blown away by twenties at a time . " This horrible slaughter absolutely lasted for three hours and a half , when Sir Charles , seeing that the battle must be won or lost within twenty minutes , directed a desperate charge of cavalry on the right of the Belooches , while the infantry made one more final dash at the enemy , who at length gave way , the grapeshot still pouring into their dense masses , and the soldiers still using their bayonets with

    the ferocity of men actually steeped in blood and maddened by the fury of the fight . This famous battle of Meanee was fought on the 17 th of February , 1843 . Wo lost two hundred and fifty-six men , and the enemy six thousand . In a few days the army took possession of Hydrabad ; but Shere Mahoinmed , " the Lion , " tho best of the Ameers , still held out , and after some manoeuvring * Napier" met him . Even more than Meanee , the contest which ensued was a pitched buttlo . Tho two armies were drawn out in regular military order facing each other , the Belooches persevering in their usual tactics of concealment . Tho battle was long and obstinately maintained ; but , after much fierce and sanguinary fighting , the desperate charges of infantry and cavalry , and the well-served artillery , at length

    produced their cll ' ect—the Belooches giving way after about three hours of contest . Seventeen standards-ami fifteen guns were the trophies of tho fight . The " Lion" retired to the desert , and a few days after the battle the general was in tho palace of the Ameers , and master of Scinde ; having in sixteen days , with 5000 men , defeated more than 25 , 000 in battle , captured two groat fortresses , Omcrcolo and Jlydrabud ( which hud been retaken during Inn absence ) , and marched two hundnul miles under u Sciudimi sun . This whs his lust buttle in India . The two years of ( his campaign were crowded " thick with great actions . " In that tinio ho had made the march to Kinaunghur in the great desert , gained two great buttles , reduced four largo and many . smaller fortresses , captured six sovereign princes , and subdued a great kingdom .

    Tho disasters of tho Sikh war caused Sir CJharlcH Napier to be again sent to India . The Duke of Wellington said to him , " Either you must go , or J must . " Ife went , but found tho Sikhs conquered . As a military reformer Sir Charles Napier was severe , considerate , aixl judicious . During his ( ir . st service at Bombay , In * induced tho Sepoys to use the musket instead of tho matchlock , and abolished the cumbrous personal bnggngo of the soldiers . He did not nee that- tho soldier wanted anything beyond " a clean whirl , a chnngo of . shoes , a piece of soap , and a toothbrush . " In 1 B 40 , titter reviewing the troops at . Lahore , ho sharply rated souk ; commanding officers for tho ineflicioncy of their inen . Ho suid : " The reviews which tho Connnander-in-Chicf nmkcH of tho troops aro not to

    be taken as so many ' chips in porridge . ' They are made for the purpose of ascertaining what officers are fit to command battalions ; and there being no want of such in the Indian army , he will feel it to be his bounden duty to remove those who are not ; and whenever he finds a regiment ' fire / ' shout , ' or ' charge , ' without orders from its commander , he will , after this warning , remove the latter from his command . The Commander-in-Chief does not hereby call on

    commanding officers to torment those under their orders by long and harassing drilling ; but he does call upon them to instruct their officers and to instruct themselves , and also their supernumerary ranks , that they are to seize any man in their front who dares to shout , or talk , or fire , or run , without orders . General officers commanding divisions and brigades in this army are called upon to . see that commanders of regiments do their duty on those points . "

    As a judicious and active administrator of Civil affairs , Sir Charles Napier was also a great man . After the peace , in 1815 , he was appointed governor of Cephalonia . He was recalled by the Home Government ; but to the day of his death the memory of his government was cherished by the people . " The Cephalonese , " says Sir William Napier , in his Conquest of Scinde , " still call him ' Father , ' and still cultivate and remit to him the profits of a small patch of vines , Sir Charles being ignorant even of the names of his attached friends , " At Bombay , shortly after his landing , hesharply criticized the government of Lord Auckland , and

    heartily welcomed Lord Ellenborough instead . In his negotiations with the Ameers of Scinde , he showed himself skilful , and in his decisive action against Shere Mohammed , he proved himself bold in policy as well as in war . When appointed Governor of Scinde , he worked hard at improving the province and raising the circumstances of the people . He created and put in activity a permanent civil administration in all its branches , conciliated the affections of the different races inhabiting Scinde , seized all the points of an intricate foreign policy , commenced a number of military and other well-considered public works , and planned

    still greater ones , not only suited to the exigencies of the moment , but having also a prospective utility of aim . He also managed , by means of the strong influence which he possessed over the minds of the population , to change the feudal system of landholding into a landlord and tenant system , and then published one of his last manifestoes , which concludes as follows : — " My motives for this step , " he said , " are that the host of poor ryots hitherto slaves , not only to the Ameers , but to the jagheerdars , will be enfranchised , and enabled to live in comfort if industrious ; and I kn ow that th e nobles can never be good or contented subjects unl ess

    we give them public employment , and honour them . Had I left them in possession of their enormous jngheers , and their military tenures , and their royalties , they would have always been dangerous subjects . Even under my system they will become very powerful ; but I have established u counter-check by opening a way to raise a race of independent farmers attached to the Government . This is all I can now do for Scinde and its fine people . " In personal appearance Sir Charles was a strange —almost a wild-looking warrior . He wore a Ion " beard , and from behind his spectacles his

    piercinoeyes glittered out . lie had an eagle nose , and waw small in stature . Ho was capable of enduring great physical and mental toil . He worked very hard in carrying out his groat campaign and gigantic reforms in Scinde . During two years ho travelled on camels and on horseback , ut the head of troops , more than two thousand miles ; wrote , received , studied , and decided on between four and iivo thousand official despatches and reports—many very elaborate—besides his private correspondence , which was extensive , because ho never fnilod to answer all persons who addressed him , however humble or however unreasonable . Ho besides read , not hastily , but attentively , all the diaries of the collectors and nub-collectors , and most anxiously considered the evidence in all

    capital trials . And these immense ; labours were Kiipenulded to the maud duties imposed by tho command of u large army belonging to ditteront ( Jovorn-I'usnts namely , of England , Calcutta , Bombay ,-and Madras . They were unstained without abatement under . severe : ittnokH of illness , : it the ago of sixlyfhreo , by a man covered with wounds , and" in ' a climate where tho mercury rises to Wi degrees in urtilioiully-eooled touts . For the last two years of his stay in England , ho lived in retirement , his health boing weak . Ho attended Wellington to his national grave at , St . Paul ' s . Ho then looked ill and wan , and appeared to walk with pain and difficulty . Seventy-one years , and nearly a scorn of wounds , or accidents which were equivalent to wounds — fiftyibur yours of tho long period in question having been

    spent in almost unremitting labour , mental physical , in every climate•— . such ' a life might well have exhausted nature , even before the period e three-score tind ten . He died at Oaklands , near Portsmouth , at fi o ' clock on the morning of last Monday . As he \ ° getting weaker , his son-in-law , snatched , up" •¦ i \? colours of the 22 nd Regiment , and placed them at the head of the bed . Under the shadow of the " folds the old hero died .

    844 The Leader. [Saturday ,

    844 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

    The Home Secretary At Home. Lord Pai/Mee...

    THE HOME SECRETARY AT HOME . Lord Pai / Meeston , like Master Fenton , " talks holiday , " even when hard at work in the House of Commons , but more appropriately when he gets into the country among familiar friends , and on holiday festivities . On Saturday he laid the first stone of the Melbourne Athenseum , a new institution , comprising an infant-school , a mechanics' institute , and a bank for savings : three in one . Lord Palmerston ' s newproperty , derived from Lord Melbourne in ri ght of his wife , lies near the town , and as a friend and nei ^ h . bour he was heartily welcomed by the good people of the stirring little town . In return for their hospitality , he gave them some speeches , singularl y agreeable even from the happiest orator of the day . He spoke first in laying the foundation-stone , and afterwards at a cold collation laid out in the National School-room . Our " foreign relations" were briefly alluded to ; the popular address and the Chairman's speech having re . ferred to them . He said :- — " Allusion has been made in the address to the foreign policy which , her Majesty ' s Government pursued while I held the office of Minister for Foreign Affairs . Whilst I had the honour of filling that situation , it was my object to use every , effort in my power to preserve to this country and to Europe the inestimable blessings of peace . But I ' felt that the best security for the continuance of those

    blessings was to make foreign Governments understand that while , on the one hand , this country would nevei willingly or knowingly inflict wrong upon a foreign nation , on the other _ hand we would never submit to the infliction of any wrong from them . In these endeavours I was nobly supported by the people of this country . I am convinced that as long as the Government of this country know that they are supported by the generous feelings of the British nation , we shall maintain that resj > eet in the minds of foreign Governments which is the best security for tho maintenance of peace . "

    But with ample eloquence and very felicitous phraseology , he commented upon the objects of the institution they had founded that day . He first pointed out the importance of infant education , showed the permanent advantage and beauty of intellectual pleasures , and then gave a clear and spirited summary of the discoveries of science and the achievements of art completed in the present day : — " Wo have in these days invented railways , which facilitate and increase tho intercourse between towns , find provinces , and countries — which tend , aa it were , to render Europe ono vast city , and to confer upon different ; nations those advantages of easv communication which heretofore were enjoyed only by tho inhabitants of

    sejmrnto towns . That is a great improvement—a great invention—and one which is likely to conduce much to tho prosperity , the happiness , and welfare of mankind . "Wo have in those days applied tho power of steam to tho navigation of tho wide ocean , and havo thereby brought countries nearer to each other , which heretofore voro separated by passages of many months , accompanied also by great perils and dangers . Wo have also , gentlemen ,-m these days , had an invention—ono of tho most HploiW '"' triumphs of human genius , because it was not by accident that it was discovered—it was tho result of laborious investigation and patient induction ; I mean tho electn « telegraph—an invention which brings the most ; distant parts of ( lie world within minutes of each other , and wine "

    will probably , at no distant , day , enable us to hold convert with our fellow-subjects in India as quickly as jmrlK'H recently could do in adjoining rooms . Hut , gentlemen * former ages havo also had their great , and important inventions and discoveries . Tho magnetic needle oiii ' '' ' men , who used before to creep timidly along the shore- ) [> seas , to launch into the wide ocean , with the cortn " security of attaining directly the object of then" w ' ar (; ; That was a great invention , and it ; laid the foundation " ^ vast , improvements in the existence of mankind , lorn " ages invented also the art . of pr inting—an art , wli <>«<> llB " fulness it would be childish in mo to point out (() J * * of those whom I have now ( he honour of H < l < lr ( ' "V li \ ll * l V II > l » tfli » ... i -. 1 .... ! . 1 I I .... -.. rl . Wlll Hi I < l 10 ' n ¦ i ji

    '""" ' « i /^ i :. -mm ) invented giiji [> owiii ; i , w" »> - > . ^ apparently uu instrument of more rapid des truction ; J ^ gave l , o civilization a hoc tiro protection against barI > iu ' ' and it miiy | m Wl | el y ufimnocl that if the . KoinnriH Jiiu ' -I ' ' soused a knowledge of linn implement of wivr , ljlI V ' would not have been overrun by those hordes of bur 1 ''! ' (|)() who involved the ino . it civilized portions of the world m ^ darkes t- ignorance for many centurion , by tbeir IIlV " Hut ; , gentlemen , though in former times there _ # « ' _ of great knowledge , who invented Mioho wondonui u > h not to mention men of science and of literature , w »<> never ninoo been surpassed , yot in thono times lni <> v > h wan confined to a low . Now ' , however , happ ily , k"V 7 £ .. ih al , the cmttinaiid of nil , and bookw for improving '" V ,. ^ tion of every kind aro accessible at prices wnl < V ,, jcit ' them within ' tho reach of all ; whilst also these in < "' fji ( J t ) 1 . inn ( , il , utionH enable tho working classes to pro / it 1 > V *• ¦ ^ ortioiiH , bodily and mtclloctuftCof tuouo who aro tuo *

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 3, 1853, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03091853/page/4/