better proof. From seven great towns or boroughs I have received invitations to let myself be nominated as a candidate for representing them in Parliament. I refused all, for reasons not necessary to mention here; and on four of them I lay no great stress, because they were only proposals to take my chance with others; but the three remaining invitations were from influential men, the organs of bodies powerful enough to fulfil their promises; and this was proved by the result; for on my refusal they made like offers to other men, who did accept them, and were chosen.

"Now, the first of these places was this good city of Bath. There is a gentleman close by me who knows I do not fable; and when I declined the offer, your friend Roebuck was applied to, and was elected. And right glad I am that it was so, for I hold him to be a man more able than myself to serve you. The next place was the great city of Glasgow; and on my refusal there, and on my recommendation also, Lord William Bentinck was brought forward. They asked me if I thought he would do for them, and I told them I believed him to be a thoroughly honest man. The next place was Westminster, where Mr. Leader was chosen when I had declined. Have I not then a right to suppose that my opinions have some weight with the people? Have I not a right to declare those opinions as my judgment directs me? I am a follower of no man. I am a friend of the people. I have no personal ambition to gratify, and I abide by my own judgment. In declaring my opinions I am not to be bound by the convenience or the private personal arrangements of mere electioneering men. I choose my own time, subject only to your willingness to listen to me. The day of declaring the Bath poll furnished a good opportunity; I spoke, and was interrupted in the way you heard.

"Before I conclude I would address a few words by way of warning to honourable, brave men of all parties. My white hairs, blanched before their time by wounds and hardships endured in the service of my country, give me the right to address such men; and well I know that whether they be Whigs, Tories, Radicals, or Chartists, brave and high-spirited men, real lovers of their country, will never be wanted in England. To them then I say, Beware of coming storms,-times and events are approaching which will be far, far above the reach of mere party strife and factious bickerings-times and events which will involve the tranquillity of the whole civilised world. When those times come stand upon your honour. Remember that if we would claim the name of patriots, the greatness, the glory of England must be upheld amidst the political storm even as a mighty rock amidst surging waves and whistling winds. But how can this be done unless her children are interested in her welfare? And how can that be unless the working population, the toiling hardy sons of her strength, are made as free and equal in their political rights as her proudest nobles? I have served my country along with that class; I know them thoroughly; I have had them from all parts, of all crafts and trades. I have commanded them; tried them in all ways, in situations of peril and hardship, in all sorts of privation and misery that it is possible for the human frame to bear. I have seen them when writhing under the tortures of mangled limbs, even when their very heart's blood has been streaming out, shouting to those who were not disabled to go on for the glory and honour of England, and with these words they died! and all this from men whose names were never likely to be known, so that their brave and noble qualities might be applauded. One instance I will give you in illustration,

for one fact is better than hours of declamation.

There

was a man in my own regiment named Eccles,—a man who very often got himself into scrapes, for he was young, wild, and reckless. On the 9th November, 1813, he committed a crime against military law, which I, as his commanding officer, could not pass over with impunity, and I delivered him over to a court martial which sentenced him to corporal punishment. It went against my heart, for orders were issued for battle next day. I thought it hard to give a man stripes on the 9th, and call upon him to fight for the glory of his country on the 10th. I said to him, I pardon you if you will behave well tomorrow, and justify that pardon.' Well, there was a rocky mountain on which the French were entrenched, and we could only get at them by passing between the lower rocks and a marsh, exposed to fire all the time. Towards this pass we ran at our utmost speed; I was then very strong and active, and carried no weight. I thought it shame to let a soldier, who carried fifty pounds, get before me in the attack, and I went ahead of all but one,—that man was Eccles. He was six feet three, straight, and well grown, and though he carried such a burthen I could never pass him. The enemy's fire came from our right, and on my right he kept, covering me with his body. We leaped together into the rocks, and then he fell like one dead from his exertions. Thus he repaid me for his pardon. He died afterwards a sergeant, and a pensioner on the Irish establishment, still young, but worn out by hardship. When I remember such proofs of generosity, courage, and devotion in the British soldier, how can I join in any cry against the working people? how can I fail to wish them well? how avoid aiding them to obtain their rights? Therefore, and therefore only, have I come forward as a public man."

When it is remembered that these sentiments were enforced by all the graces of natural eloquence and studied oratory, aided by a commanding person and a noble countenance, to which the earnestness and enthusiasm of the speaker lent a play of expression that was quite extraordinary; when it was at the same time so patent to all that he was actuated by the purest patriotism and the loftiest disregard of personal advantage,—for he was out of employment, and his future career as a soldier depended on the Government,-it must be admitted that the influence which he acquired over the lower classes, and which he conscientiously exercised for their good, is not surprising. He possessed all the ability, energy, and daring of Caius Gracchus, whose career in troublous times he might have imitated; although he never would have adopted the suicidal measure of the Roman Tribune of conferring on every needy citizen the legal right to public relief.

The last paragraph of his speech likewise suggests the thought, what a military leader this man would have made, who possessed the power of so stirring men's minds, and who, by such acts as he here relates, must have made himself adored by his soldiers! He possessed every attribute of a great and successful general. Many studious men who have gone into the science of war as into mathematics, make excellent generals-in their closets; while they may be utterly wanting in all the practical and physical qualities indispensable in a soldier. There have been many generals, on the other hand, as brave as their swords and as ignorant. But William Napier added to a theoretical knowledge of war which has never been surpassed and very rarely equalled, the calmest self-possession in the midst of danger, rapid perception, instant resolution, and the most heroic daring to execute the conceptions of his mind.

"To fight a successful battle upon just principles will indeed entitle a commander to high praise for talent, and the qualities of his mind must be various and rare. The greatest exertion of the most valuable, and even the most contradictory, endowments is requisite. In the midst of havoc and confusion his view must be rapid, and his decision and execution instantaneous; calmness must be his when all around is turbulence and horror, and the greatest impetuosity must be united with the most consummate prudence. But a battle may be won by accident without any exertion of these admirable qualities. Most battles are so won; there are very few great generals."

The quotation is from his own writings, and the qualities he describes as necessary to a great general he possessed in the very highest degree.

The following extract is from a letter written by General Brotherton to General Napier in 1844; it refers to the tribute paid by the Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords to Sir Charles Napier's victories in Scinde.

66

The Duke," he says, "who witnessed and admired, as we all did, the three brothers in battle. I well recollect Busaco,-the intense anxiety of each of you alternately, not for self but for the brother in danger. It was there I saw you go down amongst the enemy, 'en sabreur,' with your glass to your eye, as coolly as if you had been dancing a quadrille. Well do I recollect the Commodore also,-his grotesque figure and speeches. The four Napiers in the field that day were certainly no bad specimens of the race."

Colonel Napier to Sir Guy Campbell, Bart.

"Have you seen certain letters signed and Irishman,' in any of the Irish papers?

*The late Admiral Sir Charles Napier.