Victorian Books, Art Journal

Napier from the statue by G G Adams (age 36)

This statue of the "Hero of Scinde," the name by which the gallant Napier is familiarly known among us, stands at the south-west angle of Trafalgar Square; it was erected by public subscription, a very considerable amount of the sum collected being contributed by the non-commissioned officers and the privates of the troops who at various times had served under his command.

General Charles James Napier, K.C.B., &c., was eldest son of the Honourable George Napier and Lady Sarah Lennox, daughter of the second Duke of Richmond; he was born in 1782. At the early age of twelve years lie obtaiued a commission in the 33ril, the Duke of Wellington's regiment, but did not join the army for active service till some time after in truth, though war was raging throughout the world, Napier was "on duty" at home, till his twenty-seventh year, when, as major in the 50th regiment, he was suddenly called to Portugal, after the battle of Vimeira. On account of the absence of his colonel, the command of the regiment devolved upon Napier; and it was the 50th that mainly sustained the assailing columns of the French at Corunna in the action he was severely wounded, and made prisoner, was soon after exchanged, by Ney, and returned to England. He remained at home for a few months, and then again joined the British army, as a volunteer, in the Peninsula, and served uuder Wellington, till promotion brought him once more to England.

In 1812 he took command of a newly-raised regiment, the 102nd, and sailed for Bermuda the following year he exchanged into his old corps, the 50th, in which he continued till the cud of 1814, wheu he was reduced ou half-pay, and entered the military college at Farnham.

When Napoleon escaped from Elba, and Europe rose in arms to resist him, Napier, like an old warhorse, "sniffed the battle from afar," and hastened to join the British troops as a volunteer; he was too late, however, to take share in the triumphs of Waterloo, but aided at the storming of Cambray, and in the attack on Paris. He remained in the latter city only a few days after its occupation, and then returned to his military college. In 1819 he was appointed inspecting field officer in the Ionian Islands. In 1830 he was superseded in his command, and returned to his native country.

We have not space to follow the steps of this gallant and noble-hearted soldier through the period that intervened between his last return to England, and that of his departure for India, in 1841. Since 1838, or rather the commencement of 1839, he held the chief military command in the northern districts of our country, at that time in a very disturbed state from the discontent of the working classes his conciliatory counsels and conduct, no less than his courage and firmness, tended much to prevent disaffection breaking out into open warfare. His career in India forms one of the brightest pages in the history of British Indian ride; forcibly and eloquently has it been written by a brother, who, conscious of the merits and worth of his kinsman, has, in his "Life of Charles James Napier," laboured with feelings honourable to their fraternal relationship to do justice to his memory, and to place it in a right position before his fellow-countrymen, who have not been slow in recognising and appreciating the testimony recorded by Sir William Napier, in his biography of the late veteran officer, who died at Oaklands, August 29, 1853.

Mr. Adams's (age 36) statue is a faithful and characteristic representation of. the "Hero of Scinde;" we see in it the man as he was when living. The sculptor has abstained — notwithstanding he had many inducements, artistically, for so doing — from modifying, to any extent, the peculiarities of personal appearance, and from any sculpturesque introductions that might give additional elegance to the work it is a bold, animated copy of a bold, lion-hearted, and generous soldier. The sculptor, we believe, is at present engaged upon another statue of the general, different in design, to be erected in St. Paul's Cathedral, out of the surplus funds, so we understand, of the public subscription.