vernment a masterly memorandum on the military situation, including a plan of operations and a strong recommendation to appoint Mavrocordato dictator. In the summer and autumn of 1823 he saw a good deal of Byron, who in January 1824, when Napier was going to England on leave, gave him a letter to the Greek committee in London, recommending him as ‘our man to lead a regular force or to organise a national one for the Greeks.’ He made a deep impression on Byron, who spoke of him on his deathbed. Napier returned to England in the beginning of 1824, and put himself in communication with the Greek committee. His services were, however, declined. He wrote a pamphlet on the Greek question, and a memoir on the roads of Cephalonia.
In May 1825 he was back again in Cephalonia. Maitland was dead, and Sir Frederick Adam [q. v.] had taken his place as high commissioner. Napier was promoted colonel in the army on 27 May 1825. He made the acquaintance of the missionary Joseph Wolff, who was wrecked off Cephalonia; for Wolff he had a great admiration.
In September 1825 Ibrahim Pasha was ravaging the Morea, and the Greeks turned to Napier for help. Napier sent his conditions; but the Greek government were persuaded by the London committee to spend on ships of war the money which would have furnished Napier with an army. They still desired to secure his services, and offered a larger remuneration than he had asked for; but he was not inclined to be dependent on the mismanagement and intrigues of the Greek government, and, failing to obtain complete power, he declined the offer, and tried to forget his disappointment in renewed efforts for the prosperity of his government. In 1826 he was suddenly called to England by the death of his mother. In April 1827 he married, and in July returned to Cephalonia. He could not brook the interference of the new high commissioner, and a coldness arose between them, which soon grew into hostility. The roads and public works in which he delighted were taken out of Napier's hands; and the feudal proprietors, from whom Napier had exacted the duties of their position while curtailing some of their privileges, aggravated the ill-feeling by laying many complaints before the high commissioner.
Early in 1830 Napier was obliged to take his wife to England on account of her health. Some months after his departure Adam sent home charges against Napier, seized his official papers, and publicly declared he would not allow him to return. Lord Goderich, who thought there were, no doubt, faults on both sides, offered Napier the residency of Zante, a higher post than that of Cephalonia. But Napier declined the offer; he considered his character was not vindicated unless he returned to Cephalonia. He lived with his family at one time in Berkshire, and at another in Hampshire, and then settled at Bath. During this interval of retirement he took an interest in politics, and occupied himself in writing a book on his government of Cephalonia. In 1833 he had a severe attack of cholera, and on 31 July of that year was completely prostrated by the death of his wife. He removed to Caen in Normandy, and devoted himself to the education of his daughters.
In August 1834 a company received a charter to settle in South Australia, and the colonists petitioned for the appointment of Napier as governor. Many months of suspense ensued, during which Napier wrote a work on colonisation. In May 1835 he was informed that the terms which he proposed on behalf of the colonists were not acceptable to the company, and he declined the appointment at the end of 1836. He married a second time in 1835, and again settled at Bath, where he entered eagerly into politics. He had a bitter controversy with O'Connell, which led to his publishing a dialogue on the poor laws. He also published a book on military law, and edited ‘Lights and Shadows of Military Life,’ from the French of Count Alfred de Vigny and Elzèar Blase. But his principal literary work at this time was an historical romance entitled ‘Harold,’ the manuscript of which strangely disappeared. On 10 Jan. 1837 he was promoted major-general. In March 1838 he moved to Pater, Milford Haven. In July he was made a K.C.B. He applied for the command and lieutenant-governorship of Jersey, and, after considerable suspense, was refused. He then made a short tour in Ireland, visiting his old friend Kennedy, and the model farm at Glasnevin. A pamphlet on the state of Ireland was the result of his visit.
In April 1839 Lord Hill appointed Napier to the command of the troops in the northern district, comprising the eleven northern counties of England. Chartism was rife at the time; outrages were not infrequent, and Napier's political opinions were on the side of the people. He felt the responsibility, and, while sympathising with the distress that prevailed, determined to uphold law and order with a firm hand. He had excellent subordinates in Hew Ross, afterwards field-marshal, and Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord Clyde [q. v.] Napier's well-organised measures judiciously maintained the law in a
