Charles James Napier
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Sir Charles James Napier (August 10, 1782 - August 29, 1853) was a British general and Commander-in-Chief in India. The city of Napier, New Zealand is named after him.
A quote for which Napier is famous involves a delegation of Indian locals approaching him and complaining about his interference with suttee, the custom of burning widows alive on the funeral pyres of their husbands. The exact wording of his response varies somewhat in different reports, but the following version captures its essence:
- "You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
At a time when Napier was still a relatively junior officer, sent on routine military manouevers on the northern frontiers of the Bombay Presidency, he entered Sindh, then ruled by petty princes called "Amirs", overthrew them and annexed the territory unilaterally to the Bombay Presidency.
This is when he is said to have despatched back to headquarters a short message, "Peccavi" – Latin for "I have sinned" (i.e., "I have Sindh").
Later apologists of British rule over the East Indians justified this as "If this was a piece of rascally, it was a noble piece of rascally!"
A statue in honour of Sir Charles Napier is placed on a pedestal at Trafalgar Square, London.
| Preceded by: The Lord Gough | Commander-in-Chief, India 1849–1851 | Succeeded by: Sir William Maynard Gomm
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