ecame famous in later years; even now he prescribed a strict
rule, 'a cloak, a pair of shoes, two flannel shirts, and a piece of
soap--these, wrapped up in an oil-skin, must go in the right holster,
and a pistol in the left.' He took no opinions at second hand, but
studied the best authorities and thought for himself; he was as thorough
in self-education as the famous Confederate general 'Stonewall' Jackson,
who every evening sat for an hour, facing a blank wall and reviewing in
his mind the subjects which he had read during the day.

No opportunity for reaping the fruit of these studies and exercising his
great gifts was given him till May 1819. Then he was appointed to the
post of inspecting-officer in the Ionian Islands;[12] and in 1822 he was
appointed Military Resident in Cephalonia, the largest of these islands,
a pile of rugged limestone hills, scantily supplied with water, and
ruined by years of neglect and the oppression of Turkish pashas. So
began what was certainly the happiest, and perhaps the most fruitful,
period in Charles Napier's life. It was not strictly military work, but,
without the authority which his military rank gave him and without the
despotic methods of martial law, little could have been achieved in the
disordered state of the country. The whole episode is a good example of
how a well-trained soldier of original mind can, when left to himself,
impress his character on a semi-civilized people, and may be compared
with the work of Sir Harry Smith in South Africa, or Sir Henry Lawrence
in the Punjab. The practical reforms which he initiated in law, in
commerce, in agriculture, are too numerous to mention. 'Expect no
letters from me', he writes to his mother, 'save about roads. No going
home for me: it would be wrong to leave a place where so much good is
being done.... My market-place is roofed. My pedestal is a tremendous
job, but two months more will finish that also. My roads will not be
finished by me.' And again, 'I take no rest myself and give nobody else
any.' To his superiors he showed himself somewhat impracticable in
temper, and he was certainly exacting to his subordinates, though
generous in his praise of those who helped him. He was compassionate to
the poor and vigorous in his dealings with the privileged classes; and
he gave the islanders an entirely new conception of justice. When he
quitted the island after six years of office he left behind him two new
market-places, one and a