transferred to the Hague. From December 1860 to September 1864 he was ambassador at St. Petersburg, and from September 1864 to January 1866 at Berlin. In these various diplomatic posts Lord Napier established a high reputation. Many years ago Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, first earl of Lytton [q. v.], told the writer of this article that he regarded Napier as the only man of genius in the diplomatic service in his time. When secretary of legation at Naples in 1848 and 1849, he was chargé d'affaires for eighteen months, including the critical period of the Sicilian insurrection. On that occasion the judgment and tact with which he discharged his duties were highly appreciated by Lord Palmerston,then secretary of state for foreign affairs, by whom Napier's talents, as manifested in the higher diplomatic appointments which he subsequently held, were regarded as justifying an expectation that he would rise to the highest offices in the state. Both by Lord Aberdeen and Lord Clarendon his services were much valued. In the United States he was considered to have been the most acceptable envoy they had up to that time received from Great Britain. As ambassador at St. Petersburg he was a persona grata to the emperor Alexander II, who wished to confer upon him the highest Russian order, that of St. Andrew, because he considered that Lord Napier had worked for peace between England and Russia which at that time was threatened. This proposal having to be abandoned, as no British envoy could accept a foreign order, the emperor sat for his portrait, which he presented to Napier. A similar compliment was afterwards paid to him by the king of Prussia.
In January 1866 Napier was appointed governor of Madras. This office he held for six years, having been invited by George Douglas Campbell, eighth duke of Argyll [q.v. Suppl.], then secretary of state for India, to prolong his tenure of the office beyond the usual time. The duties of an Indian governor are very different from those which had previously devolved upon Napier ; but his administration fully justified the promise of his previous career. He went very thoroughly into all the questions which came before him, mastering the facts, and recording his views with a fulness and clearness which left nothing to be desired. A few months after taking charge of the government he found himself confronted by a serious famine in Ganjam, the northern district of the presidency. He at once repaired to the district and visited the affected tracts, stimulating the district officers by his example, and setting on foot the measures which were necessary to meet the calamity. It is not too much to say that there was no branch of the administration to which he did not devote time and attention. Whether it was a question relating to the assessment of the land revenue, or the garrison required to maintain the peace of the presidency, or the strength of the police, or the establishment of municipal and local government all these matters received from Napier full and careful consideration ; but the business to which he devoted special attention was that connected with the public health. Hospitals, dispensaries, and everything relating to the care of the sick and the prevention of disease were to him objects of the deepest interest. As secretary to the embassy at Constantinople he had made the acquaintance and had acquired the friendship of Miss Florence Nightingale, to whom his official position had enabled him to render valuable assistance in carrying out her work. Throughout his residence in India he kept up a correspondence with her on subjects connected with the public health in that country. He also from the first took a great and practical interest in developing public works, and especially works of irrigation. He fully recognised the great value of the irrigation works carried out or devised by Sir Arthur Cotton [q. v. Suppl.] He visited them all at an early period after assuming the government, and during the six years that he remained in India he gave steady encouragement to the completion and development of the various irrigation systems then in operation. It was while Napier was governor of Madras that the Pennár anicut was built, and some progress made with the distributing canals. During that time also the Rushikuliya anicut in Ganjam was projected and planned, and the great work of diverting the Periyár river in Travancore from its natural channel, leading down to the western coast, where the water was not required, into the river Vaigai on the eastern side of the peninsula, was brought by Napier before the government of India and the secretary of state. This remarkable work was successfully completed a few years ago.
Very shortly after Napier's arrival at Madras he visited Calcutta and made the acquaintance of Sir John Lawrence [see Lawrence, John Laird Mair, first Baron Lawrence], with whom he established most friendly relations, as he afterwards did with the Earl of Mayo. Napier from the first recognised the respective positions of the supreme government of India and of the minor governments, and did everything in
