Sussex in the chair, resolutions were now unanimously carried in favour of Napier being restored to his rank in the English navy. But, in fact, the removal of his name from the ‘Navy List’ was a matter of course when it was officially known that he had gone abroad without leave. When he returned to England and reported himself at the admiralty, his name was, equally as a matter of course, restored to its former place.
Meanwhile Napier's position in Lisbon was by no means easy. At first he exulted in having the full control of the dockyards. But everything was in a wretched condition. ‘I soon found out,’ he wrote, ‘that from the minister to the lowest clerk in the establishment I was opposed by every species of intrigue.’ Worn out by insuperable difficulties, he sought relief in more active operations, and, though not without considerable opposition, obtained leave to make an attempt on the northern ports, which were still held for Dom Miguel. Accordingly, about the middle of March, he sailed from Setuval, and landing his men, about one thousand marines and seamen, in the Minho, entered on a very remarkable campaign, with the result that ‘in ten days the whole of the Entre-Douro-e-Minho was secured, the siege of Oporto raised, and the enemy cut off from one of the richest provinces of Portugal.’ Miguel's garrisons, it must, however, be noted, offered no more than a pretence at resistance. Napier was none the less received in triumph by the populace at Oporto, and Dom Pedro raised him to the dignity of a count, as Count Cape St. Vincent, a title afterwards changed to Count Napier St. Vincent, and invested Mrs. Napier with the order of Isabella.
A few weeks later Napier conducted another expedition against Figuera, which was abandoned to him. He then marched inland and summoned Ourem, which also surrendered. With the conclusion of the civil war Napier's work was done. He still hoped to carry out the reforms he had contemplated, but in June he went to England for a few weeks. On his return to Lisbon the queen was declared of age, and on 24 Sept. her father died. Napier submitted to the new minister of war a scheme for the government of the navy, and on its rejection he sent in his resignation. The queen on 15 Oct. relieved him of the command, but desired him to retain ‘the honorary post of admiral.’ He struck his flag the same day, and on 4 Nov. sailed for England in the packet.
Considered solely in reference to the business for which he had been engaged, Napier's conduct was admirable, but it is incorrect to describe him as an enthusiast fighting in the cause of constitutional freedom; he had, in fact, refused to stir till he received six months' pay in advance, and a policy of life insurance for 10,000l. His services were worth the money, but have no claim to be ranked as patriotic. Napier employed himself for the next two years in writing ‘An Account of the War in Portugal between Don Pedro and Don Miguel’ (2 vols. post 8vo, 1836), a book in which the author's achievements and his share in the war are unpleasantly exaggerated.
About the same time he purchased a small estate in Hampshire, near Catherington, formerly known as Quallett's Grove, but to it he now gave the name of Merchistoun, in memory of the old place in Stirlingshire which he had sold in 1816.
In January 1839 Napier commissioned the 84-gun ship Powerful, which was sent out to the Mediterranean in the summer, when the troubled state of the Levant made it necessary to reinforce the fleet under Sir Robert Stopford [q. v.] In June 1840 he was sent in command of a small squadron to watch the course of events in Syria; and on 10 Aug. was ordered to hoist a blue broad pennant as commodore of the second class, and to go off Beyrout. It was then that he first learned the intention of the English government, in concert with Russia, Austria, and Prussia, to support the Turk, and to compel Mohammed Ali to withdraw. Notwithstanding the formidable name of the alliance, there was no force on the coast except Napier's squadron; and though he could threaten Beyrout, which the Egyptians held with a force of fifteen thousand men, he could not do anything till, early in September, much to his disgust, he was joined by the admiral. Brigadier-general Sir Charles Smith too had come out, with a small body of engineers and artillerymen, to command the operations on shore. But Smith fell sick, and the military officer next in seniority was a lieutenant-colonel of marines, a man of neither ability nor energy. The admiral consequently directed Napier to take the command of the forces on shore, and the commodore thus found himself general of a mixed force of marines, engineers, artillery, and Turks. Though in appearance and manner a sailor of the old school, Napier had, since his experience at Busaco, believed himself to be a born general; but vanity and desire for theatrical effect characterised much of his military work. On 20 Sept. he wrote to Lord Minto, the first lord of the admiralty: ‘I wish you would send out as many marines as can be spared; and if Sir Charles Smith does not return I trust an
