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Sir Charles James Napier, GCB
(10 August 1782 – 29 August 1853),
was a general of the British Empire
and the British Army’s Commander-in-Chief in India,
notable for conquering Sindh in what is now Pakistan.
A story for which Napier is often noted involved Hindu priests
complaining to him about the prohibition of Sati by British authorities.
This was the custom of burning a widow alive on the funeral pyre of her husband.
As first recounted by his brother William, he replied:
«Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile.
But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive
we hang them, and confiscate all their property.
My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets
on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed.
Let us all act according to national customs.»
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