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Leader (1850-1860), 5th June 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16, has seriously entertained the proposal. ...

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      Sanitary Condition Op The Abmy. Iv. The ...

      recruits examined at the Lead-quarters of the recruiting districts in the ten years from 1842 to 1851 , gives ; husbandmen , labourers , and servants lumpecf together , as 647 . 9 per 1000 , and mechanics , 294 . 7 ; but we suspect the husbandmen form not above a third of this number , or say one man in five is a genuine ploughman . The term labourer is too indiscriminately applied to two very different men . Shopmen and clerks give to the army 51 . 6 per 1000 professional men , 3 . 2 per 1000 . We . can form some idea of the bodily qualifications of men offering as soldiers , from

      observing the large proportion rejected , and the serious signs of debility they exhibit . 335 per 1000 are unfit , chiefly from want of muscle , marks of treatment , weak legs , and deformed chest . The Scotchmen stand lowest , then the English , then the Irish . Now , in estimating the tendencies to intemperance and debauchery , the probability is , that by far the majority of the mechanics and labourers have been habitually drinkers before entering the service , and the soberer nien soon learn the habit from having nothing particular to do of an afternoon , and always a trifte to spend in their pockets . Then iterenerallv

      happens that a soldier has to pass his life in a seaport town , or some large city , where the temptations are strong . Everything , therefore , favours his inclination , and the result is , that in . spite of all the confining to barracks , unlimited pack , drill , and cells , the orderly-room continues to exhibit a perfect ; : parallel to Bow-street on a Monday morning . Commanding officers content themselves generally with administering routine punishments and uttering lamentations to the general inspecting ; but here ends the attempt at preventing this constant and most common cause of insubordination , of

      neelect of duty , and crimes of the worst description . It would be difficult to say to what physical injuries of the soldier intemperance does not lead ; it places him under double the amount of heavy drill , which wears out his body , his boots ; and his clothes , and for which he bas to pay out of the small sum that he sliould spend upon his beer or his tea and coffee . It compels him to exchange the fresh air of the fields and the sea-shore for the close barrack-room . It brings him to the wretched cell with all its solitary horrors and demoralizing influences , and its insidious bodily deterioration . We are quite

      disposed to go with the report in saying , " There is no reason to think that the soldier is more intemperate than the average of the class from which he comes ; " that he has not the means of indulging in those days of drunkenness so common amongst artisans , but we must attribute more importance to it as" an indirect cause of mortality than appears upon the face of the evidence or is indicated by the report of the commissioners . It is the hundred follies that a man commits wlTen he is drunk that are the causes of disease , and to prevent these crying sins of the army is a problem in utuievu

      ijiuiLiury uuuiiuiny . y » e tue Dest propnylactic tor them would be a large , airy common room , with the very simple remedies of tea and coffee always ready , books and newspapers , occasional lectures , and other recreative exercises for mind and body ; all under proper surpervision , and visited regularly by the officers of the day . It is indeed a grievous argument to use in proof of the tendency to the indulgence of intoxication arising from want of occupation , but nevertheless too true a one , that among the officers and non-commissioned officers there is in proportion , we believe , a . greater amount of injurious drinking tlian among the men : we should say that a case of delirium tremens was rare among the latter , it is not so rare among the former . Mr . Neison considers that the prevalence of intemperance may he estimated . by the number of diseases affecting the nervous system and the digestive organs ; this may afford a datum , but we iind

      in . the army that the excessive mortality and the diseases of the respiratory organs are clearly connected , being as 5 to 1 of nervous or stomach affections in the household cavalry , and 11 to 1 in the foot-guards . There are , however , good reasons , albeit too pathological for discussion here , for considering disease of the lungs as probably connected with alcoholism . Were we to enter upon the subject of intemperance in the troops abroad , we should find no obscurity , no hesitation in placing to its credit in a black book a sad list . Who could not rcoal some fine manl y fellow full of health that would not give up his jovial habits—well enough in his northern homo after a day at the pheasants in December , but deadly after a day at the snipes under the scorching sun of Ceylon . Non-commissioned officers , though the best and often invaluable men , are no better able to resist the inducements to drink .

      As to the men , the fat lgne of the duty under a hot sun invariably leads to a great amount of spirit-drinking . But as neither the evidence elicited by the commission nor the report brings this subject into sufficient relief , we have referred to Sir George Ballingall ' s book , who says , "It is chiefly , indeed , upon foreign service that the ruinous consequences of excesses amongst the soldiery are conspicuous , and perhaps there is no situation where it is seen in a more

      dep lorable shape than in the remote quarters inlndia » There , as well as upon other foreign stations , it was , until lately , not only the practice but the positive duty of a soldier to drink his allowance of spirits , amounting to nearly half a pint daily ; the habit of dram-dnnking being thus engendered , the men were induced to struggle to a great distance from the camp or cantonments in search of liquor : they obtained it of the very worst description , and when in a state of brutal intoxication they often lay exposed to the sun , to the parching land winds , or to the night dews , all fertile sources of disease . Numerous instances of madness , of maiming , of

      murder , and of suicide which occur on some foreign stations , and particularly in India , afford melancholy proofs . " ^ There was a time when before a breakfast of simple tea or coffee was provided , that men died at the rate of 25 per cent , on the most healthy stations ; the doctors discovered that all these men died of ulcerated bowels , or abscess of the liver , and on inquiry it was found that the common breakfast was a glass of raw spirits and a slice of boiled salt : pork . Referring to the returns of deaths since 1837 , classified by the diseases , we see that those by affections of the stomach , liver , and

      bowels , and the brain in the Presidencies of Bengal and Madras , exceed those by cholera , fevers , disease of the lungs , and all others put together by more than . 1 per 1000 ; the numbers are : Bengal , stomach , & c , 32 . 8 against fevers , & c , 31 . 2 per 1000 ^ Madras , 19 . 8 against 18 . 6 . At Bombay there is a disturbance due to a visitation of cholera , otherwise the excess would hold still ; the deaths being , by stomach and liver diseases , & c , 25 . 7 against cholera , fevers , & c , 33 . 0 per 1000 . We have felt it necessary to enter into the question of intemperance thus far , because the commissioners have not laid much stress upon it , and , moreover .

      because to us it appears to be a cause affecting the health of the troops , powerful and far more difficult to deal with than any defective ventilation . We can lay down drains and put in air-shafts , and open a window here and a fireplace there , but it is not so easy to create a fresh current in the moral atmosphere ; moreover , the subject is intimately connected with the improvement of the soldier , whether as a member of the social community , or as a fighting man and a pioneer of civilization . Much that we have just said with reference to intemperance applies equally to " debauched habits among the soldiery ; " there are , however , certain

      allowances to be made upon this last , certain mitigating circumstances to be taken into consideration , to winch it is only necessary thus to allude . The report points out the greater amount of dissipation among soldiers than in the civil population , and explains it by the great temptations he is exposed to in towns . Colonel Tulloch considers the soldier is the superior in a greater degree than the civilian , because there are so few married men among them . Dr . T . Graham Balfour , formerly surgeon Grenadier Guards , speaking in his evidence of the prevalence of venereal affections in the

      Guards as being one of the causes of pulmonary consumption , states yie proportion of cases to be 250 per 1000 strength , and in the cavalry 206 per 1000 strength . If the figures are correct , the return of the Royal Artillery is a startling one ; the average on twent y years is 463 per 1000 . In the Indian presidencies it is very high and on the increase , being for the last sixteen years 315 per 1000 mean strength in Madras , 262 Bombay , and 229 Bengal ; and what is singular for this disease , there is a large proportion of deaths—as many as 10 G out of 52 , 038 cases in Bengal . The report alludes to the injury

      to the soldier arising from these maladies , hut without venturing a suggestion as to counteracting the unfortunate evil . It was once in the regulations that soldiers contracting this disease should be punished ; the result was that they endured it till they were disabled before complaining , and of courso the injury to their constitutions was only so much the more intensified . However , what with the severe treatment and the length of time a man is frequently confined in the hospital , andjjho largo proportion of cases , it is a very serious consideration in the sanitary condition of the army . The whole subject is one of great difficulty and

      embarrassment , but we cannot help thinking that the time is at hand when it must be dealt with by the legislature in soroe shape , and we are by no means disposed to consider it a hopeless task to devise a system of preventive measures . There has long been aeodeof regulations in operation atParisw ith great success , and we see no insurmountable obstacles to a similar plan being followed with us . With all due regard to the liberty of the subject ,, we believe that a system of compulsory inspection would be found to work well under fair and proper regulations With the Health of Towns A . ct in full operation ' and lished

      having accomp compulsory vaccination the way seems to be well prepared for the application of compulsory measures for preventing the spread of other most baneful personal sources of diseases . Though we should attach considerable importance to any measures of this kind / yet we aie not at all unmindful of the great preventive influence that would be exercised against dissipation by those measures before referred to—those inducements and facilities for self-improvement which are calculated to raise the moral standard of the soldier . : . ' ¦ . ' ' ;¦ - . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦; ¦¦ .. ¦ ; ¦ . ( To be contiimed ?)

      544 / ___ The Lea D 34 It. [No. 428, Jun...

      544 / ___ THE LEA D 34 It . [ No . 428 , June 5 , 1885 .

      Has Seriously Entertained The Proposal. ...

      has seriously entertained the proposal . And , if it-were possible for him to isolate himself , and to have regard solely to his own views and feeling 3 , we believe that Iris accession to the Cabinet of Lord Derby would not be delayed another , day . But there are few men who have passed twenty years in public life without having found friendship and connexions which cannot be left out of view when circumstances like the present happen to occur . These connexions , we believe , form the main obstacle to that acceptance of high office by Mr . Gladstone which , has been hoped for during several days past . We fear that the hope is , at least for the present , at an end . Other arrangements will , therefore , have to be made ; but the termination of the communications with Mr . Gladstone having only taken place withia the last few hours , there has not been time for the completion of any other arrangement . "

      The Atlantic Telegraph . —1 he Atlantic Telegraph squadron sailed on their experimental trip last Saturday afternoon , for the purpose of testing machinery and trying various operations connected with the laying of the cable . They reached the offing at ten minutes past five p . m ., and steamed in line to the south-west in the following order : —Gorgon , Valorous , Agamemnon , and Niagara . Mr . Gladstone . and the Government . — The Tress of Saturday intimates that negotiations have been going on for some days as to the accession of Jilr . Gladstone to the Cabinet of Lord Derby , and adds : — " Nor is there , we believe , any solid difficulty in the way . of a junction on the part of M / . Gladstone with the present Government . Hence , during the present week , that gentleman

      Tim Hudson's Bay Company . —The Canadian Government lias given notice of a series of resolutions on the Hudson's Bay Question . As they differ widely from the proposals made to Canaan , by Mr . Labouchere and the late Government , the question has now assumed a very important political character . They propose to call upon the English Government to test the validity of . the Hudson Bay Company ' s charter , as well as to adopt measures for the settlement of the boundary line between Canada and the Company ' s territories . If the

      former question be opened it will necessarily embrace the latter . The resolutions further state that oven if the Company's " rights" and claims arc recognized , such portions of the territories as may be required should , from time to time , be set apart for purposes of colonization . Other stipulations , such as the issuing of licenses of trade , and the protection of the Indians , are nlso proposed ; and the Whig scheme of compensation to the Company , for giving up that to which they have no just claim , is peremptorily repudiated . —Morning Mar .

      Mr . CharlksMatuews has been " cowhided" in the streets of New York by Mr . Davenport , the actor , -whoso divorced wife Mr . Mathcws recently married . It is reported that Mr . Mathcws had publicly boasted that he had bought the lady of Mr . Davenport ; and this was the cause of quarrel . In the course of the fray , Mr . Mathews used his fists to some purpose on Mr . Davenport , but at length himself received a knock-down , blow . In the evening , both combatants appeared at their respective theatres . The Charity Children paid their annual visit to St . Paul ' s on Thursday morning . Gaslights in a Coal-pit . —It is well known that

      one of the greatest difficulties coal-miners have to contend with ia a deficiency of light , the artificial moans of illumination afforded by the Davy lamp boing v ? ry inadequate to the requirements of the men in tlio thick darkness of a coal-pit . It has recontly been found safe and practicable , under proper precautions , to in troduce gaslights in coal-mines . This valuable improvement has been adopted at the High Elsocar Colliery , noar Barnsloy , the property of Earl Fitzwillium ; and naked gaslights are now burning in all tlie board-gatoa ana stables ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 5, 1858, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05061858/page/16/