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Leader (1850-1860), 8th May 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 446, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      land the fellow is allowed to reside out of the ¦ university , and may pursue other professions ; in Dublin , residence is compulsory , and active duties are attached to the office . It is , as lias been described by authority , " a public office with important duties and responsibilities attached to it ; " and it is in the public interest , and not in the interest of any individual junior fellows , that a reform should be pressed . The most surprising point about the whole matter is , how , in these days of published accounts and financial investigations , the senior fellows have been

      allowed to accumulate funds for their own advan tage . The process of appointing an auditor out of thcii own body , in contravention of the spirit of the statutes , which plainly contemplate an independent audit , is a piece of cool assurance requiring a curious combination of reputed learning , the gravity of age , and Irish impudence . The manner in Avhich the fees arising out of the granting of degrees have been diverted from their original distribution is quite a curiosity—but a curiosity discovered only after great research by sonic prying reformers . For instance , the fees payable on obtaining the degrees of B . D . and D . D ., in 1 S 0 . L

      amounted to 30 ^ ., and of these 15 / . were allotted to Trinity College , or " common chest , " and the provost and senior fellows received notlung . But since that time those seven wise men have diverted (" convey , the wise it call" ) the distribution of the money in a remarkable way . The fees for these degrees amount now to 39 / . 15 s ., and of this sum the provost an ^ L senior fellows take 19 / ., allotting to the " common chest" only 2 / . 15 s ., in contrast with tlie 15 / . allotted to the same fund some fifty years ago . How these things can be is not wonderful when we find that the so-called " visitors , " with tlie single exception of a case of extraordinary appeal in 1845 , have , held no regular visitation fot the last twenty-five years .

      Untitled Article

      OUR WEST INDIA ISLANDS . We were saying the other day that the liberality of the House of Commons in providing for the efficiency of the national services had been too often ill repaid by the conduct of our naval and military administrators . The favouritism and jobbery of the Horse Guards have found their rivals in the wasteful freaks and reckless blundering of the'Admiralty departments and the dockyards . The naval estimates are votedyear after year with unstinting confidence and alacrity , and the ready answer to any whispered doubt lias been the duty of watching over our commerce in every sea , and pi-otecting our possessions in every quarter of the globe . Let xis see , then , how this duty is performed . Some weeks since there was a most serious disturbance at St . John ' s

      City , Antigua . Beginning with a dispute in a grog-shop between two men employed as stevedores on poard a ship lading in the port , the one an Antiguan , the other a Barbadian , it resulted in a furious insurrection , which , but for the prompt decision of the authorities , who appear to have acted most prudently and judiciously throughout , "would have left the greater part of the town destroyed by fire , and abandoned to anarchy and bloodshed . In . this grave emergency the governor of the island found himself without so much as a

      corporals guard from the whole British army to assist the civil power ; special constables , mounted volunteers , sailors from the merchantmen iu port , and a , couple of field-pieces were all the means at his disposal ; and he was compelled to despatch a letter to the Governor of Guadeloupe asking for the assistance of a few French troops . Four hours after receipt of this despatch the Pronch governor shipped two hundred men from his garrison in a war-steamer . Fortunately the riots hail been quelled before the arrival of the French troops , and it was not considered necessary to land them in aid of tho provisional force until the troops from Uarbadocs should arrive . Now , while we rejoice heartily in this cordial understanding between the British and French

      governors , we cannot regard the necessity for such an appeal for succour with satisfaction . This is the third time , we believe , since . 1833 , tbat British West India colonies have had to apply to foreign , states for assistance in times of disturbance . In 1833 , if we mistake not , Tortola lmd the nit I of a Danish man-of-war ; in 1853 Tortohi sent for Danish troops when the town was burnt ; and now , in 1858 , Antigua gets a man-of-war and two hundred French troops from Chiaddoupe . Surely this is ain improper state of things . British troops have been entirely withdrawn from all our West , India

      islands except Barbadoes , St . Lucia , Trinidad , and Demerara ., and the expectation was that their place would be supplied by local regiments or an efficient police ; but poverty , want of influence of the Executive , and indifference when deserted by the mother country , have prevented this expectation from being realized , and at this moment most of the Windward and Leeward Islands are entirely without means of successfully controlling riots . We trust our friendly relations with France ¦ may survive all changes of government among our neighbours , but it is not a safe condition of alliance that

      we should leave our islands ' exposed to the chance of being seized in detail in the event of a rupture . While the French have as many as five thousand regular troops stationed in their two possessions , we might well afford to station a single gun-boat at each of our islands to prevent local disturbances , and for concentrated action in the case of war . Parliament , we contend , has a right to insist on our enormous naval and military estimates being properl y applied , and the national forces effectively distributed . It is idle extravagance to build ships , accumulate stores , and commission fleets , if we leavp our dependencies at the mercy of foreign aid in time of peace , and of foreign attack in the event of war .

      Untitled Article

      EMPRESS OF IND . HASsany one calculated how much dignity would be added to the British Crown by the addition of an imperial title to the present titles of the Queen ? Can she be move than Queen of Great Britain , Ireland , their colonies and dependencies ? The late Queen of Portugal—Maria Of" Glory—was styled Empress of the Two Indies—as the reigning king is probably styled Emperor— -and it would be an absurdity to invest our royalty with a title reduced to a mockery by the Portuguese . The day is past in which srrandiloqucnt appellations enhanced

      the splendour of any monarch . Who is the Lord of the Seas but a secluded barbarian , or the brother of the Sun and Moon but a pig-tailed Tartar ? We hope no one is seriously thinking of putting Queen . Victoria hi . competition , in the matter ol titles , with the rabble of Illuminators of the Universe , Kings' of Golden Thrones , Luminaries in the liinnamcnt of Glory , Emperors of Burmah , Thibet , Tonquin , and Cochin-China cocks and hens . The very notion springs from a pernicious belief that avc can govern India by fictions , and that the reverberation of a name will silence all rebel drums

      from Alinora to Tincvclly , from Cox ' s Bazaar to Ramdorce . Let us leave an Old Kalabar savage to call himself The Bull of Bulls , or an African Cannibal to frighten hatlcss , shoeless sans-cnlolles and coffee-coloured butchers as The Lord of Thunder ; and if we undertake the work of organizing our Eastern dominions upon a just , civilized , and prudent basis , we may leave Qilccu " Victoria , in the enjoyment of the only title which would ever be respected in Europe . We want nothing imperial in this country , nothing in the form of proclaimed dignities , nothing- in imitation of French , Russian , or Austrian magniloquence . If Alexander and Napoleon arc Emperors , ' so is Soulouciuc .

      Untitled Article

      SANITARY CONDITION OF THE ARMY . TLcport of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into tlie ret / illations affecting the sanitary condition of the Army , the organization of military hospitals , and the treatment of the sick and wounded . Tiitj great importance to the community , and the national interests involved in the oflici . il investigation which this report embodies , it would be impossi ble ^ to overrate . ^ It . is , however , most satisfactory , in oiler ing our evidences as to the way in which the work has been done , to be able so heartily to endorse the words of the Premier when presenting the report , and pronounce it an admirable report that should receive the earnest attention oC the Government .

      Originally set on foot by Mr . Sidney Herbert , whoso > rcvious experience of military economy had no dou ) t rendered him especially alive to tho ' terrible disclosures of the Crimean . Army Inquiry , the subject of the inquiry was , after the usual representation to the Queen , followed by the issue of the Jioyal Commission , on the 5 l , h ' of May , " 1857 , composed of the following gentlemen : —The Night lion . Sidney Herbert ., Augustus Stafford Stafford , Esq . ( now deceased ) , Colonel Sir Henry K . « lork . s ( Commandant of Hospitals in tho late . KusUini campaign ) , Dr . Andrew Smith ( Army Alert ion I" Director-General ) , Thomas Alexander ,

      C . B . ( Inspector of Military Hospitals ) , Sir Thomas Phillips , J . Ranald Martin , Esq ., IMt . S . ( late Medical Officer of the Bengal Army ) , Sir James Clark , Bart ., M . D . ( Physician to the Qu « en ) , Dr . John Sutherland ( Sanitary Inspector ) . The result now before us is a parliamentary volume of more than 600 pages . The report and recommendations with the evidence , including above 10 , 000 questions and replies , pearly 10 O of which arc written answers by Miss Nightingale , of great value and interest , occupy . about two-thirds of the book . The remainder being an appendix

      containing tables showing the ratio of mortality in the troops and civilian population , diagrams of mortality at the hospitals in the East , and comparative diagrams to scale of the density of population in East London and a military camp , a valuable abstract of the instructions in the French military hospitals , plans of the Iidpital de Lariboissierc , for G 12 beds , at Paris , and for the ventilation of barracks , and of new bed compartments invented by Colonel Jcbb , Cbief Engineer of Prisons .

      The sources of the evidence have been extended over a very wide urea ; from the recruiting and enlistment of the soldier through the whole course of his habits and duties at home and abroad , his dwelling-house , food , and clothing , his diseases and his hospital , his pay and lu ' s cost to tile public , down to his discharge when no longer fit for service , and ltis death as a pensioner . Then there is the whole subject of the medical officer , from the . qualifications of candidates and the principles of selection adopted , ramifying away through all 1 he intricacies of professional -jealousy , promotion by routine and . by selection ; rank , pay , and compulsory retirement , up to the constitution , organization , and powers of the office of ¦ Director-General of the Department .

      The witnesses then examined were necessarily chiefly medical men experienced in all branches of the profession ; military officers , engineer officers , commissariat officers , and some men selected from the ranks , with some civilians holding official positions in the War Office , a distinguished actuary , and the llegistrar-Genci-al . Miss Nightingale ' s evi ' dcncc , ' as before stated , is given to written questions , and a surprisingly interesting document of hospifal statistics it is , to which we shall find it necessary to refer iii considering the subject . Thus we are provided with the opinions derived from the most distinguished practical experience ; , with the results of scientific study and observation ; and calculations in vital statistics that carry the peculiar and irresistible conviction of facts and fio-nrcs .

      lhc report begins by developing the astounding fact , that although the soldier is a picked man , one out of every three recruits being rejected as worthless , and though he is chosen at last after repealed severe scrutiny front two , sometimes three , surgeons ; his life , fighting and foreign service being put out of the question , is not half so good as that of a civilian of the same , age . Even among the best of the picked men , the flower of the British army , the Foot Guards , the mortality is nearly double that ot ! the most unhealthy of all the manufacturing towns , Man Chester . But the ease i , s even still more start linrr

      and desperate in its deadly signilicance—the returns giving the broad fact just stated show an appearance of health which is fallacious , for we liave yet to add to the black account those soldiers who die after discharge from the service . Some of these men of course are men who have served their time , but from 15 to ' 20 per 1000 per annum arc discharged unlit for service in cavalry and infantry serving at home , under twenty-one or twenty-1 ' onr years' service , and a large proportion arc condemned under three years' service . Many of these men have ; contracted disease in the service , they go out to die in fact , and thus the plague-spot in the ranks has been habitually glossed over to the eye . They look ever fair and fresh , anil , as the report says , " clearly , if every man likely to die could be '

      invalided , the army would appear to be almost immortal . " Still , whether a soldier die in the service or as a pensioner the death must equally be counted to the side of military service . But let us follow up the pensioner 1 . Colonel Tullocli , ( lie Supoi . ' - inU'iulent , of Pensioners , tolls us that pensioners of ill arms die every year at the . rate of 1 li > per 1000 . . Hut turning to the table showing the . numbu oi poiiHioners dying in the first year of their heiiifr on the , list , we see ( he sad Irutii recorded , opp <» ili ' the Household Cavalry , of l-2 f > p <; r . 1000 , and the l <\ mf , ( iuarils in l-t > per 1000 , Cavalry of tho Line ( ifW ) , lnl ' iiiitry 74 ' 5 . What Ixicomes of the lnr < j ; e proportion discharged without pension w « cnunoL come at , as they become merged in 1 hc

      Untitled Article

      440 _ TH E I / E AD E B . [ STo . 424 , May 8 , 1858 . I

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 8, 1858, page 446, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2241/page/14/