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Leader (1850-1860), 5th June 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 544, Untitled Article

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      recruits examined at the head-quarters of the recruiting districts in the ten years from 1842 to 1851 , gives ; husbandmen , labourers , and servants lumped 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 6 ve 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 10 . 00 ; professional nien , 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 xant 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 , tlie probability is , that by far the majority of the mechanics and labourers have been habitually drinkers before entering the service , and the soberer men soon learn the habit from having nothing particular to do of an afternoon , and always a trifle to spend in their pockets . Then it generally happens that a soldier has to pass his life in a seaport town , or some large city , where the temptations

      are strong . Everjtlung , 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 neglect of duty , and . crimes of the worst descri p tion . 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 has to pay out of the small sum that he should 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 winch he comes j" 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 when he is drunk that are the causes of disease ,. and to prevent these crying sins of . the army is a problem in military economy . We believe the best prophylactic for 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 tlie 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 than among the men : we should say that a case of delirium tremens was rare among the latter , it is not so rare among tlie former . Mr ; Neison considers that the prevalence of intemperance may bo estimated l > y the number of diseases affecting the nervous system and the digestive organs ; this may afford a datum , but we lind

      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 tho household cavalry , aud 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 lind no obscurity , no hesitation " in placing to its oredit in a black book a sad list . Who could not recal some flue manly fellow full of health that would not give up his jovial habits—well enough in hi 8 northern liome 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 bettor able to resist the inducements to drink .

      As to the men , the fatigue of the duty under a hot sun invariably leads to a great amount of spirit-drinking But as neither tlie evidence elicited by the commission nor the report brings tliis 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

      deplorable 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-drinking being thus engendered , the men were induced to struggle to a great distance from tlie 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 tlie 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 eholera i 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 aiiy 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 afresh current in the moral atmosphere ; moreover , the subject is intimately connected with the improvement of the soldier , whether- as ji member of the social community , or as a fighting man . antl . 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 l > e taken into consideration , to which 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 tlie proportion of cases to be 250 per 1000 strength , and in the cavalry 206 per 1000 strength . If tlie figures are correct , the return of the Royal Artillery is n , startling one ; the average on twenty years is 4 C 3 per 1000 . In the Indian presidencies it is very high and on the increase , being for tlie last sixteen years 315 per 1000 mean strength in . Madras , 202 Bombay , and 229 Bengal ; and what is singular for this disease , there is a large proportion of deaths—as many as 106 out of 52 , 038

      cases m Bengal . The report alludes to the injury to the soldier arising from these maladies , but without venturing a suggestion as to counteracting the unfortunate evil . Ifcwas once in the regulations tliat soldiers contracting this disease should be punished ; the result was that they endured it till tliey \ Vcre disabled before complaining , and of course the injury to their constitutions was only so much the more intensified . However , what with the severe treatment « nd the length of time a man is frequently confined in the hospital , and the large proportion of cases , it is a very serious consideration in tlie sanitary condition of the army . Tho whole subject is one of great difficulty and embar-

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      rassment , but we cannot hel p thinking that tlie time is at hand when it must be dealt with by the legislature in some 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 a code of regulations in operation at Paris with great success , and we see no insurmountable obstacle s to a similar plan being followed with us . With all due regard to the liberty of the subject , \ ve believe that a system of compulsory inspection would be found to work well tinder fair and proper regulations With the Health of Towns Act in full operation ' and having accomplished 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 are 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 axe calculated to raise the moral standard of the soldier . ( To be continued . ' )

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      544 _____ ¦ ' f f-5 .-5 LE ADE " ft- ' ¦ [^ o . 42 S , June o , 1885 .

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      The Atlantic Telegbaph . —Ihe Atlantic Tele-. grapn 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 oTderi ^ Gorgon , Valorous , Agamemnon , and Niagara . Mr . Gladstone and the Government . — -The Press of Saturday intimates that negotiations have been going on for some days as to tlie accession of Mr . Gladstone to the Cabinet of Lord Derb jv and adds : — - " Nor is there , we believe , any solid difficulty in the way of a junction on the part of Mr . Gladstone with the present Government . Hence , during the-present week , that gentleman has seriously entertained the proposal . And , if it-were possible for hirn to isolate himself , and to have regard solely to his own views and feelings , we believe that his accession to the Cabinet of Lord Derby would not be dela 3 'ed 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 wliich 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 , hare to be made ; but the termination of the communications with Mr . Gladstone having only taken place within the last few hours , there has ' , not been time for tlie completion of xiny other arrangement . " Ti ' ik Hudson ' s Bay Companv . —Tlie Canadian Government has given notice of i \ series of resolution ' s * on the IIurisonYUay Question . As they iliflfer widely from tlie proposals made to Canada by Mr . Laboucliere and the late Government , tlie question has now nssnmed 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 settloment of the boundary line between Canada and tho Company's territories . If the former question be opened it will necessarily emhrnco th « latter . The resolutions further state that even if the Company ' s " rights" and claims arc recognized , such portions of tlie 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 also proposed ; and the Whig scheme of compensation to the Company , for giving up that to which they have no just claim , is peremptorily repudiated . —JMornhg Star . Mit . Charlks Matiiews has been " cowhidml" in the streets of New York by Mr , Davenport , the actor , whoso divorced wife Mr . Matliews recently married . It is reported that Mr . Matliews had publicly boasted that he had bought tho lady of Mr . Davenport ; and this was the cause of quarrel . In tho course of the fray , Mr . Muthewa used his fiats to some purpose on Mr . Davenport , but at length himself received a knock-down blow . I n the evening , both combatants appeared ut their respective theatres . Tub Chaiuty Chh . diirn paid thoir finnml visit to St . Paul ' s on Thursday morning . * Gaslights in a Coal-mt . —It is well known that one of tho greatest difficulties coal-minors have to contend with is a deficiency of light , tho artificial means of illumination afforded by tho Davy lamp ho ' ing very inadequate to tho requirements of tho men in the thick darkness of a conl-pit . It has recently been found safo and practicable , under proper precautions , to introduce gaslights in coal-mines . Thia valuable improvement Jus been adopted at tho High Elsccnr Colliery , near Barnaley , tho property of Earl Fitzwilliam ; aixl naked gaslights are now lurning in all tho board-gat

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 5, 1858, page 544, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2245/page/16/