Volume I Part 31 (1/2)
(August-Decerateful to you for what you did at Scutari, but all that it was possible for you to do there was a trifle co now--SIR JOHN MCNEILL (_Letter to Florence Nightingale_, Dec 1857)
Reformers, who are fah than rejoice when they hear that a subject in which they are interested has been ”referred to a Royal Commission” They know that the chances are many to one that the subject, like the Report, will be placed on a shelf and stay there Sometimes the reference is a well-understood euphemism for such an intention; and even when it is not, there areabout the same result The Commission will perhaps produce a litter of Reports from whose discordant voices no definite conclusion can be drawn In any case the Report, or Reports, will have to ”engage the earnest attention” of His or Her Majesty's Government, and the attention, earnest or otherwise, is sure to be prolonged Before the process has cos eneration of reformers sees a certain number of subjects on which its heart has been set deeply interred under a pile of Blue-books
This was the danger hich Mr Herbert and Miss Nightingale were confronted in August 1857 in the case of their Royal Coainst the risk of an equivocal Report they had, indeed, guarded theer of a definite Report leading to no immediate action had still to be ale totoil to the Commission; his toil would be reduced to futility if the Report were eon-holed They laid their plans on the consideration mentioned at the end of the last chapter--namely, the effect which the disclosures of the Royal Commission was likely to have on public opinion Mr Herbert coist of the Report privately to Lord Panmure It could be officially presented and published sooner or later as the negotiations with Ministers o Mr Herbert pointed out to Lord Paneneral attention”; that there was time to take measures towards reform before the Report became known to the public; that the simultaneous publication both of its recoulations founded upon thee which proladly give every assistance in his power towards that end He put the case with his usual suavity But there was iron within the velvet The publication of the Report could properly be postponed for a while, but not indefinitely Lord Pan himself to instant reform, so as to ash the Govern reform, in which case he would have to reckon with a public opinion inflahtingale still held _her_ Report in reserve, for use in an appeal to public opinion, should the negotiations fail to secure any guarantee for proreed upon between her and Mr Herbert was that four Sub-Commissions should be appointed, with Mr Herbert himself as Chairman of each, to settle the details of reforeneral recommendations of the Report These Sub-Commissions were severally (1) To put the Barracks in sanitary order, (2) To organize a Statistical Department, (3) To institute a Medical School, and (4) To reconstruct the Arulations, and draw up a Warrant for the Promotion of Medical Officers This last, fro scope, was called by Miss Nightingale ”The Wiping Commission” Mr Herbert sent these proposals to Lord Panhtingale: ”Panrouse I have asked Alexander to ton on Wednesday at 3, to discuss and settle things So I have disposed of your tirouse, however, were not quite ready, and on the 14th Mr Herbert caught Lord Pan Mr Herbert seereed to in general terale on the sahter heart after seeing Pan But I a to lead an aniet up early, pursue your anio to sleep Why can't you, who do men's work, takeser you, a liberty which nothing gives ard and affection for you”
[267] The letter is printed in _Stanmore_, vol ii p 133
Mr Herbert had well earned hisBut as Dr Sutherland presently wrote to her, ”one thing is quite clear, that women can do what ly where ale would not, and could not, take man's rest because she felt her cause too intensely; she could not be of so light a heart as her friend, because she knew ”her Pan” a little better than he did Dr Andrew Sainst reforhlands late into the autu visit or two to London His subordinates were as laborious as ever in piling up objections He becahtened at his own acts, and at one time revoked (but afterwards, under pressure, reinstated) the authority he had given for the Wiping Sub-Coland in Septeale before the firstof the first Sub-Commission Many weeks elapsed before all of them were set on foot She meanwhile was incessantly at work, and Dr Sutherland, who lived at Highgate, was constantly with her She wrote re, There is that bothering woed Mr Herbert to do the like She drafted instructions and schemes for each of the Sub-Cos in her roohtingale afterwards recalled, ”when Sidney Herbert would meet the Cabal, as he used to call it, which consists of 'you and me and Alexander and Sutherland, and soton Street, or at Belgrave Square, and sometimes as often as twice or even three times a day” A few extracts from her correspondence will show the extent of her work and the eagerness of her teale to Sir J McNeill_) The reconstitution of the Arovernment has been carried by the commission almost in the form which you recommended I have been requested by Mr Herbert, ent out of town last night for a few days, to draw up a scheme as to what these new men are to do And I now venture to enclose it to you, earnestly begging you to consider it and send it me back with your remarks in as short a time as you possibly can We have carried the Barracks Sub-Commission with Panmure, Dr Sutherland to be the Sanitary Head
_Sept_ 29 (_Mr Herbert to Miss Nightingale_) Pan is still shooting It is to me unconscionable In future you htingale to Sir J McNeill_) I will not say a word about India You know so much more about it than anybody here
We have seen terrible things in the last 3 years, but nothing to my mind so terrible as Panmure's unmanly and stupid indifference on this occasion! I have been three years ”serving in” the War Departan, there was incapacity, but not indifference Now there is incapacity and indifference
Pan up to town last Thursday as the consequence of reiterated reain after the next Indian mail That India will have to be occupied by British troops for several years, I suppose there is no question And so far fro interest of this Indian subject di out the reforree that they are now the more vitally important to the very existence of an army I came up to town [from Malvern] on Thursday week and met Mr
Herbert for this purpose Pan It was extracted from him then and there that the four Sub-Commissions
should be issued _immediately_ The Instructions had been approved by P seven weeks ago A week, however, has elapsed, and we have heard nothing I shall not, however, leave P alone till this is done Mr Herbert's honour is at stake, which gives us a hold upon hi
_Nov_ 9 (_Sir J McNeill to Miss Nightingale_) Wedone to rescue the country frolected our soldiers I rejoice that you are to see the fruits of your labours in their behalf
_Nov_ 15 (_Miss Nightingale to Sir J McNeill_) Here I co_ ”Co draft Instructions and Regulations,” defining the duties of etc, etc, and revising the ”Queen's QMG's, Barracks', Purveyor's and Hospital Regulations,”
as you uess them to be, when I tell you they ritten by me Mr Herbert is, besides, to send Panmure a ”Constitution”
for the Army Medical Board, and a Warrant for ”Promotion” himself
All that is necessary now is to keep Mr Herbert up to the point
The strength of his character is its simplicity and candour, with extreme quickness of perception; its fault is its excessive eclecticis to obtain an expression of opinion from him and have never succeeded yet
This new Sub-Coladly undertake of putting together Draft Regulations to be subestions for the Draft he will propose to the Sub-Coulations must, of course, _rhyme_ with the Report I think you would recoale to Sir J McNeill_) This is the first rough proof of the Regulations chiefly written by ulations Coing you to cut them up severely, and to send them back as soon as possible I, in my own naulations for Nurses You will of course understand that ive you this trouble, but feel the necessity of having your advice
_Dec_ 14 (_Mrs Herbert to Miss Nightingale_) DEAREST--Sidney wishes me to send you these, if you will be so kind as to look over the
II
A later letter from Sir John McNeill is quoted at the head of this chapter He considered that co nohat she had done at Scutari was ”a trifle”--”mere child's play”
was the phrase which she herself used in es will, I think, have inclined the reader to the same conclusion, or, at any rate, have enabled hiale and Sir Johndone by a woerously in the East, and as now threatened, in the opinion of competent observers, by a complete breakdown Of the members of as called her ”Cabinet,” Sir John McNeill was the one for whose intellectual power and judghest respect, to Mr
Herbert she was personally the most attached, but to Dr Sutherland also she sos He was of a someard disposition, which alternately pleased and vexed the business-like Lady-in-Chief, but he was an indispensable helper, whilst in his wife Miss Nightingale inspired deep affection, and the tohtingale's friends, and Dr Sutherland as aChange of air and seclusion she herself felt compelled to seek; and she found them at Malvern, in the establishment of Dr Johnson, who had moved thither from Umberslade[268]; but rest from work she would not, and could not, take She was at Malvern in August and Septeain in December Her faithful Aunt Mai--her ”true mother,” as the niece at this time called her--kept watch over her alike at Malvern and in London The society of her own mother and sister, with their
Whether at the Burlington or at Malvern, she desired to use every hour of strength for her work and for nothing else And when Dr Sutherland joined the others in begging her to desist, her heart was heavy within her She was sore that her friend should understand her so little She surmised that he had been prompted by her sister She was morbidly anxious at this time that no member of the family except Aunt Mai should kno ill she was She had attained her freedoreat price, as the first Part of this Meht condition she was haunted by a dread lest the galling solicitude of her fae Dr Sutherland had written two letters at the end of August begging her to put all work aside She was thinking of everybody's ”sanitary improvement,” he said, except her own ”Pray leave us all to ourselves, soldiers and all, for a while We shall all be the better for a rest Even your 'divine Pan' will bebeaten quite so much As for Mr Sidney Herbert, he ull Dr Gully, but do eat and drink and don't think We'll make such a precious rohen you come back The day you left town it appeared as if all your blood wanted renewing, and that cannot be done in a week You must have new blood, or you can't work, and new blood can't be made out of tea, at least so far as I know There is a paper of Dr Christison's about 28 ounces of solid food per diem