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If
official correspondence were identical with a bountiful supply of
food, and if the full-flowing periods of an ambassador were vicarious
of medicine, certainly our poor soldiers at Scutari who have died
from want of food and want of medicine should now be above ground,
healthy and well-nourished men. We published yesterday a series
of papers relative to the supply through lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE,
our Ambassador at Constantinople, of articles necessary for the
comfort of the sick and wounded in the English Military Hospitals
at Scutari. As the first act of a tragedy, this reads well enough.
It is highly right and proper to a poet who cultivates this branch
of the art to give none but faint indications of the terrible calamities
which are to overwhelm the dramatis personæ in the concluding
scenes of his drama. It would never do if he showed us at once the
stage covered with mangled corpses; the ensanguined dagger here,
the drained poison-bowl there. No, let all at first go merry as
a marriage ball, however funereally it may end. Thus it is as touching
this batch of correspondence. Had we not counted our hecatombs;
had not English families by thousands and thousands wept over their
dead, who died not in the battle-field, and with the halo of a soldier's
glory around their paling brows, but who sank exhausted in the midst
of stench and pollution unutterable, starved to extinction, and
unprovided with the medical aids and comforts their situation might
require — had we not, in a word, read the evidence of our
own correspondents, and of such credible witnesses as Messrs. STAFFORD
and SIDNEY OSBORNE — we should say of this correspondence
that it is satisfactory in the extreme. Let us take the thing at
the beginning — the end we unfortunately know. To be sure,
it takes off something from the smack and relish of the graceful
phrase in use among official penmen that we do know the end. It
is amidst the tombs, — it is in a rank graveyard, that we
take these letters in hand.
The
Duke of NEWCASTLE heard as far back as October of last year that
one of the English hospitals at Constantinople was very inadequately
supplied with bedsteads, mattresses, and other comforts. It takes
off from the keen edge of our confidence in the official system
that our Minister of War did not hear of such deficiencies through
his own accredited agents, but was left to chance sources of information.
However, as soon as his mind became enlightened he wrote off to
Lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE, giving to that distinguished diplomatist
powers which we may at once describe as plenary, for the purchase
of any articles at Constantinople which might seem necessary for
the service of the hospitals. So far the Duke, who with a handsome
compliment upon Lord STRATFORD'S humanity, &c., transmitted the
letter to Lord CLARENDON for his approval. The Foreign Secretary
entirely approved the proceedings of his colleague: he indeed was
confident that "Lord STRATFORD'S own feelings of humanity, and the
deep sympathy he entertained for the brave men now suffering from
the casualties of war, would have induced him even to anticipate
the wishes of HER MAJESTY'S Government, that everything should be
done to alleviate their condition." The united letters of these
two high functionaries reached Lord STRATFORD about the end of October,
and he straightway wrote off to Dr. MENZIES, as the principal medical
authority at the hospital, to inquire into the nature of existing
deficiencies. "Aware of the deep interest which the Earl of CLARENDON
must naturally take in the welfare of those whom sickness on service
or wounds in battle have consigned for a time to our Military Hospitals
at Scutari," the Ambassador encloses back to England Dr. MENZIES'
report. Could anything be more regular in appearance, more entirely
satisfactory? Nor can it be said that Dr. MENZIES was hasty or inconsiderate
in the manner of getting up his return. He did not dash off in vague
generalities, but first consulted with the officers at the head
of the apothecary and purveying depôts as to what amount of supplies
and stores might be required for the comfort and sustenance of the
sick and wounded. Such was the question Dr. MENZIES put, and from
the answers he obtained he felt himself justified in writing back,
"As far as our present wants extend, we are abundantly supplied,
and more" (qy., wants?) "expected daily from England and Varna."
A few trifling matters, indeed, might be requisite; a further loan
of Turkish bedding and utensils — it might be a few stoves
in the winter — but, on the whole, the hospital wagged merrily
enough, — that is, as much so as was compatible with the nature
of such an establishment.
It
is needless to say that Lord STRATFORD did at once cause to be supplied
— at least we presume so — the trifling articles noted
as deficiencies in Dr. MENZIES' letter. The Ambassador, in a very
affecting communication bearing date November 15, informs his Government
of the result. Not only has he called upon the SULTAN to make the
necessary sacrifices, but the sacrifices have actually been made.
Nor were Lord STRATFORD'S exertions only of a public nature. He
tried to avail himself of such "means of detail" — we copy
his own expression — as might best contribute to the success
of his beneficent endeavours. The hospital was visited by himself
— we presume this was the occasion upon which the medical
officers turned out in full costume — but Lord STRATFORD returned
not; for
"Any
advantage which might have resulted from a repetition of my own
personal appearance in the hospitals has been superseded by the
attendance of Lady Stratford, who, availing herself of the presence
of Miss Nightingale and other persons of her sex, has visited
the hospitals, and, on my behalf, arranged the leading points,
in consort with the local authorities. I may, nevertheless, add
that on the 12th inst. I went to town for the purpose of crossing
over to Scutari, but was constrained to relinquish my intention
by the impracticable state of the weather and the necessity
of returning home for other business requiring my immediate attention.
"I
have now the satisfaction to state that, according to the reports
addressed to me, both the Sultan and his Ministers have displayed
an unreserved readiness to comply with my requisitions —
that the Sultan, besides giving up to our use the reserved Imperial
apartments in the barracks and hospital, has directed his Ministers
to withhold no supplies which we may ask and they can furnish;
and that, with the exception of two or three articles requiring
preparation, the whole arrangement is in prompt and satisfactory
progress.
"Official
men of understanding and activity are, as I understand, performing
their duty with zeal; the patients appear to be greatly comforted
by the gentle and unrelaxing assiduity of the female nurses, and
there are private gentlemen who do honour to human nature by personally
devoting themselves with the most generous sympathy to the relief
and assistance of their gallant fellow-countrymen."
It
is satisfactory at least to find that the Ambassador — unlike
official men in general — really recognize the merits of Miss
NIGHTINGALE and her companions, and of the gentlemen who visited
the hospitals with the hope, at least, of doing good. Pity it was,
indeed, that Lord STRATFORD should have suffered himself to be so
lightly diverted from his intention, for now we know what the awful
result has been. Lord STRATFORD, we admit, as far as his interference
went at all, was the victim of a deception — there can be
no doubt of that. Should it, however, have been within the region
of possibilities that Englishmen should perish monthly by hundreds,
ay, by thousands, in a military hospital within reach of a British
embassy? There was Lord STRATFORD face to face, as one may say,
with the tragedy; but for him it had no existence. It is useless
to dwell longer upon the past as far as the brave men are concerned
who have been called to their account; but can we hope that at least
their fate has furnished us with a warning for the future? It is
all much the same. The other day the remainder of the Guards embarked
for the Crimea, with a plentiful supply of comfortable winter apparel,
each man with a bearskin, a thick knapsack, and Brown Bess. Furs
in August, light duck in January, and routine everywhere!
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