^-^''SSSJ'^I j5' '''•"' '' " " 
 
 BATTLING LIFE 
 
 IN THE 
 
 CIVIL SERVICE 
 
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 Battling life, ctiiefly in the civil serv 
 
 3 1924 028 291 635 
 

A BATTLING LIFE- 
 
 CHIEFLY IN THE 
 
 CIVTL SERVICE 
 
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A BATTLING LIFE 
 
 CHIEFLY IN THE 
 
 CIVIL SERVICE 
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 WITH FUGITIVE PAPERS ON SUBJECTS OF 
 PUBLIC IMPORTANCE 
 
 THOMAS BAKER, Esq. 
 
 OF THE INNER TEMPLE, 
 SF.CRETARY ROYAL SANITARY COMMISSION, ARMY IN INDIA, ETC. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 " THE LAWS RELATING TO BURIALS," ETC. 
 
 magistrate's pocket guide, INDEX TO QUEEN'S AND ADMIRALTY REGULATIONS 
 
 LONDON 
 KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH &' CO., i, PATERNOSTER ^SQUARE 
 
 1885 
 
 Q UWtVLi^I'lY 
 
 ''' I. I LM^ /', ^ Y 
 
P)4^Solo\ 
 
 {Tke rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.) 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In recording the salient events of my life, the 
 object has been, not to trouble my readers with 
 minute details of family and domestic concerns ; 
 not to set down thoughts or opinions which in 
 early life are but the reflex of parental educa- 
 tion, and in after life are perhaps best kept 
 within the breast of the thinker, unless in the 
 case of experts, specialists, and public teachers ; 
 not to enter into sentiment — the business of the 
 novelist ; nor to attempt vivid delineations of 
 scenery — appropriate to the artist and the poet ; 
 not to describe the events of the age, political 
 or social, through which I have passed — the 
 special work of the historian ; nor even to 
 indulge in the common inclination of the aged 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 — a desire to lecture and advise the young, who 
 usually prefer to profit by their own individual 
 experience. I have not sought to do any of 
 these things ; but simply to note what I have 
 done and observed in the desire to leave the 
 world better than I found it, and to show that 
 some humble, though not less earnest, efforts of 
 my own have tended to that end. 
 
 T. B. 
 
 KINGSCOTE, Wokingham, 
 January, 1885. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. Birth and Parentage ... 
 
 II. Infancy 
 
 III. "Creeping, like Snail, unwillingly to 
 
 School" 
 
 IV. The Wide, Wide World 
 V. Changes and Chances ... 
 
 VI. Settling down 
 
 VII. Official Occupation 
 
 VIII. Official Jobbery 
 
 IX. The Ilminster School Contest— Founda- 
 tion OF National Education in England 
 
 X. Railway and Road Experiences 
 
 XI. Legislative Tactics, and Soldiering 
 
 XII. Royal Commission — Sanitary State of 
 the Army in India... 
 
 XIII. Official Extravagance ... 
 
 XIV. Labours out of Office 
 XV. Salmon Fisheries 
 
 XVI. Latest Official Work 
 
 XVII. House of Commons Procedure ... 
 
 XVIII. Vaccination ... 
 
 XIX. Publications and Later Occupations ... 
 
 PAGE 
 I 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 26 
 
 65 
 80 
 
 94 
 105 
 no 
 
 116 
 122 
 127 
 130 
 140 
 144 
 148 
 156 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Ilminster School Case ... ... .-- i59 
 
 Petty Sessions Proceedings ... ... ... 176 
 
 Some Thoughts on Capital Punishment ... 180 
 The Insidious "Red-Tape" System in England 
 
 —1870-80 ... ... ... ... ... 190 
 
 The "Poor-Rate "System .... ... ... 221 
 
 Railway Management, from the Passenger's Point 
 
 OF View ... ... ... ... ... 230 
 
 On Presence of Mind in Emergency ... ... 251 
 
 A Peep at the Rhine ... ... ... 274 
 
 On Temperance Advocacy ... ... ... 280 
 
 Yellow Fever and Quarantine ... ... 302 
 
 The Prevention of Disease ... ... ... 316 
 
 The Causes of Epidemics ... ... ... 335 
 
 On Hereditary Tendencies ... ... ... 347 
 
 Correspondence with the late Lord Lyttelton 361 
 
 Speech on the Trial of "Peculiar People" ... 401 
 
 Vital Statistics ... ... ... ... 409 
 
 Statistics of Small-pox and Vaccination in 
 
 England ... ... ... ... ... 421 
 
 Vaccination Mortality ... ... ... 440 
 
 Ilminster, CM. (to Pope's "Universal Prayer") ... 447 
 
k 
 
 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 
 
 On the 7th July, 18 19, I was ushered into the 
 world at " Townsend," Ilminster, Somerset, the 
 youngest of twelve children. My father pro- 
 nounced me to be a young Goliah ; but if 
 unusually large as a baby, such did not continue 
 as a characteristic in after life. 
 
 My father, John Baker, a native of the 
 adjoining parish of Ilton, was a solicitor, for 
 fifty years resident at "Townsend." He was 
 a man of considerable information and powers 
 of mind, notable both in speech and epistolary 
 writing ; celebrated among a numerous ac- 
 quaintance for the strictest integrity ; and in his 
 manners and conversation he was the very 
 model of a gentleman. 
 
 n 
 
2 REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF TOLERANCE. 
 
 My mother was the only surviving child of 
 the Rev. C. Giffard, of Chard, noted for his philo- 
 sophic wisdom and richness in proverbial maxims. 
 This inherited wisdom was carefully instilled by 
 his daughter into the minds of her children. 
 She was a pattern of domestic virtue ; diligent 
 almost to a fault ; self-denying without measure ; 
 devoted to the interests of her husband, and 
 the highest education of her family. 
 
 Our ancestry, to say the least, was respect- 
 able. At Heralds' College, during a visit to 
 London in middle life, my father was assured 
 that evidence existed sufficient to warrant his 
 bearing the Sissinghurst arms.''^ 
 
 I was named after a collateral ancestor. 
 Rector of Bishops Nympton, gold medallist at 
 Oxford for mathematics, whose portrait is in 
 the Bodleian Library. 
 
 It will be seen further on, that an important 
 question touching religious intolerance arose in 
 Ilminster. A remarkable proof exists of the 
 
 * Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, was a celebrated 
 Speaker of the House of Commons in his time, a bold 
 and trusted councillor of Henry VIH., ambassador to 
 the Court of Denmark, and Chancellor or Chief Judge 
 of the Exchequer. He once entertained Queen Elizabeth 
 at his castle of Sissinghurst, Kent. 
 
POSTAL REGISTRATION OF LETTERS. 3 
 
 absence of such a spirit formerly. My father 
 was a member of the Old English Presbyterian 
 chapel in that town ; and I have in my posses- 
 sion an orchard bequeathed to him, as a mark 
 of high rega,rd, by a former vicar of the parish, 
 who died when I was nearly three years old. 
 
 Soon after the introduction of the cheap 
 postal system, my father addressed the Post- 
 master-General, suggesting that the registration 
 of packets containing valuable documents — for 
 which an extra fee might be charged — would 
 be a great boon to the public, and at the same 
 time a considerable source of revenue. He 
 received a letter of thanks, and the proposal 
 was immediately adopted. This has become so 
 generally used, that the income thereby pro- 
 duced is very large. It has been truly asserted 
 that several persons contributed ideas towards 
 the foundation of the cheap postal system, but 
 every penny earned by the registration of letters 
 is derived from his suggestion alone. 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 INFANCY. 
 
 Youth, it is often truly said, is the time for 
 learning, and it has very generally been 
 observed that the mind more readily receives 
 impressions in infancy than in age. I am not 
 sure that there is not some fallacy here. It is 
 questionable, I think, whether what has been 
 thought to be the greater ease of acquiring 
 ideas when young, is not mainly due to the 
 juvenile mind being occupied with one thing at 
 a time. This strikes forcibly, because there is 
 little to compete with it ; and by immediate and 
 frequent repetition, in sight or thought, becomes 
 indelibly fixed, never to be eradicated. In after 
 life business, pleasure, and the duties of the 
 hour are so multifarious, that any new impression 
 must necessarily be shared together with a 
 thousand competitors for the mental occupation 
 of the moment; hence we delude ourselves 
 
EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS, 
 
 with the notion that the mind has become less 
 able to acquire knowledge, whereas the truth is, 
 that had not the mental power become in- 
 calculably strengthened, it would be impossible 
 to keep up the requisite stock for use from day 
 to day, to say nothing of new acquisitions. Yet 
 numerous records exist of fresh studies and 
 occupations taken up late in life and carried 
 forward to eminent proficiency. 
 
 One of my earliest recollections is the being 
 led out to school, and sitting among the scholars. 
 This was at two years old. A distinct vision 
 indelibly impressed upon my infant mind was 
 the knife being inserted into the body of an ox, 
 roasted whole in a field to celebrate the coming 
 of age of a young squire of the neighbourhood, 
 when I was three. Another was the appearance, 
 in black velveteen trousers, of a new man on 
 my father's lawn. He had been a soldier in 
 the Peninsular War, and remained in our service 
 over thirty years, often " fighting his battles o'er 
 again " to entertain the young masters. 
 
 It may serve as a curious instance of at once 
 a steady and a wandering disposition to note 
 that this man — who, having enlisted very young, 
 went through most of the Peninsular campaigns, 
 and was a veteran at Waterloo (or rather, as 
 
A WANDERING CHARACTER. 
 
 he called it, "Quarter brass," where he was 
 wounded the day before Waterloo), for which 
 he got a medal and pension — after sticking to 
 one service so many years, during which he 
 became the father of twenty-three children by 
 one wife, finally emigrated to end his days in 
 Australia. 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "creeping, like snail, unwillingly to school." 
 
 The youngest is very commonly a spoiled child. 
 I was sufficiently troublesome to make it de- 
 sirable to get me out of my mother's way. 
 Therefore, at five years old, I was sent to a 
 ladies' school at Hinton, a few miles from home. 
 In this lovely village my eldest sister then 
 lived, having married a solicitor who had been 
 articled to my father. Their eldest son was 
 three years younger than his uncle. Of course 
 I frequently visited at their house, and almost 
 as frequent, no doubt, was the squabbling 
 between uncle and nephew. 
 
 At the school itself I certainly learned quite 
 as much evil from the lady's son — a great 
 ,hulking fellow of twenty, perhaps — as good 
 from the tuition of the seminary. Such very 
 early " education " must, besides, most com- 
 monly result in cramping the juvenile mind. I 
 
8 A PATTERN OF GOOD BEHAVIOUR. 
 
 was the pet of the eldest pupil, a young lady 
 of sixteen, and was exceedingly fond of her ; 
 and though we have never met since our 
 mutual school days, at least fifty years after 
 I was amused to hear that she had referred to 
 the fact of having known me as a child. 
 
 The chief reminiscences of the place are the 
 May-day village procession, when the men's 
 club walked, preceded by a huge Maypole, 
 festooned from top to bottom with flowers ; 
 (this was as high and as heavy as a strong 
 man, frequently relieved, could carry on his 
 shoulder, by cross pieces fixed near the bottom 
 of the pole — a band in front, was followed by 
 all the members in double file, carrying blue 
 poles with yellow knobs and blue ribbons 
 streaming from the top); visits to my sister; 
 seeing my brother-in-law shooting swallows 
 from the end of his garden ; and, riot the least, 
 was my being taken by a teacher — as a pattern 
 of good behaviour, I suppose — for an hour or 
 so daily, during part of the three years, to the 
 neighbouring mansion of a noble earl, to receive 
 instruction in company with the young viscount 
 and his brother. A piece of cake from the 
 countess was the usual satisfactory accompani- 
 ment. I must have been the elder of the 
 
PROMOTION TO THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 9 
 
 ■ * ■■ ' 
 
 three, as I can recollect having been strong 
 enough to resist the joint efforts of the pair to 
 drag me through a very long passage. 
 
 When eight years old I was promoted to 
 the town grammar school, which I attended as 
 a day scholar, from 6.30 to 8.30; 9.30 to 12 ; 
 2.30 to 5; and' 7 to 8. Such were the hours 
 prescribed by the then recently appointed 
 master — a small man, a very sprig of conceit, 
 an M.A. of Oxford, a most self-satisfied, 
 important little person, and exceedingly severe 
 in his discipline. So much so, that if his sole 
 object had been to make his timid and cringing 
 young pupils utterly detest the very name of 
 school, he admirably succeeded in that object. 
 It certainly was so in my case. No effort 
 being made to explain what was taught, I 
 learnt to repeat like a parrot, without any 
 idea being conveyed to my juvenile mind. 
 Going to school meant terror, and escape was 
 elysium. 
 
 As an instance of this little pedagogue's 
 petty tyranny, I well recollect having been kept 
 in at five till the boarders' supper-hour, at six, 
 when, standing by an amiable usher, waiting 
 for release, he accorded me an innocent smile, 
 which I reciprocated. This daring piece of 
 
lO TYRANNY OF THE PEDAGOGUE. 
 
 impertinence the important authority at the 
 other end of the room saw — he did not see 
 the usher, who was sitting as well as himself 
 — and an awful order echoed through the hall, 
 " Baker, come to me at seven o clock." I went 
 home trembling from head to foot, when an 
 elder sister, supposed to be a great favourite 
 of the little man, wrote a note to him, explain- 
 ing the very innocent offence, and begging that 
 it might be overlooked. This, however, had 
 no effect, and I was flogged into indelible 
 hatred of the tyrant, which lasted until the days 
 of my probation were over. 
 
 There was a half-holiday on Wednesdays, 
 except from seven to eight in the evening. 
 One Wednesday I was riding homewards, when 
 from the top of a hill I saw a great smoke, and 
 on entering the town, found several cottages 
 on fire near to the houses of some friends. 
 Giving the pony to a boy to lead home, I ran 
 to the fire, and, in common with some school- 
 fellows, helped to hand on buckets from one 
 of the house-pumps, to feed the engine. None 
 of us thought of rules, or lessons, or leave ; but 
 for this breach of discipline we were punished 
 by our philanthropic master. 
 
 One great political event of the period I 
 
ESCAPE FROM SCHOOL BONDAGE. I I 
 
 well remember, viz. the passing of the Reform 
 Act in 1832, rejoicings for which were cele- 
 brated in the school playground. 
 
 It is curious that the only book I took an 
 interest in studying was Euclid. Of course I 
 was represented by this professor of tuition as 
 stupid ; indeed, his chief idea, besides the whip, 
 appeared to be calling names, which, no doubt, 
 he deemed very bright sarcasm. Under these 
 circumstances, and three out of my four 
 brothers being bred to the law, I was offered 
 more speedy emancipation by entering, at 
 fourteen, a mercantile pursuit. This I eagerly 
 accepted ; anything to get away from the hated 
 school. So I was sent to London in November, 
 1833, to an acquaintance of a friend. 
 
 Trade, however, did not suit my ideas at 
 all, and before three years were over I moved 
 off again to my before-mentioned eldest sister, 
 who, with her husband and five children, had 
 left the slow-going West to seek more hopeful 
 fortune in Manchester. There I remained 
 another two years before returning home. 
 
12 • A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD. 
 
 Among my reminiscences on first going into 
 the world, the most remarkable, of course, is 
 the method of travelling as compared with 
 modern railways. The distance from my native 
 place to London by road is a hundred and 
 thirty-five miles, and my inside fare by the 
 Exeter Telegraph coach was three pounds ten 
 shillings, besides coachman, guard, and hotels. 
 I have since been carried over the ground and 
 back, by excursion train, for seven shillings and 
 sixpence. 
 
 Coach-travelling was pleasant enough on a 
 fine, warm day, when the sun shone, and the 
 country was resplendently verdant, especially if 
 rain had laid the dust ; but the cramping of 
 the legs after a few hours became exceedingly 
 wearisome. 
 
 The Telegraph was one of' the two best 
 
• STAGE COACH TRAVELLING. 1 3 
 
 appointed coaches in the kingdom. I had long 
 been a witness to its clocklike regularity. 
 Every morning at 8.30, when I was on my way 
 to breakfast, the Telegraph horses were siire 
 to be trotting up the hill, breaking into a gallop 
 at the top, when I pulled up to recover breath ; 
 and just as regularly whilst the Minster's most 
 musical bell was ringing the ancient seven 
 o'clock curfew — which was followed by the day 
 of the month by strokes on a larger bell — when 
 I was running into school, the Telegraph drew 
 up for its exact one minute and. a half to 
 change horses at the George. Sometimes, 
 even, but seldom, I could wait to see it start. 
 The same driver who had taken the reins at 
 8.30 a.m. gave them up at 7 p.m., having in the 
 meantime met the down coach, stepped from 
 one to the other, and soon after stopped twenty 
 minutes at Sparkford Inn for dinner. Ten 
 miles an hour, including stoppages, was the pace. 
 In the summer of 1835 I recollect travelling 
 down by the same coach, starting at half-past 
 five a.m. from the top of Sloane Street, and 
 breakfasting at Bagshot. The then M.P. for 
 Andover was the box passenger on that occa- 
 sion, and he was exceedingly pleased with the 
 provision of mine host. "Capital breakfast — 
 
14 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE METROPOLIS. 
 
 capital breakfast ! " he exclaimed. There were 
 twenty cold joints round the room, in addition 
 to broiled ham and eggs ad libitum, and all the 
 appurtenances to match. 
 
 The twin coach to the Exeter was the 
 Manchester Telegraph, by which, in the summer 
 of 1836, I travelled, having secured the box 
 seat. A quarter before five a.m. we left the 
 city, and, after having breakfasted in North- 
 ampton at eleven, and dined in Derby at five 
 p.m., reached Manchester at 11.30 p.m., where 
 my brother-in-law met me. 
 
 Besides his solicitor's practice, he held the 
 office of secretary to the Manchester Reform 
 Association, in the early days of Cobden and 
 Bright, and also that of registrar of births, 
 deaths, and marriages, after the passing of the 
 Registration Act, 1837. 
 
 My earliest recollections of London take me 
 back to the days of narrow streets, now all 
 widened and rebuilt ; the old Exchange of Sir 
 Thomas Gresham ; the Lord Mayor's show, 
 among the crowd ' at which I was carried off 
 my feet — as I was also at a review in Hyde 
 Park, held by jolly looking King William IV. ; 
 the elder Farren at Old Drury, as Sir Abel 
 Handy ; the old-fashioned cab, with the driver 
 
MANCHESTER TO LIVERPOOL IN THE SADDLE. I 5 
 
 Stuck on, as it were, at one side of his fare ; 
 the ancient hackney coach ; the new omnibus, 
 then recently introduced from my own neigh- 
 bourhood ; * the now obsolete oil lamp, making 
 darkness almost visible in the streets, when 
 contrasted with the few thoroughfares brilliantly 
 lighted with gas ; the burning of the old 
 Houses of Parliament in 1834, which I saw 
 from the dry arch of Waterloo Bridge, etc. 
 
 I have some recollections connected with 
 horses. At the Manchester races (1837) was 
 exhibited the highest animal I have ever seen, 
 a half-bred Irish mare, twenty hands one and a 
 half inches at the withers, which I could just 
 reach at my wrist. 
 
 Another horse affair was a ride from Man- 
 chester to Liverpool, to oblige a friend (none 
 of whose dependents could ride), who desired 
 to send the animal to his brother living in that 
 town. I stopped at Warrington to refresh 
 both youth and beast ; and enjoyed the trip 
 on the whole, although, being out of practice 
 for some years, the thirty miles at a stretch 
 made me "lose leather." 
 
 * A long van, driven weekly from Ilminster to Taunton , 
 at which latter place Shillibeer resided, gave him the idea of 
 starting the omnibus in London, which he first did in 1827. 
 
l6 BECOMING A STRICT WATER DRINKER. 
 
 During a few days' stay at Liverpool I 
 crossed the Mersey at Birkenhead, and thence 
 went to Chester, walked round the old walls, 
 admired the Dee, and took my half-crown 
 steak at the Royal Hotel, which I thought 
 comfortable and manly enough, though, as there 
 was no sherry accompaniment, doubtless the 
 landlord deemed his guest somewhat shabby. 
 
 This brings me to the chief incident in my 
 Manchester life, or, perhaps, my entire life. A 
 friend of my sister from Bath, staying with her 
 brother, visited us one evening, and in the 
 course of conversation, related an anecdote 
 concerning a sporting gentleman whom she 
 knew. This gentleman was in the habit of 
 going early from home for his day's fox- 
 hunting, taking a cup of coffee before starting. 
 One morning, the coffee not being ready, in 
 a pet he called for a glass of cold water, and 
 started, to the annoyance of the negligent 
 housekeeper. This fox-hunter, however, was 
 much astonished to find that he bore the 
 fatigues of that day with far less exhaustion 
 than usual, and, attributing this to his morning's 
 draught of cold water, instead of " hot slop " 
 (as Cobbett designated tea, etc.), he adopted 
 the practice afterwards with excellent effect. 
 
CONTEST WITH A TOLL COLLECTOR. 1 7 
 
 Hearing- this story, I cogitated and reasoned 
 upon it in my mind, and came to the conclusion 
 that the sole drink provided by Nature for all 
 other animals, must also be best for the animal 
 man. I would try it ; and so, although at 
 that time, 1837, there was 710 water really fit 
 to drink — nothing but what was denominated 
 the "stone pipe water," to be had in Man- 
 chester — I at once commenced, before tee- 
 totalism ever came into fashion, to confine 
 myself to cold water whenever thirst induced 
 me to drink — when not thirsty, to abstain. 
 This habit I have maintained through life from 
 that day, with the exception of cocoa during 
 a short period of it, and sometimes broth, if that 
 may be called drinking. I had previously been 
 of full habit, and frequently suffered from bilious 
 attacks, but have never since known what a 
 headache is, except from memory. 
 
 Not much beyond this occurred during my 
 stay in Manchester worthy of note. One trial 
 of strength I remember, when I managed to 
 lift two hundredweight one quarter and four 
 pounds (256 lbs.), tied together, with one hand ; 
 and a sort of legal fight with a toll collector. 
 
 By the workhouse a bar was placed, at 
 which a toll was demanded of foot passengers. 
 
 c 
 
GOOD-BVE TO COTTONOPOLIS. 
 
 This, my solicitor brother-in-law frequently 
 declared in my presence — for reasons which he 
 gave — was illegal. So, passing on one occa- 
 sion, I refused to pay ; and, as a stalwart woman 
 essayed to lay hands on me, I defended myself 
 with my umbrella — an article universally carried 
 by every dweller in " the watering-pot of 
 England," as Manchester was then called. 
 For this I was summoned before the police 
 magistrate, Mr. Maud, and charged with as- 
 saulting the toll-keeper. On the right being 
 disputed, however, we were advised to try it 
 in the regular way, and the case was dismissed. 
 Nothing more was heard of the matter, and the 
 bar was quietly removed. This was my first 
 essay as a champion of public right. 
 
 I first learned to sing by note at Manchester, 
 and gained much applause by singing, at an 
 Institution concert. Miss H awes' song, " Long 
 Life to Britain's Youthful Queen." I also met 
 there with " Life is a River," which words of 
 sterling philosophy I have sung perhaps more 
 often than any others during my after life. 
 
 Towards the end of August, 1838, I joyfully 
 left smoky Cottonopolis for home, vtd Liver- 
 pool. Thence, in the steamboat Mountaineer, 
 for Swansea, I made my first acquaintance with 
 
AGROUND UNDER BURNHAM LIGHTHOUSE. 1 9 
 
 the deep. I was a tolerably fair sailor — a trifle 
 qualmish from the hot oil, etc. — but when in 
 roughish water in St. Bride's Bay I became all 
 right. Here a small sloop seen close to the 
 rocks was suddenly missed. She must have 
 gone down, but no assistance could be rendered. 
 I witnessed a glorious sunrise from the deck, 
 and was able to do justice to an ample meal 
 on getting into Milford Haven. 
 
 Arriving at Swansea, I was disappointed to 
 find there would be no packet for Bristol for 
 several days, but a sixty-ton coal smack, cross- 
 ing to Bridgwater, took me on board. The 
 skipper, muddled with drink, two men, and a 
 boy formed the crew. At dinner (salt junk 
 and half-peeled potatoes) one knife and no fork 
 afforded the sole " chopstick " for the party ; but 
 I had never before experienced so keen an 
 illustration of the old maxim, " Hunger is the 
 best sauce." 
 
 It was a beautiful moonlight night, when I 
 was suddenly alarmed by the skipper tumbling 
 up out of his drunken sleep below, swearing 
 like a trooper. I was as oblivious of all cause 
 for this outburst as could be, but, drunk and 
 drowsy though he was, he had become sensible 
 of a touch which instantly sobered him ; and 
 
20 THE HAPPIEST YEAR OF MY LIFE. 
 
 sure enough the little craft was hard aground 
 under Burnham lighthouse, and in a few hours 
 we were high and dry. A little tug-boat, how- 
 ever, at eight o'clock next morning took me up 
 to Bridgwater with my trunk. 
 
 There I landed, left the box for the carrier, 
 and, with my umbrella, coat, and hatbox, 
 started off along the banks of the river Parret, 
 through lovely scenery, which I had little time 
 to admire, for there were seventeen miles before 
 me ; and if I could reach Curry to meet the 
 Bristol and Lyme coach, I might ride the last 
 five miles with old Danger, for that was the 
 euphonious name of the coachman. 
 
 The sun was hot, yet I got over the twelve 
 miles in two and a half hours, and reached 
 Curry five minutes before the coach, much to 
 my delight. I reached " Townsend " at three 
 o'clock, and found partridges on the table, 
 which enables me to fix the month to 2i feather. 
 
 For a twelvemonth I remained at home, and, 
 on the whole, this was probably the happiest 
 year of my life. I was not entirely idle, being 
 in the habit during several home periods of 
 assisting my brother in his office. But un- 
 doubtedly pleasure was the chief employment. 
 Smiles of home, the grasp of earlier friends, the 
 
MARKETING AND PHYSICKING EXTRAORDINARY. 2 I 
 
 annual ball, the Christmas parties, the rides, 
 the drives, the thousand resuscitations of boy- 
 hood's days, all freed from the incubus of school, 
 and the coldness of the world, made the days 
 like moments fly. 
 
 This happy year being past, I went off to 
 Birmingham early in 1840, among some ac- 
 quaintance, to see if something might there be 
 found for me "to do." There I passed about 
 six weeks in lodgings, to no purpose as far as 
 the object was concerned. 
 
 There happened an amusing experience, 
 however, and another which might have proved 
 serious. My landlady insisted that I should go 
 to market myself, and I taking pretty much 
 what the butcher recommended, she was 
 astounded by the delivery of a whole fillet of 
 veal ! over which a grave consultation was 
 held, the decision being cutlets for three days ; 
 then roast ; next three days cold ; lastly, minced 
 till finished. Still I must go again ; and then 
 came a piece of beef, about as much as the veal, 
 and how that was got through dwells not in my 
 memory. 
 
 The serious affair was that, having a noisy 
 cough, and consulting a lady friend as to a 
 recipe which my mother, we remembered, alwayrj 
 
2 2 LOCATION AT TAUNTON. 
 
 kept on hand for home consumption and dis- 
 pensing to poor neighbours, consisting of a pint 
 of vinegar, a pound of treacle, and a tablespoon- 
 ful (instead of a dessert spoonful) of laudanum, 
 of which half a wine-glass, or perhaps a table- 
 spoonful, was the correct dose. I having thus 
 doubled the narcotic, took also a double quantity 
 to make it more effectual — i.e. four times the 
 proper dose — and slept about thirty-six hours. 
 I awoke with a headache, much to the conster- 
 nation of both landlady and friend, when they 
 heard what had been done ; but the cough was 
 gone. 
 
 At the end of the six weeks a summons 
 came from my brother at Taunton, where a 
 relative of his wife required assistance. For 
 that place, therefore, I once more took coach. 
 It was a frosty night, but I was nearing the 
 land of my birth, wrapped in a brand new 
 cloak, and did not mind the cold. 
 
 For six months I remained at Taunton, 
 where I set up housekeeping on a small scale 
 in comfortable apartments in the house of the 
 most ungainly, heavy-limbed, large-fingered man 
 I ever met with. He had very thick lips and 
 a decided cast in his eye. Altogether by no 
 means handsome; more of the elephant type 
 
WEEKLY VISITS TO ILMINSTER. 
 
 than any other animal ; but he was a very 
 worthy fellow, and a clever mechanic. He had 
 invented a kind of brass rackwork contrivance 
 for tuning the violoncello, which he played ; 
 and I was much astonished that such clumsy 
 fingers could have made such delicate machinery. 
 My lodgings were just thirteen miles from 
 " Townsend," so I made a point of visiting that 
 hallowed spot every Sunday, starting to walk 
 either about seven or eight o'clock Saturday 
 evening, or at three or four Sunday morning. 
 For this purpose I taught myself to rise exactly 
 six hours after going to bed, and very soon I 
 acquired the habit of waking to the minute at 
 the end of that limit of time, at whatever hour 
 or minute I retired to rest. Some of the 
 summer mornings were very hot by six or 
 seven o'clock, when the sun almost seemed 
 to have his meridian power ; but I always 
 found that I could make the best progress 
 after the joints had become well oiled, as it 
 were, by vigorous exercise. The eighth mile 
 I could walk in twelve minutes easily. I 
 would then get home in time to rub dry and 
 change before breakfast, and be as happy as a 
 king for the day. Occasionally the Waterloo 
 hero with the horses were sent to meet me 
 
24 RECREATIONS AND AMUSEMENTS. 
 
 half-way on the Saturday evening, and some- 
 times I hired a Httle cart with a fast-trotting 
 pony, and drove the first half, walking in the 
 second by ten or eleven at night. Once I ran 
 two miles in fifteen minutes in order to catch 
 the Vivid coach, about a mile and a half 
 from Ilminster. Generally I drove back on 
 Monday in my father's stanhope. 
 
 Nothing very momentous occurred during 
 my sojourn at Taunton. Once I met the 
 
 ■ famous Sydney Smith, Rector of Combe Florey. 
 On one occasion I walked to Cotherstone Hill, 
 from which I enjoyed one of the finest views in 
 England ; the rich valley of Taunton on one 
 side, and Bridgwater, the river Parret, the 
 Bristol Channel, the Holms, and the Welsh 
 coast, on the other. 
 
 My sister-in-law's brother, one of the leading 
 solicitors of the place, amused himself frequently 
 by thrashing me at chess ; and on an impend- 
 ing election, when Sir Edward Colebrooke was 
 about to become a candidate, my friend made 
 himself particularly hilarious by introducing me 
 to a company of friends as Sir Edward; the 
 
 joke not being discovered for some days. 
 
 When my engagement at Taunton ended, I 
 again went home for a couple of months ; after 
 
A MILD WINTER JOURNEY. 25 
 
 which, to please my father, I once more set off 
 on a voyage of discovery to London, and from 
 thence for a few weeks to Northampton, on a 
 sort of wild speculation, ending in nothing. I 
 therefore returned home via, London, travelling 
 by the old " Subscription " coach on the night 
 of the shortest day, 1840. The roads were 
 thoroughly rotten with wet, the horses reeking 
 with sweat, and I was able to lie back on the 
 roof without a great coat, and admire the 
 glorious stars, — so mild was the season. 
 
 4 
 
26 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHANGES AND CHANCES. 
 
 Although my father was not well pleased to 
 welcome me as " the bad penny," it soon turned 
 out all right ; for there was employment for me 
 in Monmouthshire, with my eldest brother. 
 
 When I first went to London, this brother 
 was in partnership with another solicitor, and 
 lived at Bow. Soon after this connection was 
 dissolved, and he went to Aberdare, to practise 
 in the rising town of Tredegar, on the advice 
 of an uncle who lived at Risca. In this latter 
 place there existed chemical works, carried on 
 by a person with insufficient capital, and my 
 uncle, as the friend of all parties, induced my 
 father to advance money to place my brother 
 as a partner in these works, between which and 
 his legal practice he was to divide his attention. 
 It was soon found that the partner was not a 
 reliable man, and he had to be got rid of More 
 
REMINISCENCES OF RISCA, MON. 27 
 
 capital was needed ; and, under the impression 
 that not only I might assist in carrying on the 
 chemical concern, but that, when properly con- 
 ducted, it would provide for me altogether, as 
 well as partly for my brother, I was sent, with the 
 further advance, to take up my quarters at Risca. 
 
 There I remained nearly two years, and in 
 many ways pleasantly enough. There were 
 some agreeable neighbours, one of whom 
 (located at a colliery with his sisters) was a 
 martyr to sciatica in its worst form, having lost 
 the use of his lower limbs. 
 
 We had garden and musical parties, and 
 made summer excursions to Raglan Castle, 
 Tintern Abbey, etc. I had my own pony : 
 one of the hardiest, and fastest as a trotter, that 
 could be often met with. So there was plenty 
 of relaxation amid my vocation of keeping the 
 books of the works, assisting in the legal busi- 
 ness (among which I well remember poring 
 over an interminable lot of ground leases), and 
 occasional journeys for the concern. 
 
 " Rory O'More," the pony, was indeed a 
 very famous fellow, about thirteen hands high. 
 He could trot at. the rate of sixteen miles an 
 hour. Had not the event proved otherwise, I 
 might have accused myself of now and then 
 
28 FEATS OF THE PONY, RORY o'mORE. 
 
 overtaxing his strength. On one occasion, 
 having to visit several works in Glamorgan- 
 shire, I rode this pony fifty miles, to Neath, in 
 one day ; the following day to Swansea, thence 
 up the valley to some ironworks, and across 
 the mountain to the " Lamb and Flag," in the 
 Neath valley — thirty-six miles at least ; the 
 third day to Merthyr, Dowlais, and Tredegar, 
 and thence home to Risca — thirty-six more. 
 Rory trotted in gaily. He was not accustomed 
 to the collar ; but on some Bristol friends 
 staying with us, I hired a four-wheel trap, put 
 Rory in harness, and drove him, with four of 
 us, round to Raglan, Monmouth, and Tintern 
 — forty-five miles — without apparent distress. 
 Going home at Christmas, 1841, I rode this 
 pony six miles to the Newport boat, crossed 
 with him to Bristol, and thence on, in the snow, 
 forty-eight miles. The return journey was also 
 performed in one day, likewise in snow. Yet, 
 after I parted with him at the end of the time 
 to a sui'geon, he for many years did more 
 patient-visiting work than any other horse the 
 doctor ever had in his stable. 
 
 During my stay at Risca, in the summer of 
 1842, I visited Ireland by way of Liverpool, 
 crossing to Waterford, where I was struck with 
 
EXPERIENCE OF IRISH HOSPITALITY. 
 
 the fine quay, and on by mail coach to Cork, 
 where I relieved the driver by taking the 
 ribbons part of the way. I had only to go 
 to the Ballancollig powder mills ; but as the 
 Bristol steamer left just after I reached Cork, 
 I was obliged to wait four days for the next, 
 and, to make matters pleasant, my money had 
 run short. In order to economize, I went to 
 bed early, without supper, saying I should be 
 out before breakfast. Accordingly, I walked 
 out the six miles to Ballincollig, breakfasting 
 at a cottage on the way for sixpence (bread, 
 butter, and eggs ad lib., without " hot slop "), 
 and, the business being soon disposed of, re- 
 turned to Cork to look about at leisure and 
 dine at the Imperial Hotel ordinary at five. 
 The following day being Sunday, I decided to 
 rise late, breakfast, and go without dinner, and 
 calculate how I could get away without waiting 
 for money. Turning into a place of worship 
 soon after eleven, I was surprised to find school 
 going on, and that the service would not com- 
 mence before twelve. Whilst hesitating what 
 to do, a venerable, pleasant-looking gentleman 
 accosted me, found I was a stranger, invited 
 me to his pew, and afterwards to dinner, walk- 
 ing by the river to Rathmines. He pressed 
 
30 SIGHT OF THE APOSTLE OF TEMPERANCE. 
 
 me to come to him on Monday, to see the 
 town, etc., and dine at a friend's. This worthy 
 gentleman was Richard Dowden( Richard), thrice 
 mayor of Cork. In the course of conversation, 
 my impecunious condition dropped out, where- 
 upon Mr. Dowden, instead of turning imme- 
 diately cool, as an Englishman would most 
 likely have done, at once offered to supply me 
 with money, and even pressed upon me twice 
 as much as I would take. 
 
 At the friend's house, on Monday, I found 
 no less than thirteen daughters, two sons, and 
 the mother, a widow, besides Mr. Dowden and 
 self To serve these seventeen people for the 
 second course, a single enormous gooseberry 
 pie was placed on the table, large enough, 
 apparently, to supply the company twice round. 
 I was not, however, more impressed with the 
 dimensions of that pie, than with the open- 
 hearted hospitality of the Irish people towards 
 a stray sheep, without either business or intro- 
 duction. 
 
 While walking in the neighbourhood of 
 
 Cork, I saw Father Matthew, awaiting his 
 
 horses being put to, administer the pledge to 
 
 a man kneeling before him at the inn door.* 
 
 * Ireland and the Irish always interested me since my 
 
SINGING THE PRAISES OF IRELAND. 3 1 
 
 Availing myself of Mr. Dowden's kindly 
 aid, I left on board the next steamer for Bristol, 
 a customary twenty-eight hours' passage, in 
 company with a young artillery cadet for 
 Woolwich, a Scotch commercial traveller, and 
 
 visit to that country. I occasionally corresponded with Mr. 
 Dowden, once also met him in London ; and I sent him 
 the fallowing lines, which he had inserted in a Cork news- 
 paper. 
 
 " OUR EMERALD ISLE. 
 
 ' ' Bright Emerald Isle ! I love thy landscapes gay, 
 Thy noble streams, thy hills, thy meadows green ; 
 
 Thy lakes resplendent 'neath the golden ray. 
 When Phoebus shines o'er western skies serene. 
 
 " Sweet Emerald Isle ! I love thy daughters fair. 
 Whose radiant smiles pour forth the healing balm 
 ' To lighten toil, or soothe misfortune's care, 
 
 While through the world they vie for beauty's palm. 
 
 ' ' Gay Emerald Isle ! How warm the generous hearts, 
 That lie concealed within those bosoms pure ; 
 
 Their friendship, love, and sparkling wit imparts 
 To manly virtue, happiness secure. 
 
 " Bold Emerald Isle ! I venerate thy sons, 
 Their stalwart strength and vigour far renown'd ; 
 
 Whose moral nature, stung by numerous wrongs. 
 Still rules the mind, vrith firm endurance bound . 
 
 ' ' Brave Emerald Isle ! thy Liberator's hand 
 
 Shall guide thy course when cold his nerveless frame ; 
 
 His deeds be sung while yet in Erin's land 
 Freedom hath life, or liberty a name. 
 
 " Long flourish, Emerald Isle ! and still reflect 
 
 That honour ever its reward shall see ; 
 Mean envy, scorn, — ^vile slander, proud, reject ; 
 
 Be firm, resolved, and thou shalt yet be free." 
 
32 ROUGH PASSAGE FROM CORK. 
 
 some boys on their way to school. There 
 were plenty of pigs on deck, and their squeal- 
 ing was frightful, for the weather was ex- 
 ceedingly rough, and these poor brutes were 
 incessantly flogged, either from side to side as 
 the vessel rolled, or to prevent their hustling 
 each other. Four days the vessel battled with 
 the elements ; and one night was spent in 
 Milford Haven. Trying again the next day, 
 we had again to put back. The man at the 
 wheel was white with frozen spray all over 
 him. The Scotchman howled and prayed, and 
 woke up the boys, who were asleep, to tell 
 them we were all going down. I tried both 
 laughter and scolding, to no purpose. "If 
 this doesn't frighten ye, the devil wouldn't 
 frighten ye ! " said he, and howled on. A third 
 attempt was made by the captain to get for- 
 ward ; but on the fourth day he put into 
 Llanelly, declaring that he would venture no 
 further till the weather moderated. 
 
 The young officer, the Scotchman, and 
 myself elected to land, and make for Swansea, 
 from whence a coach ran to Bristol. After 
 some difficulty we found a carrier, who was 
 induced to take us in his wagon to Swansea. 
 It was a long twelve miles' ride at carriers' 
 
]CE WATER VERSUS HOT COFFEE. 33 
 
 pace. Arrived at length about midnight, there 
 were two beds available at the inn, so I and 
 the cadet slept together ; and next morning 
 we started by six or seven o'clock, to travel 
 over that hilly coast road, with the east wind 
 in our teeth, sharp enough to cut us in pieces 
 almost. 
 
 The guard, unable to keep his eyes open, 
 and shivering to the bone, comforted his 
 travellers with the promise of some hot coffee 
 at the end of one of the stages. " I shall get 
 some cold water," said I ; at which he shuddered. 
 They got their coffee. My water was very 
 cold, but it went down, and up on the coach 
 again I was, amid the jeers of the party. A 
 few miles on, however, and their spirits began 
 to droop ; they were colder than ever, whilst 
 the blood was circulating to the tips of my 
 fingers : so much so, that I was able to spare 
 a coat to the young officer, who was not so 
 well provided. I stopped at Newport, but the 
 coat, and a pair of leggings also, went on, and 
 were returned by the guard next day, when 
 I rode in to remit his loan to Mr. Dowden : 
 and so ended an eventful little journey. 
 
 Who was that young artilleryman, I wonder, 
 my single night's bedfellow and friend ? I 
 
34 THE VILLAGE PARSON AND CLERK. 
 
 have no recollection of his name. ' Will he, 
 or any to whom he may have related these 
 adventures, ever see these lines ? or has he 
 long since mingled with the soil in some — it 
 may be Indian — silent grave ? For such is life ! 
 
 There were two notable specimens of mere 
 humanity at Risca. Our maidservant was a 
 very fine woman, five feet ten in her stockings, 
 with a good figure, and large masculine features. 
 In proper uniform she would have well passed 
 for a handsome guardsman ; and, employed in 
 the works was a remarkably little man, under 
 five feet high, and small in proportion through- 
 out, perfectly well made. Behind, he would 
 pass for a lad of twelve, contrasting oddly with 
 his little weazen face and grey hair. " What 
 a great woman that is ! " exclaimed he ; " quite 
 2l. gidniress. I'm nothing to her." 
 
 The village parson was a good example of 
 natural and harmless simplicity, who paid more 
 attention to acres and crops, than to theological 
 dogmas. He rattled over the Church service 
 in the usual style. Ritualism was not yet ; 
 only the last word or two of each prayer he 
 would intone with a whining note, which was 
 not unpleasing. There was a kind of standing 
 rivalry between him and the clerk. Parson 
 
SPOILING A HOST S CONVIVIAL SPORT. 35 
 
 desired to get over the work speedily, having 
 four or five miles to travel homewards, and 
 gladly dispensed with the singing whenever he 
 could. But the young people liked to sing, 
 and master clerk favoured their wish. His 
 reverence therefore rushed on, if possible, with- 
 out pause, from " Amen " to " O Lord," etc. ; 
 but if the clerk could be quite awake, with 
 lungs fully charged, it would be, " Amen — let 
 us sing," etc., with stentorian voice, which 
 compelled parson to quietly subside. The 
 running was pretty even, and perhaps it was 
 the chief point of interest with many present, 
 who would be winner to-day ! 
 
 Most of the land about was' the property 
 of Sir Charles Morgan (his son was afterwards 
 created Lord Tredegar). The works, etc., 
 belonged to him, and we purchased a good 
 deal of his wood, when periodically cut, for 
 use in the manufacture. The land or wood 
 agent, a good man of business probably, was 
 a jolly sort of fellow, fond of whiskey himself, 
 and delighted at overcharging any visitor he 
 might entertain. One Sunday he invited my- 
 self and a friend to dine. Whiskey was 
 speedily produced to wash down the viands, 
 and kept going afterwards. I had, of course, 
 
36 A MOUNTAIN SCRAMBLE AFTER DARK. 
 
 to outstand the pressing, bantering, and badger- 
 ing, to which I had long before become callous, 
 and the others were fain to " enjoy themselves " 
 whilst I looked on. But I had not bargained 
 for a new experience, and found it necessary 
 to rise to the occasion. Myself and companion 
 had a long walk before us, over the mountain, 
 after dark. Though, while sitting still, a man 
 does not know how soon he is overtaken in 
 his cups, I was able to perceive that my friend 
 had had as much as he could comfortably carry; 
 when our host, as bold as brass, insisted on 
 mixing up one more final glass. I was by far 
 the youngest of the party, but this I determined 
 not to stand. I therefore seized the glass ; 
 peremptorily ordered my companion out ; and 
 assured the now blustering host that if he 
 persisted, I would empty the contents, either 
 in his face or on the floor — I forget which. 
 They did not understand being thus outfaced 
 by a beardless boy; but had to submit, and off 
 we marched. 
 
 A few minutes in the open air, however, 
 convinced me not only that I had done right ; 
 but that I should have been justified in acting 
 a glass or so earlier. Never had I such a 
 task as that of getting my unfortunate friend 
 
THE HASH PREFERRED TO THE ROAST. 37 
 
 over that mountain, through the village, and 
 into his bed, so as to avoid scandal. This I 
 believe I did accomplish, never having reason 
 to imagine that any one besides our two selves 
 witnessed or heard of the circumstance. The 
 sufferer was very ill the next morning ; and 
 when I saw him, my recompense, as far as he 
 was concerned, was being reflected upon for 
 allowing him to be so victimized, by not having 
 earlier interfered. "Blow, blow, thou winter 
 wind ! " 
 
 With reference to dining in general, I might 
 be said to have liked what is called "good 
 eating " at that time ; and one of the best 
 dishes I knew of was the Risca hashed mutton 
 — so different from the dry chips, swimming in 
 thin gravy, generally seen under that designa- 
 tion. The hash was a science there, and the 
 roast leg was treated with regard to it, chiefly, 
 on the previous day, by being about half done. 
 The carving was just to slice off the outer 
 skin, as it were, of the joint. Next day, the 
 gravy having been first made hot and seasoned, 
 the deep red slices were dropped into it, only 
 just long enough to be heated through, and 
 the dish was " fit for a hemperor," as a vulgar 
 gourmand I have heard of used to say. 
 
38 " EVENING."-^LEAVING RISCA. 
 
 The house at Risca was pleasantly situated 
 on the side, near the base, of a mountain. 
 That on the opposite side, to the east of the 
 valley, was about 1070 feet above the sea-level. 
 Towards the south the windows commanded 
 the Newport valley, tolerably well wooded on 
 the hillsides ; and in the distance was visible 
 the Bristol Channel, on which a vessel could 
 occasionally be espied with the naked eye, 
 especially if the sun was shining on the sea ; 
 and in the woods the nightingale was heard. 
 
 There were moments sometimes tinged with 
 melancholy, when recollections of those south 
 of the " silver streak " rose in review. Corre- 
 spondence, occasionally kept going, is not like 
 the eye, the tongue, the lip, the smile ! Step- 
 ping from the sublime, one June evening, and 
 lighting on a stile at sundown, I first essayed 
 to think in verse, producing " Evening," since 
 set to music by " Cremona." * 
 
 In 1842 it was found that the chemical 
 works did not pay. Markets were overstocked, 
 and prices were down. The business, accord- 
 ingly, was given up, and I, with Rory, once 
 more returned to the land of my birth, deter- 
 
 * Music Publishing Company, 54, Great Marlborough 
 Street, W. 
 
MY MOTHER RELEASED . FROM SUFFERING. 39 
 
 mined to have nothing more to do with 
 mercantile concerns. 
 
 My brother at home could find me office 
 employment ; and added thereto, the organist, 
 a most worthy man and scientific musician, 
 strongly advised that I should cultivate my 
 vocal powers, with a view to singing in public. 
 I went to London to consult Tom Cooke, who 
 recommended my working hard at practice. 
 He was, in fact, an unfortunate counsellor, 
 encouraging me to force the upper notes instead 
 of coaxing them, which is the true method. 
 Acting on Cooke's advice, I spent most of the 
 year following at home, bellowing in an outer 
 room to such an extent that the vocal chords 
 became relaxed. - Then my old schoolmaster, 
 himself a very fair singer, recommended my 
 going to Crivelli and the Royal Academy of 
 Music. My father somewhat reluctantly agreed 
 to spend a little money on the trial. To town 
 and the Academy I went accordingly in April, 
 1843. 
 
 In the preceding January my mother died. 
 She had been long bedridden with slow 
 paralysis, so that her death, though keenly felt, 
 was a release from suffering. Whatever there 
 was of good in me I owed to her care and 
 
40 THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC. 
 
 watchfulness when young. As before intimated, 
 she was full of proverbs and wise sayings. 
 Especially the power of saying "No" to the 
 tempter, she would often illustrate by relating 
 the story of an old gentleman who took his son 
 with him to a public dinner, in order to set him 
 an example. Pressed to take more wine than he 
 thought good, he steadily declined, whereupon, as 
 was the fashion of the day, the company became 
 clamorous. " You must drink so-and-so," was 
 the cry, when, turning his glass upside down, 
 the old gentleman exclaimed, " I shall take no 
 more wine ; and now let us see who will make 
 me." The revellers were dumb, and the youth 
 never forgot his lesson. 
 
 Upon joining the Royal Academy of Music, 
 I was placed under the tenor singer, H. Bennett, 
 who pronounced my voice an alto, because I 
 had a powerful falsetto or head voice ; and he 
 boasted to some of his brother professors, 
 " You will see what a singer Fll make." My 
 advisers, however, still pressing me to go to 
 Crivelli, I did so, when the signor ridiculed the 
 idea of turning a robust tenor with " a voice 
 like Mario's," as he said, and almost a baritone 
 in the lower notes, into an alto. He said also 
 that I had been straining the vocal chords 
 
I' BECOME A VEGETIST. GRAHAM. 41 
 
 after the higher chest notes, and must not sing 
 at all for some months. I therefore left the 
 Academy to take private lessons from Crivelli, 
 when the time should arrive. 
 
 Meantime I consulted a German hydro- 
 pathist for the relaxed throat, who, hearing that 
 my habit was to eat animal food thrice a day, 
 in obedience to the advice of the friend who 
 bought Rory, and other doctors, to the effect 
 that, as I abjured all liquid stimulants and 
 narcotics, it was necessary that I should eat 
 more " nourishing food " than was customary — 
 " Look at me," said the German, " I have not 
 eaten any meat for thirteen years. You should 
 eat none." My inclination had for some time 
 been pointing in that direction ; and seeing 
 this hearty-looking man, nearly six feet high, 
 who had been so long without, I at once 
 commenced restricting myself to a vegetable 
 diet. 
 
 From this habit I have never swerved since 
 the summer of 1843. 
 
 I visited the hydropathic establishment at 
 Ewell, where I was introduced to the two 
 most important acquaintances of my life — the 
 American, Sylvester Graham, through his grand 
 physiological work, " Lectures on the Science 
 
42 SOLITUDE. — "A VALE IN THE WEST. 
 
 of Human Life ; " and the young lady who was 
 in future to become my partner in the world. 
 
 The loneliness of my condition during these 
 years of my struggles in London made me low- 
 spirited enough at times.* Earning nothing, 
 hating to sponge upon my father, who had 
 suffered such heavy losses at Risca, and con- 
 sequently keeping out of company, never did 
 mortal wander daily midst a crowd feeling a 
 more hearty appreciation of Byron's line — 
 
 " This is to be alone ; this, this is solitude ! " 
 
 I occasionally visited Ewell (meeting the 
 
 * Some of my melancholy musings now and then gave 
 vent to themselves on paper ; as, for instance — 
 
 " There's a vale in the We'st that I ne'er can forget, 
 O'er the earth no such valley is seen ; 
 Where my eyelids, unclosing to beauty, first met 
 Nature's loveliest mantle of green. 
 
 " There a mother so tender, a father so kind, 
 Many brothers and sisters still dear ; 
 All the friends of my childhood were there left behind ; 
 Now — no music of welcome I hear. 
 
 " There was lighted the ray, of all others that shone. 
 Far the brightest, most lovely, most fair ; 
 Ah I that star proved a meteor, it flashed and is gone ; 
 Mine the cold heartless blank of despair ! 
 
 " Yet my fancy will wander o'er field and through grove, 
 Still enchanting affection will smile ; 
 Fondly ling'ring, where mem'ry can ne'er cease to rove, 
 On the sweet flowry banks of the ' He.' " 
 
LOSS OF MY OLD RISCA FRIEND. 43 
 
 young lady only the first time, however) ; and 
 among other recollections of that place was a 
 walking match between the German doctor, a 
 patient over six feet high, and myself whose 
 measurement was five feet seven. The distance, 
 a mile and three quarters, I accomplished in 
 seventeen and a half minutes, fair toe and heel 
 walking. Longshanks gave in the first half- 
 mile ; the German touched the milestone, but 
 stopped soon after on the return ; and I finished 
 only to take note of the time. That short walk, 
 however, made me stiff in every limb for a 
 fortnight. 
 
 About six months after I was hastily sum- 
 moned to see my old sciatic friend from Risca, 
 who had come to Ewell by my advice to try 
 hydropathy. He was getting on so favourably 
 as to be able to walk a short way without a 
 stick, which he had not done, except with the 
 aid of a crutch, for very many years ; and was 
 just being worked up into the state of " crisis," 
 boils beginning to appear (so that the doctor 
 made sure of a speedy and complete cure), when 
 Christmas day arrived, and the patients, much 
 to their adviser's disgust, fancied they could not 
 do without a plum-pudding, which, in the absence 
 of any skilled cook, was very ill made, and as 
 
44 ORGANIST FRIEND, THOMAS GARDNER. 
 
 heavy as lead. My poor friend, amongst the 
 rest, feasted on this abomination, which in his 
 critical state brought on gastric fever, under 
 which he sank. 
 
 Responding to the doctor's summons, I ran 
 the whole way from Kingston station- — four and 
 a half miles — but arrived too late ; he had just 
 expired, and I found the German doctor half 
 frantic with grief and rage. In consequence of 
 this cruel disappointment, I believe, his estab- 
 lishment was soon broken up. At all events 
 he left England not long after. 
 
 Being almost without society, except that of 
 my old musical friend,* who about this time 
 
 * Thomas Gardner, a self-taught musician, a youthful 
 worshipper of Jacobs, organist of Rowland Hill's Chapel, 
 whom he used to watch with intense ardour ; but he never 
 had a lesson in his life. He laboured away half the night 
 on an old piano. An organ with three rows of keys and 
 pedals having been picked up a bargain at Bristol for 
 Ilminster Church, candidates were invited to play before 
 Westlake of Exeter Cathedral. Three rows of keys were 
 not often to be met with half a century ago {i.e. 1828). 
 Tempted by the instrument, Gardner went down, distanced 
 his competitors completely, and interested the umpire much 
 by his original method of modulation. About ten years 
 after, the great organ in Birmingham Town Hall was built ; 
 and candidates had a severe test to undergo before Goss, 
 Novello, Knyvett, and Walmsley. Four only would com- 
 pete, Gardner being one. These candidates were in a room 
 
THEATRES. PHELPS AND MACREADY. 45 
 
 became organist of St. Michael's, Highgate, I 
 had frequent recourse to the theatre during the 
 winter evenings. Phelps, in conjunction with 
 Mrs. Warner, was then endeavouring to create 
 a popular taste for Shakespeare at Sadlers 
 
 where the pedal pipes only could be heard ; and now and 
 then a boom penetrated, and that was all, during the per- 
 formance of three of them. While the fourth (Gardner) 
 was at the keys, however, the pedal pipes were heard with 
 the regularity of a metronome throughout the whole time ; 
 putting the competitors thoroughly out of countenance. 
 But the umpires knew who was playing in each case, instead 
 of taking them by lot as they should have done ; and two 
 of the four were friends of the successful candidate. They 
 nevertheless debated for an hour, and then based their 
 decision on the opinion tha;t florid music was probably 
 most suitable for the audiences likely to be gathered in the 
 hall. But they did not ask the best player of the most 
 difficult and classic music, in accordance with their own 
 programme laid down for him, to play some additional 
 lighter pieces. A handsome speech, and a present of five 
 guineas (which was not in the bond) was made to Gardner ; 
 but from the facts, none can doubt that his had been the 
 best performance. 
 
 Some five years subsequently, on a similar trial at High- 
 gate before Goss and Novello, the thirteen candidates play- 
 ing by lot, there was but one opinion in the church — that 
 No. 3 (Gardner) was the best by far ; and there he remained 
 for thirty years until his death, March, 1873, the most 
 modest of men, but the first organist — i.e. best performer on 
 the organ — that England has, perhaps, ever produced. A 
 few miscellaneous compositions of his, bequeathed to the 
 writer, may, it is hoped, be some day published. 
 
46 THE dissenters' CHAPELS BH.L. 
 
 Wells ; and I visited the pit, night after nig-ht, 
 to witness his inimitable representations of the 
 great characters. One season especially, when 
 Macready was playing at the same time at the 
 Princess's, I made a point of seeing and com- 
 paring the two performers, successively, in 
 Hamlet, Lear, Othello, and Macbeth. In each 
 case I very decidedly gave the palm to Phelps, 
 who always lost his personal individuality in 
 the character he was portraying ; but Macready 
 sqemed as invariably to be studying for effect : 
 See how well I am doing this. As one result, 
 he occupied a full hour more in performing either 
 of those plays than Phelps did. It was several 
 years, however, before the first place was 
 accorded to Phelps in the public estimation. 
 With the multitude every man must work his 
 way. 
 
 In the spring of 1844 I joined the com- 
 mittee for promoting the Dissenters' Chapels 
 Bill, — calling, in company with others, on many 
 members of Parliament to explain the necessity 
 for the measure. I naturally derived much 
 pleasure from the speeches in both Houses, 
 having been present during the debates. Lord 
 Lyndhurst was then chancellor, and his 
 utterances on that Bill abundantly proved that, 
 
LORD LYNDHURST. COMMONS ORATORS. 47 
 
 libepality of sentiment is by no means confined 
 to the Liberal (so-called) party. 
 
 I had a few pleasant words from him at 
 his residence, Great George Street, in i860, 
 on the case to be hereafter mentioned, when, 
 blind — and nearly ninety — he occasionally 
 electrified the House of Lords with his 
 Nestorian eloquence ; and I recollect having 
 been particularly struck by the smooth and 
 really handsome appearance of his mellowed 
 and placid countenance. 
 
 In the Commons there was a splendid 
 display of eloquence— Sir W. Follet, W. E. 
 Gladstone, T. B. (afterwards Lord) Macaulay, 
 whose delivery I thought somewhat pompous, 
 though his allusion to the " braying in Exeter 
 Hall " caused considerable amusement to those 
 who heard him. Sir R. Peel's ample white 
 waistcoat was perhaps more conspicuous than 
 his language, -notwithstanding that that was of 
 the right sterling kind. The climax was given 
 by the great Parliamentary rhetorician of his 
 day, Richard Lalor Shiel, himself a Catholic. 
 But for one defect, a shrill, piping voice — in 
 whom shall no defect be found P^Shiel would 
 have been absolute perfection as an orator. It 
 seems a pity that such passages as Macaulay's 
 
48 'I'HE LIBERATOR, DANIEL o'cONNELL. 
 
 sarcasm, above given, and the final words of 
 Shiel's thrilling peroration, should, from feelings 
 of delicacy, be afterwards suppressed. I could 
 never forget Shiel pointing to Sir Robert Inglis, 
 the representative of intolerance, whilst he 
 denounced the bigots associating themselves 
 with "the Right Hon. Baronet, who, sitting in 
 his iron chair, read the Book of Mercy by that 
 lurid light, with which Geneva was illuminated, 
 when Servetus was consumed." 
 
 Attending a meeting at Exeter Hall on one 
 occasion, I heard the great Irish Liberator, 
 Daniel O'Connell, who then converted me to 
 his views in opposition to capital punishment. 
 The fallibility of human testimony is such, 
 that, upon it, no life should be taken, which can 
 never be restored in case of mistake. O'Connell 
 graphically described a scene he had witnessed, 
 when four young men, brothers, were marched 
 through the streets of Dublin to the gallows, 
 convicted of a murder of which they were 
 innocent, the youngest eighteen, and the mother 
 of these four boys broke through the ranks of 
 the soldiers tp embrace her youngest child ; her 
 frantic energy was too great for the restraint of 
 the guard. But she hung about his neck to 
 little purpose. They were all four executed; 
 
' THOUGHTS ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 49 
 
 and afterwards the real murderer upon his 
 deathbed confessed the crime for which those 
 victims had thus unjustly suffered. This 
 terrible fact convinced O'Connell, and it con- 
 vinced me.* 
 
 * See "Thoughts on Capital Punishment," p. 180. 
 
50 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SETTLING DOWN. 
 
 The study of Sylvester Graham's work on 
 " The Science of Human Life " led me to the 
 conclusion that, physiologically speaking, the 
 best of all diet is uncooked fruit. In the 
 summer of 1844 I confined myself strictly to 
 such diet, which I continued for twelve months, 
 without even bread, and during that time I 
 drank nothing. The esculent fruits furnished 
 water enough to supply the serum of the blood, 
 so that I was never thirsty ; and nuts, of which 
 I kept eight sorts for variety, formed the staple 
 nourishment. Twice, daily, a dinner plate full 
 of nuts and a dozen apples — or oranges when 
 neither apples nor summer fruits were to be 
 had — with a Shakespeare or other book for 
 reflection, would occupy me for a couple of 
 hours ; both slowness and thorough mastication 
 
WALK FROM LONDON TO NORTHAMPTON. 5 1 
 
 being thereby secured. The fluids of the body 
 were never in better order than during that 
 year. Friends, however, pestered me by letter ; 
 my brother gave it as his opinion, from what he 
 heard of me, that my Hfe was not worth a year's 
 purchase, etc. 
 
 About this time I had promised to visit a 
 friend at Northampton, and determined to test 
 the degree of weakness to which, as thus 
 alleged, I had reduced myself. I had never 
 been a great pedestrian, and knew nothing of 
 training, etc., but made up my mind to com- 
 mence my journey on foot, considering that 
 when tired I could finish it by rail. I ac- 
 cordingly went to bed about six on a Sunday 
 eve, got up at midnight, and left Leicester 
 Square, where I was then located, at half-past 
 twelve, during an eclipse of the moon, in 
 November, 1844. As for preparation, I wore 
 boots with soles as thin as a shilling — pumps, in 
 fact — and my trousers were tightly strapped 
 down, the fashion then prevailing of continuing 
 the trouser by a broad strap, tapering so as to 
 button under the sole of the foot; the pants 
 were therefore quite tight, and every step a 
 pull upon the muscles above the knee. I took 
 sufficient nut provender — without shell — to 
 
52 SIXTY-EIGHT MILES WITHOUT STOPPING. 
 
 furnish two meals, and two dozen small swan- 
 egg pears for drink. 
 
 Getting upon the great north road, I 
 reached St. Albans before breakfast, at the quiet 
 pace of three miles an hour. Continuing my 
 walk towards Dunstable, I consumed half my 
 provisions, and kept on for Woburn, where, 
 before an inn door, I saw a pair-horse coach. 
 
 It is remarkable that, besides that coach, I 
 met with but one single vehicle, a light cart, 
 on this once renowned north road,, during the 
 entire journey. 
 
 I did not feel exhausted at Woburn, but 
 thought it might be prudent to make for the 
 railway. On inquiry, however, I found that the 
 nearest station was Wolverton, fourteen miles 
 off, and not on the direct road. I at once 
 settled that I might as well proceed straight on, 
 and sleep on the way. Forward, then, I went 
 to Newport Pagnell, which I reached about half- 
 past four — fourteen miles only from the finish. 
 The customary hour for my second meal was 
 four; I accordingly "set to," and, invigorated 
 thereby, and feeling as fresh as ever, I turned 
 on steam, and walked into Northampton at a 
 quarter before eight, finishing at the rate of 
 five miles an hour the entire sixty-eight miles, 
 
NONE THE WORSE FOR THE EXERTION. 53 
 
 without a single halt, in nineteen hours and a 
 quarter. 
 
 My old-fashioned friends, George Baker (no 
 relation), author of the " History of Northamp- 
 ton," arid his sister, who published a dictionary 
 of the dialect, greatly feared I might be found 
 dead in the morning ; especially as, having had 
 my usual two meals, I declined to eat anything 
 more that night. I was, however, downstairs 
 before any of the family next morning, very 
 much to their relief, feeling none the worse, 
 except that the thigh muscles were a little 
 strained by the action of the tight straps. 
 
 A London cousin, hearing of this feat, sent 
 the news to the Morniitg Herald ; and a 
 Northampton editor remarked that his London 
 contemporary had surely been hoaxed, for had 
 any such extraordinary circumstance occurred, 
 they must have heard of it — which yielded no 
 little amusement to those in the secret. The 
 feats of Weston and his contemporaries had not 
 at that time become common. 
 
 I did not consider it necessary to walk back 
 to London, in order to prove that my life was 
 " worth a year's purchase ; " but in August of 
 the next year, 1845, having a desire to see 
 Scotland, I left the Thames in a small sailing 
 
54 PEDESTRIAN TRIP IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 trader, for Berwick, to return thence on her next 
 trip. 
 
 Landed at twelve o'clock, Saturday, with the 
 understanding that the vessel would sail again 
 the following Wednesday, I walked from 
 Berwick, twenty-six miles, to Kelso. The next 
 day, Sunday, passing the very beautiful seat 
 of the Duke of Roxburgh, I made Galashiels, 
 twenty-eight miles, taking a peep at Melrose 
 and Abbotsford on the way. The old lady in 
 charge of the Abbey would by no means break 
 the Sabbath by showing me the ruin on that 
 day, but she lent me the key to get in ; and 
 though she did not like to gather currants, she 
 kindly tore off a large branch, from which I 
 might help myself! Whether from previous 
 association, from taste, or the want of taste, I 
 did not think the fair ruin of Melrose quite 
 equal to that of Tintern Abbey. 
 
 Abbotsford I saw only from a distance on 
 my left, ascending the hill towards Galashiels, 
 beyond which I slept at a little roadside inn. 
 (Bannocks, lettuce, and potatoes forsupper, and 
 bed, eighteenpence inclusive.) This I left at 
 four o'clock a.m. on Monday, for Edinburgh — 
 twelve miles. There, during a couple of hours 
 or more, I feasted my eyes on the High Street, 
 
THE BEGGAR AND THE BlSCUir. 55 
 
 Arthur's Seat, the Scott monument, Holyrood, 
 the castle, and the view from thence. After 
 which I took rail for Glasgow, and there spent 
 two more hours, perambulating the streets and 
 quays on the Clyde. Returning to Edinburgh, 
 taking in a glimpse of fine scenery towards 
 Stirling on the way, I walked out to Mussel- 
 burgh to sleep, by 11.30. 
 
 Possibly on that day I may have covered 
 nearly forty miles. On Tuesday. I was on the 
 road again by four a.m., on my way towards 
 Haddington. Near this place I encountered 
 a beggar, to whom I offered part of my break- 
 fast — ship-biscuit from Glasgow ; but his teeth 
 could not manage such hard fare, so I was fain 
 to give him sixpence to provide himself better 
 to his taste. This was a very hot day, and I 
 became somewhat footsore ; but after resting at 
 a cottage by Dunbar (the gudewife giving me 
 some excellent potatoes ; while the children were 
 highly delighted to run after pennies which I 
 rolled on the floor), I pushed on past the 
 Lammermuir Hills to Berwick, reckoning — 
 though I got a lift in a cart shortly before 
 reaching the end of my journey — that I had 
 made forty-eight miles that day. That little 
 tramp, before I got on board again, cost me 
 
56 MUSICAL STUDY UNDER CRIVELLI. 
 
 eleven and sixpence — beds, board, railway, and 
 alms inclusive. 
 
 From my own experience, as well as for 
 scientific reasons, I have never since doubted 
 that the simple diet of uncooked fruit is the 
 best suited to the human organization ; but 
 after marriage I was led back to cooked vege- 
 tables, etc. (for women will generally prefer 
 cookery), as well as cereals and fruits, which of 
 course makes a greater variety, if not quite so 
 physiologically correct. 
 
 - My musical studies were now, as has been 
 said, carried on under the tutorship of Signer 
 Crivelli, long the leading vocal professor of the 
 Royal Academy of Music. He was one of the 
 most genial and kind-hearted of men, charitable 
 to a fault ; he was seldom without some im- 
 pecunious Italian sponging upon him. I was 
 frequently his guest, as well as pupil ; but being 
 of an extremely retiring disposition, he never 
 put himself forward, nor could he push his 
 pupils into notice. 1, indeed, regarded it as an 
 especial honour that he one evening attended 
 a concert to hear me sing in public. 
 
 My father did not like the profession of 
 music ; and without capital, or friends who 
 can introduce him, it will always be exceedingly 
 
TURNING ATTENTION TO THE LAW. 57 
 
 difficult for an unknown singer to stand his 
 ground in the absence of any patron to push 
 him into notice. The applause showered upon 
 a successful vocalist is generally more than 
 counterbalanced, at first, by jealousies, and still 
 more objectionable qualities — too frequently 
 inherent on the musical art, among those with 
 whom the new aspirant is necessarily brought 
 in contact. 
 
 Determined not to apply to friends for 
 further pecuniary aid, and finding that the 
 ability to obtain any amount of applause in 
 private, did not by any means supply as a 
 consequence the means of living, I became 
 despondent over the matter. When visiting 
 my professional friend's London agent, on one 
 occasion (himself a perfect encyclopaedia of 
 law), he very strongly urged me to turn my 
 attention in the same direction. "You know," 
 he said, " much more about law than I did 
 when I began on my own account ; why should 
 you not succeed as I have, and as others have 
 done ? " So I yielded to his advice, and asked 
 him for work, which he readily accorded ; and 
 soon, when he had anything in hand requiring 
 particular care, he did me the honour to inquire 
 for me. 
 
58 clergymen's zeal for sanitation. 
 
 I gave up my chambers, took an attic at 
 five pounds a year, lived on almost nothing, 
 and began to deposit in the Savings Bank. 
 
 Nor, having relinquished art, did I exclu- 
 sively confine myself to law. A theological 
 professor and friend endeavoured to persuade 
 me to take up divinity, encouraged me to write 
 sermons,^ and persuaded me occasionally to 
 supply for him in the pulpit. I undertook this 
 duty in several places, and even in one, forty- 
 five miles from King's Cross, I conducted two 
 services on the Sunday for three months, for 
 that purpose travelling from Fulham and back 
 the same day. 
 
 Then about this time the movement for 
 sanitary reform — initiated by the Health of 
 Towns Association — was becoming active, 
 and I volunteered assistance in getting the 
 London clergy to sign a petition in favour of 
 the Health of Towns Bill. I had very little 
 success with these clerical gentlemen (though 
 very civil, they would not sign), until, finding 
 that the Bishop of London (Dr. Blomfield) 
 approved the movement, and was then holding 
 a series of confirmations, I managed to attend 
 several of the churches, wherein small congre- 
 gations of clergymen were gathered together 
 
INSTANCE OF THE FATUITY OF AVARICE. 59 
 
 in the vestries. If one began, especially if he 
 were an archdeacon, a dozen or more would 
 take the pen one after another ; and I speedily 
 had sufficient names to satisfy the Earl of 
 Carlisle, who, in presenting the petition to the 
 Lords, expatiated in eloquent terms on the 
 sufferings witnessed by the signatories, which 
 had induced them to step forward on -behalf of 
 their unfortunate parishioners ! 
 
 Law, however, was now my chief pursuit, 
 one to which romance seldom attaches. There 
 was, nevertheless, a celebrated Chancery suit, 
 in connection with which a voluminous corre- 
 spondence came under my notice, exemplifying 
 in a high degree, all round, the fatuity of avarice. 
 
 Dr. Cochrane, the second son of a spend- 
 thrift father, left his Scottish home for India as 
 a young surgeon. He wrote extensively, and 
 sad were his complaints at banishment from 
 friends, etc., while his elder brother, idling at 
 home, would get the family estate. Year after 
 year he worked and toiled and saved ; period 
 after period for long-promised and deferred 
 visits passed by ; and still he laboured and rose, 
 step by step, until he became the head of the 
 Medical Board under the East India Company. 
 At length, when he could rise no further, and 
 
6o LUCKLESS FATE OF THE MISERS HOARD. 
 
 had amassed a fortune of ^150,000, he re- 
 turned, in his old age, to wander in vain up 
 and down Europe in search of a climate that 
 might suit his infirmities— the coveted estate he 
 had secured, but could not inhabit it. In India 
 he had married a princess, and from thence sent 
 their daughter to England to be educated : but 
 on leaving India he forsook the Begum, and 
 married a legitimate wife in England, by whom 
 he had two sons. Then he amused himself by 
 making wills to secure, in the cleverest manner, 
 his hard-earned gold. To his daughter, of 
 whom he was very fond, and who had married 
 a half-pay lieutenant, he promised a lac of rupees 
 (^12,000), and in one will gave her that sum. 
 In a subsequent will, however, forgetting this 
 legacy, he gave the whole of his property to the 
 survivor of his sons at twenty-five ; and him 
 and issue failing, to the children of the daughter. 
 The surviving son died before twenty-five ; 
 having married, but leaving no issue ; nor had 
 the illegitimate daughter any child. Decade 
 after decade went by, while these poor people 
 were trying to persuade the Court to give 
 them a slice of the vast estate. — No. The 
 promised ^12,000? — No; the domicile was 
 not Scotch, so the law of Scotland would not 
 
EXPERIENCE OF SEDENTARY LABOUR. 6 1 
 
 avail the Scotchman by birth. A compromise 
 was recommended, and ^16,000 actually offered ; 
 but they would insist on ;^2o,ooo, and so the 
 sickening process went on, and she died in 
 poverty. 
 
 The son's widow married successively two 
 barristers, by each of whom she had one daughter. 
 The last husband, who fought the old doctor's 
 first-born (child of the Begum) so long, took, at the 
 final wind up, one-third ; and the two daughters 
 (their mother being dead) another third (or 
 ;^75,ooo) each. But he had meantime become 
 involved in building speculations, and lost both 
 his own and his daughter's shares. He became 
 deranged, and a poor man after all, as he richly 
 deserved. His second wife opened a school 
 and his quondam rich daughter went out as a 
 governess. Thus the chief benefit arising from 
 all this scraping, hoardings and scheming even- 
 tually fell to the lot of creditors, the pockets of 
 lawyers, and a few persons in no way related 
 to the gigantic fortune's architect and testator. 
 Auri sacra fames ! 
 
 I had some experience of protracted 
 sedentary labour at this period of my life, as I 
 had previously with muscular exertion. Over 
 one long piece of work I applied myself for six 
 
62 MARRIAGE. — THE CHARTIST PETITION. 
 
 days and nights, resting only thrice, four hours 
 each time, during the week. 
 
 I now determined not to continue leading a 
 solitary life, even should I find it necessary to 
 emigrate. Having saved sufficient to pay the 
 passage out, I resolved that that sum should, 
 under no circumstances, be encroached upon for 
 any other purpose. Then I set about finding 
 the young lady I had met at Ewell four years 
 previously ; succeeded in my search, and after- 
 wards in my suit, and got married in December, 
 1847, much to the disgust of relations who, like 
 most prudent people in the world — very pro- 
 perly, perhaps, in the generality of cases — think 
 of money first, and marriage after. My wife had 
 nothing, and I was much in the same condition, 
 except as before mentioned ; but we set to work 
 energetically to help each other. 
 
 We occupied part of a house at Walworth, 
 when, in 1848, Feargus O'Connor held his huge 
 meeting on Kennington Green, preparatory to 
 the presentation to Parliament of the giant 
 Chartist petition. Great preparations were 
 made by the authorities to guard against riot. 
 I, among hundreds of others (the subsequent 
 Emperor Louis Napoleon being one), patrolled 
 the street as a special constable. Feargus, 
 
A lunatic's deputy committee. 63 
 
 however, was warned by the poHce that, if any 
 outbreak took place, he would be the first man 
 shot, so he induced the mob to disperse quietly. 
 In the year 1849 a friend of our family died, 
 who had taken the active part in the manage- 
 ment, as committee, of the affairs of his brother, 
 a lunatic of good property, resident at Fulham. 
 The sole remaining committee (the elder brother) 
 being a confirmed invalid, resident in Devon- 
 shire, could attend to the business only through 
 others, and we were invited to take charge 
 of the Fulham establishment, consisting of the 
 lunatic, his attendant, and other servants, the 
 allowance from the Court of Chancery being 
 _;^700 a year. This was getting into clover in 
 one way, and we were comfortable enough until 
 the death of the patient, three years afterwards ; 
 but I subsequently had good reason for the 
 belief that my wife's health had been impaired, 
 by- nervous feelings she could not overcome, 
 -though she kept them to herself at the time. 
 There really was no danger whatever in our 
 very limited association with the patient, there- 
 fore the evil was not suspected. Moreover, it 
 was not until afterwards I learned that my 
 wife's entire nervous system had been seriously 
 injured in infancy. 
 
64 SUCCESS IN OVERCOMING DIFFICULTY. 
 
 A carriage was kept for" the lunatic, which 
 he could seldom be induced to enter; it was 
 chiefly, therefore, at our service. My early skill 
 in driving I found highly advantageous, thread- 
 ing the streets of the metropolis. 
 
 The brother was delighted with our manage- 
 ment of affairs in general ; he never seemed 
 tired of expressing his obligations, and admira- 
 tion of firmness, kindness, etc., etc., in all 
 difSculties. 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. 65 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OFFICIAL OCCUPATION. 
 
 When the cholera of 1849 ^^^ waging, the 
 General Board of Health (created by the Public 
 Health Act, 1848), a new department with a 
 very limited staff, was in need of assistance. I 
 was therefore asked to enter their office at 
 Gwydyr House. 
 
 I had no fear of contagion (the "contagium 
 germ " theory, which of late years has had so 
 baneful an effect, causing perpetual panic, had 
 not then been invented), and willingly went, to 
 work upon cholera statistics, etc., sitting up 
 often — on one occasion three whole nights in 
 the week — working out mortality tables for 
 Mr. Chad wick. 
 
 My experience during the cholera period 
 precisely coincided with the description of the 
 epidemic influence given by Dr. Wynne, in his 
 
66 THE CHOLERA, 1 83 2, AND THE CLERGY. 
 
 report on the cholera at Baltimore — viz. an un- 
 comfortable feeling in the abdominal region, — so 
 that doubtless I imbibed plenty of " contagium 
 germs," but no attack of cholera supervened. 
 The nearest approach to anything of the kind 
 I ever felt was some years subsequently, when 
 I went with a medical friend to see a human 
 limb, which had been preserved by some dis- 
 infectant, exhibited to some students at Bartholo- 
 mew's Hospital. Whatever its condition, my 
 senses were disgusted sufficiently to bring on a 
 fit of diarrhoea, which, however, I stopped by 
 a dose of McDougall's disinfecting fluid, diluted 
 with an equal quantity of water. 
 
 This fluid (carbolate of lime) may not only 
 be sometimes taken internally with advantage, 
 but is at all times most valuable for wounds or 
 sores. 
 
 Immediately after the publication of the 
 General Board's first report on quarantine, 
 which dealt mainly with cholera. Dr. James 
 Gillkrest, inspector-general of army hospitals 
 at Gibraltar, came over to England for the 
 purpose of communicating to the Board his 
 experience on the subject of yellow fever. 
 
 Dr. Gillkrest had previously volunteered 
 valuable service to the metropolis during the 
 
INITIATION OF SANITARY REFORM. 67 
 
 cholera of 1832, when panic prevailed in conse- 
 quence of medical ignorance of the new danger. 
 He then visited the sick wherever cases were 
 to be found throughout the day, and wrote his 
 report in the Times office at night. One fact 
 he more than once mentioned in my hearing, 
 viz. that throughout his visitations in 1832 he 
 never found ministers of religion attendant on 
 the dying, with the notable exception of the 
 Catholic priests. These in no instance were 
 deterred from duty by contagionist fears, which 
 scared the entire collection of Protestant clergy- 
 men. 
 
 It was in 1823 that Dr. Southwood Smith, 
 a native of Martock, Somerset, — of whom, as a 
 young man, my father thought highly, -^com- 
 menced a series of articles in the Westminster 
 Review, for the purpose of showing to the 
 public, and the Government, that the health of 
 the people and the rate of mortality, especially 
 during epidemics, depends greatly on sanitary 
 local conditions, such as surface drainage, water 
 supply, sewerage, freedom from nuisances, etc. ; 
 that attention to these matters was the duty of 
 Government ; and that the popular fear of con- 
 tagion, from person to person, is a mere super- 
 stitious absurdity, leading to great cruelty and 
 
68 QUARANTINE.— THE NUISANCES ACT. 
 
 neglect towards the sick, by isolating them in 
 fever-stricken dens, under the name of quaran- 
 tine, inimical alike to life and to commerce. 
 
 When, after many years of philanthropic 
 labour, that excellent man had succeeded in 
 awakening statesmen to a sense of their duty in 
 this respect, and the Public Health Act, 1848, 
 was passed, supplemented by the Nuisances 
 Removal Act, in view of the approaching visita- 
 tion of cholera, under which he, as fourth 
 member, was added to the General Board of 
 Health, this great subject of quarantine naturally 
 claimed their first attention. 
 
 It should be observed that the General 
 Board was strictly a sanitary board, to promote 
 and supervise sanitary improvements in towns, 
 i.e. engineering works ; whilst the Nuisances 
 Act contained special powers to be put in 
 force by Order in Council only, in view of any 
 threatened epidemic ; enabling the Board, with 
 the aid of a temporary member and inspectors, 
 to direct and guide local authorities in guarding 
 against the danger. 
 
 These powers of the Nuisances Act were 
 put in force in the autumn of 1 848 for six 
 months; renewed in the spring of 1849; and 
 again for three months in the autumn of that 
 
SERVICES OF DR. JAMES GILLKREST. 69 
 
 year ; after which Dr. Southwood Smith went 
 out of office. 
 
 On the arrival of Dr. Gillkrest he applied 
 for assistance in preparing a monograph on 
 yellow fever, when I was deputed to afford him 
 the requisite aid. He was about eighty years 
 of age, had worked hard, with enthusiastic zeal, 
 and been well knocked about during the great 
 duke's campaigns. He had twelve bars ap- 
 pended to his Peninsular medal, proving his 
 presence in twelve general actions in that war 
 alone,* and had seen much service in the West 
 Indies also. He boasted of having been in one 
 more action (Corunna, I believe) than his idol, 
 the duke. Never have I witnessed greater 
 mortification, nor felt more disgust at mere red- 
 tapery, than I did at the cruel refusal to this 
 old man of a C.B. ribbon. That decoration 
 had been, years previously, conferred on all 
 senior medical officers In charge before the 
 enemy during any general action in the Pen- 
 insula. Now, at the greatest slaughter of the 
 war, the storming of Badajoz, Dr. James Gill- 
 krest was the senior medico who volunteered 
 for that almost forlorn hope, which made the 
 great commander weep over the loss of thou- 
 * Surgeon, 43rd Regiment. 
 
70 DIFFICULT EDITORIAL LABOUR. 
 
 sands, and the doctor caught in his arms Fer- 
 gusson, afterwards General, who fell wounded 
 on the ramparts. But the whole army was not 
 present, and the. prmcipa/ medical officer did not 
 volunteer. Though no other such case could 
 be cited, this poor old hero had not nominally 
 been senior in charge before the enemy, and 
 therefore all his repeated pleadings, nearly forty 
 years after the event, for the much-coveted 
 bauble were refused, presumably by a mere 
 red-tape clerk. The getting a report from Dr. 
 Gillkrest was no light work. It was, indeed, 
 the hardest literary task which it has ever fallen 
 to my lot to accomplish. He had probably had 
 more experience of yellow fever than any other 
 living Englishman ; having served most of his 
 time in warm climates, and made this disease 
 his special study. He had been, moreover, many 
 years principal medical officer, and superinten- 
 dent of quarantine, at Gibraltar. 
 
 The doctor had been collecting materials 
 through a long life ; had his different facts and 
 observations on the several heads of inquiry 
 carefully sorted and labelled, with various 
 coloured papers to distinguish them; but had 
 lost the power of concentration necessary to put 
 these materials together. After much time 
 
QUARANTINE (2ND REPORT). YELLOW FEVER. 71 
 
 practically wasted, I found it imperative upon 
 me to study and get well hold of the subject, in 
 order that the part of editor might be efficiently 
 performed. Of course I could not venture to 
 take any important step without the approval 
 of Dr. S. Smith. At length a valuable report 
 was produced, and I cannot forget the astonish- 
 ment of some of Dr. Gillkrest's most intimate 
 friends, who had served under him as assistant- 
 surgeons, at the result which they had so long 
 hoped for, but always despaired of, having been 
 actually obtained. For they never had met 
 with any one previously, able to do anything 
 with their quondam superior, who had a very 
 strong will of his own. 
 
 Several of those gentlemen rendered valu- 
 able aid to the volume finally produced ; e.g. 
 Dr. Alexander Browne, late surgeon, 37th 
 Regiment, a man of much erudition, judgment, 
 and experience ; Dr. W. H. Burrell, after- 
 wards principal medical officer at Malta ; and 
 Dr. George Brown, surgeon-major. Grenadier 
 Guards, etc., etc. 
 
 I also obtained important papers from the 
 records of the Colonial Office, and Army 
 Medical Department. Dr. Southwood Smith 
 himself drew up the report of the General Board 
 
72 TESTIMONY OF THE DEAN OF ELY. 
 
 of Health, "second on quarantine (yellow fever)," 
 in his usual masterly manner ; and so important 
 was the volume * considered by the authorities, 
 that it was translated into French, and also (at 
 the special request of the then governor of 
 Malta) into Italian, and transmitted through the 
 Foreign and Colonial Offices to all civilized 
 countries and colonies. 
 
 Quarantine was then thought to have been 
 put an end to ; the Hydra contagion crushed ; 
 abject fear abolished ; and common sense about 
 disease firmly established. " If," wrote Dr. 
 Peacock, Dean of Ely, " Dr. Southwood Smith 
 had no other claims on the lasting gratitude 
 , of the nation, I would refer to his reports on 
 quarantine as quite sufficient to establish them. 
 They have contributed more than any other 
 publications on this subject to dissipate the 
 gross and mischievous delusions upon which 
 these regulations are founded, and which are 
 known to be so injurious to the free commercial 
 intercourse and prosperity of nations." 
 
 I had hold of the incidence of yellow fever 
 epidemics in warm climates at this time suffi- 
 ciently to warrant my attending a meeting of 
 
 * Presented to Parliament at the end of session, 1852. 
 
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SOCIETY DISCUSSION. 73 
 
 medicos at their rooms in Berners Street, to 
 hear a paper, by the then medical officer to the 
 Customs, on the yellow fever at Rio Janeiro in 
 1849. He was a thorough contagionist, and 
 had previously made himself conspicuous by his 
 advocacy of the contagion theory in the noted 
 case of the Eclair, at Boa Vista (1845), which 
 theory in that instance had been completely 
 refuted by Dr. King, of the navy ; and also by 
 Dr. Southwood Smith, and Dr. A. Browne, in 
 the Board of Health report. 
 
 I knew what the coming paper would be; 
 and had copies of all the consular correspond- 
 ence to our Foreign Office on the matter, in 
 my hands, at the office of the General Board. » , 
 I therefore went to the meeting prepared to 
 controvert the contagionist. This I did to my 
 satisfaction at an adjourned sitting, when the 
 members were congratulated by the mouth of 
 Mr. Pilcher, a leading surgeon of the day, on 
 the advantage of having a layman among them 
 on a question of disease-importation evidence.* 
 
 Dr. Gillkrest could not .resist making an 
 expedition to be present on the occasion, 
 
 * The discussion appeared in the medical journals of 
 the day. See p. 302. 
 
74 HONOURS FOR RAISING POPULAR PANIC. 
 
 and could not have been more pleased had he 
 secured the red ribbon. He afterwards intro- 
 duced me as " the man who slew McWilliam." 
 Dr. Burrell, too, would tell his friends that I 
 knew more about fevers than many medicos ! 
 
 It is astonishing to what shifts presumably 
 educated men will sometimes resort to maintain 
 a pet theory, such as that disease has been con- 
 veyed by contagion from a distance, rather than 
 having been indigenous to the locality of an 
 outbreak. 
 
 When cases of endemic disease occur in a 
 hot season, nothing is easier than to excite 
 panic throughout a population, provided the 
 bugbear be set a-going by a doctor ; who at 
 once becomes a great discoverer, a transcendent 
 genius, the benefactor of his species, to be 
 loaded with riches and honours. 
 
 Witness Jenner, Pym, Pasteur, and Koch. 
 
 Suppose the last-named to have found 
 " microbes " present in cholera subjects, does that 
 prove that these came from outside, and caused 
 the disease ? Is it not far more in accordance 
 with pathological science that the said microbes 
 pesult from the disintegration or breaking down 
 of the intestinal structure, brought about by a 
 disease engendered by combinations of filth, 
 
CONTAGIONIST PERVERSION OF FACT. 75 
 
 miasm, foul food, heat, lung-poison, and cor- 
 ruption of blood ? 
 
 I have frequently heard Dr. Gillkrest relate 
 the fact of the superintendent of quarantine, 
 during many years, rising at a Board of Inquiry 
 at Gibraltar, over which he presided, with the 
 case-book of a regiment open in his hands, and 
 saying, while his eyes were on the book, "This " 
 (alleged symptom) " could not have been the 
 case, as I see the man was bled." Upon which 
 Dr. Gillkrest struck his assistant-surgeon (Dr. 
 G. Brown) quite a blow, and shouted, " Look 
 at the book ! " After which he marched out of 
 the room with the book under his arm, saying 
 that he would attend the inquiry no longer, for 
 " your President has perverted facts." There 
 was no such record in the book as had been 
 pretended. 
 
 That inquiry was held by direction of the 
 colonial secretary, for the purpose of deter- 
 mining whether the yellow fever epidemic at 
 Gibraltar, in 1828, had been imported by the 
 ship Dygden as alleged, or was indigenous to 
 the rock. The results of the inquiry were far 
 more important than is generally appreciated. 
 The majority of the doctors, led by the super- 
 intendent of quarantine, pronounced (as they 
 
76 THE EFFECT OF DRAINING GIBRALTAR. 
 
 always do) that the disease was imported. The 
 judge advocate, a lawyer, however, was of 
 opinion that the foul state of the drains, etc., 
 combined with the heat of the season, had caused 
 the fever. Having explained his reasons (this 
 paper is given in the second report of the 
 General Board of Health on quarantine), Sir 
 George Murray sent out orders for the thorough 
 drainage of the garrison. The consequence has 
 been that, whereas yellow fever epidemics were 
 of frequent occurrence in Gibraltar formerly, 
 culminating in the severest outbreak of 1828, 
 there has not been one since. It is even 
 doubtful if there has been a single sporadic case 
 of that disease. 
 
 In collecting materials for the yellow fever 
 report of the General Board, I was sent to the 
 Army Medical Department, where an inquiry 
 had recently been held, to obtain a copy of the 
 proceedings. Dr. Burrell, we knew, had sent 
 in a lengthy paper after the oral evidence had 
 been concluded. The director-general of the 
 department held contagionist opinions, opposed 
 to those of Dr. Burrell. When I had taken 
 the oral examinations I was told that was all. 
 I suggested to him that it was understood, or 
 thought, that Dr. Burrell had furnished a special 
 
UNJUST TREATMENT OF A NON-CONTAGIONIST. "]"] 
 
 paper. " No," he replied, " there was no such 
 paper. I had the whole of the matter." I 
 could not contradict the director-general ; but 
 did what I could do, by immediately drafting a 
 letter to the commander-in-chief, asking for Dr. 
 Burrell's report. This went from the General 
 Board of Health to the Duke of Wellington, 
 who at once gave the order, which even the 
 director-general dared not question ; and Dr. 
 Burrell's paper was supplied, and appended to 
 the General Board's report. 
 
 This head of the Army Medical Department 
 it was who, on the outbreak of the Crimean 
 War, violated the settled rule of the service by 
 sending for Dr. Hall, from India, to take charge 
 of the army at Scutari, over the head of the 
 senior European officer at Malta, Dr. Burrell, 
 who heard of the implied slight and injustice 
 just in time to retire, having earned the right 
 to do so. The next day he could not have 
 taken the step, as the order to join the army 
 would have arrived, therefore no time for con- 
 sideration even was possible. He had made 
 every preparation, bought horses, etc., but 
 being unable to prognosticate the confusion, 
 ignorance, and suffering which afterwards arose, 
 entirely owing to the spleen of the director- 
 
78 DR. burrell's report on plague. 
 
 general (who would not allow him, prior to 
 Dr. Hall joining, to go forward with the army), 
 Dr. Burrell did retire. When he heard of the 
 disasters consequent upon this stupid piece of 
 official spite, the matter preyed much upon Dr. 
 Burrell's mind. Though able to render efficient 
 service, subsequently, on the Barrack and Hos- 
 pital Commission, appointed by Lord Herbert, 
 there was a grief which, if it did not break his 
 heart, materially shortened his life. Had things 
 happened as they ought. Dr. Burrell would 
 have been the successor of the director-general, 
 upon the retirement of that officer on ^1200 a 
 year, the recompense for practically destroying 
 thousands of soldiers ! 
 
 During his three years' residence as principal 
 medical officer at Malta, Dr. Burrell forwarded 
 to the General Board of Health an exhaustive 
 examination of the records of the plague of 
 1 8 13 in that island, which I saw through the 
 press for him, published as Appendix V. to the 
 second report on quarantine. 
 
 An alarming marsh fever having broken out 
 at Croydon in 1853, the credit of the Board of 
 Health being impugned, I was deputed to visit 
 every house in which a death from fever had 
 occurred, and tabulated the result of my in- 
 
INQUIRY INTO FEVER AT CROYDON. 79 
 
 quiry, which appeared in the Blue Book, on 
 the subject, showing clearly that the drainage 
 works, which were blamed, had been carried 
 out in scarcely one spot where the disease pre- 
 vailed. 
 
8o A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OFFICIAL JOBBERY. 
 
 Dr. Southwood Smith, as before stated, had 
 been brought back as member of the General 
 Board of Health, under the Metropolitan Inter- 
 ments Act, 1850, which was repealed by the 
 Burials Act, 1852, except the section authorizing 
 such fourth member. 
 
 In 1854, however, the Board altogether 
 expired : and was not renewed, in obedience 
 to the strong opposition of the civil engineers 
 who hated Mr. Chadwick for encouraging 
 engineering at moderate cost. Mr. Chadwick 
 nevertheless secured ^1000 a year pension, 
 whilst Dr. S. Smith, who had sacrificed his 
 profession to take office, got .1^300 only, which 
 was wrung out of the secretary to the Treasury 
 in the Commons lobby, after a fortnight's agi- 
 tation, he assuring Lord Robert Grosvenor, 
 afterwards Lord Ebury, that the Government 
 
SHELVING THE SANITARY REFORMER. 8 1 
 
 was well disposed towards Dr. Southwood 
 Smith, who might therefore reasonably antici- 
 pate re-appointment. 
 
 The champion of the engineers, in the 
 House, was Sir Benjamin Hall, afterwards Lord 
 Llanover. An Act was passed for one year 
 establishing the General Board of Health with 
 a parliamentary president (Sir B. Hall) and 
 secretary, like the then Poor Law Board ; but 
 no medical officer was considered necessary for 
 a mere sanitary board, as was the case, indeed, 
 under the Public Health Act, without the 
 Nuisances and Interments Acts. If this was 
 not so, the case was still worse, a mere trick 
 for the purpose of quietly shelving Dr. South- 
 wood Smith. Curiously enough, the medical 
 officer of the city, at ;^8oo a year, was Sir B. 
 Hall's personal medical adviser, and oddly, it 
 may be, enough, I and others at once saw that 
 functionary daily walking into the Board of 
 Health office for half an hour or so. 
 
 The following session a Bill was introduced 
 to continue the Board for another year, and, 
 mirabile dictu, with a medical officer ! Before 
 the Bill passed, Sir B. Hall became First Com- 
 missioner of Works, and was succeeded by 
 Mr. Cowper, afterwards Lord Mount Temple, 
 
82 THE BOARD OF HEALTH ABOLISHED. 
 
 who, by all the rules of office, therefore had the 
 patronage. He wrote asking Lord Shaftesbury 
 which was the best of three he named for 
 medical officer — neither of them the city officer ; 
 but, without waiting an answer, Mr. Cowper 
 had swallowed that gentleman, thrust down 
 his throat by the stronger will of " Big Ben," 
 as having earned, and been promised, the 
 appointment.* And I venture to say, that no 
 innocent display of ministerial weakness was 
 ever more disastrous to a nation, than was that 
 step. 
 
 The good feeling of the secretary to the 
 Treasury, towards Dr. Southwood Smith, was 
 now displayed by the announcement in Parlia- 
 ment that a first-rate man could not be had 
 for less than ^1500 a year as medical officer; 
 whereas Dr. S. Smith, as member of the former 
 Board, received ;^i200 only. 
 
 Three years later it was found that, with 
 the active members, having their heart in the 
 work, the use of the General Board of Health 
 had altogether departed ; and the sanitary 
 
 * In 187 1 Mr. Cowper Temple wrote as follows : — "It 
 is quite true, as you suppose, that when I undertook the 
 office of president of the Board of Health, I found that Sir 
 
 B. Hall had decided that Mr. was the fittest person 
 
 to fill the vacancy then existing." 
 
A MEDICAL DEPARTMENT ESTABLISHED. 83 
 
 works superintendence was transferred to the 
 Home Ofifice by the Local Government Act, 
 1858. Our honourable friend, however, was 
 then astute enough to persuade the Government 
 that it was necessary to provide for the powers 
 of the Board of Health under the Nuisances 
 Act (which had not, and have not, been put in 
 operation since 1850) ; and so the Public Health 
 Act, 1858, provided that the medical officer of 
 the Board should be transferred to the Privy 
 Council, with a salary of £ 1 500. By subsequent 
 Acts considerable patronage was conferred upon 
 this new-fangled medical officer with nothing to 
 do, to appoint inspectors, etc. He then took 
 up the necessity of enforcing vaccination upon 
 the people (as some excuse for his salary), per- 
 suaded Mr. Lowe (afterwards Lord Sherbrooke) 
 to turn his ;^i500, by statute, into ^2000 by 
 favour ; and finally, after fixing a medical 
 department of a dozen officers, with ;^8ooo a 
 year, and giving grants and public money to 
 brother professionals all over the country, for 
 nothing else than keeping the people in a per- 
 petual state of disease panic ; frightening the 
 entire community over " contagium germs " 
 {micrococci, which all must believe in, though 
 no microscope can discover), "malignant inten- 
 
84 THE WORKS OF DR. SOUTHWOOD SMITH. 
 
 tions " of epidemics, with other high-sounding 
 nonsense ; and reintroducing quarantine all the 
 world over, — even against disease in respect of 
 which it had never been used in former times, — - 
 he retired on his laurels with ^1150 a year 
 pension. 
 
 It is altogether beyond the function of 
 Government to prescribe or enforce nostrums, 
 much less to raise popular disease panics ; but 
 it is obvious that, while panic-mongering per- 
 petually produces its thousands to a State 
 medical department and their myrmidons, so 
 long will panic-mongering prevail.* 
 
 Dr. Southwood Smith, "the father of sanitary 
 reform," has, on the other hand, earned a 
 position in the National Portrait Gallery, while 
 his works, on Fever, " Philosophy of Health," 
 Cholera and Quarantine reports, the " Common 
 Nature of Epidemics," etc., will be read with 
 veneration for ages. 
 
 He died, and was buried in the cemetery, 
 at Florence, December, 1861 ; aged seventy- 
 
 * A mild outbreak of cholera amidst the filth of Southern 
 Europe, during the heats of summer 1884, has enabled 
 Dr. Dilke & Co., unlimited, to procure a new Act of 
 Parliament, and to obtain the Treasury sanction for six 
 more inspectors, under pretence of preventing " contagium 
 germs " from invading our shores ! 
 
TKSTIMONY TO HIS PUBLIC SERVICES. 85 
 
 three ; great as a theologian ; as a physician 
 greater ; greatest of philanthropists. 
 
 A small collection of some of these sanitary 
 writings, bearing the last-named title, was edited 
 by me in 1866. 
 
 A somewhat over-zealous admirer of Dr. 
 Southwood Smith started a private testimonial 
 to the good doctor after he left office, but 
 without following up his proposal by efficient 
 work. Sir John Easthope took up the matter 
 warmly, and I did all I could to assist. First I 
 went to Mr. Charles Morison, who offered ;^io 
 as his contribution. I could not be satisfied 
 therewith, but pleaded for /50, and left him, 
 taking with me a cheque for that amount. The 
 wealthy Earl of Ellesmere I tried in the same 
 way, but failed to obtain more than £10 10s. 
 from him. Lord Palmerston cordially joined 
 with .2^21, and so on.* I obtained two-thirds of 
 
 * Among the subscribers was the Bishop of Ripon, 
 Dr. Longley, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, who 
 received me in a manner most fascinating. Apropos of this, 
 when one day traveUing near Ascot after he had become 
 Primate, my chance companion was somewhat after the cut 
 of a retired tradesman, attired in a loose-fitting, old-fashioned 
 black suit. In conversation the Archbishop was mentioned 
 (probably in connection with his Colenso correspondence), 
 when the old gentleman remarked that it had been said of 
 Dr. Longley that he had the sweetest smile ever seen in any 
 
86 THE TRUE ARISTOCRAT ACCESSIBLE. 
 
 the sum subscribed, and was pronounced " a 
 capital beggar" by Sir John. 
 
 It has frequently amused me to observe the 
 wide contrast between the true and the mush- 
 room aristocrat. The first always accessible, 
 gentlemanly, and afifable ; the other jealously 
 guarded by flunkeys, haughty, snobbish, and 
 unbending. I have been to Lord Palmerston 
 at Cambridge House, as a stranger, admitted 
 immediately to the Premier, courteously listened 
 to, and treated with cordiality ; whereas a 
 quondam thorough Radical, second -descent 
 baronet, promoted to " cabinet rank," has kept 
 me at arm's length for twelve hours in the 
 endeavour to gain a five-minutes' interview on 
 public business, accorded at length, "if intro- 
 duced by a member of Parliament," — which, 
 however, a score being ready, mattered little. 
 
 On the passing of the Interments Act, 1850, 
 it was suggested by the Treasury, the great 
 guardians of the public purse, that, as there 
 would be so much additional work, a second 
 assistant-secretary to the General Board would 
 
 one, in which I thoroughly agreed (though the idea flashed 
 across my mind, What can you know about bishops ?). A 
 few weeks after, this gentleman was pointed out to me as 
 the great Dr. Pusey ! 
 
PROVISION FOR TREASURY FRIEND. 87 
 
 be requisite. Why this zeal ? It happened 
 that the then assistant-secretary (the highest 
 permanent officer) to the Treasury, had a 
 brother-in-law just at that time looking out for 
 something to do. He was the younger brother 
 of a peer, and a barrister, who had been out 
 as attorney -general in one of our colonies ; 
 but the climate did not suit him, and he returned 
 home. He accordingly was appointed assistant- 
 secretary to the Board of Health, with ^500 a 
 year. But had his brother-in-law been less 
 anxious for this new appointment, it would 
 speedily have been found unnecessary. The 
 new Act would not work, inasmuch as the 
 chancellor of the Exchequer declined to 
 advance the capital requisite to start so vast 
 an undertaking as the burial of all persons 
 dying in the metropolis at a cemetery below 
 Erith ; therefore the Act was perforce re- 
 pealed, leaving the work to local Burial Boards. 
 What, then, was to be done with this brother- 
 in-law ? Turn him out in the cold ? Not to 
 be thought of. The secretary to the Board was 
 in preference induced to accept the post of chief 
 engineer at ^800, in lieu of /600 ; and our new 
 assistant-secretary was at once promoted to 
 secretary, somewhat to the disgust of Tom 
 
88 THE FRIEND S CONTINUAL ADVANCEMENT. 
 
 Taylor probably, who had a year's seniority 
 over him as legal assistant-secretary. Within a 
 year or two, however, the secretaryship to the 
 Audit Office fell vacant, and seeing that of 
 course no subordinate there understood figures 
 sufficiently to fill- the post, also that the salary 
 there was ^looo, it seemed not inexpedient for 
 the public service to promote this deserving 
 relative, — when Tom Taylor undertook the 
 labours of secretary to the General Board, even 
 without any assistant. 
 
 Not very long elapsed before one of the 
 commissioners of audit died, or retired. Then, 
 of course, the secretary became commissioner, 
 for are not the next senior officers always 
 promoted on vacancies occurring above them ? 
 This post of commissioner had not been held 
 more than a year or so before the constitution 
 of the Audit Office was changed. An auditor 
 and comptroller-general superseded the three 
 commissioners, who retired on full salary each 
 for life ! * 
 
 Tom Taylor survived the breaking up of 
 the General Board in 1854, having his salary 
 under Sir B. Hall raised from ^600 to ;^iooo, 
 which did not again diminish when, by the 
 
 * See p. 190. "The Insidious 'Red-Tape' System." 
 
UNION OF LITERARY WITH OFFICIAL CAREER. 89 
 
 Local Government Act, 1858, the business was 
 transferred to the Home Office. Some years 
 later, when the Local Government Board took 
 over the sanitary work, he retired on a pro- 
 fessional scale pension of ^6 1 o, after which he 
 became editor of Punch, art critic for the Times, 
 etc. He had not done badly by official life. 
 He wrote, in a perfunctory manner, what were 
 called " legal opinions," it is true, which were 
 duly entered in a book. On one occasion a 
 question having been forwarded for the Board's 
 advice, the usual order was given — " Get the 
 legal opinion book." " Which am I to take ? " 
 said the clerk ; " there are three on one side, 
 and two on the other." " Oh, take the one 
 which has been used most," was the reply ; and 
 that served the purpose as well as anything else ! 
 Tom Taylor had, indeed, other fish to fry. 
 He was London correspondent to a northern 
 newspaper ; a regular contributor to Punch — to 
 whose office a Board messenger went weekly 
 for the five-guinea cheque ; he wrote farces 
 and plays without number ; , whilst the life of 
 Haydon, and of Sir Joshua Reynolds, etc., 
 qualified him for art critic subsequently. His 
 brother, too, he made engineering inspector at 
 ^800 a year. 
 
90 SIMPLE SERVICE LESS LIBERALLY REWARDED. 
 
 The Burials (Metropolis) Act, 1852, was 
 followed by the Burials (beyond the Metropolis) 
 Act, 1853. Inspectors were immediately ap- 
 pointed, by Lord Palmerston, to do the work out 
 of hand. Seeing there was much to be done in 
 the way of procuring information, I volunteered 
 to aid the inspectors (medical men), who gladly 
 availed themselves of the proffered assistance ; 
 and I used to remain after the office was closed, 
 sometimes till eight or nine o'clock. After a 
 few months, a request was made, by these 
 gentlemen, that I should be properly appointed 
 and paid for this extra duty. Our friend the 
 Treasury assistant-secretary walked over to talk 
 with his brother-in-law, and thereupon vouch- 
 safed the Treasury sanction to the payment of 
 ^50 a year. 
 
 One member of the Board, the most amiable 
 of men, was literally angry on hearing that, 
 knowing nothing of the matter, and without con- 
 sulting the Board, their secretary should have 
 taken upon himself to recommend so miserable 
 a recompense. A- letter was written to Lord 
 Palmerston, who inquired what were my duties 
 at the Board ; the reply being that I had the 
 drafting of all the correspondence ; whereupon 
 the 'Secretary of State recommended that ;^ioo 
 
APPOINTMENT TO BURIALS OFFICE. 9 1 
 
 should be allowed extra instead of ;^5o. But 
 was not the said assistant- secretary the pattern 
 guardian of the public purse, and what could 
 Lord Palmerston do against him ? So his 
 lordship was refused, and I had to put up with 
 the sum named. 
 
 The General Board, as has been said, came 
 to an end in the autumn of 1854. I had been 
 called to the bar by the Hon. Society of the 
 Inner Temple in the spring of that year. Sir 
 Benjamin Hall must have all the office room 
 at 8, Richmond Terrace, and get rid of the 
 inspectors of burial grounds, who were under 
 the Home Office. These gentlemen, therefore, 
 were provided with quarters in Old Palace 
 Yard, and, on their application, I accompanied 
 them ; being assured, voluntarily by them, that 
 I should be free to practise my profession also. 
 What is termed " chamber practice," viz. writing 
 opinions, was certainly carried on to a con- 
 siderable extent in some public offices ; but on 
 an opinion which I had written falling under 
 the notice of Sir George Grey, who succeeded 
 Lord Palmerston at the Home Office, I was 
 desired to refrain from answering legal questions 
 in future, lest any such might be thought to bind 
 the Home Office. 
 
92 UNOFFICIAL EVENTS AND PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 "At least," thought I, "if I accede to this 
 I cannot but be honourably treated in the 
 future." This afterwards turned out, as will 
 be seen, a vain delusion. 
 
 I published in 1855 "The Laws relating to 
 Burials." In 1857 a second edition was called 
 for ; in 1863 a third ; in 1873 a fourth ; and in 
 1882 a fifth edition. 
 
 Meantime, during these official occurrences, 
 some other notable events in my life took place. 
 On the death of the lunatic friend we removed 
 to Kensington, mainly to secure a daily walk 
 to and fro through the several parks to West- 
 minster. The great Exhibition, 1851, was held 
 in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park. Our eldest 
 children had been born ; and in 1852 my father 
 died. 
 
 Whilst at Kensington I had a small organ 
 built in my house, after my own fancy, with 
 nine stops— four in a full swell, — two rows of 
 keys, and pedals ; and during two separate years 
 I fulfilled the duties of an organist — one year in 
 the East, and the other in the West of London. 
 I also made a small collection of Psalmody, 
 aided by the judgment of my old friend Gardner, 
 -who contributed about seventeen of his own (all 
 
SAVING A KENSINGTON RIGHT OF WAY. 93 
 
 marked with an asterisk), and one such (called 
 " Ilminster ") was my own only attempt at 
 musical composition.* 
 
 One piece of service I rendered to the 
 Kensingtonian public. My daily path into the 
 gardens by the side of the Palace was through 
 a passage from Church Street, between the 
 vicarage and the church. One day I saw this 
 entrance boarded up, and found on inquiry that 
 barracks were to be erected there, the whole of 
 the ground being taken in and built upon. I 
 at once called on the Archdeacon, Sinclair, and 
 informed him of the plan, whereby this right of 
 way would be taken from the public ; where- 
 upon he wrote or posted off to the member for 
 the county, Lord Robert Grosvenor, who inter- 
 ceded with the powers that were, and the path 
 was not only left undisturbed, but improved ; 
 and so remains until this day, as witnessed by 
 me very many years later, on going to inspect 
 the new church. 
 
 * See page 447. 
 
94 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ILMINSTER SCHOOL CONTEST — FOUNDATION 
 OF NATIONAL EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 
 
 I WAS educated, as previously said, at the 
 grammar school of my native town, Ilminster. 
 This charity was founded in April, 1548, when, 
 curiously enough, there was nothing on the 
 Statute Book of England in reference to 
 religion, for all such Acts had been repealed 
 the year before, and the first new enactment of 
 the period on the subject was passed in 1549. 
 The trustees were to be "honest men of the 
 parish," and the children were to be taught " all 
 godly learning and knowledge, as well as other 
 manner of learning." The surplus income, if 
 any, to be applied to the maintenance of the 
 highways and bridges of the parish. 
 
 My father had, through life, taken great 
 interest in the management of the charity. 
 There was (i) the grammar school ; (2) a com- 
 
THE ILMINSTER SCHOOL CONTEST. 95 
 
 mercial school, to which one hundred farmers' 
 sons, etc., were admitted free ; (3) Two evening 
 dame schools for the poor ; (4) No highway- 
 rate had been made within living memory, and 
 the streets were well paved. 
 
 There had never been any suspicion of 
 religious disputes, and all sects had participated 
 in the management as far back (153 years) 
 as the records extended, when, in 1857, the 
 trustees having been reduced by death to five, 
 three of whom were Dissenters, fifteen persons 
 were nominated, twelve of whom were Church- 
 men, by the survivors, as directed in the trust 
 deed, to make up the number of twenty. 
 
 A certain solicitor, not finding himself 
 among those nominated (he was afterwards, for 
 the sake of peace, but to no purpose), persuaded 
 the vicar, a very old man, to object that 
 Dissenters were not eligible to be trustees. 
 The Master of the Rolls' clerk pooh-poohed 
 the objection, but it being pressed, the matter 
 was adjourned to be settled in Court. Before 
 it came on, the vicar died, but his widow was 
 induced to believe it to be her duty to guarantee 
 costs. Sir John Romilly decided that, following 
 the Hewley case, the school was to be held a 
 Church school ; but, as the repair of highways 
 
96 REVERSAL OF LORD ROMILLY's JUDGMENT. 
 
 and bridges was not a religious object, the 
 three Dissenters might remain. The solicitor 
 at once gave notice of appeal, and, seeing the 
 widow considered she had done enough, he 
 persuaded three or four persons to step forward 
 as guarantors on behalf of the new vicar. 
 
 Now, the trustees, fearing loss to the charity, 
 desired not to litigate the matter, but let it take 
 its course ; and the attorney-general was not 
 served as he ought to have been, to represent 
 the public. I felt indignant at all this. Inde- 
 pendently of personal feeling, considerations of 
 filial regard impelled me to come forward in 
 defence of liberty of conscience, as opposed to 
 theological intolerance. My father had for half 
 a century taken a leading, almost paternal, part 
 in the management of the charity, so that 
 mainly by his exertions the endowment had 
 been applied in a manner which might afford 
 a model for such institutions. He would turn 
 in his grave ! And I resolved that, if I could 
 prevent it, such wrong should not be done. 
 
 A member of the bar, resident in London, 
 yet a ratepayer of Ilminster, I determined to 
 do what I could to represent my fellow rate- 
 payers ; and petitioned the Lords Justices for 
 leave to appeal on their behalf against the 
 
APPEAL TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 97 
 
 dicium that the school was "a Church of 
 England school." 
 
 When the case came on, Mr. Roundell 
 Palmer (afterwards Lord Chancellor Selborne), 
 who led on the other side, to oppose the three 
 Dissenters, being absent, Mr. Baggallay (after- 
 wards Lord Justice), having been heard, was 
 asked, on my rising, " Do you object ? " Some- 
 what puzzled, and a friend at my side calling 
 out, " He's an appellant with ye," Mr. Baggallay 
 answered, " No." Mr. Toller, on behalf of the 
 trustees, also replied, " No " (for, though they 
 would not admit me with them, doing all they 
 could to keep me quiet, yet the sympathies of 
 the trustees were of course identical with mine). 
 " Then," said Lord Justices Knight Bruce and 
 Turner, "we'll hear you." They paid little 
 attention to the matter, however, intimating that 
 the time of the Court was too valuable to be 
 wasted over a Dissenters' squabble in an obscure 
 parish ; and decided that the three names 
 should be struck out, " they not being members 
 of the Church of England." 
 
 Being thus let in to the case, I appealed to 
 the House of Lords. But, at the same time, I 
 applied to Mr. Massey, M.P., afterwards finance 
 minister for India, to bring in a Bill to declare 
 
98 THK SCHOOL TRUSTEES COMMITTEE. 
 
 that persons should not be excluded from 
 charitable trusts on account of their religious 
 opinions. 
 
 Mr. Massey assented, but found himself 
 forestalled by Mr. Dillwyn, who, at the instance 
 of the Liberation Society, took the matter up 
 as a new general Dissenters' grievance, and 
 insisted on introducing a Bill declaring that 
 Dissenters might be masters also of endowed 
 schools. Not desiring this, but to " hit the 
 blot," I tried Lord Stanley of Alderley, who 
 introduced a short Bill in the Lords at the end 
 of the session, 1858, which, being opposed by 
 Lord Chancellor Chelmsford, was thrown out. 
 I also formed a " School Trustees Committee," 
 of some ninety good names — Mr. W. E. Foster 
 being one, and the Earl of Carlisle, then Lord- 
 Lieutenant of Ireland, President ; and I went 
 personally to numerous leading towns to lecture 
 on the subject. 
 
 Being in office I could not spare much time ; 
 but by the help of express trains I could, and 
 did, run down to Bath and back the same night, 
 without losing a day. Bristol also, Exeter also. 
 Sir John Bowring in the chair ; Newbury, 
 Leeds, Hull, Bradford, with other towns, heard 
 the ring of my voice. One day I left Waterloo 
 
DIFFICULTIES IMPEDING LEGISLATION. 99 
 
 Station for Southampton at 3 p.m. ; after a 
 dense meeting in the Town Hall, returned by 
 mail train to London. Lying down an hour 
 and a half at Kensington, I then left for Liver- 
 pool, where a crowded meeting was held, Sir 
 William Brown in the chair. I went to Man- 
 chester next day, to a meeting in the Mayor's 
 parlour ; proceeded to Stockport in the evening, 
 Mr. James Coppock presiding, and travelled up 
 to London by the mail the same night ; thus 
 accomplishing four meetings, and about six 
 hundred miles, with but two days' absence from 
 burial business. 
 
 The result of these meetings was that, on 
 concluding my rounds, I found that every M.P. 
 was thoroughly instructed in the matter. Mr. 
 Dillwyn, however, stood in the way. His Bill 
 was referred to a select committee, on which 
 Sir Hugh (afterwards Earl) Cairns, and Sir 
 James Graham zealously served ; and a Bill was 
 produced with which I and my friends were 
 satisfied. It was considered settled, therefore, 
 when, four days before the prorogation, 1859, 
 Mr. Dillwyn coolly withdrew the Bill, and we 
 were blocked again. 
 
 I then went to Lord Cranworth, who, 
 deciding that no member was entitled to be 
 
lOO PASSING OF ENDOWED SCHOOLS ACT. 
 
 considered after such practice, at once laid the 
 same Bill on the table of the Lords, in order 
 that he might take it up the following sessioii; 
 which he did.* 
 
 In i860, also. Sir Hugh Cairns reintroduced 
 the identical Bill in the Commons ; and Mr. 
 Dillwyn, of course, brought forward his third 
 impossible Bill. 
 
 I had consulted with many Peers — Dr. Tait, 
 then Bishop of London, and subsequently 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, among the rest. 
 When the Bill came on in committee, Arch- 
 bishop Sumner was put up by the then Earl of 
 Derby, etc., to move the omission of all after 
 the preamble, and to substitute a single clause, 
 to the effect that the trustees of endowed schools 
 might make such orders as would allow children 
 to be taught in the school without the religious 
 teaching prescribed by the founders. Earl 
 Grey dexterously suggested that, being so nearly 
 unanimous, the alteration of a word would effect 
 the object — say shall instead of might — the 
 Bishop of London (the bishops always sit on 
 
 * During the struggle I had also submitted a Bill to 
 Mr. Brand, then secretary to the Treasury (afterwards 
 Speaker and Viscount Hampden), who put it into the hands 
 of Mr. Mellor (afterwards Judge). The progress of events, 
 however, made this unnecessary. 
 
NATIONAL SCHOOL "CONSCIENCE CLAUSE. Id 
 
 the Ministerial, then Liberal, side) nodded 
 assent, and the Bill so passed through com- 
 mittee. Lord Cranworth sent for me next day. 
 " Don't alter a word, or they'll throw out the 
 Bill. They don't see what they've done. No 
 trustee can in future be excluded, the actual 
 fund being thrown open." The advice was 
 taken. Subsequently in the Commons the 
 three Bills came on the same night. Mr. 
 Dillwyn's was thrown out; Sir Hugh Cairns 
 withdrew his ; whilst the Lords' Bill passed nem. 
 con. Thus by the aid of the "chapter of 
 accidents " was the most liberal measure of the 
 age, perhaps, passed without a division in either 
 House. 
 
 On leaving the House after the second 
 reading, Mr. Lowe (afterwards Lord Sher- 
 brooke), then vice-president of the Council, 
 said to me, " I am delighted at this ; we can 
 now make the same rule the condition of a 
 grant to National Schools." This course ac- 
 cordingly was at once adopted. " The Con- 
 science Clause," as it was called, which was 
 identical with the Endowed Schools Act, i860. 
 23 Vict. c. II, was violently opposed by party 
 bigots to no purpose ; and thus was laid the 
 undation for the general Act for Education 
 
I02 CLAUSE IN CHARITABLE TRUSTEES ACT. 
 
 in England, 1870; the principle conceded fully 
 which W. J. Fox, Cobden, and others so long 
 fought for in vain. 
 
 Later in the same session the Charity Com- 
 missioners had a Bill empowering them to 
 appoint trustees to small charities. When this 
 was in committee, I drew a short clause, pro- 
 viding that no person should be excluded on 
 account of his religious opinions. Going into 
 the lobby* and seeing Sir George Cornewall 
 Lewis, then Home Secretary, about to enter 
 the House, I accosted him, saying that it was 
 important to get this clause inserted in the Bill 
 at that moment before the House. He looked 
 at it, walked straight to the table, and handed it 
 in. It was added to the Bill, 23 & 24 Vict. 
 c. 136, s. 4. 
 
 Meantime the Appeal case, " Baker and 
 Lee," came on to be heard. Lord Brougham, 
 who had shown great interest in the proceedings, 
 happened to be called away at the moment to 
 
 * The lobby was then open to all comers ; and not, as 
 it afterwards became under Captain Gossett's management, 
 kept for members alone, who may enter by three or four 
 ways; while persons desiring to see them on business are 
 kept in the central hall, wasting time and temper, cards 
 being sent down, often never delivered ; but upon sending 
 which it would be bad manners to go away. 
 
HEARING OF APPEAL BEFORE THE LORDS. IO3 
 
 Edinburgh, to be installed as Lord Rector, so 
 that there were an even number of law lords 
 present when the appeal came on — Lord 
 Chancellor Campbell, Lords Cranworth, Chelms- 
 ford, and Wensleydale. Messrs. Roundell 
 Palmer and Baggallay were opposed to me, 
 and I argued the case alone. On an equal 
 division the appeal was disallowed, the Chan- 
 cellor and Lord Cranworth being with me. 
 Had Lord Brougham been present, or had the 
 appeal come straight from the Master of the 
 Rolls, as it might have done, I should have 
 succeeded. The usual rule on an equal division 
 is to rehear the case, more peers being sum- 
 moned ; but Lord Campbell said that as legis- 
 lation had recently taken place, making it im- 
 possible that any similar state of things could 
 occur, he thought it unnecessary to occupy the 
 time of the House about the three excluded 
 persons at Ilminster. The vicar's solicitor 
 therefore got his costs, but the three vacancies 
 were never filled up, and several years after, 
 the sole survivor of the three was specially 
 selected by the schools commissioners, as the 
 most suitable person to be added to the Board 
 of Trustees.* 
 
 * See p. 159. Argument before the Lords. 
 
I04 INDEMNITY AND TESTIMONIAL FUND. 
 
 I had taken the sole responsibility of this 
 appeal upon myself, and did not ask for costs 
 out of the estate. An indemnity and testimonial 
 fund was raised, however, among friends in the 
 places visited by me and elsewhere, and in the 
 result the greater part of the purchase-money 
 for my house was paid out of that fund, and a 
 statement of the fact, signed by the trustees of 
 the fund, was impressed on the back of the 
 conveyance.* 
 
 * See page 174. 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. 1 05 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 RAILWAY AND ROAD EXPERIENCES. 
 
 For some considerable time I walked to and 
 from the most convenient station to my residence, 
 which is thirty-two miles from Waterloo. I 
 had suffered no inconvenience from long rail- 
 way journeys at any time ; but, after several 
 months of daily travelling this sixty-four miles, 
 I became troubled by weariness and pain in 
 the lumbar region. Whenever I sat down in the 
 railway carriage the pain was felt. I thought I 
 should be obliged to part with my residence 
 and return to London. Arrived at the con- 
 viction that the shaking up in the train was the 
 cause, I tried standing while travelling, and 
 found so much relief, that I made the practice 
 habitual, the result being that the evil gradually 
 wore off, without any discontinuance of the 
 travelling. The joints protected the spinal 
 
I06 PAPER ON, RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. 
 
 column from the unnatural and violent vibra- 
 tion. 
 
 Sir Ranald Martin, physician to the Council 
 of India, consulted me about that time, as to the 
 reason that his patients were unable to bear 
 railway travelling; and acquiesced in my ex- 
 planation of the matter. I read a paper at the 
 Society of Arts* rooms, on this subject, impress- 
 ing upon the managers of railways the necessity 
 of better providing against the shaking of their 
 travellers ; and in proof that it was quite 
 possible to do so by better hanging of the 
 carriages, I had eight spiral sofa springs, each 
 bearing a pressure of twenty-five pounds, 
 fastened between two thin boards, which were 
 then tied down four inches apart, covered with 
 carpet, stuffed, and fitted with side handles, for 
 sitting on while travelling. My weight was 
 about one hundred and forty pounds, and as 
 the boards occasionally would touch each other 
 when the train was at speed, this proved that 
 the jolt was equal to a pressure of sixty pounds. 
 When it is considered that all natural labour is 
 done by the limbs, the trunk being steady, it 
 becomes apparent that such violent shaking, 
 like a physic bottle " when taken," must be 
 exceedingly detrimental. 
 
 * See page 230. "Railway Management." 
 
SMOKING COMPARTMENTS IN TRAINS. IO7 
 
 Another annoyance on the railway was the 
 smoking nuisance, both in the carriages and in 
 the station rooms. I was so repeatedly com- 
 plaining of this as to render myself publicly 
 obnoxious. The guards and other officials 
 winked at the practice, so that no one who did 
 not smoke could be safe from discomfort. For 
 no smoker understands manners. He cannot 
 understand that to ask another in a public 
 carriage whether he objects to smoke, is in itself 
 exceedingly ill bred ; for it may inflict the dis- 
 agreeable alternative upon the person asked, 
 either of enforcing privation on the smoker, 
 or enduring annoyance himself I repeatedly 
 wrote to the authorities, but to little purpose, 
 until I ventured to rate the directors for not 
 providing separate accortimodation for smokers. 
 This provoked the assertion that if smoking 
 carriages were provided, there would often be 
 great difficulty in making up the trains, because 
 they could not make sure of having one at 
 hand ; and once put on, they would always be 
 expected. My immediate reply was, " If one 
 compartment in each carriage were set apart for 
 smokers, you could not make up a train without 
 the accommodation." That settled the dispute. 
 The company adopted smoking compartments 
 
I08 STUPID OBSTINACY OF ROAD SURVEYORS. 
 
 forthwith, and every other line soon followed 
 the example. 
 
 After some months had passed I found it 
 more agreeable to drive to the station, but 
 sometimes rode on horseback, making use of 
 the green slopes on the roadsides. Once, 
 however, I nearly got my neck broken from" 
 the horse stepping into one of those insidious 
 trenches, with grass grown over it, cut by 
 stupid surveyors in the turf at a right angle 
 to the road, under the foolish notion that the 
 general surface of the road is drained thereby. 
 I fell on the top of my head, and was for a 
 moment stunned. A young man was killed not 
 long after from the same mischief very near my 
 house. The wheel of the fly he was driving 
 got into the trench in passing a wagon, when 
 over he went with a heavy trunk across his leg. 
 Country bumpkins, calling themselves surveyors, 
 cannot be brought to understand that, as water 
 will not run uphill, when it gets on the green 
 slope it will find its way over the grass to the 
 ditch, and not up on the road again. 
 
 My attention was called about this time, by 
 the daughter of a celebrated veterinary surgeon, 
 Mr. Clarke, to the manifold injuries suffered by 
 horses from their being shod. I ventured to 
 
INJURY TO HORSES FROM SHOEING. IO9 
 
 try riding and driving horses without shoes with 
 perfect success. The sensation, and consequent 
 care shown by the animal feehng its way on a 
 hard road, is not pain. 
 
 An old mare, in a small carriage, ran away 
 with me seven times in one day. Being very 
 long reached behind, it was found — on the con- 
 test ending by the breakage of a strap — that the 
 circular iron in front, had touched her hocks 
 on an incline, where a dog ran out to bark. 
 Driving round a circuit, every time this point 
 was reached, off she was again. At the end the 
 hocks were slightly marked, but her hoofs were 
 perfectly sound and uninjured. More to satisfy 
 popular prejudice than from any real necessity, 
 I thought it best to have narrow toe-pieces, half 
 round and flush with the sole, let in and fixed 
 with four nails, leaving the sole and frog to 
 grow and exfoliate at its own time. Nineteen- 
 twentieths of all lameness in horses arises 
 probably from cutting, nailing, heating, and 
 chilling the hoofs. 
 
no A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 LEGISLATIVE TACTICS, AND SOLDIERING. 
 
 The Endowed Schools Act was not my first 
 experience of dabbling with legislation. In 
 August, 1857, an intimation reached me at the 
 Burials Office that obstructives were taking 
 exception to some of the past proceedings for 
 establishing the Burial Board at Bristol ; and it 
 was supposed that the rate would be disputed 
 on the ground of an alleged informality in such 
 proceedings. I saw at once that, if this attempt 
 were successful, the door would be opened for 
 litigation in numberless similar cases ; and that 
 the want of a limit of time within which objection 
 could be taken in matters of form, was a serious 
 defect in the new burial legislation. The 20 & 
 21 Vict. c. 81, had passed the Commons, and 
 was that very day fixed for Committee in the 
 Lords. Could not a clause be got in to stop 
 this gap ? I drew a clause at once, and posted 
 
AMUSING LEGISLATIVE EXPERIENCE. I I I 
 
 off to see Mr. Massey, then Under-Secretary at 
 the Home Ofiice. " Quite too late." I pleaded 
 for making the attempt. Well, he would write 
 a note to Mr. Coulson, the Parliamentary 
 counsel, which I took down to that gentleman 
 in Queen's Gate. " Oh, absurd ! The Bill was 
 in Committee to-night ; nothing can be done." 
 However, I persuaded, coaxed, and urged that 
 Mr. Massey had authorized the attempt. Un- 
 willingly and slowly the pen was taken, and 
 my clause remodelled to suit his fancy, whilst 
 I looked over Coulson's shoulder ; and, having 
 thus wrung it from him, I lost no time in again 
 reaching the Home Office, just before Mr. 
 Massey was off to the House. Well, he would 
 send this down to Lord Granville, who had 
 charge of the Bill, but there was little chance, 
 etc. " No ; give it to me, I will take it to the 
 House." (No dead-alive gentleman messenger 
 for me.) On reaching the Lords' lobby, I 
 fastened on some member of the Commons 
 (Mr. Dillwyn, if I recollect rightly) going in to 
 the bar, and got him to take me with him ; 
 handed my O.H.M.S. immediate packet to a 
 doorkeeper inside, who took it to Lord Gran- 
 ville, at that moment on his legs with the very 
 Bill in his hand. He opened, read, and, appre- 
 
112 A VOLUNTEER IN THE " DEVILS OWN. 
 
 ciating in an instant, handed in the new clause 
 with the rest (section 27), and the thing was 
 DONE. Then came the fun. I stood at the bar 
 watching the success of my efforts, when up 
 bounced the doorkeeper, angry and majestic, 
 demanding to know what I did there. To 
 have seen a quasi messenger deHver a packet 
 and not go away at once, was more than his 
 dignity could swallow. He would report me, 
 and so he did ; the result being that Black Rod, 
 Sir Augustus Clifford, with all his portentous 
 size and official importance, bawled at me for 
 full five minutes, loud enough, as I thought, to 
 disturb the occupant of the woolsack ; and I 
 was to consider myself very well off not to be 
 committed to prison instanter. At this bombast 
 I laughed in my sleeve (had I deemed it worth 
 while at tempting to explain matters I should 
 not have been listened to by a magnate in a 
 towering passion), well pleased to be able in 
 thought to crow over Coulson and Massey ; to 
 have defeated the Bristolian litigant ; and saved 
 a good proportion of the Burial Boards from 
 destruction. 
 
 In 1859, what Lord Palmerston denominated 
 the " Rifle Corps Fever " broke out, as one 
 consequence, perhaps, of some swaggering on 
 
A STEADY HAND, AND FREE LUNGS. I I 3 
 
 the part of a few French colonels, that London 
 could be easily taken in case of war. I joined 
 the Inns of Court Corps ("the Devil's Own"), 
 about the fortieth man on the list, and was very 
 attentive to drill, etc., for a twelvemonth, being 
 on parade from eight till ten most mornings, 
 either at Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, or the 
 Temple. On going through the " extension 
 motions," I asked the Guards sergeant instructor 
 whether he could do this, striking the backs 
 of my hands together behind in nearly a hori- 
 zontal position whilst standing upright. " No," 
 said he, " nor any man in the Guards, or the 
 army." 
 
 A little short-sighted, I had a pair of 
 spectacles for target practice. My second shot 
 struck the bull's-eye. That I was but a novice 
 was shown by my missing the next altogether. 
 I had forgotten to look for the back-sight. The 
 volunteer review in Hyde Park, June, i860, was 
 my last attendance in the ranks, as we moved 
 into the country in July. 
 
 Striking the backs of the hands, as described, 
 is perhaps only worthy of note in conjunction 
 with a declaration of Dr. Rennie, principal 
 medical officer in the China expedition, who 
 professed to have paid particular attention to 
 
114 MANIFESTATION OF NERVE STEADINESS. 
 
 the diseases of warm climates (which he mainly- 
 ascribed to over-eating, smoking, etc.), and 
 especially to hypertrophy, or over-action of the 
 lungs. After giving evidence before the Royal 
 Commission, next about to be noticed, and 
 being informed as to my simple habits. Dr. 
 Rennie asked to be permitted to place his ear 
 to my chest; when, after several ejaculations 
 of surprise, he concluded, " You are the only 
 man I ever met with having perfectly free 
 lungs." 
 
 As to straight shooting, that probably 
 depends more on steadiness of nerve than aught 
 else. I was once presiding at a public meeting 
 where diet with regard to strength was dis- 
 cussed, when I took occasion to say that there 
 were two kinds of strength — muscular, often 
 depending on use, leverage, etc. ; and nervous 
 strength,* shown by steadiness, and the ability 
 to maintain for a lengthened period any action 
 within the natural muscular power. As an 
 exhibition of the latter, I filled a tumbler of 
 water to the brim, and held it out at arm's 
 length whilst addressing the meeting, without 
 spilling a drop, observing that many younger 
 men (I was then about sixty) are not able to 
 * See p. 40. 
 
BICYCLE RIDING LATE IN LIFE. I 1 5 
 
 carry a bumper steadily to the lips, whilst others 
 cannot speak in public without trembling. I 
 have done the same more than once since 
 before an audience.* 
 
 * In my sixty-third year, I, for the first time, mounted 
 a bicycle, and soon rode over thirty miles at a stretch, 
 returning a few days after. 
 
I 1 6 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ROYAL COMMISSION — SANITARY STATE OF THE 
 ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 It was in 1859 that Lord Herbert of Lea pro- 
 cured the appointment of a Royal Commission 
 on the sanitary state of the army in India, 
 the presidency of which, after a few sittings, 
 he handed over to Lord Stanley (afterwards 
 fifteenth Earl of Derby), and to which I was 
 appointed secretary. 
 
 The commissioners besides the presidentwere 
 Generals E. H. Greathed and H. M. Durand, 
 Sir Proby Cautley, Sir Ranald Martin, Drs. J. 
 Sutherland and W. Farr. This inquiry, which 
 was concluded in 1863, offered me an oppor- 
 tunity of testing a plan which I had several 
 years previously ventured to recommend to 
 Mr. Disraeli, when chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 in regard to the printing and circulation of blue 
 books. Soon after the oral evidence began to 
 
PRECIS OF ROYAL COMMISSION EVIDENCE. I I 7 
 
 be taken, I suggested, to the satisfaction of 
 Lord Stanley, that I would make a precis of 
 that which had been, and which should be, 
 produced from time to time, as printed, so as to 
 aid the members in the preparation of their 
 report. This I accordingly did, and on the 
 conclusion, when the report was in progress, I 
 further suggested that my precis of the evidence, 
 in lieu of the voluminous matter in full, should 
 be presented to Parliament with the report, in 
 an octavo form, the two folios of a thousand 
 pages each being only printed for official use in 
 India and elsewhere. This course having been 
 decided upon (General Greathed had spoken of 
 this precis as the best thing he had ever seen 
 in his life), I had to manage the by no means 
 easy task of carrying out the arrangement, in 
 the face of Stationery Office opposition, and 
 Treasury obstruction. In the first place I was 
 assured that the members of the House of 
 Lords insisted on having everything presented 
 to the Queen, also presented to them, i.e. to 
 each of them individually. " Then we will 
 present the report and precis of evidence only 
 to the Queen." But the precis had been set up 
 in type in the folio form, and the economical 
 Treasury were aghast at the idea of authorizing 
 
I 1 8 USE AND ECONOMY OF ABRIDGMENT. 
 
 the over-running {i.e. making up into a smaller 
 sized page) of type already set up. I was 
 obliged to learn from the printer, i, what this 
 amazing cost of over-running would be ; and, 2, 
 the difference in cost of paper between the 
 striking off in octavo the number to be issued, 
 and the same number in two folio volumes. 
 The first was ;^io ; the second, or saving, was 
 over ^1000. After much personal explanation 
 at the Treasury, in the endeavour to make such 
 amateur gentlemen understand so much of the 
 mystery of the printer's art, I at length succeeded 
 in obtaining the sanction requisite. Had I 
 relied on correspondence this certainly never 
 would have been obtained. 
 
 The report and precis, then, was presented 
 in octavo, very much to the delight of Mr. 
 Vardon, the usually exceedingly grave librarian 
 of the House of Commons (who enthusiastically 
 maintained that all blue books ought to be treated 
 in the same way), and to the satisfaction of 
 Mr. Speaker Lefevre also. The Treasury were 
 subsequently asked what had been the com- 
 parative saving in paper. On the report of 
 the controller of the Stationery Office, Mr. 
 McCuUoch, the reply was ^^1350. In order, 
 however, to prevent any unwholesome appetite 
 
OFFICIAL EXTRAVAGANCE IN PRINTING. IIQ 
 
 for economy making this example into a pre- 
 cedent, he stated most gratuitously, without any 
 reference to the commissioners or to myself, 
 what was entirely contrary to the fact, that from 
 circumstances peculiar to the nature of the 
 inquiry, the plan had been available in this 
 instance, but would not be possible in regard to 
 blue books in general. And so we have gone 
 on ever since justasbefore, turning out annually 
 masses of paper under the name of blue books, 
 which are never read, for the sole benefit of 
 the printer, the paper-maker, the butler, and the 
 butterman. 
 
 It was not the mere printing of vast piles of 
 useless paper that had from time to time forced 
 itself upon my attention in official life ; but I 
 had frequently witnessed the extravagance and 
 waste of public money brought about by the 
 carelessness or fastidiousness of public servants 
 in sending incomplete or ill-considered manu- 
 scripts to be printed, involving endless additions 
 and corrections before final settlement. The 
 printing of the yellow fever report opened my 
 eyes to the system, and the various processes of 
 the printing office ; and I at that time learned 
 how greatly the liberty of correction was some- 
 times abused; the contract was taken by the 
 
•120 DIFFICULTY IN PREVENTING WASTE. 
 
 printers for printing, and often taken at an 
 apparent loss, but there was no check upon 
 corrections ; these must be charged and allowed 
 from time to time according to the trouble given. 
 And these corrections were often so extensive 
 that it would be easier for the printer to dis- 
 tribute the whole of the type and entirely reset 
 the matter, than to pull it to pieces and make 
 the required alterations. Now, whatever the 
 nominal contract price for printing, all corrections 
 secured a profit. I have known one book set 
 up in this manner no less than forty-two times, 
 i.e. forty-one profits — and no doubt handsome 
 profits — to set against one nominal loss. 
 
 In settling the printed evidence for the 
 Indian Commission, I again saw how impossible 
 it was to prevent waste of this kind without 
 more stringent regulations from the Treasury. 
 Witnesses would bring the print of their 
 evidence, again and again, for the most trivial 
 alterations, in entire ignorance of the expense 
 involved; and while the Stationery Office experts 
 were sufficiently ignorant of their business, it 
 was useless for a secretary to make himself 
 obnoxious or disobliging towards the gentlemen 
 for whom he acted. 
 
 I had more than once endeavoured to 
 
REFORM IN PRINTING REGULATIONS. 1 21 
 
 impress upon the authorities that, besides the 
 cutting down of documents, if they were to be 
 useful to the legislature, rules should be enforced 
 whereby any writer, printing at the public 
 expense, should be entitled to one revision only, 
 before the work, whatever it was, should be 
 sent ior press, when any final corrections might 
 be made. That a mark was set against my 
 name by the acting authorities I think was 
 pretty evident from an instance of petty spite 
 to be explained hereafter, when I learned that 
 an alteration had been made (in consequence, 
 probably, of my remarks), whereby the printer 
 was to be allowed 25 per cent, for corrections 
 on all documents beyond the contract price, and 
 no more.* 
 
 * See p. 142. 
 
122 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 OFFICIAL EXTRAVAGANCE. 
 
 It was not alone on such matters as printing 
 contracts that official abuses had fallen under 
 my notice. I pass such small matters as fanciful 
 or superfluous furniture of rooms, and Stationery 
 Office supplies of various kinds found for, but 
 which, if necessary, ought to be purchased by, 
 the officials themselves, when it would often be 
 seen how much could be dispensed with. 
 
 For eight years while resident at Kensington 
 it was my habit to perambulate the four parks 
 daily, passing to and from Westminster. How 
 often, before the Crimean War, have I sighed 
 over the presumed poverty of this great country 
 in not being able to provide funds for placing 
 the public parks in a commonly decent con- 
 dition. Rotten posts and rails lined the walks 
 in all directions, barely sufficing to fence in 
 cattle, and altogether inadequate to keep incon- 
 
HOW ANNUAL ESTIMATES INCREASE. 1 23 
 
 siderate pedestrians from injuring the grass. 
 Year after year, while salaries slowly went up, 
 or new duties forced upon the Government by 
 Parliament must be paid for, there was nothing 
 to spare for outlay upon parks and pleasure 
 grounds, royal though they be. But the war 
 came, and up went the estimates twenty millions 
 by universal acclaim. When, after two or three 
 years, peace returned, then came the civil service 
 departmental opportunity. In view of so large 
 a reduction, and remission of taxation, every 
 claim could be entertained if only it could be 
 called reasonable. A considerable increase was 
 thus able to be made for some very manifest 
 improvements in the parks, such as cleansing 
 and making shallow with asphalte bottom the 
 several ornamental pieces of water, both to 
 promote health and prevent drowning, etc. 
 The traditions of the service appear, however, 
 to be such that the amount of any civil depart- 
 mental vote is seldom reduced to any great 
 extent. That a vote does not exceed what was 
 taken the previous year, or is a trifle less, is 
 quite enough to satisfy the most rigid economist 
 in the House of Commons. If, therefore, works 
 are not pressingly requisite, salaries may be 
 increased; and when necessary improvements 
 
124 PATTERN ECONOMY AMONG CONTROLLERS. 
 
 come to an end, sestheticism offers ample means 
 of spending money. Hence we now have all 
 the public parks finished and laid out in a style 
 of right royal magnificence, and from them even 
 surplus plants are graciously distributed to the 
 people, whilst " Rotten Rows " are extended in 
 all directions for aristocratic equestrians. Upon 
 the just, nevertheless, the question forces itself 
 — whether, if all this annually kept-up expendi- 
 ture is requisite for the delectation of the aris- 
 tocracy, or even for the Londoner, ought not 
 the aristocrat to subscribe, and the inhabitant of 
 London to be rated, to maintain such royal 
 expenditure, instead of the charges being forced 
 out of the general taxpayers from the Land's 
 End to John o' Groat's ? 
 
 The enormous general increase of official 
 salaries cannot be better illustrated than by a 
 comparison between the sums paid to those in 
 the leading and controlling department (the 
 Treasury) itself, formerly, and at present (1884). 
 The permanent assistant-secretary in my day — 
 an active enthusiast — had ^1500 a year,* at a 
 
 * He afterwards became Governor of Madras, and 
 was superseded for insubordination towards the Governor- 
 General of India; but allowed to retire on a pension of 
 ^^2150, or thereabouts. 
 
^RETIREMENT OF EFFICIENT OFFICERS. 1 25 
 
 time iwhen the War Department was practically 
 under the Treasury. His present successor 
 receives ^2500, whilst we have permanently 
 established a separate Secretary of State for 
 War, with a huge staff, to regulate our army on a 
 peace footing. Having so much is probably the 
 reason why he has — what his predecessor had 
 not — an assistant under-secretary to help him, 
 at ^1350. The civil list auditor had ^1200; 
 he now has £ 1 500. The four head clerks had 
 ;^iooo each; they now get ^1200 — i.e. the 
 successors. The counsel for drawing Parlia- 
 mentary Bills formerly received ^2000 a year ; 
 his successor has ^3000, and his assistant 
 ^2000, instead of ^500, about. 
 
 Pensioning, too, goes on much in the same 
 way. Soon after a change of Government (in 
 1866, I think), I went to the Treasury to make 
 an inquiry, asking for Mr. A. " Mr. A.'s gone, 
 sir — retired to enjoy himself at his ease." 
 "Indeed, then I'll see Mr. B." "Mr. B.'s 
 gone, sir." " Well, is Mr. C. in ?" " Mr. C.'s 
 gone, sir." And then I gave it up. Here were 
 three men, all, I believe, my juniors — and I do 
 not consider myself superannuated near twenty 
 years later — pensioned on two-thirds salary, 
 making things pleasant all round, simply on a 
 
126 THE TAXPAYER ACCORDINGLY SUFFERS. 
 
 change of Government. The Ministers going 
 out were willing to oblige these idlers. The 
 next below them secured promotion. Lower 
 down vacancies were created for friends of the 
 new Ministry, and the taxpayers must pay the 
 piper. 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. I27 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LABOURS OUT OF OFFICE. 
 
 My appointment to the Burials Office was 
 sanctioned from year to year. When the work 
 was practically done (i.e. closing crowded grave- 
 yards in towns, and providing suburban 
 cemeteries in lieu thereof), although I had 
 performed good service for many years in 
 various ways, for comparatively small remu- 
 neration, whilst debarred from practising in a 
 feasible way my profession, it was exceedingly 
 against the grain either to be asking for re- 
 employment, or to be holding an office which 
 had become unnecessary. Yet, had I resigned, 
 some one else would have been appointed. 
 Under these circumstances I quietly remained 
 without stirring in the matter of the previously 
 annual recurring sanction, for a year or so, until, 
 when the settlement for the Indian Sanitary 
 Commission came on, I contrived to direct 
 
I 28 PUBLIC HEALTH LAWS. " PIKESTAFF PAPERS." 
 
 attention to the fact that I had not sought 
 re-appointment to the Burial Department. 
 Then, in 1864, in a compHmentary letter from 
 Sir .George Grey, it was intimated that the 
 office would be discontinued. 
 
 Not to be idle, I at once set about a 
 complete digest of " The Laws relating to 
 Public Health : Sanitary, Medical, Protective," 
 which Dr. Farr denominated a "sanitary code;" 
 and Tom Taylor recommended to the local 
 authorities. Within ten years after its publi- 
 cation, all the most important statutes — there 
 were fifty-eight in all — therein treated had 
 been consolidated by new enactments. One day 
 I had occasion to call on the Parliamentary 
 counsel, and while waiting in his office saw 
 my " Public Health Laws," and took it up, to 
 find it quite loose in its cover, and the pages 
 annotated throughout. That volume had been 
 well used, at any rate, in the work of destroying 
 its sale by consolidation ; and that knowledge 
 was my chief reward for the labour. 
 
 During the same year I wrote a set of 
 short easy papers for adult cottage reading, 
 intended to be the first volume of a serial to 
 embrace a wide field of classic literature, 
 entitled " The Pikestaff Papers" — as plain as a 
 
SCIENCE OF LIFE. — VEGETIST S DIETARY. I 29 
 
 pikestaff— axvA. in which was published (1866) 
 my only attempt at story-writing, based on 
 information obtained from the Indian Sanitary 
 Inquiry. 
 
 About this time, too, I saw through the 
 press, for a granddaughter of Dr. Southwood 
 Smith, a revised posthumous edition of that 
 author's celebrated work, " The Philosophy of 
 Health," and also his " Divine Government," a 
 copy of which the excellent Dean Stanley, at 
 my request, undertook to lay before the Queen. 
 
 Soon afterwards, in the pages of the Dietetic 
 Reformer, I published a compendious abridg- 
 ment of Sylvester Graham's " Lectures on the 
 Science of Human Life ; " and my eldest 
 daughter collected recipes for the preparation 
 of vegetable foods, under the title of " The 
 Vegetist's Dietary, and Manual of Vegetable 
 Cookery," in accordance with the principles 
 taught by Graham. Both these were re- 
 published by the Vegetarian Society of England, 
 and went through several editions. 
 
 K 
 
I30 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SALMON FISHERIES. 
 
 Within a year after leaving the Burials Office, 
 I received a note from the Hon. Mr. Baring 
 (afterwards first Earl of Northbrook), then 
 Under-Secretary, desiring me to call at the 
 Home Office. Proceeding to town the same 
 day, I was requested to take charge of the 
 Salmon Fisheries Office at once. Sir George 
 Grey would be obliged to me if I would go 
 thither that very moment. I found this depart- 
 ment in an utter state of confusion. There 
 were two inspectors of salmon fisheries for 
 England ; and the same gentlemen, with a 
 third in Edinburgh, commissioners of salmon 
 fisheries for Scotland. The Act for England 
 provided that the Secretary of State should 
 divide the country into salmon fishery districts, 
 under boards of conservators, for which business 
 he had power to. appoint inspectors for three 
 
AN IGNORANT AND DISHONEST CLERK. I3I 
 
 years. The commissioners of Scotland were 
 empowered to make bye-laws for the several 
 rivers, which, after publication in local papers 
 and the Gazette, had the force of law. There 
 are a large number of rivers in Scotland, and 
 consequently a large collection of bye-laws — 
 four for each river — had been issued, but all 
 had been wrongly done. This mess had been 
 discovered on the clerk to the commissioners, 
 etc.,- who knew nothing of law, becoming laid 
 up by illness. 
 
 I was then set about getting matters into 
 a valid condition, before any public stir should 
 be made over the blundering that had taken 
 place. But more than this, I discovered that 
 very serious fraud had been going on. The 
 clerk had been getting receipts for advertise- 
 ments in Scotch newspapers from the sherift- 
 clerks, whose duty it was to have these inserted, 
 as their vouchers on claiming to be refunded; 
 sending these receipts to the Treasury as his 
 vouchers for the money ; and when the sheriff- 
 clerks sent him their receipts for such cash 
 refunded to them, these were also forwarded 
 as fresh vouchers to the Treasury, on which to 
 claim a second payment for the same transac- 
 tion. In this manner the Treasury had been 
 
132 APPOINTED SECRETARY TO THE FISHERIES. 
 
 extensively robbed. The delinquent was ill, 
 while the discoveries were being made he was 
 getting worse, and before a prosecution could 
 be directed he died ; so the frauds never 
 became public. 
 
 A committee was appointed to report upon 
 the office management, etc. Mr. Baring, Mr. 
 Bruce (afterwards Lord Aberdare), then Vice- 
 President of the Council, and Mr. Arbuthnot of 
 the Treasury (auditor of the Civil List) being 
 the members ; and I was appointed secretary 
 to the inspectors — England, and commissioners 
 ■ — Scotland. After severe labour for a time 
 (I sometimes did not leave the office before 
 1 1 p.m.), all the Scotch bye-laws were re-issued 
 in a regular way, and the business got into 
 proper train. The Lord Advocate, Mr. Mon- 
 crieff (afterwards Lord Justice Clerk), had been 
 so much perplexed by these multitudinous bye- 
 laws, that he proposed to have them enacted. 
 But their length, if all set out, would have made 
 a volume of considerable size. I volunteered 
 (though legislation formed no part of my official 
 duty) to tabulate these bye-laws in such a 
 manner that they were condensed into about 
 seventy pages, in the form of schedules to the 
 statute. Mr. Moncrieff being pleased with the 
 
NEPOTISM OF A SECRETARY OF STATE. 1 33 
 
 idea, the matter was left to me, both to draft 
 these schedules, and to see them through the 
 press, for his successor, Mr. Gordon (see 31 & 
 32 Vict. c. 123). This practically completed 
 the salmon fishery business for Scotland. 
 
 Meantime the constitution of districts in 
 England went slowly forward. One of the 
 inspectors was absent from illness a year and 
 three quarters, when, a change of Government 
 having taken place, he was called upon, about 
 the end of 1866, either to return to duty or to 
 resign. The first being impossible, the brother 
 or cousin of a tolerably well-placed Treasury 
 official was appointed to fill the vacancy. But 
 as this gentleman was also known as a scientific 
 naturalist, no exception could well be taken to 
 his appointment, even though the traditions of 
 official life would have pointed to the secretary's 
 promotion, Mr. Buckland succeeding as secre- 
 tary. Within a few months, however, the other 
 original inspector, who had been ailing for six 
 months — so that I had almost sole charge during 
 that time — died, just after an order forming the 
 last salmon fishery district for England had 
 been drawn up by me and gazetted. The then 
 Secretary of State upon this appointed his 
 youngest son, a third-class clerk in the War 
 
134 ■ ARBITKARY REMOVAL FROM OFFICE. 
 
 Office, to be inspector of salmon fisheries over 
 my head. At this I ventured to remonstrate, 
 and should have resigned, but foolishly allowed 
 myself to be imposed upon by honeyed assurances 
 of good feeling and the duty of my continuing 
 in office. It need hardly be explained that I 
 had made an enemy, who indeed soon became 
 insolent, and attempted to be exacting. I having, 
 under these circumstances, applied to be allowed 
 to retire, his good taste culminated in a com- 
 munication written to his uncle, then his father's 
 successor's private secretary, which was calcu- 
 lated to prevent my getting any retired allow- 
 ance. A very old solicitor-friend insisted that 
 I ought to bring an action for this letter, which 
 had been left open about the office for the 
 delectation of colleague and clerk, and a wTit was 
 accordingly served. Upon this Mr. Gathorne 
 Hardy (afterwards Lord Cranbrook) wrote that 
 I must refer the matter to him ; or, if I desired 
 to proceed at law, it must be after I had ceased" 
 to be connected with the Fishery Office. My 
 solicitor replied by a courteous intimation that 
 the matter had been already actually brought 
 into court. This was declared disrespectful on 
 my part, for which I was removed from office. 
 The action was subsequently referred to Lord 
 
AN UNWILLING CAUSE OF JOBBERY. 1 35 
 
 Stanley, who kindly undertook to arbitrate ; 
 when the letter was withdrawn, with the expres- 
 sion of a wish that my interests should not be 
 injured by anything that had occurred. A 
 report was made by Lord Stanley, with which I 
 and my friends were satisfied, to the Secretary 
 of State ; but honour among officials did not 
 allow anything to be done upon it, so that I 
 got neither compensation, pension, nor subse- 
 quent employment in office. 
 
 It may be instructive to relate that the 
 power to appoint inspectors of fisheries had 
 been renewed for a second three years, and was 
 subsequently kept up, year after year, by Expir- 
 ing Laws Continuance Acts, passed always at 
 the fag end of the session, when few besides 
 official members and ex-officials remain to attend 
 to legislative business. 
 
 A capital instance of jobbery was unwittingly 
 aided by me in this wise. The Scotch business 
 having been finished, as before pointed out, the 
 commissioners for Scotland were not kept on 
 foot by Sir George Grey. One of them, how- 
 ever, survived in Edinburgh ; and it having been 
 represented to me that it would be expedient, 
 and just, to make an alteration in a single river 
 bye-law, I mentioned the matter in conversation 
 
136 OFFICIAL SYSTEM DEVOID OF HONOUR. 
 
 to Sir George's successor at the Home Office ; 
 suggesting- that, if appointed a temporary com- 
 missioner, I could in three days do what was 
 necessary, in conjunction with the Edinburgh 
 colleague, to effect the requisite object. "Oh, 
 he must look at that." He at once took down 
 the statute from his shelves, giving power to 
 appoint commissioners, and immediately after 
 two gentlemen were duly appointed such ; and 
 all three commenced to draw somewhere about 
 ^300 a year each, which probably continues to 
 this day ! 
 
 As to the arbitration, I was willing to believe 
 that the withdrawal and apology were honour- 
 ably meant, and that the recommendation of 
 a statesman, of so high a character as Lord 
 Stanley, would be honourably carried into effect 
 by any set of officials, or gentlemen, forming a 
 British Government. That belief proved alto- 
 gether delusive ; and my only satisfaction was 
 that, at the close of the arbitration. Lord Stanley, 
 passing the son of one of his former colleagues 
 with a stiff bow, cordially offered me his hand ; 
 and that my solicitors did not charge me a 
 farthing, beyond their costs out of pocket for 
 fees paid to my brethren at the bar, all of whom 
 subsequently. became Judges. 
 
JAMES BURN AND THE EASTERN RAILWAY. 1 37 
 
 While at the Fisheries Office I became 
 acquainted with a most worthy man — ^James 
 Burn — through having accidentally met with the 
 first part of his remarkable autobiography, which 
 he published in 1854. After his return from 
 the United States, I found him out, and was 
 happily able to give him employment for a time, 
 until I left the service ; after which he was 
 fortunate in procuring an engagement on the 
 Great Eastern Railwa);-, when he was seventy 
 years old, and which he held longer than any 
 other occupation during his life. It happened 
 that in the weighing up of old stores, worn-out 
 rails, etc., the company had been largely de- 
 frauded for several years ; but they were unable 
 to discover the method, or to catch the delin- 
 quent. Burn was set to superintend this busi- 
 ness, and .warned that there was something 
 wrong. For three years he was unable to find 
 out the mischief, but at length he did so, laid a 
 trap, and caught and exposed the thief out of 
 his own mouth. It was estimated that ^40,000 
 had been lost in this way, and had it not been 
 thus discovered as much more might have been 
 expected to be further lost, yet Burn was not in 
 any way rewarded for his discovery. The fact 
 was, that he sent a written report to the store- 
 
138 A VALUABLE BOOK FOR EVERY LIBRARY. 
 
 keeper, without keeping a copy. This probably 
 the man knew, as he claimed the credit of the 
 discovery for himself. I hea,rd of this service, 
 however, soon after it happened ; and when, 
 several years having elapsed, the old man 
 became superannuated with only two months' 
 pay, I endeavoured to open the eyes of the 
 chairman to the real circumstances, and got the 
 door slammed in my face for my pains. 
 
 James Burn, believing himself to be on his 
 deathbed in 1880, sent me the completed 
 manuscript of his autobiography,* which I saw 
 through the press for him, having found a 
 publisher willing to undertake it, in the hope 
 that a profit may be produced for the benefit of 
 his daughters, and I supplied the headings and 
 index to the book. He recovered sufficiently 
 to enjoy several years with his daughters at 
 Hammersmith ; having also received a royal 
 grant at the instance of Mr. Gladstone. 
 
 When, under the modern Highway Acts, a 
 Highway Board was constituted for Woking- 
 
 * This book, " James Burn, the Beggar Boy," should be 
 in every public library. Independently of the autobiography, 
 the supplement is well worth perusal, being a remarkable 
 account of the social progress of the nineteenth century. 
 
AUDIT OF HIGHWAY BOARD ACCOUNTS. 1 39 
 
 ham, I was elected a member the second and 
 third years. The chairman, like many other 
 M.P.'s, had no notion of business, and the 
 surveyor, who carried all before him, could not 
 be persuaded to produce vouchers for payments 
 to his men, etc. I was obliged to represent 
 the matter to the Local Government Board, 
 and the result was the issue by that Board of 
 much more elaborate books of account, with the 
 enactment of a provision that the accounts of 
 Highway Boards should be passed by the 
 Government auditors. 
 
140 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LATEST OFFICIAL WORK. 
 
 My latest official occupation was in 1 880-1. 
 Having published the " Law of Highways" in 
 the spring of 1880, I sent a copy to Lord 
 Northbrook. Soon after, I received a request 
 that I would make a new index for the 
 Admiralty (he then being First Lord), to the 
 Queen's Regulations and Admiralty Instruc- 
 tions ; inquiring on what terms I would under- 
 take it. I acceded at once, saying that I had 
 no reason to imagine I should be dissatisfied 
 with whatever their lordships thought proper 
 to award, on the completion of the work. The 
 volume to be indexed I had never seen. 
 
 It was preferred that the fee should be 
 settled beforehand, and I was asked whether I 
 would accept one hundred guineas, which, after 
 mature consideration, was deemed reasonable. 
 I assented ; but, after three months' delay, the 
 
QUEEN S ADMIRALTY REGULATIONS INDEX. I4I 
 
 Treasury, having referred to the Stationery 
 Office, declined to sanction the proposed fee, 
 because the Stationery Office would undertake 
 indices at ten and sixpence a printed page (to 
 be done, probably, by a printer's expert). I was, 
 however, invited by the Admiralty to make 
 their index as full as possible. Terseness being 
 as valuable in an index as fulness, so that it 
 be compatible with sufficiency, I did the work as 
 I considered most fitting; declining to haggle 
 with the Stationery Office, whilst treating with 
 contempt the idea of estimating the most 
 difficult species of literary compilation by the 
 yard. I produced eighty-six pages only, for 
 which I obtained a nominal fee of ;^44, in lieu 
 of the ^105 offered. What I coveted, however, 
 I obtained, viz. the thanks of the Board of 
 Admiralty in writing ; and, better still, the 
 personal assurance of the senior Sea Lord, Sir 
 Cooper Keyi that it was a great comfort to him, 
 and " an admirable index." 
 
 There was something more, however, — a 
 very paltry affair, it is true, but for the relation 
 of which it would have been scarcely worth while 
 to record this matter of the Admiralty index. 
 In the several works published by me I had 
 always taken pains to make a fair index. Eight 
 
142 STATIONERY OFFICE REMINISCENCES 
 
 of my books, at least, had been printed at the 
 expense of several publishers ; and I had always 
 prepared my indices in the same way, in MS. 
 My method had never been objected to by any 
 of them. To send an example of my proposed 
 plan to the Admiralty, it was necessary to put 
 a few pages in type, which passed also without 
 observation from the Queen's printers. When, 
 nevertheless, the MS. was completed, after 
 precisely the same pattern, and sent to press, 
 it was by them declared, that it must be all 
 written out again, because it required to be 
 alphabetical. They could not undertake editorial 
 work ; and were now allowed only twenty-five 
 per cent, on the contract price for corrections.* 
 I applied for leave to employ a copyist, or 
 that the printers may be allowed to charge for 
 their alleged extra trouble. This was refused 
 by the Treasury at the instance of the Stationery 
 Office, where probably my name was re- 
 membered in connection with suggestions for 
 economy and utility in printing previously re- 
 ferred to ; and I was compelled to pay ;^4 for 
 making this superfluous copy — the excuse for 
 which would have been altogether wanting, had 
 the pretended difficulty been mentioned at first, 
 * See page 121. 
 
CONNECTED WITH ECONOMICAL PRINTING. 1 43 
 
 on the specimen being set up. That this was 
 the mere littleness of pique, I had subsequently 
 an opportunity to prove ; for when my index 
 for "James Burn" was ready, I wrote to the 
 publisher, describing how it stood, and offering 
 to have it copied in alphabetical order, as re- 
 quired to be printed (as had been insisted on 
 by the Government printers), if less troublesome 
 or costly ; but I had no hint that any alteration 
 was desirable. So much for Treasury judgment, 
 and petty officialism, on the part of persons who 
 have built palatial workshops — to say nothing 
 of residences — out of the profits from public 
 printing. 
 
144 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS PROCEDURE. 
 
 I HAVE very many years been much exercised 
 by the slip-slop, perfunctory manner in which 
 the chief busineiss of the House of Commons is 
 attended to, especially the voting of supplies. 
 Because in former days, when the king never 
 called a parliament until he wanted money, the 
 system very properly grew up of demanding 
 redress of pressing grievances before supply, 
 the fiction has been established in our day, 
 under which, when supply comes on, any sub- 
 ject may be talked about till midnight, after 
 which the votes are run through without dis- 
 cussion ; so that I have known eight millions 
 sterling voted away in half an hour. The more 
 recent practice of talking for the mere purpose 
 of obstruction, introduced by the American-Irish 
 Home Rulers, and followed with increasing 
 zest by the great fourth party of four, also aided. 
 
PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE RULES. 1 45 
 
 to induce me in 1880, ist October, to address 
 the Premier, Mr. Gladstone, suggesting some 
 new rules for regulating the proceedings of the 
 House, as follows : — 
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS BUSINESS. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, who decides all questions of order, and 
 as to the propriety of notices, etc., might well have his 
 authority extended to matters of time, but for the purpose 
 of putting down obstruction only — ■ 
 
 1. When a member has exhausted his pertinent remarks. 
 
 2. When any motion has been sufficiently discussed. 
 
 1. On any member taking upon himself obviously to 
 speak against time — repeating himself, etc., to talk a Bill 
 out, or obstruct progress — Mr. Speaker might be authorized 
 to interpose. " I advise that the member for has 
 exhausted his remarks ; and that I be authorized to call 
 upon the member for to address the House." If dis- 
 puted, division without debate. 
 
 2. On any minority of members obviously wasting time, 
 " Unless the (mover) desires to reply, I advise the House 
 that this motion has been sufficiently discussed." If dis- 
 puted, division without debate. After which, if carried, 
 the mover to be called on for reply ; otherwise the main 
 question before the House put without further debate. 
 
 3. Neither of the motions — (i) For adjournment of the 
 House ; (2) Adjournment of the debate ; (3) That the 
 chairman leave the chair; (4) That the chairman report 
 progress — shall be moved more than once before a division 
 has been taken on the main question or vote before the 
 House. 
 
 4. To secure adequate consideration of estimates, supply 
 might be taken on a fixed day weekly; the fiction of 
 
 L 
 
146 AUDIT OF ESTIMATES. INTRODUCTION 
 
 grievance before supply abolished ; * and the motion that 
 Mr. Speaker do leave the chair, put without debate or 
 amendment. 
 
 To guard against undue haste, no ofposed business 
 to be taken after supply, although, when desirable, other 
 orders might precede supply. 
 
 Resolutions or grievances might be taken on another 
 fixed night, before orders of the day; and on such nights 
 no limit of time for taking any order on the paper. 
 
 The session of 1 881 having been practically 
 lost for the want of some such rules as above, 
 and there being every appearance of a repeti- 
 tion of the same tactics in the early part of 
 1882, I again wrote to Mr. Gladstone, 8th 
 April, that immediately on reassembling (after 
 Easter) it should be distinctly made known that 
 in case after every effort, including morning 
 sittings, the Government are unable to complete 
 the business which they deem desirable, by the 
 usual time for prorogation, the session will be 
 continued so long as — by the aid of occasional 
 adjournments for rest — may be necessary to 
 dispose of the arrears. 
 
 The new procedure rules, pretty much upon 
 
 * Before estimates are voted, they should be subjected 
 to the quasi audit of a standing committee, empowered to 
 examine permanent heads of departments — as well in regard 
 to desirable reductions, as necessary additions — and to 
 report to the House. 
 
OF BILLS CONCURRENTLY IN BOTH HOUSES. 1 47 
 
 the lines above suggested, though not fully 
 carried out, were passed in the autumn of that 
 year, 1882. 
 
 In June, 1883, I ventured to hint that 
 Government Bills might be introduced and con- 
 sidered concurrently in both Houses, as in the 
 case of the Endowed Schools Bill, i860; both 
 to save time, and avoid undue pressure at the 
 end of the session. 
 
148 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 VACCINATION. 
 
 In 1849, soon after I had joined the General 
 Board of Health, my first child was born ; and 
 in process of time it became one's duty to think 
 about the vaccination of the infant. I had 
 never heard either the utility or desirability of 
 the operation questioned, but presumed, like 
 most people, that it was a thing of course. My 
 mother's only brother died while suffering from 
 small-pox. (It was said that a person having 
 the eruption was seen to pass the window, and 
 thus, through the glass, the contagion was con- 
 veyed !) Therefore, when Jenner's " great dis- 
 covery " became known, my benevolent parent, 
 from pure goodness of heart, went about 
 vaccinating the poor with a stocking-needle, 
 which Jenner taught was fully efficacious. / 
 was certainly vaccinated, and probably in this 
 
COURT DOCTORS AND THE ROYAL FAMILY. 14--) 
 
 manner. Nevertheless, I recollect having 
 chicken-pox (long before Her Majesty in 1845), 
 which a great continental authority has declared 
 to be identical with small-pox.* 
 
 When the subject was mooted for our child, 
 I found that my wife had a strong objection to 
 the practice ; and in deference to the mother's 
 
 * If one family, surrounded by every apparent advantage, 
 be taken as a specimen, those who accept the duty of 
 judging for themselves in regard to the laws of life,, health, 
 and disease, may well be congratulated on not being under 
 the dictation of Court doctors. 
 
 The Queen had chicken or small pox in 1845, ^^d, re- 
 vaccinated in 187 1, suffered for a long time after serious 
 illness. The Prince Consort sank under typhoid (pro- 
 nounced by Dr. Nittinger to be in truth internal small-pox), 
 aggravated, probably, by food forced upon him when 
 Nature demanded abstinence from everything but pure 
 water. The Prince of Wales, revaccinated in 1871, speedily 
 well-nigh succumbed to. typhoid (like the thirty-four out of 
 fifty girls at Genoa, three of whom died from that disease, 
 within three weeks after the operation). One of his brothers 
 suffered an attack of small-pox in 1867 ; and another some 
 years later, not many before his death. Princess Alice, re- 
 vaccinated in 1863, seemed seldom after to be free from 
 some ailment, and sank under diphtheria in the prime of life; 
 whilst all her children, duly medicated, suffered from the 
 same disease, the youngest of whom died. And there were 
 many minor troubles. Verily, a few generations hence, 
 more enlightened medicos may declare that, during the 
 nineteenth century, the Royal family of England had scant 
 cause for considering themselves blessed by the professional 
 dicta of Jenner. 
 
150 AN INOCULATED NERVOUS AFFECTION. 
 
 wishes, I thought it right to pause, consider, 
 and inquire. 
 
 We knew a lady whose parents' family- 
 were of remarkably strong and healthy stock — 
 several having been nonagenarians — and that 
 her own personal habits were exceedingly pure 
 and simple. She had been by no means an 
 idler in youth ; and I had imagined that certain 
 indications of nervous weakness were due en- 
 tirely to over-mental exertion ; because I did 
 not then know that at about four years old she 
 had, immediately following vaccination, a foul 
 eruption, extending over the whole back of the 
 head — a running sore, open a long time ; the 
 only treatment for which, she remembered, was 
 the application of hot butter by a nurse. As 
 years increased, chronic nervous excitement 
 became more and more wearying to her exis- 
 tence, which, but for her simple habits, would 
 probably have terminated far before. After 
 about fifty, especially, the pain over the top and 
 back of the head, or along the whole spinal 
 region — though chiefly at the top of the back, 
 accompanied by most restless mental excite- 
 ment, occasionally almost amounting to de- 
 mentia — may be said to have been incessant. 
 Active in the limbs and taking great interest in 
 
TRUE prp:ventive of zymotic disease. 1 5 1 
 
 gardening operations, she would often be tired 
 out, yet positively unable to sit still. There 
 were certain slight local irritations also; and 
 with remarkably well-formed chest, the breath 
 was much affected. Now there was positively 
 nothing to account for this painful state but in- 
 vaccinated mischief ; whilst no physician, out of 
 numbers consulted, could ever suggest a remedy. 
 While considering the question of my child's 
 vaccination, I accidentally met with a letter in 
 a local newspaper, from which, to my surprise, 
 I learnt that there were persons able to give 
 a reason for the faith that is in them, who 
 strongly objected to the practice. On inquiry, 
 I found there existed a literature on the subject 
 worthy of perusal. I afterwards put the plain 
 question to Dr. Southwood Smith, " Would 
 sanitary measures, thoroughly carried out, put 
 an end to small-pox (as other zymotics) without 
 vaccination ? " His opinion was distinctly that 
 they would. As a sanitary man, this, coupled 
 with my wife's antipathy to the practice, was 
 enough for me, and consequently no child of 
 mine was ever vaccinated. 
 
 But a new interest was imparted to the 
 question by the action of certain medicos in 
 1853, who induced the late (fourth) Lord 
 
152 PUBLICATION OF VACCINE DISASTERS. 
 
 Lyttelton to bring in a Bill to make neglect of 
 vaccination within three months of birth a penal 
 offence, which was passed towards the end of 
 the session without discussion. 
 
 I entered vigorously into the examination 
 of statistics from the registrar-general's returns, 
 in order to discover whether there was any real 
 ground for opinions, to be enforced upon thinking 
 persons in so odious a manner. After years of 
 study, I became convinced that vaccination has 
 not, and never had, any claim whatever to 
 respect. An imposition from the first, it has 
 ever been supported by shifts as treacherous as 
 the varying quicksand ; and it has not a scrap 
 of success to set against the terrible and untold 
 evils it has engendered upon the human race. 
 
 On this momentous subject I have written 
 much, chiefly in correspondence, of which there 
 have been published a " Precis of the Evidence 
 taken before the Commons Vaccination Com- 
 mittee, 1871," which I personally attended 
 throughout ; " Letters to and from Lord Lyttel- 
 ton ^'' including the one of the series first printed, 
 entitled "The Vaccination Laws;" "A Vaccine 
 Disaster Record," tabulating upwards of 400 
 typical cases of death and injury down to May, 
 * See page 361. 
 
SMALL-POX CURED IN THE OPEN AIR. 1 53 
 
 1883; and "Small-Pox Statistics in England, 
 deduced from the reports of the Registrar- 
 General ; " * besides suggesting and formulating 
 several returns, obtained after much official 
 obstruction from the Medical (Vaccination) 
 Department, by the registrar-general for Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 Perhaps the most remarkable example of 
 the production' and treatment of small-pox was 
 related to me by a civil engineer of the 
 highest eminence. In 1836 that gentleman 
 was engaged in the construction of a tunnel on 
 the railway near Northampton. The rock to 
 be pierced was very hard ; time was of the first 
 importance, and money no object. A double 
 gang of men were kept at work, i.e. as many as 
 could be employed both night and daj^ There 
 was but scant accommodation for the numbers 
 present ; a few huts only, in which the men 
 were lodged " Box and Cox " fashion. Those 
 who worked by night occupied, by day, the same 
 beds which the- day workers slept in by night. 
 A severe outbreak of small-pox took place among 
 them ; and there not being half enough beds 
 for the sick, a very considerable number were 
 forced to lie upon straw in the open sheds. 
 * See page 421. 
 
154 STATISTICS OF SMALL-POX IN ENGLAND. 
 
 There were many deaths — a large proportion, 
 indeed — among the patients lodged in the huts. 
 But not a single case treated outside on the 
 straw had a fatal termination ; every one of 
 those recovered. 
 
 The paper of statistics * above mentioned 
 contains the small-pox mortality, in proportion 
 to population, in every district in England, during 
 the four worst quarters, in each case respectively, 
 of the great epidemic, 1871-72; "a work of 
 twelve giants," said a medical man who saw me 
 about it. But labour I never stinted in investi- 
 gating this horrible matter. These returns con- 
 clusively prove that where filth most abounded 
 there did small -pox chiefly prevail, and vice versa. 
 
 I attended the International Congress on 
 Vaccination, as one of the English delegates, 
 held at Paris, 1880; also at Cologne, i88i.'i" 
 
 There were many fellow-labourers in the 
 case — notably, Birch, Moseley, Browne, Massey, 
 and others, in Jenner's time — supporting the 
 prior condemnation of the great John Hunter. 
 In my time John Gibbs and his two cousins, 
 R. B. and G. S. Gibbs, Drs. Collins (father and 
 son), Ellis, Pearce, Garth Wilkinson, and 
 Haughton ; Francis W. Newman, Tebb, Dorn- 
 
 * See page 425. \ See page 274, 
 
"the story of a great delusion. 155 
 
 busch, Hume-Rothery, Gillett, P. A. Taylor, 
 M.P., C. H. Hopwood, Q.C., M.P., Sir J. 
 Clarke Jervoise, Bart., Lord Clifton, Herbert 
 Spencer, the Comtesse de Noailles, etc. ; besides 
 hosts of local writers in England; many in 
 America, including Wilder, Gunn, Dobson, 
 Corderre, etc., and on the continent of Europe, 
 Boens, Oidtmann, Voght, Hermann Hamernik, 
 Nittinger, Kolb, Keller, Zedwitch, Siljestrom, 
 and many more.* 
 
 Compulsory vaccination was abolished in 
 Switzerland in i882.f 
 
 * Mr. White has made a valuable contribution towards 
 what may be called the origin and history of vaccination in 
 his "Story of a great delusion." (A. W. Allen.) 
 
 t This result was accomplished by the popular vote. 
 In the Swiss Republic, when any new law has passed the 
 Chambers, in case a petition bearing a certain number of 
 signatures is presented within six months, a general yote 
 of the electors is taken for or against the measure ; and if 
 there be an adverse majority the action of the legislature 
 is void. 
 
 Seeing how easy it has become — by means of what may 
 be denominated official legislation iii the small hours of 
 the morning, and at the fag end of a weary session, when 
 the grouse have come in competition with patriotism — to 
 trample in the dust the very shadow of British liberty, it 
 must be apparent that to confer upon the mass of the 
 people a power of veto, similar to that exercised in Switzer- 
 land, is absolutely necessary if the Englishman is to 
 preserve his national birthright. 
 
156 A BATTLING LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 PUBLICATIONS AND LATER OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 After leaving the Fisheries Office, and 
 setding(!) the action in 1869, I had comparative 
 leisure. I continued to act as auditor to the 
 Metropolitan Association for Improving the 
 Dwellings of the Industrious Classes, which I 
 had done from 1855. In 1872 I read a paper 
 on " Prevention of Disease," * in the health 
 section of the Social Science Association, meeting 
 at Plymouth ; contributed to the Medical Press 
 and Circular (February 2 and 16, 1875) an 
 article on " Epidemic Disease ; " t another to 
 House and Home (July 7 and 14, 1882) on 
 " Hereditary Tendencies ;" J and some political 
 articles to newspapers. I also lectured occa- 
 sionally, and addressed meetings on vaccination, 
 and wrote a " Manual of Hygiene," for young 
 
 * See page 316. f See p. 335. % See p. 347. 
 
LIST OF MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATIONS. 1 57 
 
 soldiers in warm climates, and a paper on " Vital 
 Statistics"* in the Society of Arts Journal. 
 
 My Other works, published and unpublished, 
 some of which have been before mentioned, are 
 as follows : — 
 
 Caritas, a poem. 1846.! 
 
 The Fall of Man (after Milton). Libretto for an Oratorio. 
 
 i844.t 
 
 The Laws relating to Burials. Maxwell and Co. 1855, 
 1857, 1863, 1873, 1882. 
 
 The Laws relating to Public Health, Sanitary, Medical, 
 Protective. Maxwell and Co. 1866. 
 
 Paper on Sewerage of London to Society of Arts. 1858. 
 
 Paper on Railway Management to Society of Arts. 1 86 1 . | 
 
 Paper on Capital Punishment. 1859 and i864.§ 
 
 Boudoir Abridgment of " Don Juan." t 
 
 Railway Management : How to make 10 per Cent. 
 Stanford. 1859. 
 
 The Common Nature of Epidemics. Quarantine and 
 Contagion. Tweedie and Co. 1866. 
 
 The Pikestaff Papers. Triibner. 1866. 
 
 The Laws relating to Salmon. Fisheries. Horace Cox. 
 1866, 1868. 
 
 The Law of Highways. Stevens. 1880. 
 
 Pr&is of Evidence before Vaccination Committee. (114, 
 Victoria Street, Westminster.) 1871. 
 
 Index to Queen's Regulations and Admiralty Instruc- 
 tions. (All leading pubhshers.) 1880. 
 
 ■ Abridgment of Graham's Lectures on Science of Human 
 Life. (Vegetarian Society.) Tweedie and Co. 
 
 * See p. 409. t Unpublished. 
 
 I See p. 230. § See p. 180. 
 
158 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATIONS — CONTINUED. 
 
 The Vegetist's Dietary and Manual of Vegetable 
 Cookery. (Accompanies Graham.) 
 
 The Insidious Red-Tape System in England. 1870.* 
 . Lecture on Temperance Advocacy, f 
 
 The Interments Act (1879). Knight and Co. 1880. 
 
 Vaccine Disaster Record. (114, Victoria Street, West- 
 minster.) 1883. 
 
 The Magistrate's Pocket Guide. Knight and Co. 1880, 
 
 1884. 
 
 "Ilminster," CM. (fo Pope's " Universal Prayer"). 
 
 * See p. 190. t See p. 280. 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. — FUGITIVE PAPERS. I 59 
 
 THE ILMINSTER SCHOOL CASE. 
 
 House of Lords Appeals, Tuesday, May 15, i860. 
 Present : the Lord Chancellor, Lord Cranworth, 
 Lord Wensleydale, and Lord Chelmsford. Baker 
 V. Lee, In re Ilminster School. 
 
 Mr. T. Baker, in whose name the appeal was 
 brought, being himself a barrister, appeared for the 
 appellant. Mr. R. Palmer, Q.C., and Mr. Baggallay 
 represented the Vicar. 
 
 Mr. Bakef opened the case by calling, their Lord- 
 .ships' attention to the fact that the point raised was 
 entirely new, inasmuch as it had never yet been laid 
 down by any Court that a trustee must agree in 
 opinion with the persons founding, or receiving the 
 benefit of a trust ; although in setthng a new scheme 
 for a charity, the Court had frequently exercised a 
 discretion, by making a selection between rival sets 
 proposed. The present was simply a case of exclu- 
 sion after appointment. Hitherto, any person capable 
 of holding real or personal estate, was capable of 
 holding such estate as well for others as for himself 
 He (Mr. Baker) argued that should such a contrary 
 doctrine become established, endless confusion and 
 litigation in the management of trust property must 
 be introduced. He put several cases of inconvenience 
 which must arise from such a doctrine, and cited 
 
l6o EARLY STATUTES CONCERNING RELIGION. 
 
 Attorney-General v. Shore, to show that trustees were 
 there removed for breach of trust alone, one of the 
 number, who had not acted, though of a different faith 
 from Lady Hewley, having been allowed his option 
 to remain a trustee. 
 
 The learned counsel then proceeded to show that 
 the Ilminster foundation could not be in any exclusive 
 sense a Church foundation, because at the date of the 
 deed religion in England was absolutely free. The 
 Act, I Edward VI. c. 12, repealed all statutes what- 
 ever in reference to religion ; and it was not until after 
 this foundation had been completed, that any further 
 Acts regarding religion were passed, the first being 
 the 2 & 3 Edward VI. c. i, which, however, merely 
 authorized the use in Churches, of an English transla- 
 tion of the Latin mass book. It was directed solely 
 to the priests, having no reference whatever to the 
 laity. They were neither directed to attend the 
 Church nor to conform. Neither did this Act come 
 into operation until after the Ilminster foundation 
 had been completed. It was not until 1552 that a 
 real Act of Uniformity existed. The Articles of the 
 Church, and the Catechisni, had both been drawn up 
 subsequently to the establishment of this school, and 
 the Prayer Book also was afterwards settled ; there- 
 fore it could not be contended that " godly learning " 
 meant Church teaching as now practised. On the 
 other hand, various doctrines were held by religionists 
 long prior to the year 1 548, a fact which must have 
 been well known to the founders of the charity ; e.g.. 
 Baptists had been burnt as early as 1511 ; in 1400 
 the statute against Lollards forbade teaching of schools 
 by heretics. (Various passages were cited from 
 Crosby's " History of the Baptists," Neal's " History of 
 the Puritans," Strype's " Memorials of Cranmer," etc.. 
 
THE NATIONAL CHURCH NOT EXCLUSIVE. l6r 
 
 etc.) The learned gentleman said he thought that 
 were there any such desire it might, d fortiori, be 
 contended that this was a Dissenting foundation — than 
 a Church foundation to the exclusion of Dissenters. 
 It was evidently established by a Bible-reading people, 
 at a time when Bible-reading was discouraged by the 
 priests. There could, however, be no doubt that the 
 school was intended for the benefit of all comers, and 
 it must be conducted in accordance with the varying 
 circumstances of modern times. There being no 
 exclusion in the deed, you cannot look beyond the 
 deed to find a restriction. If that were possible, any- 
 thing not taught or known at the time of the founda- 
 tion must also be excluded, in accordance with such 
 restriction. You cannot be restrictive for one purpose, 
 and inclusive for another. He (Mr. Baker) further 
 contended that, prior to the repeal of the Test Act, 
 Dissenters were not ineligible to act as trustees of 
 charities, though they were excluded by the oaths 
 imposed from holding more important offices. The 
 removal of those tests could not place Dissenters in 
 a worse position than they previously occupied in 
 respect of minor offices. Before such exclusion could 
 take place, it must be decided what, in law, constitutes 
 a Churchman ; and what is to be the evidence that a 
 person is not a member of the Church of England. 
 Since King Henry's time, at least, there had been no 
 legislation to determine what persons should believe. 
 They were by one statute enjoined to come to church, 
 by another forbidden to assemble for worship else- 
 where beyond a certain number, and so on. The 
 Church, therefore, had always been inclusive — :a 
 national Church, claiming the whole community. 
 Liberty of action had gradually been allowed to 
 Nonconformists, but they had lost none of their rights 
 
 M 
 
1 62 NONCONFORMISTS ELIGIBLE AS TRUSTEES. 
 
 by such liberty as subjects of the realm, or members 
 of the nation's Church. They can still claim the 
 offices of the Church, must serve the office of church- 
 warden, and are legally members of the Church of 
 England. Hitherto (said the learned gentleman) 
 the Church has never been regarded as an exclusive 
 sect ; the endeavour to make it so is quite new ; from 
 the day on which such a principle shall become 
 established, will date the downfall of the Church of 
 England ; but whilst it continues as it has always 
 been, the Church of the nation, so long the Church 
 will stand. 
 
 He then proceeded to refer to particular legislation 
 in reference to grammar schools. Scores of local Acts 
 for the regulation of various public schools were in 
 existence, but in no case, except that of Shrewsbury, 
 had any attempt at exclusion been made as regards 
 the religious qualification of trustees. Thus, at 
 Christ's Hospital, St. Paul's School, Birmingham, 
 Rugby, and numerous other places. Dissenters were 
 clearly eligible, under the several Acts of Parliament, 
 for the regulation of these charities. It could not be 
 contended that the Court was bound by rules opposed 
 to the practice of the Legislature in similar cases. 
 There could not be one rule for London, and another 
 for Ilminster. Many charities were governed by 
 borough corporations. If exclusion be adopted in 
 the present case, either those members of such cor- 
 porations, as may be Dissenters, must be declared 
 ineligible to act as trustees of what are called, Church 
 charities ; or the corporations themselves, from the fact 
 of having admitted Dissenters among their members, 
 must cease to be trustees of the charities in question. 
 He (Mr. Baker), however, contended that if any test 
 were to be imposed, it could not be done by any 
 
HIGHWAYS MAINTAINED BY THE CHARITY. 1 63 
 
 inquisitorial examination of the Court, but the test 
 must be fixed by direct legislation. 
 
 Even could it be made out (which he denied) that 
 the admission of Dissenters to this school had been 
 unlawful, the long-established usage would have 
 become legal by virtue of the Act 7 & 8 Vict. c. 45. 
 Grammar schools were excepted from the operation 
 of that statute ; but this was not a grammar school in 
 the legal sense of the term as laid down by Lord 
 Eldon and Lord Lyndhurst — i.e. in which the learned 
 languages only could be taught, — whilst it was a 
 "charitable foundation" long "used for purposes 
 beneficial to persons dissenting from the Church of 
 England." 
 
 On the question of the surplus, Mr. Baker showed 
 that, so far from being of secondary importance, as 
 had been laid down by Lord Justice Turner, not half 
 the funds were even now expended in the maintenance 
 of the original school ; but that the repair of the high- 
 ways, and afterwards the support of auxiliary schools, 
 absorbed the greater part of the existing income. 
 And in fact the whole of the existing property strictly 
 belonged to the surplus, because the terms of years, 
 originally given, expired a century and a half ago, 
 and every shilling of income now received was pro- 
 duced by property purchased from time to time out 
 of the savings, which might have been appropriated to 
 the highways, etc. ; but as the parishioners had applied 
 these savings to the continuance of the school, which 
 they had a perfect right to do, the trusts on which the 
 property was now held were those created by the 
 purchase deeds, or rather by the last deed of convey- 
 ance to new trustees made in 1836, and not the trusts 
 of 1549. He referred to the South Molton case 
 (Clarke's House of Lords cases), as to the doctrine of 
 surplus appropriation. 
 
164 AUTHORITY OF THE LADY IIEWLEY CASE. 
 
 In the course of the argument several other cases 
 were also cited. 
 
 The learned counsel's address occupied three hours 
 and a half in its delivery ; and he concluded by 
 expressing the confident anticipation that their Lord- 
 ships would hesitate to create a doctrine, calculated to 
 unsettle trust property in general, by making the 
 qualification for the office of trustee, opinion, instead 
 of principle, and introducing intolerance in lieu of 
 moral integrity. 
 
 Mr. Roundcll Palmer, Q.C., was then heard on 
 behalf of the respondent. 
 
 Mr. Baggallay followed on the same side. 
 
 Mr. Baker, in reply, again referred to the Attorney- 
 General V. Shoi-e (H. L. cases, 1842, p. 42, respondent's 
 case setting out decree), insisting that the Church of 
 England trustee who had not acted, and had not there- 
 fore taken any part in the misappropriation of the 
 fund, was allowed his option to remain, notwithstand- 
 ing that it was held that members of the Church were 
 excluded from participating in Lady Hewley's charity 
 — this, therefore, he submitted, was an authority in 
 favour of his view of the case. 
 
 To the question whether in future all trustees 
 must agree in opinion with the persons creating or 
 receiving the benefit of a trust, his learned friends had 
 not addressed themselves. He would assume that 
 they fully appreciated the inconvenience and confusion 
 which might thus be introduced. They had also 
 failed to show any reasons for fettering the Ilminster 
 charity. Nobody disputed that "godly learning" 
 meant religious teaching ; the point was whether the 
 term "godly" was in any manner exclusive. He 
 contended that no term could be equally compre- 
 hensive, including as it does all natural, and all 
 
BIBLE-READING FORMERLY FORBIDDEN. 1 65 
 
 revealed religion. He apprehended that the teaching 
 of astronomy, according to the Newtonian theory, 
 would not be excluded from the school, although not 
 discovered at the time of the foundation ; neither 
 would the teaching of the Bible now be excluded, 
 which in the year 1549 was not allowed to be com- 
 monly read. 
 
 Lord Chelmsford : Do you mean to say, Mr. Baker, 
 that " godly learning " would include Deism } In all 
 theological schools, I believe, they begin with the 
 Bible.? 
 
 Mr. Baker : I do not desire to lay down, my lord, 
 what the teaching shall be — there is no complaint as 
 to the religion taught in the school ; no question has 
 therefore arisen in reference to the teaching. The 
 trustees are appointed to take care of the property, 
 and to administer the charity. That the Bible was 
 not allowed to be taught in schools so early as 1549, 
 was a well-known fact in English history; for, although 
 the statute of Henry, forbidding the use of the Bible, 
 had been repealed, every youth and every girl who 
 reads history through the medium of a novel, would 
 recollect with what horror Father Philip, and Father 
 Eustace, in Sir Walter Scott's " Monastery," dis- 
 covered a copy of the Scriptures in the possession of 
 Mary Avenel, and what efforts they are represented 
 to have made, to steal away such an improper book ; 
 and the period to which the "Monastery" referred 
 was precisely 1550, just subsequent to the foundation 
 of the Ilminster School. His learned friends had not 
 shown on what principle of equity it was that you 
 could look outside the Deed, for the purpose of finding 
 a restriction, and having found it, that it should not 
 be acted on. If, therefore, nonconformity with the 
 religion practised at the time of the foundation could 
 
1 66 THE TERM " GODLY " NOT EXCLUSIVE. 
 
 exclude Dissenting trustees now, the teaching must 
 also be confined to that which was allowed in 1549; 
 and the Bible must be excluded from the schools,' as 
 well as the Catechism and Articles, which were drawn 
 up since the date of this foundation. His learned 
 friend argued, that, because by the statute against 
 Lollards, passed in the year 1400, heretics were for- 
 bidden to teach school contrary to the Catholic 
 Church, Dissenters or heretics could not have founded 
 this school ; — but the very fact of that enactment 
 having been repealed by the Act i Edward VI. 
 c. 12 (1547), proves that that restriction was then 
 removed. The intentions of the founders who took 
 advantage of this freedom, cannot be restricted by, 
 the subsequent legislation, referred to, in the time of 
 Elizabeth, and Anne, even had not such statutes been 
 since repealed. 
 
 If the term "godly" had ever an exclusive 
 meaning it was in a puritanical sense, as pointed out 
 by Lord Chief Justice Tindal in the Hewley case (11 
 Simon, p. 337), where "godly "was held to exclude 
 Churchmen. In this case it is admitted that Dis- 
 senters' children may be educated in the school ; — 
 the greater the reason, then, why a reasonable pro- 
 portion of their parents should be among the trustees, 
 to secure fair treatment of them. No want of judg- 
 ment had been proved against the Dissenters when 
 they had the majority, as pointed out by Mr. Palmer, 
 nor had any complaint been made of their manage- 
 ment. His learned friend was probably aware, that 
 they had recently appointed a clergyman as master, 
 who was a distinguished graduate of Cambridge. 
 They had thus proved, that they could honestly and 
 discreetly execute the trust, as their Dissenting pre- 
 decessors had done, from time immemorial. It is 
 
DISSENTING TRUSTEES IN MANY TOWNS. 1 67 
 
 monstrous that a grievous wrong should be inflicted 
 on these gentlemen, and a stigma fixed on the Dis- 
 senters of England, because his learned friend chose 
 to imagine that something may happen, which never 
 has been found, during a long usage, to have hap- 
 pened. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor : No, no ; no stigma whatever. 
 
 Lord Chelmsford: The question is not whether 
 Dissenters are honest persons, but whether their 
 appointment can take place consistently with the 
 terms of the Deed. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor : If it were a Churchman in 
 a Dissenting trust, and he were sought to be removed, 
 on the ground of his being a Churchman, there would 
 be no stigma resting on him. 
 
 Mr. Baker : It is undoubtedly regarded as a stigma 
 by the Dissenting body. With regard to the Dis- 
 senters' Chapels Act, he submitted that the spirit, at 
 least, of that Act, fully applied to the present case, as 
 his learned friend had not shown that the auxiliary 
 schools, at all events, and even the primary school 
 itself, are not " charitable foundations," which have 
 long been "used for purposes beneficial to persons 
 Dissenting from the Church of England." With refer- 
 ence to the assertion of his learned friend Mr. Palmer, 
 that no instance of the appointment of Dissenters by 
 the Court could be given, that was not the question ; 
 but that no case of exclusion could be shown. 
 Although the point had never been raised before the 
 Court, scores of instances could be named where Dis- 
 senters were appointed and acted as trustees of 
 grammar schools; e.g. at Manchester, Bath, Monmouth, 
 Christ's Hospital, St. Paul's School, etc. There were, 
 in addition, numerous Grammar School Acts, before 
 referred to, under which Dissenters could not be 
 
]68 DISCRETION EXERCISED AT THE ROLLS 
 
 excluded, such as Rugby and many similar schools. 
 Under the Birmingham Act the qualification was 
 residence within two miles of the borough, and a 
 certain social standing ; and under the Bedford Act 
 a large proportion of trustees were chosen by election, 
 an oath being prescribed, or, " in the case of the 
 people called Quakers," an affirmation. His learned 
 friend, Mr. Palmer, had admitted that the Court would 
 not encourage applications to turn out Dissenters, and 
 that the Attorney-General would refuse his official 
 sanction to Informations which seemed to him un- 
 called for. But in this case the appointment had 
 been made, in accordance with long-established usage, 
 by the Court itself; and the pressing necessity had 
 not been shown, for the appeal to the Lords Justices, 
 to interfere with the discretion exercised by the 
 Master of the Rolls ; thus establishing a precedent 
 which might be highly inconvenient as a matter of 
 practice. His learned friend had suggested, that the 
 inhabitants had no locus standi ; but why were they 
 obliged to interfere .' Because they found that there 
 was nobody to defend their rights. They had bigotry 
 and intolerance, represented by all the eloquence and 
 ingenuity of his learned friend, on the one side, and, 
 on the other, the trustees simply bowing to the 
 decision of the Court. The Attorney-General ought 
 to have been served in these proceedings, and then 
 the public would have been properly represented ; but 
 the Attorney-General was not served, and the in- 
 habitants, therefore, were obliged to petition to be 
 heard, as best they may, on the side of liberality and 
 justice. 
 
 Where was the necessity for this appeal } 
 Lord Chelmsford: You mean before the Lords 
 Justices as regards Dissenters, do you not .' 
 
OUGHT NOT to' HAVE BEEN QUESTIONED. 1 69 
 
 Mr. Baker : Yes, my lord. What grounds of public 
 policy required the appeal to the Lords Justices ? 
 Was it that "envy, hatred, and malice, and all un- 
 charitableness " might be introduced, not only into the 
 parish of Ilminster for the first time (for all parties 
 there regarded these proceedings equally with disgust), 
 but over the whole kingdom, so as to require the 
 intervention of Parliament ? And that appeal, not by 
 the original party (the late Vicar), for he was dead ; 
 not by his representatives who had supported his 
 objections before the Master of the Rolls (for his 
 widow refused to have anything more to do with the 
 case), but by the new Vicar, as it were by a sort of 
 Bill of Revivor ? Mr. Baker here pointed out an 
 unaccountable blunder in the printed case of the 
 respondent (the Vicar), whereby it was made to 
 appear that he objected to the original nomination 
 together with the late Vicar — two Vicars at the same 
 time ; and remarked that, though his learned friend 
 Mr. Baggallay might have been misled, yet the solicitor, 
 himself a new trustee, resident on the spot, who had 
 conducted these proceedings throughout on behalf of 
 all the various shifting parties, must have been well 
 aware that the present respondent had, and could 
 have had, nothing to do with the matter until he was 
 allowed to take it up on appeal before the Lords 
 Justices. He (Mr. Baker) contended that public policy 
 required the present appeal should be brought to their 
 Lordships. If for nothing else, it was important that 
 it should be decided whether it was competent for 
 the Court of Appeal to interfere with the discretion 
 exercised by the Master of the Rolls. Further, his 
 learned friends had not attempted to show that the 
 Court or that this House is bound by rules, which are 
 contrary to the practice followed in repeated enact- 
 
170 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND OPEN TO ALL. 
 
 ments of the Legislature, in the numerous similar 
 instances which have been cited. 
 
 Neither had it been attempted to shew that Dis- 
 senters are not members of the Church of England. 
 His learned friends well knew that Dissenters may 
 demand all the offices of the Church, e.g. Baptism 
 Marriage, Churching, Communion, admission to the 
 church at all times. Burial, etc. ; and the office of 
 churchwarden is frequently forced upon Non-confor- 
 mists. He was prepared to contend that every subject 
 of her Majesty, every one who does not at least 
 voluntarily and publicly abjure the Christian name, 
 or has not been excommunicated, is rightfully and 
 legally a member of the Church of England. Much 
 had been said as to admissions in the Court belovv, 
 but he had yet to learn that admissions made by 
 counsel acting for A. could in any manner prejudice 
 B. No admission of counsel for the surviving trustees, 
 therefore, that these gentlemen who have been ex- 
 cluded are Dissenters, can in any way prove them not 
 to be members of the Church of England, the only 
 pretended ground of their exclusion. 
 
 With regard to the surplus, his learned friend said 
 it might be small, but it always had been, and is, very 
 large ; insomuch that it is in evidence that no highway 
 rate has been made in the Parish of Ilminster for 
 thirty years. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor : Is that in the affidavit ? 
 
 Mr. Baker: Yes, my Lord, — and that auxiliary 
 schools had been established ; — these two objects 
 even now absorb more than half the fund. The 
 surplus is not only the most important part of the 
 charity, but eveiy shilling of the present income is 
 derived from property purchased, from time to time, 
 out of savings arising during the original terms of 
 years, which have long since expired. 
 
USAGE SHOULD DECIDE THE QUESTION. I 71 
 
 The Lord Chancellor : Supposing, Mr. Baker, the 
 property had swelled considerably after the repairs of 
 the highways had been provided for, what would you 
 have done with the balance ? 
 
 Mr. Baker: Had a large fund been created, it 
 might have been applied for any local improvements ; 
 as, for example, such a purpose as the application of 
 the Public Health Act, — draining and supplying the 
 town with water, etc., supposing such to have been 
 required. But I contend that the parishioners, from 
 time to time, had a perfect right to apply the surplus 
 as they thought fit ; and that the Educational Trust 
 has very properly been continued. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor : The spirit of the original 
 deed should no doubt be maintained in continuity. 
 
 Mr. Baker : The school, however, exists only by 
 usage or adverse possession, as it were, against the 
 highways ; — usage as to the teaching ; usage as to 
 the masters ; — and usage also as to the appointment 
 or eligibility of trustees, must continue therefore to 
 be the rule. The trusts, he submitted, must be inter- 
 preted having regard to the period at which the last 
 deed, was executed, viz. 1836, instead of 1549. Not 
 one word had been urged in contravention of that 
 argument. All the facts, then, being in favour of non- 
 exclusion, you cannot infer evils for the purpose of 
 exclusion. 
 
 I have shown, continued the learned gentleman, 
 that it is a new principle which your Lordships are 
 called upon solemnly to decide — viz. the broad ques- 
 tion whether a trustee must agi'ee in opinion with the 
 founder or recipient of the trust to be administered. 
 That this foundation was created at a time when 
 religious opinion was as free legally as at this moment ; 
 and that the original trust was as free and compre- 
 
172 TOLERANCE OF ROYAL PROCLAMATION 
 
 hensive as words could make it. — That it is contrary 
 to all rule to travel out of the deed to find a restric- 
 tion, more especially when it is not intended to follow 
 such restriction ; and that subsequent legislation, 
 since repealed, could not impose such restriction now. 
 — That the usage has been free and unrestricted, both 
 as to the admission of scholars, and trustees. — That a 
 large part of the charity — the whole, indeed, now 
 existing — is held for common parochial purposes, 
 whilst the repairs of the church were not even pro- 
 vided for in the deed of foundation. — That even now 
 the surplus of this surplus, so to speak, after providing 
 for the continuance of the original free school, pro- 
 duces sufficient to repair the highways, and to support 
 auxiliary schools. — That the Lords Justices had no 
 authority for reviewing the discretion exercised by 
 the Master of the Rolls. — That no test can now be 
 applied without the aid of direct legislation, to impose 
 such test. — That all English Protestant Christians, 
 whether admitted Dissenters, or professedly Church- 
 men, are, if not excommunicated, legal members of 
 the Church of England. — And that the ground of 
 exclusion of Dissenters in this case is therefore 
 baseless. 
 
 My learned friends contend, that the principles 
 which should govern such cases as the present, are 
 those of narrowness, suspicion, and bigotry, excavated 
 from the long-forgotten practice of bygone centuries. 
 That this is not the principle which now obtains I 
 have shown from all particular, and all general legis- 
 lation. And I may also refer to the following extract 
 from a recent Royal Proclamation issued to her 
 Majesty's newly acquired subjects in India : — 
 
 " We declare it to be our royal will and pleasure 
 that none be in any wise favoured, none molested 
 
ON EQUAL DIVISION, APPEAL DISMISSED. I 73 
 
 or disquieted by reason of their religious faith or 
 observances, but that all shall alike enjoy the equal 
 and impartial protection of the law. And it is our 
 further will that, so far as may be, our subjects, of 
 whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially 
 admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which 
 they may be qualified by their education and integrity 
 duly to discharge." 
 
 Thursday, 19TH July. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor : After great deliberation, I 
 am of opinion that the order of the Master of the 
 Rolls, allowing the appointment of these three trustees, 
 was according to existing law, and that the order of 
 the Lords Justices reversing that order ought to be 
 reversed. 
 
 Nevertheless, my Lords, as I have reason to believe 
 that two of the Peers who heard the case argued at 
 your Lordships' bar are of a contrary opinion,* the 
 result will be an affirmance of the decree appealed 
 against : the question to be put according to the 
 standing order of the House being, " that the decree 
 be reversed." Had any important question of law 
 been involved, I should have strongly urged a second 
 argument before a greater number of Peers, instead of 
 acting on the maxim which guides this House upon 
 an equality of votes, semper prcesmnitur pro negante. 
 But as this appeal depends chiefly on the exercise of 
 judicial discretion, and the opinion that may be 
 formed of the comparative importance, in the eyes of 
 the founders of the school, and the repair of the high- 
 ways and bridges, so that this judgment can hardly 
 be a conclusive authority in any future case, I am 
 
 * Lords Wensleydale and Chelmsford being of a different opinion. 
 
174 MEMORANDUM OF INDEMNITY, AND 
 
 quite contented that the decree of the Master of the 
 Rolls should stand reversed, although, if the appeal to 
 this House had been directly against that decree upon 
 an equality of votes, it must have been affirmed. 
 
 Lord Cran-uwrtk : I cannot say that the Master of 
 the Rolls exercised his discretion unwisely, or that 
 the course he took was such as to warrant the order 
 now appealed from. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor : The question I have to put 
 is, that the decree appealed against be reversed ; but 
 there is an equality of votes, and therefore the decree 
 will be affirmed. 
 
 Decree affirmed. Appeal dismissed, the Costs 
 of the Respondent to be paid out of the 
 Charity Estate. 
 
 GRAMMAR SCHOOL TRUSTS. 
 
 Memorandum endorsed on the Purchase Deed of Mr. Baker's 
 Residence, — " Kingscote," Wokingham. 
 
 Memorandum, that the greater portion of the within-mentioned 
 purchase money was subscribed and given by the under-mentioned 
 individuals as an Indemnity and Testimonial to the within-named Thomas 
 Baker, Esq., for his great exertions in the cause of religious liberty, 
 especially in conducting the Ilminster School Appeal at his own risk 
 (1858-1860), and obtaining the Act of 23 Victoria, cap. 11 (i860), which 
 gives the right to Dissenters of being educated in Public Grammar 
 Schools. In the case referred to, the Master of the Rolls had decided 
 that Dissenters were eligible to be appointed Trustees of an old Grammar 
 School, where the only quahfication mentioned in the trust deed was 
 that they should be "honest men of the parish;" and it was proved 
 that some Dissenters had acted in the management of the charity without 
 intermission for a century and a half. The Lords Justices, however, 
 reversed this decision, and ordered their names to be struck off the hst, 
 "they not being members of the Church of England." But for the 
 boldness and indomitable energy of Mr. Baker, their Lordships' decision, 
 extraordinary as it was, would have remained undoubted law. Mr. 
 Baker, however, a native and rated inhabitant of Ilminster, although 
 
ENDORSEMENT ON CONVEYANCE OF KINGSCOTE. I 75 
 
 then resident in London, contested their judgment in the Court of 
 Chancery, and afterwards prosecuted an appeal against it to the House 
 of Lords, and on both occasions personally, unassisted, and with con- 
 summate ability, argued the case on behalf of the Dissenting Trustees ; 
 and although he did not succeed in obtaining a reversal of the judgment 
 of the Lords Justices, there being an equal number of Peers on one side 
 and the other (the then Lord Chancellor, Campbell, and Lord Cranworth 
 being on the side for which Mr. Baker argued), he called (thereby and 
 at numerous meetings in the principal towns of England) the attention 
 of the enlightened public to the subject in such a way as to secure at 
 some future and not distant time a remedy of the evil, and he persevered 
 until he obtained the Act of Parliament referred to, called Lord Cran- 
 worth's Act, which gives to the children of Dissenters an indisputable 
 right to share in the benefit of all endowed Schools, if not expressly 
 excluded by the founders, and in the opinion of eminent jurists settles 
 the question in favour of the future eligibility of the parents to be 
 Trustees. Mr. Baker also procured the introduction of the concluding 
 proviso in the fourth section of the subsequent Act, 23 & 24 Victoria, 
 cap. 136 (i860), which provides that no trustee shall be excluded on the 
 ground only of his religious belief. 
 
 (Signed by the Trustees of the Fund.) 
 [Here follow the subscribers' names.] 
 
176 A BATTLING LIFE. FUGITIVE PAPERS. 
 
 PETTY SESSIONS PROCEEDINGS.* 
 
 {Law Magazine, September, 1874.) 
 
 The phrase, " Justices' justice," has passed into a 
 proverbial signification of the absence of either law or 
 justice. The " Great Unpaid " have, in England, 
 immense power for good or evil, and the almost 
 universal opinion of the public undoubtedly appears 
 to be that the evil vastly predominates over the good. 
 Gentlemen, without the slightest knowledge of law, 
 and without any regard whatever to their moral or 
 intellectual character, are put into the Commission of 
 the Peace, from the mere fact of their occupying a 
 station of wealth or " position " in society. It cannot, 
 therefore, be expected that they will be adequate to 
 the performance of duties upon which they have had 
 no means of acquiring information. They must be 
 under guidance. Accordingly the magistrates, as a 
 rule, are governed in their decisions by their clerks. 
 The justice, who is practically irresponsible, leans 
 upon the clerk, who is wholly so ; and as a necessary 
 consequence the most outrageous burlesque upon 
 justice is very commonly performed at petty sessions 
 Courts. It may, indeed, be safely affirmed that on no 
 social question whatever is reform more needed than 
 in the administration of magisterial jurisdiction ; and 
 the Minister who will carry out an efficient reform in 
 * See the " Magistrate's Pocket Guide," by the Author : Knight & Co. 
 
JUSTICES CLERKS PAID BY SALARY. I 77 
 
 this respect, will earn for himself an undying repu- 
 tation. 
 
 The first great abuse is that magistrates' clerks 
 are generally paid by fees, and very pretty fees too, 
 instead of by salary, as they ought to be. There is 
 power to commute the fees and to fix a salary in lieu 
 thereof, and this power has, we understand, been put 
 in operation in the county of Somerset, and perhaps 
 some others ; but usually the clerk who has issued the 
 summons (for the justice signs, as a matter of course, 
 all that are put before him), and who advises whether 
 the defendant shall be convicted or not, depends 
 upon obtaining such conviction for securing all, or 
 part of, his fees. He, the practical judge, is practically 
 interested pecuniarily in oftentimes procuring a per- 
 version of justice. It is evident that this custom 
 must encourage informations both frivolous and un- 
 just; that such will often be allowed as of course, and 
 that great wrong must ensue. In all cases the clerks 
 should be paid by salary, and absolutely forbidden 
 from taking any share of the fees consequent upon 
 the proceedings.* 
 
 It is of almost equal importance that justices 
 should be encouraged and instructed to make them- 
 selves aquainted with legal principles — the rules of 
 evidence, and so on ; and that they do their utmost to 
 form their own independent and impartial judgment 
 upon all cases brought before them. They deal chiefly 
 with the poor, but to a poor man injustice and wrong 
 may be ruin. The poor man cannot complain to the 
 Lord Chancellor of improper conduct on the part of 
 any magistrate. He is equally unable to lay his case 
 before the Secretary of State, so as to obtain a com- 
 
 * The Act 41 & 42 Vict. cap. 43, which provides that justices' 
 clerks shall be paid by salary, was passed in 1878. 
 
 N 
 
178 RULES FOR PETTY SESSIONAL COURTS. 
 
 mutation of an illegal or unjust sentence. He is still 
 more unable to purchase justice by a resort to a Court 
 of law. We fear, indeed, that the power of " taking 
 a case " to a .superior Court is too often turned into an 
 instrument of oppression, instead of acting as a check, 
 as intended. The justice knows that to offer " a case " 
 to a poor man is a farce. The clerk, indeed, may be 
 glad to obtain an appeal — which secures extra fees to 
 himself, whatever be the result — and thus the law may 
 be practically violated with impunity by the oppressor. 
 
 We would urge upon the Secretary of State, then, 
 seriously to consider the practicability and importance 
 of issuing (under the advice of such judicial assistance 
 and authority as may be deemed expedient) a, clear 
 and concise code of rules for the regulation of pro- 
 ceedings, in general, before justices at Petty Sessions ; 
 which rules should be printed and exhibited in every 
 Court-house, magistrates' clerk's office, and police- 
 station, so as to be at all times open to the public for 
 reference. Then any gross infringement of such rules 
 might easily be represented to the Secretary of State, 
 and some chance afforded of obtaining justice, or 
 redress for injustice. 
 
 At present, unfortunates who generally figure in 
 magisterial Courts, are no more aware than the justices 
 themselves often appear to be, that the accused should 
 never be invited to plead guilty, or to convict himself 
 by answering improper questions ; nor that guilt is 
 not to be assumed until innocence proved, but the 
 contrary ; and that the onus of proof lies upon the 
 prosecutor. They do not know that the police exceed 
 their duty by asking questions of the party accused, 
 for the purpose of obtaining evidence against him. 
 They are ignorant that all penal statutes or judicial 
 decisions ought to be construed, where any doubt 
 
DUTIES OF CLERKS TO THE JUSTICES., 1 79 
 
 exists, in the manner the least unfavourable to the 
 accused ; that the evidence of interested persons 
 should be received with great caution ; that the 
 defendant has a right (if not represented by a legal 
 adviser) to be fully heard in his own defence, to cross- 
 examine the adverse witnesses, and test their evidence 
 in every possible way ; that compliance with all pre- 
 scribed formalities is necessary in any proceeding, 
 etc. ; all which well-settled principles should be made 
 clear by the published rules. 
 
 Justices, again, should be instructed by such means 
 that in dealing out punishment, mercy should enter 
 greatly into their consideration ; the object being to 
 prevent crime, rather than to punish, or to create, 
 criminals. And further, that they have very large 
 powers of discretion entrusted to them, so that in 
 their decisions they should be often guided more by 
 the spirit of the offence, or the offender, than by the 
 strict letter of the law. 
 
 The clerk should be instructed that, in his capacity 
 of legal adviser to the bench, he is on no account to 
 assume the position of advocate in the case, though it 
 may be his duty to protect the accused against violation 
 of the rules of procedure on the part of an adverse 
 advocate ; still less should he interfere, in aggravation 
 of punishment, with magisterial discretion leaning to 
 the side of mercy. That the depositions should be 
 clearly taken down, and all legal difficulties well con- 
 sidered, in the first instance, rather than lightly dis- 
 posed of, with a view to the promotion of " cases " for 
 superior Courts. Finally, that - the costs awarded 
 should be moderate ; neither encouraging informa- 
 tions, nor, by exacting extortionate fees for professional 
 service, police or witnesses, turning the administration 
 of justice into a trade ; for by so doing he takes the 
 surest method to bring law into contempt. 
 
l8o A BATTLING LIFE. FUGITIVE PAPERS. 
 
 SOME THOUGHTS ON CAPITAL 
 PUNISHMENT. 
 
 {Social Science Congress, September, 1858.) 
 
 In considering whether it is the duty of Government 
 to exact the penalty of ddSth for the crime of murder, 
 it appears incumbent solely to keep in view the pro- 
 tection of society ; because it is obvious that the exten- 
 sion of any mercy to a criminal, which should have 
 the effect of rendering life and property in general 
 less secure, would not only be misplaced, but inflict 
 a cruel wrong on the community. The murderer is 
 at war with society, and has proved himself ready to 
 carry on that war by the foulest means ; it is therefore 
 a necessary duty to take care that a recurrence of 
 such an offence shall be impossible, and, at the same 
 time, that the punishment shall be of a nature best 
 calculated to strike terror, or awaken a wholesome 
 reflection, in the minds of others of his class. 
 
 At the very outset it should be taken for granted 
 that that punishment must be exercised which is most 
 likely to deter bloodthirsty men from giving way to 
 their demoniac passions. The real question is whether 
 the legally violent death of the convicted criminal, is 
 better adapted than any other penalty which can be 
 devised, for the prevention of murder. 
 
WITNESSING EXECUTION NOT DETERRANT. l8l 
 
 Could it ever be supposed that the herd of young 
 and old usually attending an execution, would be likely 
 to commit murder were they not deterred by the 
 sight of the criminal hanged ? Could it be supposed 
 that being thus in contact with every species of con- 
 tamination, would not more or less corrupt the inno- 
 cent, and tend to make the vicious more callous ? or 
 that the few among the crowd, who might be likely to 
 place themselves in the same condition as the wretch 
 before them, would have their natures rendered less 
 savage by witnessing all this display of brutality 
 around ? And is it not more probable that these might 
 experience a degree of pleasurable intoxication, in 
 seeing their quondam companion, the hero of the hour, 
 acquit himself with manly firmness ? Nay, is it in- 
 consistent with human nature that they should feel 
 a kind of envy towards (from their standpoint) the 
 exciter of all this hero-worship, whose life has been 
 recorded in every newspaper ; whose (to them) glorious 
 actions have been the theme of conversation at every 
 hearth ; whose (to them) certainly not inglorious death 
 has been attended by the shouts of thousands, and by 
 the sympathy of tens of thousands ? 
 
 Thus it is argued that the infliction of a violent 
 death has not the smallest tendency to deter those 
 who witness it from the commission of crime. Mr- 
 Dymond relates that, " on one occasion, when forgery 
 was capital, a criminal had been executed at the Old 
 Bailey, and his body had been placed at the disposal 
 of his friends ; his widow pursued his trade of forging 
 one-pound notes, and a young man sought her house 
 to purchase some. The police were heard in pursuit, 
 and, to prevent discovery, she crammed the notes into 
 the mouth of the corpse ; and there the officers found 
 them." 
 
1 52 THE FEAR OF DEATH DESPISED. 
 
 Will the reflection that death is the penalty on 
 detection be best calculated to deter? Would not 
 the thought of a lingering life of imprisonment, and 
 remorse, be more dreadful to their imagination ? This 
 question is almost invariably discussed, as if the 
 moment of mounting the scaffold was the time for 
 observing the desire, or fear, of the condemned. That 
 is obviously a mistake, so far as such indications are 
 viewed with reference to the deterring influence of the 
 punishment on the commission of crime. The sole 
 question should be. Does it deter at the moment of 
 temptation or passion > 
 
 No one, I think, who has taken the trouble atten- 
 tively to read any graphic description of the bearing 
 and conduct of a mob at an execution, can seriously 
 believe that any good moral effect was ever produced 
 by such a revolting exhibition. This is, in truth, con- 
 ceded by the secret haste of the authorities, both in 
 the preparation, and the removal of every trace of the 
 disgusting sight.* 
 
 This fear might indeed influence the nervous and 
 the timid ; but such do not belong to the class of 
 persons who commit the crime of murder. Does the 
 pugilist or the bull-dog fear pain when he rushes to 
 the conflict? It is his glory to despise it. Does 
 familiarity with death, and carnage, ever tend to create 
 the fear of death .? We know that it has the contrary 
 effect. Ask the soldier, whom all admire, not only 
 for his courage, but his perfect readiness to meet 
 death. It cannot be supposed that the professed 
 criminal fosters a less desire for distinction among his 
 fellows than other men ; or that the reputation of 
 having died "|game," has not for him a sort of charm 
 
 * The introduction of semi-private, in the place of public execution, 
 since this paper was written, gives up, in truth, the argument of example. 
 
INEQUALITY OF THE DEATH PENALTY. 1 8 
 
 O 
 
 as being his only chance of heroism, and of immortality 
 from the dramatist, or Madame Tussaud ! 
 
 It is well known that forgery and other crimes 
 once capital have sensibly diminished since the sub- 
 stitution of transportation or penal servitude ; and 
 there can be no reasonable doubt that were imprison- 
 ment for Hfe resorted to for the worst of criminals — 
 a punishment which would be much more dreaded by 
 them than the present " swing " — the crime of murder 
 would also decrease, and the murderer no longer be a 
 hero. 
 
 The whole idea that capital punishment prevents 
 crime is a delusion ; the fear of the gallows does not 
 deter the brutal man from his. brutality. For the 
 large proportion of crimes committed in a state of 
 intoxication, no calculation on the part of the criminal 
 can be supposed. Although it be no legal defence, 
 the drunken man has, for the time, lost his reason as 
 much as the lunatic. Such, indeed, may, and doubt- 
 less often do, fear the punishment of death when the 
 penalty is about to be incurred, and hence it is evident 
 that this seemingly impartial punishment is really 
 extremely partial in its operation. The cold-blooded, 
 calculating, and brutal murderer glories in fearlessly 
 paying the stake which he has at length forfeited 
 when the " luck " has turned against him ; whilst the 
 wretch who, inoffensive when sober, has sacrificed his 
 own life with that of another, during the frenzy of 
 possibly unwilling intoxication, recoils from his more 
 cruel doom with shrieks of despair. It will hardly be 
 said that every foolish man, who is tempted to enter 
 a public house, has the fear of the gallows before his 
 eyes, for such an assertion would be simply absurd. 
 
 In a paper on capital punishment, Mr. Commis- 
 sioner Phillips observes that Bacon, Beccaria, Franklin, 
 
184 ALTERNATIVE INCARCERATION SUGGESTED. 
 
 Robert Hall, and Bentham agreed in this opinion ; and 
 he quotes the following from the Earl of Derby, in 
 a speech on the Indian Sepoy atrocities : " It is clear 
 that when a man, from the mouth of the cannon from 
 which he is to be blown, boasts that he has killed 
 three or four Englishmen, death, by a sudden blow 
 has no terrors for him, and that he is most probably 
 looked upon rather as a hero than a criminal by his 
 vile associates. I, my Lords, would inflict upon these 
 men a doom far worse than death : I mean a pro- 
 tracted life, with the brand of Cain upon their brow. 
 A life embittered by severe, by degrading, and by 
 painful labour, would be a far worse punishment than 
 death." 
 
 It has been objected by those in favour of capital 
 punishment, that their opponents have never suggested 
 a fitting alternative ; at least, in the case of murder. 
 On the one hand, solitary confinement involves a 
 mental torture which bears the semblance of cruelty ; 
 on the other (for transportation, or turning such con- 
 victs loose in any manner, is out of the question), that 
 mere comfortable incarceration would not be suffi- 
 ciently severe. May there not, however, be a middle 
 course .' There could be no difficulty in constructing 
 a prison with separate cells, the sides of which might 
 be open ironwork, so that, without actual contact, the 
 prisoners might converse with each other ; and danger 
 might be avoided by having passages between for the 
 warders, so that there should be a double division 
 between each neighbouring cell. 
 
 Suppose it were known that, once in such a cell, a 
 convict would never leave it alive — silently consigned 
 to a tomb of ignominy, and with far greater certainty 
 than at present, — might not the deterring influence be 
 correspondingly increased ? 
 
DEATH PUNISHMENT MOST UNCERTAIN. 1 85 
 
 For the maintenance of discipline, all that would 
 be necessary would be the provision of a small steam 
 engine connected with a water engine, and hose-pipe 
 which might be quickly directed against any refractory 
 convict. After one such infliction, the threat would 
 suffice. The cleansing of the cell floors might be 
 effected by the same means. 
 
 With respect to the reformation of the criminal, it 
 may be urged that the greater the guilt the more is 
 reformation and preparation for death required ; but 
 rude barbarians thought nothing of reformation, and 
 the fortnight, allowed by civilized barbarism, affords 
 but scant opportunity for the preparation needed in 
 the case of hardened g-iminality. 
 
 It is fairly argued that the best of punishments is 
 that which is most certain to follow the commission 
 of crime. But capital punishment is notoriously the 
 most uncertain ; so much so, that the numerous chances 
 of escape are reckoned on with confidence by those 
 who calculate at all in the matter ; for the increasing 
 unwillingness of juries to become instrumental in the 
 infliction of viblent death under any circumstances, 
 undoubtedly leads to the acquittal of many who would 
 otherwise meet with a righteous punishment. Juries 
 are not necessarily forsworn ; but whilst the two halves 
 of the conscience, as it were, are pulling in opposite 
 directions, — legal technicalities, the advocate's eloquent 
 threatenings of remorse, and innumerable doubts, are 
 too frequently permitted to turn the scale on the side 
 of mercy — the only way of escaping the pain to them- 
 selves of dooming a fellow-creature to death. 
 
 The death penalty is unalterable, and by the aid 
 of its unrelenting sternness, innocent men are some- 
 times sacrificed : if not murdered, at least offered up 
 at the shrine of human arrogance, which still presumes 
 
1 86 CONVICTION OF INNOCENT MEN. 
 
 upon a judicial infallibility so frequently proved to be 
 baseless : sacrificed by legal accident, it is true, and 
 therefore according to the authority of a late news- 
 paper correspondent,* they have suffered no wrong at 
 the hands of the public, the judge, the jury, the sheriff, 
 or the hangman ; but sacrificed still. 
 
 It has been asserted that when the late Sir Robert 
 Peel was at the Home Office, a sheriff of London, by 
 his individual exertions, proved the innocence of six 
 men who, in the space of seven months, had been 
 left for execution. What must have been the in- 
 ference, but that the condemnation of innocent men 
 is not an exceedingly rare occurrence .'' f 
 
 If the offences of which Mr. Barber, Mr. Bewicke, 
 Markham, etc., were wrongly convicted had been 
 punished capitally, of what use would have been the 
 subsequent discovery of their innocence ? 
 
 It may here be suggested that, where fresh 
 evidence points to an erroneous conviction for any 
 crime, the Secretary of State might be relieved from 
 much anxious responsibility if he had power to issue 
 a commission to re-try the case (say to three of the 
 judges without a jury), with power to confirm, reverse, 
 or vary the sentence ; or to award compensation for 
 the legal accident of unmerited ruin. 
 
 We cannot wonder that in these enlightened days 
 judges are overcome with emotion while assuming the 
 black cap, although, when old women were burned for 
 
 * During the discussion in the Times on Marlcham's case. 
 
 In the notorious case of the solicitor, Mr. Barber, erroneously con- 
 victed of forgery, had this miscarriage of justice occurred a few years 
 earlier, another legal murder would have been perpetrated; so that, 
 when his entire innocence was officially acknowledged by the Secretary 
 of State, no possiUe reparation could have been made. Whether 
 Mr. Barber, however, gained much by the fifteen years of bodily and 
 mental torture which he endured, might be questioned. 
 
 t See p. 48. 
 
ARGUMKNT FROM PENTATEUCH REFUTED. 1 87 
 
 witchcraft, and Tyburn numbered its victims by 
 scores, Sir Matthew Hale could pass sentence with 
 equanimity ; and the brutal mob were more concerned 
 to enjoy their favourite spectacle, than to inquire into 
 the guilt or innocence of those who suffered. 
 
 It is curious that the chief defence of this truly 
 barbarous custom should be derived from the law of 
 murder laid down in the Pentateuch, which most 
 certainly long since became obsolete, as far as 
 Christians are concerned. To Noah it was declared, 
 " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his 
 blood be shed ; " which in England is read as a 
 command, but in Ireland as the mere statement of 
 a fact. Granting, for the sake of argument, that the 
 rendering of the Hebrew be correct (which is dis- 
 puted), the analogous declaration of Christ to St. 
 Peter, " They that take the sword shall perish with 
 the sword," has never been interpreted as a command. 
 Nor would the fact, if it were so, of such a law having 
 been prescribed for the immediate descendants of 
 Noah, render it valid for all time, because that argu- 
 ment would make death imperative (as given by 
 Moses) for many other crimes — e.g. for adultery, 
 which, however, was abrogated by the simple direc- 
 tion, " Let him that is without sin among you, first 
 cast a stone at her." Although the Lawgiver of the 
 New Dispensation was never called on to decide upon 
 the proper punishment for murder, we, at all events, 
 know that He did not call down fire from heaven to 
 consume the murderer of His forerunner, John the 
 Baptist. 
 
 Thus, it is insisted that the whole tendency of 
 the Scriptures, and especially of the New Testament, 
 is opposed to the continuance of a practice fit only 
 for early barbarians ; and that it is manifestly wrong 
 
1 88 JEWISH LAW NOT BINDING ON US. 
 
 to take away the life which God alone can give, and 
 has given, and which God also can Himself require at 
 any moment. " Vengeance is Mine ; I will repay it, 
 saith the Lord." 
 
 If the strict observance of the Jewish Law be really 
 obligatory upon Christians, how many of such Divine 
 commands distinctly broken will our beloved Queen, 
 and numerous Secretaries of State, who have used the 
 prerogative of mercy, have to answer for ! What, at 
 the same time, becomes of the judgment upon the first 
 murderer, on whom a mark was set for his special pro- 
 tection against a violent death from the vengeance of 
 man .'' 
 
 Again, if one portion of the Israelitish Law is to 
 be observed by Christians, so must all ; and every 
 blasphemer, and every adulterer, and every stubborn 
 son, and every sabbath-breaker, who only lights a fire, 
 should be stoned ; but it is conceived that even the 
 strictest of modern Sabbatarians would hardly wish to 
 put in operation these customs of the Jews. 
 
 Among English Christians, even blasphemy, when 
 punished at all, is rarely visited with a severer penalty 
 than five shillings. " But I say unto you that ye 
 resist not evil ; " " Swear not at all ; " " The sabbath 
 was made for man ; " " Let him that is without sin 
 among you first cast a stone," etc., are not usually 
 regarded in this country as having become quite a 
 dead letter ; yet they must be so, if " Eye for eye," 
 " Tooth for tooth," " Blood for blood," still remain. 
 
 The Israelites could no more resort to prisons in 
 the desert, than could the British for the confinement 
 of all the Indian mutineers. But surely, had there 
 been no Christian Dispensation, it would require con- 
 siderable ingenuity, even from a Rabbi Scribe, to 
 prove that laws laid down for a rude age, or for a 
 
FEELING AGAINST DEATH PENALTY. 1 89 
 
 migrating people upwards of three thousand three 
 hundred years ago, were ever intended as a Code for 
 all time, among a settled people under a high state 
 of civilization ! 
 
 With most men there can be no doubt upon this 
 question. But, suppose there were, shall we continue 
 to give every rascal the too full benefit of the doubt 
 with reference to his individual guilt, yet withhold the 
 benefit of a far more reasonable doubt from the entire 
 class of the convicted in the matter of punishment, 
 when, from the irreparable nature of the penalty, such 
 inexpedient consequences on the one hand, and such 
 frightful consequences on the other, from time to 
 time ensue ? The thing is monstrous. 
 
 In truth, the argument derived from the Old 
 Testament writings is a mere sham ; worse than an 
 idle, red-tape, political excuse to avoid assuming the 
 responsibility of making a great change in our criminal 
 code, in the face of the apathy which appears to prevail 
 on the subject. 
 
 Yet I believe that in this case the apathy is more 
 apparent than real ; and that every tolerably en- 
 lightened Englishman would hail the entire abolition 
 of this barbarism as a blessing. Certainly all persons 
 living within the sound of the execution bell, and who 
 are thus liable to be powerfully affected for a con- 
 siderable time by the sickening horror which, they 
 cannot avoid feeling conscious, is being perpetrated 
 near them, on every fresh erection of the gallows. 
 
I go A BATTLING LIFE. — FUGITIVE PAPERS. 
 
 THE INSIDIOUS "RED-TAPE" SYSTEM IN 
 ENGLAND— 1870-80. 
 
 Most forms of government are, in general, pretty 
 well understood. The school-boy is instructed as to 
 the differences between monarchial, aristocratic, and 
 republican forms. There is, however, a system of 
 government prevalent in England, perhaps to a 
 greater extent than in any other country, viz. the 
 "Red-tape" system. This system of Red-tape is, 
 commonly, very little understood. It is enveloped in 
 mystery. Neither the Sovereign, the Lords, the 
 Commons, nor the masses, seem able to make head or 
 tail of it ; yet they are all, each in turn, ruled by its 
 irresistible sway. More potent than anything in the 
 world are the bonds of Red-tape. Consequently all 
 bow down before it. The peer truckles to it ; the 
 member of Parliament, with few exceptions, runs after 
 it ; and, although each affects to despise its influence, 
 almost all of them fall down and worship this supreme 
 idol. 
 
 We propose briefly to discuss the merits of Red- 
 tape. What, then, is this mighty power ? The system 
 has, in one sense, been very aptly described as the art 
 of spoiling paper ; for the tons of thick foolscap wasted 
 by its votaries, in the effort to kill time, are in- 
 calculable. But it would be more correct to designate 
 this power as one simply of money — the " Golden 
 
OUR OFFICIAL SYSTEM CONSIDERED. 19I 
 
 Calf "^a vast system worked and kept in motion by 
 a class of gentlemen whom we call " officials," chiefly 
 the lesser lights, who dispense as large a share as 
 possible of the gigantic revenues of the State for their 
 own and their friends' advantage. Their chief care is 
 at all times to secure their own power, which equally 
 means their own pockets ; and for this purpose, to 
 prevent others from sharing either the power or the 
 plunder. In, other words, the business of their lives 
 appears to be : (i) how to fleece the tax-paying com- 
 munity in the handsomest manner ; (2) " how not to 
 do it," as Charles Dickens has phrased it — i.e. how the 
 business of the State may be hindered and disturbed 
 so as to be creating incessant calls for something to 
 be done, which may increase their own importance 
 when, if it ever be, accomplished, though it ought to 
 have been done quietly and efficiently by them long 
 before ; and (3) how to prevent earnest and honest 
 reformers from either getting a footing within their 
 sacred precincts, or from acquiring any adequate share 
 of credit for any labour or improvement, which such 
 men may initiate or carry out. The result is, that we 
 have a set of well-paid idle men, fattening on the taxes 
 of the kingdom ; whilst at the same time there are 
 numbers of hard-working benefactors of their race 
 starving on the hope that their just claims, which 
 every one recognizes, may be one day acknowledged. 
 In each of these latter cases, lucky is the man if com- 
 pensation arrive, at length, before the grave. 
 
 We proceed to consider the foundation on which 
 Red-tapery rests. The ministers of the Crown are 
 each placed at the head of an office, in which are 
 found men who, knowing how things in the depart- 
 ment have been managed hitherto, are naturally relied 
 on by each new chief on most matters with which he 
 
192 THE OFFICIAL NATURALLY SELFISH. 
 
 may have to be therein concerned. And this more 
 especially since, in the midst of the multitude of his 
 other duties — real and important State affairs, attend- 
 ance on the sovereign, the midnight labours of the 
 parliamentary session, the private affairs of men of 
 large estate, etc. — he is glad of as much relief as 
 possible. It is evident that on these small official 
 matters the great man will seldom, if ever, take the 
 initiative : he will stir in nothing which is not brought 
 to his notice, which is not, as it were, forced upon 
 him. Another phase of the system which helps to 
 keep such men in ignorance is, that a statesman 
 seldom holds the same office twice ; there are excep- 
 tions, but this is the case as a rule ; so that the average 
 duration of a Government being short, and at every 
 change a new head, introduced, never having had any 
 previous insight into the working of the department, 
 it 'follows that this head is perpetually in the hands of 
 his " tail." He is led by his " tail ; " he must lean upon 
 and be guided by his " tail ; " and, therefore, he must 
 necessarily stand by his " tail ; " nay, he must defend 
 his " tail " against all assaults. 
 
 Granting, then, that it is the primary business of 
 Red-tape to secure individual power and pay, suppose 
 an official to be underworked, is it his business to say 
 so ? Suppose he be overpaid, is it his business to 
 complain .? Take the converse : suppose a deserving 
 brother, in another department, be overtaxed or in- 
 adequately remunerated, will it form any part of the 
 underworked and overpaid to meddle with other 
 people's concerns, and help the oppressed to obtain 
 justice.? He will naturally prefer to enjoy his own 
 privileges, and be thankful. He may possibly soon 
 require all his influence to effect some little advantage 
 for himself; or, if there be no chance of that, he may 
 
PUBLIC BURDENS EVER INCREASING. 1 93 
 
 have a relative to provide for or oblige. Why, then, 
 should he interfere with the concerns of those whom 
 he cares nothing about .■' For instance, it would have 
 been quite too much to expect from the permanent 
 heads of the Admiralty, who recently got ^^"300, ;£'400, 
 i^Soo a year added to their previous salaries, that they 
 should intercede for the five thousand dockyard artisans 
 lately discharged by our Government, or the three 
 thousand just then being expatriated (by those suc- 
 cessors taking credit for having reduced the estimate 
 by the saving on the whole lot) — whose places, how- 
 ever, it is now found necessary to again supply, whilst 
 the increased salaries remain. Neither would the 
 learned parliamentary draughtsrnan, previously re- 
 ceiving ;£^2000 a year for drawing bills for Government, 
 have his rest much disturbed by the starving of a few 
 clerks, whilst an extra .£^1000 a year was being tacked 
 on to his already over-estimated pay, by his " eco- 
 nomical " friends. 
 
 Members of Parliament are always complaining 
 that the public burdens are ever on the increase, yet 
 they seem powerless to check the increase ; being, in 
 the first place, ignorant of the causes, and, in the second 
 place, oftentimes far too subservient to men of influence 
 — though of the backstairs description — who may 
 oblige them with scraps of information, or crumbs of 
 patronage. It would not be polite, in these days of 
 fastidiousness, to say or do anything of a disagreeable 
 nature, in respect of any gentleman occupying a com- 
 fortable pecuniary position ! For this reason, the 
 well-paid Government civil servant is rarely attacked : 
 his office is as good as a freehold. There are, however, 
 every now and then, a few temporary small-fry, a 
 class of useful men always held in reserve by Red- 
 tape, who may be attacked with impunity by able 
 
 O 
 
T94 THE STAFF AVERSE TO NEW DUTIES. 
 
 financiers to make a show of economy. Sliabbiness 
 towards these may indicate official vigilance. They 
 are, perhaps, men provisionally employed, or appointed 
 to do the work which should have been done by the 
 permanent official. For example, an Act of Parlia- 
 ment is passed imposing a new duty on some special 
 department. It is immediately discovered that the 
 gentlemen in the office («>. the permanent staff) are 
 already burdened with labour to their fullest powers. 
 They may arrive at twelve o'clock and leave at four, 
 and read the newspaper in the meantime ; but it is 
 not possible to get through any more work, so some 
 new hands must be found to execute the new duties ; 
 and the great man at the head of the department is 
 persuaded to oblige some hangers-on, by applying to 
 the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury, 
 for their gracious sanction to the payment of temporary 
 officers to perform the newly required labour. Such 
 new men must be qualified by age and experience, as 
 well as education, to carry out the requirements of 
 Parliament ; but, inasmuch as they are to be tem- 
 porarily employed and worked hard, a tithe of the 
 emolument enjoyed by their idle, because fixed, 
 patrons will be sufficient to remunerate them ; and 
 when, some ten, fifteen, or twenty years after, the 
 need of their services is no longer felt, or the pressure 
 for economy on the part of some busy member has 
 been greater than usual, such men may be quietly 
 dismissed, with the comfortable assurance that, having 
 spent the best part of their lives in the public service, 
 they have no claim for compensation or continuance 
 in office ; because their appointments were merely 
 temporary, and their claims cannot be regarded in any 
 way as resembling those of the permanently appointed 
 servants of the Crown, who have done nothing. A 
 
NUMEROUS SINECURE OFFICES. 1 95 
 
 few hundreds, therefore, disappear from the estimates 
 as a proof of the extreme parsimony of the guardians 
 of the Exchequer ; whilst the numerous unnecessary- 
 thousands, which appear permanently to impoverish 
 the tax-payer, pass unchallenged ; and now and then 
 a fresh and heinous job is thrust in under cover of 
 some economy in the shape of the most oppressive 
 injustice. In this it is the rotten System which is 
 mainly in fault. 
 
 There are numerous sinecure offices ; as, for 
 example, the appointment denominated, " The Lord 
 Privy Seal," with practically no duties. The nobleman 
 who happens to hold this post being provided with a 
 comfortable office, deigns to look in for an hour 
 occasionally, which helps to relieve him from the 
 tedium of existence. Nobody thinks of abolishing 
 this sinecure, because the salary is i^2000 a year, and 
 " the dignity of the Crown must be maintained." It 
 is also an agreeable piece of patronage for a Prime 
 Minister ; and what parliamentary leader of the Oppo- 
 sition may not hope to be himself in office with the 
 power of conferring such a coveted favour .■■ As the 
 establishment of this sinecurist only costs another 
 ;^iooo, it is hardly worth while to notice the four 
 officers who get it. They have, doubtless, some trifling 
 duties in waiting on the great man. This is one 
 specimen ; there are others of a similar kind, for 
 no valuable sinecure is ever surrendered without a 
 struggle.* 
 
 * The noble " Master of the Buckhounds," with ;^i75o a year, for 
 instance, who, in the absence of royal forests, is forced to uphold the 
 glory of royalty — and the royal sport which royalty seldom honours 
 with its presence — by diligently spoiling the poor farmer's crops, in 
 following a carted stag, which is duly returned to the cart when captured, 
 to be petted, together with hounds, horses, huntsmen, and all the rest 
 of this royal estabhshment, . out of the tax-payer's pocket. And what 
 
196 DEPUTY CLERK TO THE COUNCIL. 
 
 Occasionally a pretence is made to abolish such a 
 piece of patronage, but it is seldom real. There is at 
 the Privy Council an officer called the Clerk to the 
 Council, whose business it is to attend her Majesty 
 when sitting in Council, and to sign the orders passed 
 thereat. The Privy Council meets on an average 
 about once a month, and sits probably half an hour at 
 a time. The salary of this onerous office is ;£^I200 a 
 year. Many years ago, it was discovered to be highly 
 dangerous to be obliged to depend on the convenience 
 of a single clerk to perform these high duties, and 
 therefore a second was appointed of equal dignity, and 
 paid an equal salary. This was felt to be a scandal by 
 a subsequent Government, and it was accordingly 
 arranged that on the next vacancy the second clerk- 
 ship should not be filled up : that there should be but 
 one. But the Government changed before the death 
 of the senior clerk, and, when that event happened, 
 another was about to be appointed. The late Lord 
 Derby, then leader of the Opposition, however, feeling 
 that he would himself have been barred by the 
 arrangement made when he was in office, felt himself 
 bound to resist the job by his successors. The ap- 
 pointment was not made ; but mark what did take 
 place. The chief clerk in the Council-office was made 
 "deputy clerk to the Council," so that he might act 
 for the Clerk to the Council in case of emergency, 
 forsooth ! and a snug little addition was made to his 
 salary to compensate him for the occasional hardship 
 of a holiday to Windsor or Osborne, so as to bring it 
 up to iTiioo a year. Of course an additional junior 
 clerk could easily be added to the establishment, so 
 
 shall we say of the "Lord Lieutenant's Court," with ;£'20,ooo a 
 year for the Viceroy's own share, and a great deal more for his house- 
 hold? 
 
TEMPORARY SERVICE POORLY PAID. I97 
 
 that the saving would be the least possible. This is 
 but another specimen of " economy." 
 
 The Clerk to the Council is a covenanted officer, 
 as such are called in India — i.e. the appointments 
 are made for life. The salary must be maintained : 
 whether there be any work or no, is of little con- 
 sequence. It is very different, as has been said, 
 with the uncovenanted or temporary officer. Then 
 the rule appears to be that brains and labour are to 
 be supplied ; shabbiness and injustice, the reward : 
 complaint being stifled by hope, which, it need hardly 
 be said, is ever forlorn. 
 
 We knew a professional man, of middle age, who 
 accepted a temporary appointment, to carry out the 
 provisions of a new Act of Parliament, under the 
 delusion that he should get fair treatment from a 
 British Government. He was placed in a separate 
 office, as a branch of the superior department, which 
 should have done the work ; and therefore had the sole 
 responsibility of correspondence, accounts, expenditure, 
 and administration. Yet he was paid just one quarter 
 of the salary received by clerks in the superior office, 
 whose only duty is to put into the shape of letters the 
 minutes of the head of the department — mere machine- 
 work, in fact ; and at the end of some dozen years, 
 when the temporary work in question was done, this 
 so far responsible public servant was politely informed 
 that his services were no longer required ; that he had 
 no claim for continuation or compensation ; and he 
 found that the best years of his life being now over, 
 he might take up his profession as best he could. 
 
 It is obvious to every intelligent and fair-dealing 
 person that temporary employment should be more 
 highly paid than permanent — that hard work should 
 be better remunerated than light work ; that the man 
 
1 98 HIGHLY PAID OFFICERS* PENSIONS. . 
 
 who has employed both head and experience in 
 accomplishing public improvements, should be more 
 entitled to pension or compensation for loss of office 
 after such real service, than a mere element of i"outine : 
 but by the rule of " Red-tape " the contrary is the 
 case in each instance. 
 
 There is, however, an important exception to the 
 rule, that temporary officers are not entitled to pension 
 or compensation, or have no claim for further employ- 
 ment, which should be paramount over nepotism or 
 political interest. This exception is in the case of the 
 high officers of State — those which are best paid. If, 
 for instance, a Secretary of State, or Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer with ;£'5,ooo a year, holds office for two 
 years, he may claim ir2,000 a year pension for the 
 remainder of his days. Moreover, his services may 
 be in detached bits. Fourteen months under one 
 Government will be added to ten months under 
 another Government, though several years intervene, 
 to make up the two years and establish the claim. 
 This has not only been done, but actually contrived 
 between the ins and the outs within living memory. 
 And then it was the economical Whigs, who meekly 
 took credit for forbearing to turn out their Tory 
 friends, until the pensions afterwards fully enjoyed 
 had been secured. 
 
 A secretary to the Treasury becomes entitled to 
 ;£'i,200 a year pension after five years' service in like 
 manner ; and the very first measure on the accession 
 of a so-called " economical " Government was an Act 
 to add to the number of political offices to the holders 
 of which such liberal pensions should attach ; but no 
 humble civil servant has any pension unless he have 
 served at least ten years continuously in a permanent 
 appointment. Temporary or disjointed labours give 
 
INSPECTORS' ACCOUNTS UNCHECKED. 1 99 
 
 him no claim, because the amount would be small. 
 At the other end of the stick- the pension is readily- 
 granted, because, as it would seem, the amount is 
 large, and perhaps because the recipient, in most 
 cases, does not really need it. So much for the 
 economy, consistency, and justice of Red-tape. 
 
 One explanation why the abuses perpetrated by, 
 or on behalf of, persons high in office have not been 
 reformed, may be found in the delicacy of Red-tape ; 
 for the extreme delicacy of the genus towards the well- 
 paid official is something truly wonderful. Nothing 
 improper can be seen, or even suspected, in reference 
 to those on the upper half of the ladder ; so that it is 
 comparatively an easy matter to effect a job, if it only 
 be sufficiently large, and perpetrated by a man of 
 position. In such a case the mischief is done before 
 danger is suspected, and being accomplished, the eyes 
 of official gentility are more firmly closed than ever. 
 It is the chief business of the statesman to defend 
 what is done : therefore, he never sees anything wrong ; 
 he could not imagine it possible that an improper 
 proceeding can have taken place. To take the lowest 
 example of this delicacy, the case of inspectors, em- 
 ployed by the day, and paid by fees, may be instanced. 
 These gentlemen send in diaries of their employment, 
 which are never checked by anybody, except to see 
 that the calculations and castings are correct. It 
 would be quite below the dignity of a well-paid secre- 
 tary to look into such a matter ; and for an ill-paid 
 clerk to presume to question the need of the alleged 
 employment, or the truth of alleged statements by 
 a superior, would be reckoned a piece of gross insub- 
 ordination. Such an inspector, according to the 
 elasticity of his conscience, may, therefore, easily find 
 himself employment for every day in the year ; and 
 
200 IGNORANCE OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 when, as is often the case, it be thought cheaper to 
 pay a fixed annual salary, at a somewhat lower rate 
 per day, the same man may do next to nothing. 
 Here is a direct encouragement to dishonesty. What 
 private business could prosper carried on in such a 
 way as this ? 
 
 To say that members of Parliament should dis- 
 cover and expose the many varieties of Red-tape 
 impropriety, would be to suppose that gentlemen who 
 are sent to the House of Commons generally, are 
 acquainted with what goes on behind the scenes. 
 But the contrary is most notoriously the case. The 
 juvenile lordling, or born statesman of one-and-twenty, 
 who never had anything to do with business, and 
 never intends to have more to do with it than he can 
 help, cannot possibly know aught of these things. 
 The country squire, wealthy and wanting nothing— 
 the "representative of the respect with which he is 
 regarded in his county, and far above suspicion of 
 dishonesty in himself or others — can know nothing 
 about them, and little even of the tricks of party. The 
 astute lawyer, full of his clients' contentions and his 
 increasing fees, may, indeed, see through the shallow- 
 ness of chicanery practised by Red-tapists and 
 politicians ; but he has no time to engage in what 
 might be termed official prudery, and knows too well 
 that the prizes to which he himself aspires, are only 
 to be gained by standing well with Red-tape. The 
 sons of Neptune and of Mars, who have served their 
 country well enough to gain seats, have been, from 
 their youth, surrounded by the very atmosphere of 
 Red-tape, and would as soon think of flying, as of 
 existing without it. The merchant prince not only 
 has more on his hands than he can well manage out 
 of the House ; but having, through life, conducted his 
 
HARMONIOUS WORKING OF " INS AND OUTS. 201 
 
 own affairs on a principle totally opposite to that 
 which we are now discussing, simply looks on in 
 wonder, and will not profess to understand it. Here 
 and there may be found a member of more than 
 ordinary sagacity and independence ; but he breathes 
 a tainted atmosphere, and, if not otherwise affected, 
 the winning politeness of a " whipper-in," the atten- 
 tions of the Court, an office given to a relative entirely 
 on account of his great abilities (though such have 
 remained long undiscovered under other circum- 
 stances), insures his silence, or induces him to endure 
 the ambient evils with a sigh of resignation. 
 
 The consequence of this state of things is, that all 
 the public business is snugly managed between the 
 noble lords and right honourable gentlemen who 
 occupy the Treasury, and fi'ont Opposition, benches. 
 Those who are fortunate enough to hold the seats of 
 power at present know too well that their business is 
 to defend, and justify, and excuse anything and 
 everything put into their hands by the Red-tapists 
 who pull the strings in their offices. Those who 
 anticipate the arrival of their own turn at no very 
 distant day (they " are saved by hope ") are generally 
 too polite to quarrel with anything which may then 
 be found comfortable, useful, and convenient. Nor 
 will they be too scrupulous in the allowance of official 
 jobs which, by the time they be completed, may haply 
 fall to their own patronage. As a rule, therefore, the 
 two political families, in all that concerns Red-tape 
 and the pocket of the suffering tax-payer, work most 
 harmoniously together. 
 
 Occasionally Red-tape becomes an engine for 
 working the most monstrous injustice, and it may be 
 made a very potent instrument of oppression. In no 
 part of the pubhc service is this evil more felt than in 
 
202 A COURT-MARTIAL MOCKERY. 
 
 the army. There an ill-conditioned fellow, aided by 
 a due modicum of cunning, may safely play the bully, 
 and wreak his vengeance on his inferiors in rank, 
 though superior to himself in mental and moral en- 
 dowments, with singular impunity. 
 
 A few years since was seen a solemn farce enacted, 
 as if to make a mockery of justice, in the trial by 
 court-martial of an officer in command, for persecuting 
 to the death a model soldier ; the sole motive for which 
 appeared to be the desire to crush a subaltern officer 
 by illegal means. This attempt failed through the 
 intervention of the authorities at head-quarters — but 
 in the meantime the illegally oppressed soldier was 
 sacrificed.. The delinquent, by ex parte statements 
 behind the back of his victim, had contrived to procure 
 from his own local superiors written orders for an 
 arrest. Sheltered by these the remainder was easy. 
 The articles of war were violated, tyranny was exer- 
 cised without stint, and but that public attention was 
 called to this iniquity, the death of the victim would 
 have concluded the tragedy. 
 
 It became, however, necessary to allay the popular 
 indignation. This was the business of Red-tapists. 
 Punishment for the crime which had been committed 
 was little thought of by them. A court was con- 
 stituted of officers all of equal or superior rank to the 
 so-called prisoner. Charges were framed so as to 
 leave the chief points untouched, every kind of slander 
 was allowed to be heaped on the character of the 
 deceased (who was practically, therefore, as much on 
 his trial as the pretended prisoner), yet there was no 
 member of the court to watch over his reputation. 
 The witnesses, necessarily of inferior rank to the 
 accused, feeling that they also (as the event proved) 
 were practically on their trial, though also unprotected 
 
THE SOVEREIGN NOT APPROACHABLE. 203 
 
 by the constitution of the court, gave their evidence 
 with reluctance, evidently knowing more in several 
 particulars than they dared to say ; yet they were 
 allowed to be bullied with impunity, and afterwards 
 actually punished for their animus in telling so much 
 of the truth as could be drawn from them ; and the 
 actor who played the part of the criminal on his trial 
 was acquitted, "fully acquitted," "fully and honour- 
 ably acquitted," and his expenses subsequently paid 
 by the Government ! Had the dead man been living, 
 and on his trial, justice would have required that he 
 should be tried by his equals — at least that some of 
 these should have formed the court. In like manner, 
 had the witnesses been tried — which they should have 
 been before being punished — they, also, would have 
 found a due proportion of their equals among their 
 judges. But Red-tape so contrived the matter that 
 the injured dead, and the living witnesses, should all 
 be tried at one and the same time, by the equals and 
 superiors of the triumphant culprit. Thus tyranny is 
 upheld by fresh oppression. Acknowledged wrong 
 had been done, but all the doers were held to have 
 done right. They who objected to the wrong were 
 held to have been wrong themselves, and punished 
 accordingly — British tax-payers included, who dared 
 to be indignant, and must pay for their impertinent 
 indignation. Red-tape smiles blandly that her bands 
 are strengthened.* 
 
 * A despotic sovereign is the fountain of justice within the dominion, 
 and may redress any wrong committed by a powerful subject, on 
 receiving a petition from the oppressed; but, in England, Red tape 
 has absolutely reduced the sovereign to a cypher. A memorial to the 
 Queen can only be presented by a Secretary of State, who has most 
 probably inflicted, or permitted, without due inquiry, the injustice 
 complained of. Such an officer naturally declines to present an appeal 
 against himself; and following the invariable rule of Red-tape, he will, 
 
204 MERIT WITHOUT INFLUENCE UNAVAILING. 
 
 From this, and numerous other examples which 
 might be given, it may be seen that, in the military 
 service, injustice is enforced by tyranny, from which 
 redress from officials is hopeless. 
 
 In the Civil Service, injustice is worked chiefly by 
 neglect of well-merited claims, etc. There is ample 
 scope for jobbery in either the civil or military service. 
 When the command of a regiment falls in, the chances 
 are a hundred to one that a member of the aristocracy, 
 not above asking, or an officer whose friends possess 
 strong political influence, will be selected, though ten 
 men of superior service-claims be passed by. But 
 then, if the appointment be criticised, the very dis- 
 tinguished services of the appointee will be paraded 
 and trumpeted with a perfect roar of indignation ; all 
 of which is, of course, perfectly beside the question, 
 the fact being that double such distinguished service 
 without interest, would not have procured him the 
 post : because, as the fact is, four times the merit 
 failed to secure the reward for an officer with less 
 influence. Sir William Napier, the historian of the 
 Peninsular War, by the neglect with which his claims 
 were treated, long afforded an example of this nature. 
 
 In the Civil Service, if the prizes falling in be not 
 sufficiently numerous, a job may occasionally be 
 created anew, and sometimes a meritorious public 
 servant may be cold-shouldered out, that another may 
 be jobbed in. 
 
 unless a heaven-born statesman, refuse, whatever his opinion may be, 
 to interfere in matters on which action has been taken by a predecessor. 
 The despot would, no doubt, consult with, or direct inquiry by, his 
 minister, before acting in any case ; but Red-tape prescribes that the 
 minister must first decide whether his advice shall be sought. The 
 sovereign is therefore unapproachable, and the fountain of justice is 
 sapped by the petty rulers, who, in their several departments, usurp 
 a power, which, like all other usurpation, invariably leads to tyranny. 
 
THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT JOB. 205 
 
 Perhaps the most flagrant case of this latter kind 
 which has occurred within living memory, was the 
 Medical-Department-of-the- Privy-Council job. Here, 
 in the first place, a true physician, who founded 
 the " Board of Health," had accomplished what few 
 leaders of a national mind have succeeded in doine — 
 i.e. he lived to see the doctrines which he promul- 
 gated so thoroughly instilled into the public mind, so 
 thoroughly passed beyond the fashionable phase, that 
 it would have been considered a disgrace by an in- 
 telligent artisan or labourer even to dispute the value 
 and importance of the truths he taught. Superstition 
 and ignorance, regarding the rules of health, had 
 combined with poverty to huddle families into the 
 smallest space, thus destroying every feeling of 
 modesty, undermining health, and shortening life. 
 Enlightened philosophy was roused by his labours, 
 to save the moral character of the country from ruin ; 
 and health — the greatest boon man can enjoy — from 
 premature decay. How, then, was this great reformer 
 treated by Red-tape for having relinquished other 
 important positions and a good professional practice, 
 and devoting himself to the work of Government ? 
 An Act was passed to effect a change, under which 
 a legal colleague who had influence in Parliament, 
 and used it, was secured a pension of i^iooo a year, 
 he having been in the covenanted service before his 
 appointment to the higher ofifice — though never having 
 had a private practice to relinquish, he never sacrificed 
 anything but his time to earn his salary. But the 
 philanthropic originator of sanitary reform, though he 
 had given up a profession and other emoluments on 
 taking office, having been appointed only a few years, 
 was therefore " uncovenanted," and left to the tender 
 mercies of Red-tape — to the Treasury. And what 
 
206 COMPARATIVE REWARD OF VICE AND VIRTUE. 
 
 did " my Lords " propose to do for him ? Why, to 
 give him one year's salary, and send him about his 
 business ! They not long after awarded a military 
 medical chief, who, like the lawyer, had never re- 
 linquished anything, and whose mismanagement and 
 tyrannical conduct had sacrificed very many lives in 
 the East, a pension of ;£'i200 a year, because he had 
 received pay for forty years ! * But the sanitary chief 
 — the benefactor not of armies only, but of the entire 
 human family — was to be sufficiently compensated for 
 his invaluable services, and professional losses, by one 
 single gratuity of iT 1200. This intention, after strong 
 pressure by humble friends out of doors, was changed 
 to a pension of .^300 a year ! Vice may be well paid, 
 but virtue, truly, is its own reward ! 
 
 That eminent man had no sooner been got rid 
 of, than " Red-tape " again, under the auspices of 
 "economy," appointed a medical officer at £1^00 a 
 year ; and subsequently, having abolished the " Board 
 of Health," on the plea of economy, transferred its 
 sanitary powers under the Nuisances Act (and such 
 powers as then existed have never been put in opera- 
 tion from that day to this) to the Privy Council. The 
 same pet medical officer was handed over with the 
 "powers ! " and authority given him to appoint in- 
 spectors at £^ 3i-. a day ; t and their united sole work 
 has been to sap the first principle of Nature and " the 
 liberty of the subject," — i.e. the natural right of parents 
 to protect their offspring. 
 
 * See p. 77. 
 
 t The Act confirming this job is called (was it irony ?) " The Public 
 Health Act, 1858," by which the salary {£iSoo) was permanently fixed, 
 notwithstanding which, however, the "pay" was afterwards increased 
 to ;f 2000 ; and altogether the cost of the two Offices — Local Govern- 
 ment, and Medical Department of the P.C. — is about double the 
 expense of the Board of Health, out of which they were economized ! 
 (See page 80, et seq.). 
 
now PARLIAMENT IS HOODWINKED. 207 
 
 This medical officer case, indeed, affords a capital 
 illustration of how completely the great majority of 
 members of Parliament are in the hands of managing 
 officials ! The jobber presumes on his position to 
 push his object with the head of a department, who, 
 too delicate and confiding to look closely into the 
 matter, fails to see through the dust thus artfully 
 thrown in his eyes, and goes down to the House 
 prepared to repeat what he has learnt, after a due 
 modicum of " coaching ; " a bold colleague hazards 
 an assertion in support ; an objector, who knows not 
 the real facts, is satisfactorily answered in the opinion 
 of those who hear the by-play, but are even still less 
 informed on the matter ; and the House is committed 
 — ay, and commits the unhappy tax-payer, too — to 
 the perpetration of a flagrant job ! — the name given 
 to obtaining money under false pretences, on a 
 sufficiently genteel scale. 
 
 But why are members thus easily hoodwinked ? 
 The fact is, as we have before seen, that the business 
 of statesmanship is the only one which requires no 
 previous preparation. Any gentleman aspiring to 
 the honour, who is able to string a few sentences 
 together on the passing popular poHtical gossip, and 
 can afford to pay the expenses of an election, which 
 too often means, if properly expressed, to buy the 
 seat, goes straight to Parliament a ready-made states- 
 man ! — being, in truth, but another tool in the hands 
 of p.ed-tape. 
 
 Should the advent of real reform ever take place, 
 a different state of things may be brought about. 
 That real reform, we venture to assert, must begin 
 with the constituencies. When electors shall be in- 
 dependent enough to walk to the poll, or ride at their 
 own expense — when they shall be manly enough to 
 
208 EXAMINATION FOR CIVIL SERVICE NEEDLESS. 
 
 form and act upon their own judgment — when they 
 shall be honourable enough to unite in paying, out 
 of their own pockets, all inevitable charges of the 
 election, then will they, perhaps, trouble themselves 
 to find men competent to represent their interests in 
 Parliament — men who will go prepared to labour and 
 talk less about " the honour ! " An honour that is 
 purchased is no honour at all ! There can be no 
 confidence between the elector and the elected on 
 such terms. Each only endeavours to make the other 
 serve his own purpose, and the natural result is, as we 
 see, the continued glory of " Red-tape." 
 
 Any man, then, may, under favouring circumstances, 
 become a member of Parliament ! But when the 
 question is, How shall a clerk at £go a year be 
 selected ? the cry is for competitive examination. 
 The press echoes the popular cry ; sapient members 
 follow in the wake : and observe how Red-tape uses 
 them all for its own purposes ! Competitive examina- 
 tion for the Civil Service is gracefully conceded. It is 
 not, however, to be open to all comers, as the people 
 fancied ; deluded souls ! Oh, no ! There must be 
 first a nomination. The minister's patronage, and the 
 member's influence with hungry expectants, is actually 
 increased threefold. Three candidates are nominated 
 for a particular vacancy, and that one alone. Three 
 members are thus obliged, in lieu of one, as formerly ; 
 but the two rejected candidates have no more claim 
 for another chance than any other son of Ac^am. 
 Well, but then, "you get the best of the three." How 
 does that appear .' Are these candidates tested by 
 those who require their services, to see which is most 
 competent for the particular work to be done.' By 
 no means. The head of a department could not con- 
 descend to come in contact with the junior clerks. 
 
THE CRAMMED OFFICIAL. A DRUDGE. 209 
 
 Not even the great man's deputy to the third or 
 fourth degree would, at the Antipodes, did he 
 happen to meet so small a man in company with 
 one of the aborigines, have the least suspicion that 
 he had ever been in closer contact with the quondam 
 clerk than with the native ! Successful men of busi- 
 ness judge for themselves whether persons in their 
 employ are of use to them or not ; but it is far other- 
 wise with the Red-tapist. He has no interest in the 
 efficiency of those under him, and, therefore, as com- 
 petitive examination, after the pattern described, has 
 been determined on, there must be a special com- 
 mission to conduct it. A capital job is initiated, and 
 perhaps some of those who have helped, by their 
 writings, to gull the public, have their reward. 
 
 A snug new office is forthwith established, with 
 a commissioner, i^2000 a year ; a secretary, ;£'8oo ; 
 registrar, £600 ; examiner, .^700 ; assistant-examiner, 
 i^6oo ; six other assistant examiners, ;£'iSoo; with 
 fifteen clerks and other helpers, making a round total 
 of about i^pooo a year, besides office rent, stationery, 
 etc. ; and all for — Humbug ! (The total is probably 
 much more now, 1885.) 
 
 What, after all this parade, has the successful 
 candidate, when appointed, to do — say in the highest 
 departments under the Crown ? What has he to do ? 
 Just to label and put away papers, or copy letters 
 into a book : the merest machine drudgery — employ- 
 ment for which the only qualification needed is steady 
 patience under enforced idleness, or studied emptiness. 
 Had he to deliberate over the manufacture of laws, 
 or the important business of the nation, we have seen 
 what qualification would have sufficed. As it is, all 
 his " cramming " has been worse than thrown away, 
 for it actually unfits him to endure the drudgery re- 
 
 P 
 
2 10 EFFICIENT SERVICE OK LORD WESTBURY. 
 
 quired. He has been made an intelligent and thinking 
 man (unless it be all a farce), to be turned into a 
 machine the rest of his days. For though, once 
 appointed, his salary steadily increases till it becomes 
 monstrously out of all proportion to the work, the 
 nature of his routine duties remains much the same 
 to the end of the chapter. 
 
 It is easy for " Red-tape," backed by a venal press, 
 to accomplish a wholesale job like this ; but he must 
 be a bold man who can attack single-handed any 
 nest of officials once banded together by the lust of 
 plunder. Few men will attempt it, however great the 
 abuse, because there are few possessing sufficient self- 
 reliance and confidence in their own powers. Such 
 a man was found a few years since in Lord Westbury 
 who swept out the Augean stable of the old Bank- 
 ruptcy Court. It was indeed a Herculean labour, 
 and he succeeded in effecting his object ; but not 
 even the transcendent abilities of Lord Westbury 
 could supply forbearance to stand against the storm 
 that was raised against him, in consequence by the 
 ten thousand and one connections and friends of the 
 hungry animals who had inhabited that stable. A 
 base insinuation sufficed as an excuse for concocting 
 lie upon lie (long since proved to have been such, 
 but then reiterated and trumpeted on all sides by 
 interested press scribblers), until the noble lord was 
 goaded into the mistake of resigning — which was the 
 only mistake he made. 
 
 A certain sapient magazine ascribed the downfall 
 ■of Lord Westbury (as if such a man could have a 
 " downfall ") to the spite of those of his peers who had 
 felt the sting of his sarcasm ; but, whatever may be 
 the weaknesses of the House of Lords, none but a 
 child in intellect could think them guilty of : such 
 
. WORK OF A "CIRCUMLOCUTION OFFICE. 211 
 
 ■childishness as that. Some may have hated Lord 
 Westburyfor his contemptuous treatment of intellectual 
 mediocrity ; but what hate equals that of the wolf 
 despoiled of his prey, the robber deprived of his pelf ? 
 The libels and calumnies, heaped upon the greatest 
 lawyer among the Chancellors of Great Britain, were 
 solely attributable to the host of Red-tape enemies, 
 their fathers, sons, brothers, and cousins to the tenth 
 degree, who suffered justice by his reforms. And one 
 of the greatest weaknesses ever displayed by a new 
 Prime Minister was exhibited when, in constructing 
 the next Cabinet, the Woolsack was offered to another 
 man whilst there existed, already to hand, such a 
 Chancellor as Lord Westbury. 
 
 Because. extravagant salaries are paid in the public 
 offices, the House of Commons and the public are 
 persuaded into the belief, that veiy profound and 
 clever fellows are requisite to fill the posts. But let 
 us see the kind of work performed in a leading " Cir- 
 cumlocution Office." 
 
 A letter is received from Mr. Careful. It is opened, 
 ■stamped, and registered by a clerk, -whose salary is 
 £600 a year ; passed on to another, who endorses on 
 the back its date, name of writer, and the subject, 
 thus : " J. Careful draws attention to the fact that 
 certain abandoned mine shafts in Cornwall are left 
 unfenced." This is important work, and is paid for at 
 the rate of i^Soo a year. The letter is now ready for 
 perusal by the minister's deputy, parliamentary or 
 permanent, as the case may be — the one getting 
 £l$00 a year, the other £2000. This functionary 
 having read the endorsement, makes a minute, "qy., 
 Inspector for report," with his initials. The document 
 is next handed to the great man himself, at ;£^S000 a 
 year, who, glancing at the suggested minute, writes 
 
212 SPECIMEN OF STATE DEPARTMENT LABOUR. 
 
 " Yes," adding his initial. It is now sent to a head 
 clerk at £goo a year, who gravely indites a letter on 
 thick foolscap. " Sir, — I am directed by [setting 
 forth the minister's name and office] to transmit to 
 you the accompanying letter from Mr. Careful, calling 
 attention [here he copies the endorsement of the 
 subject], and to request that you will report thereon 
 for [the great man's] information." This having been 
 taken to the deputy for signature, is handed to a 
 junior clerk at ;^300 a year, who copies it in a book ; 
 another at the same salary, or ^50 less, puts it in a 
 cover and addresses it ; an office-keeper at ^^250 
 passes it on to a messenger at ;£^200, who, at his 
 leisure, delivers it to the inspector, paid £2, Z^. a day 
 when employed, or ;^8oo if paid by salary. 
 
 In due time Mr. Careful's letter is returned with a 
 report that the Act of such and such a title does not, 
 in the inspector's opinion, provide any remedy in the 
 case, and therefore the minister has no power to 
 interfere. The inspector's report having passed through 
 a like routine is duly minuted — "qy.. Inform him 
 accordingly," anji again, " Yes." After which Mr. Care- 
 ful receives the eagerly expected reply in the same 
 solemn form, acknowledging the receipt of his letter, 
 and stating that the great man "has no power to 
 interfere," 
 
 These valuable State papers having been carefully 
 labelled, and placed in a pigeon-hole by another 
 gentleman at ;^S50 a year, the business is ended. 
 (The ;£'90 or;£'iSO novitiates generally look on with 
 their hands in their pockets whilst these State pro- 
 ceedings are going on, or pull out the books and 
 papers, and copy the copies for their dignified 
 superiors.) 
 
 There may be three dozen such important affairs. 
 
BRAIN WORK LESS HIGHLY PAID. 213 
 
 of State daily; and, occasionally, on some question 
 that may have excited popular attention, and may be 
 mentioned in Parliament, the minister and his deputy 
 have to cudgel their brains to write a more lengthy 
 minute, which, in most cases, is required to perform 
 the double function of saying something and nothing 
 at one and the same time ; but the above is a fair 
 average specimen of the labour for which these high 
 salaries are paid, and in the few cases of difficulty 
 even, the work of the clerks is the same ; except that 
 of the chief clerk, whose business it is to pass the 
 inspector's accounts (though without any practical 
 check), and such little pecuniary matters, at ;^iooo a 
 year. 
 
 Then there are, of course, a variety of divisions of 
 business, requiring four or five senior clerks, with their 
 due proportion of juniors, who attend to as many 
 different branches or classes of communication ; also a 
 few private secretaries, entrusted with profound State 
 secrets — secrets not always of the purest water ; so 
 that the aggregate amount for the office will, perhaps, 
 be little short of ^^2 5,000 or ^30,000 a year, inde- 
 pendently of the various sets of inspectors at about 
 an equal sum, who could very well do more than all 
 the work without the circumlocution, if allowed by 
 ■Red-tape to do it. 
 
 This, of course, is a specimen of a superior depart- 
 ment. There are examples where real work is per- 
 formed at a reasonable rate ; as, for instance, the 
 Registrar- General, with no secretary or deputy, is 
 paid ^^1200; his chief clerk ^^600, rising to £Zoo; 
 senior clerks ^250 to ^350; juniors £\6o to £2ip, 
 €tc. The duties of these gentlemen require thought, 
 calculation, and patient industry; they must have 
 brains and they must use them, therefore they are not 
 
214 TREASURY DEPARTMENT SALARIES. 
 
 overpaid. This, however, is a comparatively new or 
 modern department ; but if they be paid enough, how 
 immensely are others overpaid, who, in comparison, 
 lead the most lazy lives ! 
 
 It would be easy to multiply instances of greed 
 and examples of jobbery ; and to tell of lamentable 
 blunders arising from sheer inefficiency : but it may 
 be mentioned that this inefficiency in upper well-paid 
 appointttients is not, any more than the stupidity and 
 blindness of members of Parliament, attributable to 
 the neglect of the Civil Service Commissioners ; for all 
 superior appointments require no examination, no 
 qualification, but the favour of the particular "Bar- 
 nacle " who has the patronage ; and we know, on high 
 authority, that "the Circumlocution Barnacles, who 
 are the largest jobmasters in the universe, always 
 pretend to know of no other job but the job imme- 
 diately in hand." 
 
 There is a gigantic department, whose business 
 professes to be to keep in check and override all the 
 rest ; it is the Treasury. Here there are sixty officials, 
 at an aggregate cost of ;£'s 2,000 a year. Twenty of 
 them receive from ;^5ooo to ;£'900 a year each,* and 
 their occupation is supposed to be that of preventing 
 the public exchequer from being plundered ! They 
 employ twenty-six messengers to wait upon them- 
 selves, and, as may be imagined, the amount of idle- 
 ness displayed amongst this over-bloated fraternity is. 
 something absolutely stupendous. Four, six, and even 
 eight months or more, will sometimes be required to 
 get a. letter "thrqugh" (as it is called) the Treasury; 
 for who would have the impudence to hurry such 
 powerful people, before whom whole tribes of ex- 
 pectants of every degree crawl to lick the dust ? 
 * Greatly increased since (see p. 124). 
 
THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION AUDIT. 215 
 
 Well, of course, such transcendent purists could 
 never soil the least of their fingers with a job, or take 
 any unfair remuneration for their own labours. Let 
 us see. One of these immensities is denominated 
 " the Auditor of the Civil ■ List," and of accounts 
 passing through the Treasury. The amount of labour 
 he has to perform no human mind can calculate ! it is 
 poorly remunerated by a salary of ;£^i2oo a year. A 
 few years ago a cry was raised in the House of 
 Commons that the revenues of the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 mission were not properly managed. To oblige and 
 satisfy the House, the then Treasury auditor was 
 deputed to look into the commissioners' accounts. 
 The Treasury reported (of course the auditor had no 
 hand in that) that it was desirable such inspection 
 should continue from time to time. So the poor over- 
 worked auditor (as thin as a lath, perhaps) had this 
 extra duty permanently thrust upon him. After a 
 time, " my Lords " — -Tcally fearing, doubtless, that he 
 would become a skeleton unless able to afford more 
 nourishing diet — were blandly pleased to grant their 
 worn and self-sacrificing auditor an additional iJ'300 a 
 year for this extra service. Did any one call to see 
 him (he must be worth seeing) at the Treasury before 
 twelve o'clock or after four, he would not be found. 
 Try at any hour, during three months of the year at 
 least, at convenient intervals, he would not be there at 
 all. He would be inspecting the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 missioners' accounts, perhaps, or enjoying his holidays, 
 whichever you please to believe ! 
 
 Here, then, when the Church is scandalized 
 throughout the land, that so many poor livings exist 
 where the clergymen starve on a miserable pittance, 
 because the Ecclesiastical Commissioners cannot con- 
 trive to find funds sufficient to augment their stipends, 
 
2l6 . CHARLES DICKENS ON JOBBERY, 
 
 a fat official steps in, already able to buy up any score 
 of them, and takes — by way of extra-payment from 
 the- State above his ;£'i200 a year — sufficient to find 
 the means of comfort, if added to their wretched 
 incomes, to six poor clergymen's families at least. 
 
 And who but boasters of economy perpetrated the 
 last peculiarly "Treasury" job? The First Lord 
 could not do without the support of a certain friend, 
 so created for him the office of " Third Lord of the 
 Treasury " pro tem. ; and as soon as another office of 
 equal value was found for the young statesman, who 
 had made himself a necessity, the economical Premier 
 took fresh credit for abolishing the new office — thus 
 proved to have never been xvanted, — which now yielded 
 him the opportunity of effecting a saving, forsooth 1 
 by giving his own son ;^iooo a year as a "Junior 
 Lord of the Treasury ; " one of those officers of the 
 "Sparkler" class, who notoriously have no duties 
 ■whatever, but sham duties, to perform. 
 
 The best commentary upon this appointment may 
 be given in the words of Charles Dickens : — " When it 
 became known to Britons in general that their in- 
 telligent compatriot was made one of the Lords of 
 their Circumlocution Office, they took it as a piece of 
 news with which they had no nearer concern than 
 with any other piece of news — any other accident or 
 offence — in the English newspapers. Some laughed ; 
 some said, by way of complete excuse, that the post 
 was virtually a sinecure, and any fool who could spell 
 his name was good enough for it ; some — and these 
 were the most solemn political oracles — said that [the 
 Premier] did wisely to strengthen himself, and that 
 the sole constitutional purpose of all places within the 
 gift of [the Premier] was, that [the Premier] should 
 strengthen himself. A few bilious Britons there were 
 
THE BRITISH TAX-PAYER SUFFERS. 217 
 
 who would not subscribe to this article of faith ; but 
 their objection was purely theoretical. In a practical 
 point of view, they listlessly abandoned the matter, as 
 being the business of some other Britons unknown 
 somewhere or nowhere. In like manner great numbers 
 of Britons maintained, for as many as four-and-twenty 
 consecutive hours, that those invisible and anonymous 
 Britons ' ought to take it up ; ' and that, if they quietly 
 acquiesced in it, they deserved it. But of what class 
 the remiss Britons were composed, and where they 
 hid themselves, and why they hid themselves, and 
 how it constantly happened that they neglected their 
 interests, when so many other Britons were quite at a 
 loss to account for their not looking after those 
 interests, was not made apparent to men." 
 
 The British tax-payer is compelled, as we have 
 seen, to pay for his own ruling by lazy jobbing Red- 
 tapists, who annually laugh over his struggles and 
 contortions, whilst vainly endeavouring to free himself 
 from some small portion of his burdens. Thus do 
 those burdens silently increase ; for, in this age of 
 progress, reforms in our social system must necessarily 
 take place. These must be initiated by Act of Parlia- 
 ment, to carry out which, work must be done. Under 
 the existing system, every tittle of such new work is 
 magnified a hundredfold to provide fresh offices and 
 Red-tapists, whereas whatever becomes effete and 
 worn out is, as we see, infallibly kept on foot, as far 
 as payment of salaries is concerned, for the sake of 
 ever-coveted patronage. 
 
 Is there, then, no remedy ? Must these flagrant 
 abuses for ever exist, and keep pace with the in- 
 creasing commercial prosperity of the country .■' Cer- 
 tainly they ought not, for doubtless there is a remedy, 
 and that remedy must be found in Parliament. 
 
2 1 8 ABUSE OF " GOOD SERVICE " PENSIONS. 
 
 Were there even a small phalanx of members of 
 the House of Commons well informed on these 
 subjects, and able to battle effectually with the pro- 
 fessional Red-tapist, a great change for the better 
 might be accomplished, Joseph Hume, even single- 
 handed, did something in the right direction. He 
 entered Parliament late in life, without any previous 
 knowledge of the intricacies of office, so that he had 
 everything to find out before he could attempt an 
 onslaught. All honour to him, therefore, that h& 
 succeeded in effecting what he did. His successor has 
 not yet appeared upon the scene ; but when he does 
 he will have a much better " following " than had 
 Joseph Hume, and would therefore be able to accom- 
 plish far more. 
 
 It is, indeed, high time that something should be 
 .done. The estimates, during a period mainly of pro- 
 found peace, have trebled in about thirty-five years.. 
 In 1829 the total expenditure, including thirty-two- 
 millions for the interest of the National Debt, was 
 about forty-six millions, i.e. fourteen millions for the 
 service of the State. Now it has for several years 
 averaged from about eighty to eighty-fiv.e millions,, 
 the interest on the debt being only twenty-eight 
 millions — or fifty-seven millions for the various services.. 
 The expenditure has therefore increased fourfold, out 
 of which the charge for the Civil Service has increased, 
 from two and a half, to twelve millions. 
 
 A very large item of this bloated expenditure is 
 paid in the shape of pensions, chiefly given where no 
 better claim exists than the life-long enjoyment of a 
 salary, out of all proportion greater than the value of 
 the work rendered. In fact, the greatest defaulters- 
 are the largest receivers. Again, in the army, because 
 in war time it was found necessary to restrict the 
 
UNEARNED PENSIONS DISGRACEFUL. 219 
 
 number of " good service " pensions, the Naval and 
 Military Departments find it convenient to keep that 
 number always on foot during peace, as pieces of 
 patronage in their gift, and when no adequate 
 meritorious service has been performed by the re- 
 cipients. In truth, the pension list would astonish 
 most sober people were it produced. In 1862 a return 
 of pensions was made to the House of Commons 
 (No. 100 of that session) ; but the smallest possible 
 number was printed (from economical considerations, 
 of course ; seeing the paper was so voluminous), and 
 it was therefore speedily unobtainable. It should be 
 annually revised and published. There is, indeed, an 
 annual vote for pensions, but this comprises only a 
 small portion ; most of them being mixed up in the 
 departmental votes, each of which includes salaries for 
 existing, and pensions * for " superannuated," officials. 
 The uninitiated may have been puzzled to account 
 for a certain official's patriotic humility in accepting 
 the apparently crab-like promotion of " Secretary to 
 
 * When any man has fairly made sacrifices, e.g. by relinquishing a 
 profession or otherwise for the public service (not tricking himself into 
 office), it would be the height of shabbiness in the Government of a 
 great country to withhold from him a pension proportionate to his loss ; 
 but no one who through life has simply received from, four to ten times 
 the rate of remuneration for which similar services would have been 
 performed in private life, by an ordinary professional man, or clerk, as 
 the case may be, is therefore entitled (as by the rule of " covenanted" 
 Red-tape he is) to compensation, or pension, on retirement at any time! 
 Much less is a miscalled statesman, who has held, two or three times 
 during a few odd months, making up two years, a post for which he 
 may have proved himself notoriously unfit — because he has thus 
 pocketed ;^io,ooo of public money, under any other system of morality, 
 entitled further to receive £.2000 a year for life. Moreover, a man who 
 gets notoriously more than his work is worth, or is altogether a 
 ' sinecurist, is not therefore morally entitled to continue to pocket such 
 plunder ; yet millions have been, and are received under Red-tape 
 "authority," even by persons who neither perform, nor have ever 
 performed, any service whatever for the money ! 
 
2 20 RESOURCES SHOULD BE HUSBANDED. 
 
 the Treasury," when he already held the high-sounding 
 office of " Third Lord " on that immaculate board. 
 This humility, however, will be understood, when it is 
 explained that, while the salary is the same, the new 
 office of " Third Lord of the Treasury " had not been 
 included in the recent statute for additional official 
 pensions ; whereas, after five years' receipt of ;£'2,ooo 
 a year as Secretary of the Treasury, the self-sacrificing 
 holder thereof is entitled to claim a pension of i^ 1,200 
 a year for the rest of his life. The present loss of 
 spurious dignity, therefore, may be well compensated 
 by the security of future ease. 
 
 Estimates once raised are never again reduced to 
 their previous level : it would be utterly opposed to 
 the religion of the Tite-Barnacles that they should. 
 Witness the large permanent increase secured under 
 cover of the Crimean war ; and, indeed, who can tell 
 how soon the curse of war may descend once more 
 upon the land .'' 
 
 Against such an emergency the nation surely 
 should husband its resources. What, then, may be 
 expected if a prolonged contest should at length 
 occur ; when, with peace on all sides for years, we 
 have been unable to get on without such multiplying 
 charges, with an income-tax to meet them .'' This 
 tax, originally intended as a mere temporary expe- 
 dient, is now almost regarded as a settled permanent 
 institution, and assuredly it must be so unless a radical 
 change takes place. But with the increased burdens 
 imposed by war, the state of things would become 
 absolutely intolerable. 
 
 Let the tax-paying body, and the electoral body, 
 therefore, look well to these things ; remembering that 
 their interest is directly opposed to the interest of 
 that grand official, legion, snugly ensconced behind 
 
INCREASING CHARGES ON POOR-RATE. 22 1 
 
 the scenes ; and let the qualification required of a 
 candidate for Parliamentary honours no longer be a 
 well-lined pocket, but a head, a will, and a determina- 
 tion to offer strenuous resistance to the greedy en- 
 croachments of " Red-tape ! " 
 
 The " Poor-Rate " System. — It is much to be 
 doubted whether, at the present period of British 
 history, there exists a better abused person than the 
 poor ratepayer. Year by year officious legislation, often 
 falsely styled improvem.ent, is urged upon the com- 
 munity, whilst our paternal Government, or centraliza- 
 tion, is encouraged more and more to interfere with 
 the social and domestic arrangements of the mass of 
 the people : the obvious result of which must be, that, 
 ere long, the Englishman will not only not be able to 
 insist upon his ancient right of thinking for himself, 
 but will become habituated to the condition of per- 
 petual childhood, not being allowed to form an opinion 
 on any subject whatever. Fresh philanthropists are 
 springing up every day, courting popular favour by 
 reason of their schemes for the improvement of the 
 people ; but, when the sacrifice for such advantages 
 is irnposed (and no good can possibly be obtained 
 without the payment of an equivalent), it is universally 
 found to be cast upon the ratepayer, the poor rate- 
 payer, in more senses than one. Whether it be to the 
 national advantage that men and women throughout 
 the land shall, in all things, become children under 
 the tutelage of a few Red-tape officials, nominated by 
 the members of Government for the time being, 
 requiring a modest competence for their friends and 
 relatives — which is very much to be doubted — is not 
 now our business to inquire. What we propose to 
 consider is the fairness and expediency of charging 
 
22 2 THE WEALTHY INSUFFICIENTLY ASSESSED. 
 
 every kind of burden, imposed by every new Act of 
 Parliament, upon the rate made for the relief of the 
 poor. In the first place, it is notorious that the poor- 
 I'ate, and all other local rates, are most unfairly assessed ; 
 and, perhaps, in the nature of things, it always will be 
 so. The men of wealth, landowners in every county, 
 invariably dabble in local matters in which their own 
 interests are concerned. They are as invariably de- 
 ferred to, with reverential awe, by the smaller members 
 of the local bodies with whom they act. They never 
 hesitate greatly to undervalue their own mansions and 
 estates, as compared with the dwellings and properties 
 of middle-class people, on the plea that such large 
 mansions, etc., could not be let to a tenant for the 
 interest on the cost of building and laying out ; as if, 
 in their case, the enjoyment of what they deem neces- 
 sary to their individual comfort were of no value : 
 whereas the small owner or occupier is as invariably 
 screwed up to the full value, and every fresh brick 
 added to the freehold brings an increased assessment. 
 Small men cannot resist this species of shabby injustice 
 and exaction, because they dare not offend those upon 
 whose countenance most frequently their chance of 
 living depends ; and, therefore, it is manifest that the 
 local rating principle will, in most cases, be grossly 
 unfair as regards the ratepayers. But, if the local- 
 rate principle be unfair in general, how much more 
 monstrous is it to charge the expense of fresh burdens 
 upon the poor-ra.tQ — thus not only depriving the rate- 
 payer of any I'eal voice in the matter, but diverting 
 moneys raised for one ostensible purpose (the relief 
 of the poor) to other purposes foreign to such relief, 
 .and often to vexatious and tyrannical intermeddling 
 with the rights and liberties of the poor. This system 
 ■of obtaining money under false pretences further leads 
 
CHARGES CAST UPON THE POOR-RATE. 223 
 
 to the practice of great cruelty towards the poor by 
 their ostensible guardians, because so many burdens 
 which mitst be paid are charged upon the pooi'-rate 
 (and these burdens are annually increasing), that the 
 only manner in which the guardians can economize 
 — the only way open to them to acquire the favour of 
 their constituents by keeping in check the rates — is 
 to grind and screw the pauper to the utmost. Hence 
 we see the papers often disgraced by reports of inquests 
 upon miserable outcasts starved to death at the very 
 doors of union workhouses, whilst the overburdened 
 ratepayer groans without effect at the prospect of ruin 
 perpetually staring him in the face. The following 
 charges are now paid out of the poor-rate under the 
 authority of various Acts of Parliament : — i. The 
 expenses of the guardians in carrying out the pro- 
 visions of the Nuisances Acts. 2. The same of the 
 Bakehouses Act. 3. The same under the Common 
 Lodging Houses Act, compensation to keepers, etc. 
 4. The same under the Labouring Classes Lodging 
 Houses Act. 5. The same for emigration purposes. 
 6. The same for lunatic asylums. 7. The same for 
 registration of births, deaths, etc. 8. The same for 
 vaccination fees and prosecutions. 9. The expenses 
 of the vestry in laying down sewers in certain cases. 
 10. The same for baths and wash-houses. 11. The 
 same for provision of cemeteries or burial-grounds by 
 burial boards. 12. The same for public improve- 
 ments, playgrounds, etc. 13. The same for jury lists. 
 14. The same for registration of voters. 15. The 
 same for census returns. 16. The same for prosecu- 
 tions for felony in certain cases. 17. The same for 
 prosecution of disorderly houses. 18. The same for 
 allowances to constables. Then there is an important 
 rate clearly intended to have been a separate rate, but 
 
2 24 EACH RATE SHOULD BE AUTHORIZED. 
 
 as the result of slovenly legislation now charged upon 
 the poor-rate — viz. : 19. The county rate and others 
 really charged upon it, but practically, therefore, on the 
 poor-rate, as — 20. The police rate, 21. Adulteration 
 of food, prosecutor's expenses, 22. Cattle diseases 
 prevention, ■ ditto. The highway rate, and lighting 
 and watching rate are assessed separately, but these 
 also are made upon the poor-rate basis, so that the 
 same unfairness, as between the wealthy and middle- 
 class ratepayer, equally obtains. Here, then, we have 
 twenty-two different kinds of burdens charged upon 
 the " rate for the relief of the poor," a rate intended to 
 prevent the misery and disgrace of starvation in a 
 land of pl'cnty ; and, as a necessary consequence, star- 
 vation is rife. A 23rd charge is now fixed upon this 
 unfortunate poor-rate — viz. compulsory education, and 
 prosecutions. But where is this to end ? Surely if 
 any fund more than another should be held inviolate 
 from the pollutions of avarice, indulgence, or tyranny, 
 it is the poor-rate, which ought to be held sacred for 
 the relief of distress, disease, and starvation. So also 
 to such a fund, above all others, should the wealthy 
 be compelled fairly to contribute. All property should, 
 for this purpose, be assessed at its full value, and any 
 deduction, be it ten or fifty per cent., should be allowed 
 on all alike ; or, if any favour be shown, it should not 
 be towards the rich, but to the smaller owners and 
 occupiers, those most nearly approaching the pauper 
 being charged less in proportion towards his support. 
 Perhaps the majority of the above-mentioned charges 
 should be met by a general-purposes rate ; but for 
 several of them, at least, a separate and distinct rate 
 ought to be levied, in order that the opinion of the 
 ratepayers be taken as to whether the specific burden, 
 with the rate to defray, it should be imposed or not. 
 
MEDICAL OFFICER ENCROACHMENTS. 225 
 
 It is, doubtless,. highly convenient for lazy legislators, 
 or parliamentary draughtsmen, to save trouble by 
 quietly creating an additional charge on an already 
 authorized rate, which cannot be disputed ; highly 
 convenient, also, for red-hot philanthropists, demented 
 with their bright peculiar schemes, their own pockets 
 being saved harmless, while a spurious popularity is 
 gained : but there are certain ancient maxims of 
 British freemen which are worth more than all the 
 philanthropic panaceas of the nineteenth century* 
 
 Take, for example, the recent encroachments of 
 medical Red-tapists upon the once sacred " liberty of 
 the subject." Though nothing is better known than 
 that no two medical men can ever agree on the most 
 ordinary method of practice ; notwithstanding that 
 the fashion of woman's dress is scarcely more change- 
 able than the empirical methods of treating disease ; 
 no doctor, can he only be " dressed in a little brief 
 authority," hesitates to lay down rules, and even 
 dictates laws to the parliamentary wire-pullers of 
 office — which, of course, are passed by idle legislators 
 without inquiry — imposing fine and imprisonment 
 upon thought, and bribing the entire profession (once 
 a noble one), by the payment of paltry fees from the 
 pockets of the ratepayers, to " stamp out," what .■' 
 " the pla^e " ? No, but the prescriptive right of 
 freedom of opinion. No man now may advise another 
 with regard to his health, unless he have passed the 
 gate authorized to take the fashionable toll of current 
 medical rule. No citizen is now able to manage his 
 own household and bring up his family according to 
 
 » E.g. " That there shall be no taxation without representation." — 
 That "the Englishman's house is his castle." — That "every man has 
 a right to enjoy his own opinions, and to be protected in the enjoy- 
 ment of them," etc. 
 
 Q 
 
2i6 OPPRESSION U*rDER CATTLE PLAGUE ACT. 
 
 '■/ ... 
 
 / the dictates of his own conscience, unless his opmions, 
 
 if allowed to form any, coincide with those of the 
 State doctor-dictator ; without the violation of his 
 hearth by parliamentary spies, the infringement of 
 his liberty by the parliamentary doctor, or personal 
 fine or imprisonment at the instance of these spies, at 
 the expense of his neighbour the parliamentary rate- 
 payer. Yet this farce of freedom is called " the 
 relief of the poor " ! A year before the cattle plague 
 — of Playfair importation, Aberdeen pack-sheet, and 
 Hunt legislation notoriety — a certain poor man, who 
 served milk within thirty miles of London, lost three 
 cows by the endemic which had not then become 
 general, and therefore not a penny of compensation 
 had he. The year following, when the Aberdeen pack- 
 sheet had done its work, enveloping the brains of 
 Hunt and his Lowe-ing followers, the same poor man 
 had occasion to drive a cow to his neighbour's farm. 
 Two days of time (his only capital) were employed 
 in endeavouring to fathom the wisdom of Hunt's Act 
 -^he went several miles to the magistrate's clerk, who 
 told him to get an order signed by the magistrate, 
 and that one such would suffice. He travelled many 
 more miles, and at length succeeded in finding a great 
 unpaid within his baronial hall, and bent with rever- 
 ence on obtaining the much-coveted certificate. Still 
 somewhat heavy-hearted at the loss of his two days' 
 time (and the thought of the three cows lost ere 
 the importation of Hunt's compensation), he trudged 
 off with the animal, now duly licensed, as he believed, 
 to tread the Queen's highway. When lo ! a swelling 
 and important figure majestically stops the passage. 
 " Where's your pass ? " " Here, sir." " Let me see it. 
 This is only signed by one magistrate, it ought to be 
 signed by two." " Mr. said one was enough. 
 
PERSECUTING THE POOR — THEIR RELIEF. 22 7 
 
 sir ; I walked all the way to , to find out what 
 
 I must do, and he told me. I did what he told me.'' 
 "Can't help it; I must summon you." Summoned 
 accordingly. No harm done, or alleged. Fine, Sj. ; 
 costs, 1 5 J., in addition to the two days' time (and the 
 pre-Huntite loss), and also this very poor man's pro- 
 portion of the rate paid towards the maintenance of 
 the majestic authority in blue, and called, by way of 
 irony, " the relief of the poor " ! Many years ago a 
 farmer's son, of seventeen, shot a pheasant, for which 
 a majestic Blue issued a summons, frightening the 
 poor lad into three and a half years' banishment from 
 his home and friends. Returned at length, he lived 
 a year and a half in peace ; when accident brought 
 him once more under the eye of the great authority, 
 who proceeded to vindicate the majesty of the law 
 represented in his own person, by sending the young 
 man to gaol ; for how else could he eat his bread 
 with a clear conscience i" — bread raised for the relief 
 of the poor ! A sailor had a child which appeared to 
 be quite healthy. The doctor told him he must have 
 it vaccinated to save its life, which was done, but 
 nevertheless the child died ; and the ignorant sailor 
 accused vaccination of having killed it, declaring 
 that he would never have another so trifled with. 
 Next year, he having gone to sea, his wife had a 
 second child, also apparently healthy. The registrar 
 registered it, and served her with a notice to have it 
 vaccinated. This, however, with the dread of her 
 husband (we will say nothing of the love of her child, 
 in so ignorant a person) before her mind, she neglected. 
 The " authorities " were down upon her, and, though 
 for nine months she kept- them at bay, at length 
 succeeded in fining or imprisoning her — the expense 
 of their long-continued, campaign coming out of the 
 
228 GENERAL PURPOSES RATE PREFERABLE. 
 
 rates for " the relief of the poor " ! Such instances 
 of " poor relief " might be multiplied ad infinitum. 
 What wonder that all these benevolent expenses 
 should so impoverish the guardians that, only within 
 a few months past, several cases of starving wretches 
 having been offered a shilling a week and a loaf to 
 keep them out of the workhouse, and who, having 
 been found dead on the stones in consequence, should 
 have cast an indelible stain upon philanthropic, 
 benevolent England ? We may be excused, however, 
 for drawing upon the imagination for one more 
 example of " poor relief." A country labourer, earn- 
 ing his 8j. a week, with seven small children, and a 
 sickly wife, sends his eldest boy of eleven years old, 
 to keep birds from his master's wheat, unable to with- 
 stand the offer of an extra is. 6d. for the service. A 
 majestic Blue parades his zeal by hauling the poor 
 father before the bench for neglecting to send this 
 boy to school : the man is fined, and goes to prison, 
 " having nothing to pay." There we have the climax. 
 The zealous functionary of the law is paid, the school- 
 master is paid, the expense of the prosecution is paid, 
 and the culprit's family is kept — out of the " rates for 
 the relief of the poor." Which would be the heaviest 
 charge upon the fund it may be difficult to say ; but 
 we may predicate, with safety, that the lightest in 
 proportion would be the dole appropriated to the poor 
 man's family. Ratepayers should insist that the rate 
 for the relief of the poor shall be appropriated to the 
 relief of the poor, and to nothing else. Let a general- 
 purposes rate, as in ancient times, be levied for such 
 minor matters as the ratepayers in vestry shall deter- 
 mine ; but let important objects be provided for by 
 a separate and distinct rate in each case — e.g. where 
 the majority deem it requisite to establish free schools. 
 
ABUSES ENCOURAGED BY PANIC. 2 29 
 
 let an education-rate be levied to provide them. 
 Where, in like manner, police-constables are necessary 
 to keep the peace, the vestry should determine the 
 number really needed, and make a police-rate for the 
 purpose. When this is done we may hope that a 
 pack of idle loiterers, ever meddling with the concerns 
 of well-conducted " persons, would be effectually got 
 rid of — men who, by their "fussing" officiousness, are 
 fast turning what would otherwise be a useful force 
 into a public nuisance. It is, indeed, astonishing that 
 so much apathy and indifference to public concerns 
 and their own private interests should be displayed 
 by ratepayers in general. In this matter of police 
 alone, even in London, what abuses are allowed which 
 a tithe of our ancient British resolution might put 
 down ! Any excuse of a passing character is sufficient 
 to secure a large increase of the force, but no amount 
 of tranquillity ever brings a diminution ; and thus the 
 increase of rates goes on merrily. A temporary 
 Fenian outburst saddled the metropolitan ratepayers, 
 and taxpayers in general, with a permanent charge 
 for an additional thousand men, and a dynamite ex- 
 plosion a thousand more. The death of a chief 
 commissioner did not produce a more active successor 
 alone, but no less than four lieutenants, commanders 
 of districts, at ij'soo a year each. A new Cab Act 
 produces an inspector-general of carriages, etc. So 
 the game goes on. Snug official berths are created 
 while the poor perish at our doors, and the ratepayer 
 stands by with folded arms, while the policeman picks 
 his pocket. The above is but a specimen of what 
 obtains throughout the country during this age of 
 so-called " Liberal " progress. The spirit of liberty 
 seems snuffed out, and England is governed by " Red- 
 tape." 
 
230 A BATTLING LIFE. FUGITIVE PAPERS. 
 
 RAILWAY MANAGEMENT, FROM THE 
 PASSENGER'S POINT OF VIEW. 
 
 {Society of Arts, December 11, 1861.) 
 
 At the time of the Exhibition in 1851, the railways 
 having their termini in the metropolis were capable 
 of daily delivering and returning 40,000 passengers; 
 but it has been calculated that the Exhibition of 1862 
 will find the capabilities of the London railways so 
 extended that, instead of 40,000, upwards of 140,000 
 people may be carried to and fro every day. It is, 
 then, obvious, even if this carrying power stop at the 
 present point, that the management of railways is an 
 affair of national importance as regards the comfort 
 of the vast number of passengers necessary to make 
 these undertakings pay, and also the yielding a fair 
 security to holders of railway stock. 
 
 As the comfort of the passengers must in the main 
 regulate the amount of traffic, it is proposed in this 
 paper chiefly to treat that portion of the subject. It 
 may, indeed, be affirmed that there can be no comfort 
 if the road be not good and the travelling safe ; nor 
 can the proprietors expect to secure a fair return for 
 capital and labour, unless the advantages offered be 
 such as to attract custom and afford pleasure. The 
 capital invested in British railways already amounts 
 in round numbers to four hundred millions sterling, or 
 
TWO CLASSES OF CARRIAGE ENOUGH. 23 1 
 
 nearly half the amount of the National Debt. The 
 mere commercial success of these immense under- 
 takings is in itself indeed a national question. 
 
 Coal is carried upon railways at a halfpenny per 
 ton per mile, and it has been asserted that at this rate 
 coals pay better than passenger traffic, because the 
 tonnage is so much greater. The rate at which third- 
 class passengers are charged, reckoning two hundred- 
 weight to each, including luggage, is is. 8d. per ton 
 per mile. These pay better than the first and second 
 class, for the same reason that coal pays better than 
 either. The number more than makes up for the 
 difference of fare. So also excursions at one-third the 
 parliamentary rate pay better — with all their draw- 
 backs in the shape of extra charges — than ordinary 
 third-class trains. 
 
 In the face of these facts there can be little doubt 
 that were the people able to travel at a fair average 
 speed in comfortable carriages every day, and at any 
 time of the day, at half the present parliamentary 
 rate, viz. a halfpenny per mile (i.e. tenpence per ton 
 per mile, or twenty times the coal-rate), railway 
 dividends would be enormously increased. The people 
 must and will have amusement of some sort ; of all 
 kinds of recreation none is so seductive to English 
 men, women, and children, as travelling to see the 
 country, or visiting their friends ; and therefore, when 
 it can be done cheaply, with comfort, and without loss 
 of time, there can be no reasonable doubt railways 
 will absorb half, at least, of every shiUing now paid for 
 less innocent amusement ; producing, indeed, a grand 
 social revolution in the country. 
 
 Two classes only would be sufficient, a few shillings 
 extra per hundred miles being charged, not for addi- 
 tional comfort or speed, but simply for exclusiveness. 
 
232 TRAVKLLING MAY BE MUCH INCREASED. 
 
 When the enormous weights now placed on small 
 luggage trucks with four wheels is observed, the 
 number of extra carriages occasionally collected for 
 excursion traffic, and the extent to which this irregular 
 work is able to be carried on, nobody can believe 
 either that the rails are unequal to bear any amount 
 of passenger freight, that sufficient rolling stock 
 cannot be provided, or that fully packed regular 
 trains might not be made to deliver their thousands 
 of travellers daily, in lieu of the present spasmodic 
 loads interspersed between the usual strings of half 
 empty carriages. 
 
 In calculating the relative expense of goods and 
 passenger traffic, it must be remembered that the 
 former require men to load and unload the trucks ; 
 also, in the case of coal, the trucks must return empty ; 
 whilst passengers employ no labour of this kind, and 
 the carriages are filled in both directions. 
 
 Dividends can only be raised to any considerable 
 extent by increased traffic, and that a great increase 
 could be provided for on existing lines with additional 
 rolling stock, is proved by the fact that, on extra- 
 ordinary occasions, and sometimes by borrowing 
 rolling stock from other companies, the ordinary 
 business is greatly multiplied. Indeed, to add very 
 much to the present every-day traffic could offer no 
 difficulty so far as the mere capabilities of the lines 
 themselves are concerned. This is especially the case 
 in reference to short distances and for regular travellers, 
 and the main reason why it is not so increased is, 
 without doubt, that the comfort of travellers is not as 
 yet secured. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to conceive a limit to the 
 extent of travelling over distances varying from ten 
 to fifty miles of London, or other of our larger towns. 
 
THE STRAIN SHOULD BE DIMINISHED. 233 
 
 provided the facilities of which railways are capable, 
 were afforded to residents in the country having busi- 
 ness in cities. At present these facilities are denied. 
 
 It is not alone that annual fares are too high, and 
 trains not sufficiently numerous ; but, what is even of 
 more consequence, people cannot bear the travelling. 
 That which may be pleasant for a time, and ought to 
 be so always, soon becomes a burden under present 
 management ; and perhaps ere the first ticket has 
 expired, the passenger's physical strength succumbs 
 before the process of continual violence to which he 
 has been subjected, and the alternative of bodily 
 prostration, or sacrifice of property and the advantage 
 of country life, is presented.* 
 
 The interest of railway proprietors, therefore, 
 requires that these things should be gravely con- 
 sidered. The shareholders' interest is identical with 
 that of the passengers ; and the welfare of the latter 
 cannot but conduce to the welfare of the former. At 
 present, for one who tries and relinquishes the experi- 
 ment of country residence, perhaps a score are de- 
 terred by the recapitulation of his loss and personal 
 suffering ; yet there is no valid reason why this should 
 be inflicted. An hour's ride, night and morning, was 
 a pleasure in the good old times when, "having 
 swallowed in the roll, we rolled in the Swallow." 
 Why should a journey of the same duration now be 
 productive of pain .' It surely cannot be unavoidable 
 that rapidity of motion should involve the shaking of 
 the passenger more violently than the physic by which 
 his medical adviser vainly strives to afford relief, so 
 long as such abnormal exercise is continued. One 
 gentleman, known to me, having last year purchased 
 a residence thirty miles from town, has recently sold 
 
 * See p. 105. 
 
2 34 ILL EFFECT OF SUPERFLUOUS CONCUSSION. 
 
 it, being unable to continue the travelling. A second 
 passenger, on the same line, frequently observes, 
 "Depend on it, I don't go oftener than I can help, 
 for I find I cannot stand it." A third person, who 
 had tried a shorter distance three years, says that 
 nothing should ever induce him to undertake a regular 
 railway journey again. A fourth informed me that 
 he had incurred considerable pecuniary loss by the 
 experiment, which he had relinquished. These are 
 instances occurring among my own personal acquaint- 
 ance ; but, in truth, it is becoming notorious that a 
 daily journey by rail is exceedingly trying to the con- 
 stitution. Sir Ranald Martin informs me that persons 
 who have suffered in India from sunstroke are gene- 
 rally unable to travel by railway, and that it is a 
 common observation that constant travelling by rail- 
 way, eventually disturbs the functions of the nervous 
 system and of the circulation — so much so, that men 
 of business who made a habit of morning and evening 
 journeys have been obliged to give it up. I have 
 also the authority of Dr. Southwood Smith for stating, 
 as a well-recognized fact among the medical profes- 
 sion, that delicate persons', and especially pregnant 
 women, are very liable to be injuriously affected by 
 a single journey ; and Dr. Smith has, himself, recently 
 known two gentlemen forced to abandon their country 
 residences, after little more than a year's experience, 
 to save their health from permanent injury. 
 
 It may be thought, by managers of railways, that 
 these evils arise merely from excitement acting on 
 nervous people ; but this is evidently a mistake. Men 
 readily become accustomed to any habit which is not 
 physically injurious, and as the novelty wears off 
 excitement subsides. The effects of excitement are 
 shown at first, and diminish by use ; but in the case 
 
IMPROVED SPRINGS DESIRABLE. 235 
 
 of the railway traveller the mischief is not felt until 
 after a considerable time, the spinal column having 
 in the meanwhile become gradually weakened, and 
 when pain is first felt the evil may have already 
 become deeply seated. My individual experience 
 affords a fair illustration of the truth of this reasoning. 
 The cause of the evil is not the excitement of 
 travelling, but the violent and unceasing jar of the 
 railway carriage as hitherto constructed, combined 
 with unevenness of the rails.* Indeed, the question 
 of the best kind of spring to afford ease to the 
 passenger, can scarcely have been considered by the 
 carriage builders, however luxuriously the interior of 
 first-class carriages may appear to be fitted. In the 
 first place, the single horizontal springs in use are 
 manifestly inadequate for the purpose required. So 
 unsuitable are they that it is difficult to conceive how 
 they could have been brought into use, except from 
 the fact that they were employed for carriages on 
 common roads ; but the coach was adapted to such 
 road, by every method which could be devised to give 
 ease to the traveller without distressing the horse. 
 The latest of such improvements was the abandon- 
 ment of the C spring, because by its use the momentum 
 of the carriage was lost, or of little avail in going over 
 stones, and the horizontal, bow, or grasshopper springs, 
 were substituted. Taking for granted that all the 
 latest improvements were to be adopted in the railway 
 carriage, the coach-builder seems to have forgotten 
 that there would be no stones to hop over, and, there- 
 
 * I am informed, by an experienced station-master, that drivers and 
 guards, who are necessarily robust men, are much tried by the physical 
 strain upon them, but that guards suffer more than drivers. If this be 
 so, the explanation I think must be, that the former sit, while the latter 
 stand. 
 
236 SUGGESTED CARRIAGE IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 fore, no objection to the C spring, which is quite as 
 easy for vertical motion, and far more easy for longi- 
 tudinal and lateral motion, as well as a greater pro- 
 tection in case of violent concussion, than the others. 
 
 I am not an engineer, and therefore offer no 
 opinion as to the method by which the desired end 
 may be accomplished, but being in the habit of con- 
 versing with numerous fellow-sufferers and com- 
 plainants under the present state of things, and 
 hearing various contrivances discussed, it may be no 
 harm to mention one or two as examples. 
 
 It has been suggested that the seats might be 
 detached from the carriage body, placed upon higher 
 and stronger spiral springs than are now used for 
 cushions, and kept steady by guiding rods, the holes 
 through which these pass being surrounded with a 
 thick packing of indiarubber. Another plan is that 
 the carriage, instead of being directly attached to the 
 springs above the wheels, should be so constructed as 
 to hang within an outer frame. Say, for instance, 
 that the sides and top of this outer frame should be 
 a light trellis-work of wrought iron or wood, and that 
 at every point of intersection in this trellis-work, from 
 the top, ends, and sides (exclusive of the door spaces) 
 springs be attached, after the manner of boiler stays, 
 and connected with the internal frame or carriage 
 proper. As, besides the interior, the doors only of 
 the inner frame would be visible, no further finish 
 would be needed for them. They might be much 
 lighter than the present carriage body, as well as 
 roughly made, and the saving thus effected would go 
 towards paying for the external trellis-work and 
 springs. If these springs could be made of india- 
 rubber, or some other non-conductor of sound, another 
 advantage would be gained by lessening the noise 
 
. RISK OF ACCIDENT MAY BE LESSENED. 237 
 
 which at present is so distracting to nervous people. 
 Whatever may be the value of these suggestions, and 
 perhaps double external springs might do much, it 
 seems plain that it is the interest of railway proprietors 
 to make the habitual use of their roads possible : — 
 whereas it appears, from the Board of Trade returns, 
 that there were fewer season-ticket holders by two 
 thousand in i860 than in 1859. If these be taken at 
 only ;^io each, it would show a loss of iJ^20,000 clear 
 profit in one year ; but it should also be remembered 
 that country residents travelling daily to town in- 
 variably bring more occasional passengers than any 
 other class of persons, because, besides other members 
 of the family, no town acquaintance can be brought 
 home to dinner without first feeding the railway. It 
 is impossible, therefore, to calculate the real loss 
 sustained by any diminution of the home traffic, and, 
 in accordance with self-interest, it would be wise to 
 offer a premium for the carriage which shall combine 
 the least possible amount of jar, with the least possible 
 degree of noise. 
 
 Perhaps all that need be rigid and hard in a railway 
 carriage is the framework on the wheels, on which 
 pillars supporting a rigid roof might be placed. From 
 these roofs could be suspended, by elastic ropes, light 
 flexible compartments, all the sides and seats of which 
 could be padded and soft, so that in case of ordinary 
 concussion (and a complete smash is the rare excep- 
 tion) passengers, not driven against each other, could 
 scarcely experience a blow harder than might be 
 received from a boxing-glove, and thus would be 
 afforded a great preservation from personal injury. 
 These carriages might be more expensive in their 
 original construction than the present coach-carriage, 
 but not materially so ; they could not sustain nearly 
 
238 ALL SHOULD BE CARRIED COMFORTABLY. 
 
 SO much damage either from ordinary wear or from 
 collision ; and the saving of compensation to injured 
 passengers would be considerable, even were not the 
 comfort of the traveller, or, a still more important 
 consideration, the preservation of life, taken into 
 account. 
 
 An auxiliary means of affording greater ease with, 
 less noise might be simply to cut the rails in a 
 slanting direction, so that the joints would be oblique 
 instead of square, which would go a great way towards 
 diminishing the continual jar at the points of junction. 
 The amount of depression at the joints may also be 
 decreased, and the process of fishing, as it is termed, 
 superseded, — and therefore the cost of fixing the rails 
 lessened, whilst much of the expense of re-laying 
 might be saved, — by substituting for the wrought-iron 
 bars on chairs, at present in use, strong longitudinal 
 beds of cast-iron, having grooves into which light 
 wrought-iron bars with steel surfaces might be in- 
 serted, so that the more expensive tough metal 
 required to take the wear, may be easily replaced in 
 the grooves. The cast-iron beds, having no friction, 
 would last a very long time if protected, as they easily 
 might be, from oxidation. 
 
 The improvements which have been pointed out 
 being requisite for first-class carriages, how much more , 
 must they be for second and third class ? The same 
 substantial comfort would, I conceive, be provided for 
 all under judicious management ; for, granting that 
 luxurious exclusiveness should pay an additional fare, 
 it can be none the less true that it is the attraction of 
 numbers, rather than of the wealthy few, which must 
 be aimed at if traffic is to be largely increased so as 
 to make railways pay. What is wanted is, greater 
 facility as regards personal comfort, reasonable speed, 
 
SMOKERS SHOULD NOT ANNOY OTHERS. 239 
 
 and frequent trains, in order to induce a multitude of 
 travellers habitually to use the road. If the con- 
 ditions of cleanliness and decent behaviour were en- 
 forced, as they ought, it would appear unnecessary to 
 employ third-class carriages at all. Surely to incur 
 the extra expense of running separate third-class 
 trains, because the passengers pay less, is something 
 like " cutting one's nose to spite one's face." 
 
 In winter much suffering from cold might be 
 avoided by turning the spare steam, not wanted for 
 blast, into tubes fixed along the floors of the carriages, 
 which might be rapidly connected from one carriage 
 to another by means of flexible joints ; and since the 
 draft of this paper was written, I have been pleased 
 to hear that the system of warming the carriages has 
 been introduced on the London and North-Western 
 Railway, as it had previously been on the continent. 
 
 The carriages should be high enough for tall men 
 to stand up with their hats on, and tliey should be 
 well ventilated at the top, so that the windows may 
 be shut, whenever desired, to exclude cold or dust. 
 Dust in summer is not only a nuisance to passengers, 
 but a great expense to companies, damaging the 
 carriage linings, the bearings of the wheels, and, most 
 important of all, the engine ; but it might be almost 
 entirely prevented by laying gas-tar asphalte through- 
 out the line, and this would further save waste to the 
 permanent way both in wet weather and dry. 
 
 A very great source of annoyance to travellers in 
 general is experienced from tobacco fumes, produced 
 by the few whose conduct is governed by sensual 
 appetite.* The infliction of a pecuniary fine is not 
 sufficient. The rule should be, that any one found 
 smoking in an ordinary carriage be summarily ejected, 
 
 * See p. 107. 
 
240 COMMUNICATION BETWEEN GUARD AND DRIVER. 
 
 and left to await the next train. The guard who 
 allows a smoked carriage to leave the last station for 
 taking up passengers, without a report to the in- 
 spector of such ejection, should be dismissed. The 
 tickets being collected at that station, would give the 
 opportunity to test every compartment, and if, on 
 the discovery of smoke, there be several persons who 
 deny all knowledge of the offence, each one should 
 be ipso facto deemed an offender, and turned out 
 accordingly. Between the last station and the 
 terminus, should smoking take place, it might be 
 detected by the train being occasionally stopped, 
 without notice, to catch culprits, as there is nothing 
 like summary justice in these cases. Under such 
 rules there would soon be an end of unauthorized 
 smoking on railways. 
 
 Cornmunication between the guard and driver has 
 at length been accomplished on many lines, after 
 much public clamour, but it might have been effected 
 by a more simple plan. The experiment was once 
 made by a sub-engineer, of placing a mirror, in view 
 of the driver, at an angle, in front of each side of the 
 engine, so that the whole of the two sides of the train 
 were shown at a glance. The result is said to have 
 been that an object thrust out of any window caught 
 the driver's eye, without his turning the slightest 
 attention from his look-out ahead. It was impossible 
 to avoid seeing it, so that in case of danger — fire 
 especially — a number of hands or handkerchiefs shown 
 from any carriage, would afford a most satisfactory 
 signal. Unfortunately, the chief engineer was some- 
 where on the line when the experiment was made, 
 and immediately ordered an innovation introduced 
 without his authority to be suppressed, and nothing 
 more has been heard of the signal mirror ; which, by 
 
APPLICATION OF HORSE-POWER. 24! 
 
 the way, might probably also serve for light reflectors 
 fcr the back of the train at night. 
 
 A contrivance for taking on carriages by means of 
 a rope on a drum, without stopping the train, would 
 be another means of saving power, whilst maintain- 
 ing the average speed. In this manner ready-packed 
 carriages might be picked up from station sidings, 
 not only in the case of slow-going luggage trains, to 
 take on labourers, but even express trains. Take, for 
 example, the North-Western express from Manchester, 
 which at present cannot afford time to stop at so 
 important a town as Stockport. Up to a certain 
 limit, temporary diminution of speed may safely take 
 place without loss of time ; because during every 
 moment steam is shut off, power is accumulating, and 
 if the train continue in motion, the application of this 
 accumulated power would be sufficient afterwards to 
 make up for the temporary slackening of speed. If, 
 therefore, the Stockport carriages be ready filled on 
 the siding, and, whilst the train is passing slowly, 
 they be hooked on by the drum rope, strong enough 
 to draw them up to the train, without a jerk, the 
 coupling irons might be rapidly attached, and the 
 husbanded power being immediately turned on, 
 the increased rate of speed in the next few miles 
 would compensate for the minutes lost in slackening 
 through the station. 
 
 If the leading companies offered a premium for 
 t;he best method of applying horse-power on the rail, 
 means would speedily be contrived, by which marvel- 
 lously cheap communication might be incessantly 
 kept up between the less important stations on the 
 line. In America this kind of power has been used on 
 canals and rivers with considerable success — perhaps, 
 also, on railroads. The principle there adopted is 
 
242 HORSE-POWER IN AMERICA. 
 
 somewhat as follows : — The horse works inside his 
 own carriage, a kind of stable on wheels. Strong 
 endless parallel chains, connected by transverse pieces 
 of wood or iron, and passing over rollers one some- 
 what higher than the other, form a roadway on which 
 the horse is kept moving slowly on an incHne, thus 
 greatly aiding the drawing power by his own weight. 
 One of these rollers is the axle of the driving wheels, 
 which are turned rapidly, and the carriage driven at 
 considerable speed. One horse might propel two or 
 three carriages easily at sixteen miles an hour without 
 going beyond a walk — and this would be quite enough 
 for minor station traffic. It is evident that if the 
 animal be whipped up to a trot, the wheels would be 
 made to revolve with two or three times this speed ; 
 on the other hand, not only may his being stopped 
 enable the carriages to be brought to a stand almost 
 instantaneously, by the aid of a break, — but by con- 
 triving a reverse action, so that in changing the gear 
 the wheels should turn backward, the same power 
 might be used in the opposite direction at a moment's 
 notice. By this means the possibility of accident 
 would be almost prevented. For if the small train so 
 propelled be overtaken by a locomotive, the horse 
 being whipped up would increase speed for a few 
 moments, sufficiently for the engine to touch without 
 concussion, when the horse may be stopped, — himself 
 and his load being pushed on to the next chief station. 
 So, also, if a small and large train meet, by any un- 
 avoidable chance — to put on the break, reverse the 
 gear, remove the break, and run in the opposite direc- 
 tion in front of the locomotive as before, would be 
 the work of a minute. 
 
 Notwithstanding all that can be said about acci- 
 dents, it must be admitted that railway traffic has 
 
SECURITY OF RAILWAY TRAVELLING. 243 
 
 hitherto been carried on with wonderful security to 
 life. Thus in i860, out of 163,435,678 passengers 
 (47,894 of whom were season-ticket holders, reckoned 
 as one each), 30 only lost their lives from causes 
 beyond their own control (20 of these deaths were 
 from two collisions), and 479 were injured ; which is 
 in the proportion of 18 per 100 millions, or i in 
 5^ millions passengers killed, and not quite 3 per 
 10 millions, or one in about 350,000 wounded. Yet 
 this was a high rate, the average killed for a number 
 of years being about one in eight millions. 
 
 The Returns of the Registrar-General show that 
 the deaths by violence of all kinds average about one 
 in 1250 per annum. Of course it would be incorrect 
 to compare the risk of those exposed to danger for a 
 short period with those so exposed during the entire 
 year, but by a return with which I have been kindly 
 furnished from the South-Western Railway, it appears 
 that in i860 the average payment of all passengers 
 on that line was is. gd., wrhich would pay for a journey 
 occupying about forty minutes, or the 13,000th part 
 of a year. Now as one in 5^ millions of all railway 
 passengers were killed in that year, it follows that 
 supposing persons travelled without intermission day 
 and night, the death-rate would be i in 420 per 
 annum. In other words — according to the doctrine 
 of chances, a person must thus travel incessantly for 
 420 years before his turn to be killed will arrive. 
 The ordinary death-rate of the country by violence, 
 as has been stated, is i in 1250; but as people are 
 scarcely exposed to danger when quietly at home, 
 or, in general, when sleeping, it would be fair to take 
 the common exposure at eight hours a day. The 
 average risk, then, by violent deaths, among all classes 
 of the community, is about the same as among rail- 
 
244 METHOD OF ENTERING AND LEAVING TRAIN. 
 
 way passengers in proportion to the duration of their 
 exposure. Calculated according to the same method 
 (taking the risk at forty hours per week), the propor- 
 tion of fatal accidents in collieries is seven times 
 greater than in railways ; yet casualties in mines are 
 seldom heard of, except in such cases as Lund Hill 
 and Risca. So, also, the deaths by burning (chiefly 
 among infants) are one hundred times more numerous 
 than by railways (it is difficult to estimate the period 
 of risk, without which the proportion cannot be calcu- 
 lated), but it is only when actresses or noblemen's 
 daughters are the victims that such horrors ring 
 through the country. In like manner, volunteers and 
 sportsmen are now and then accidentally shot ; skaters 
 are drowned ; and sometimes persons are suffocated 
 in their beds by poisonous vapours, or even crushed 
 under falling buildings ; but nobody thinks of abjuring 
 his calling, his recreation, or his rest, because in every 
 situation of life the risk of accident impends.* Indeed, 
 it would be almost as wise to refuse to live for fear 
 of death by violence of some kind, as to abjure the 
 use of railways for fear of a fatal result. The relative 
 proportion of persons injured on railways, as compared 
 with those by other accidents of some kind, serious or 
 trifling, cannot be guessed at, but we may take for 
 granted that every scratch is made the most of 
 
 * As to entering or leaving carriages in motion, it is evident that, 
 were not this usually done by train attendants, the traffic could not be 
 carried on ; also, that after being brought to a stand a sudden jerk 
 may occur. At every station, therefore, something like the following 
 should be posted : — 
 
 " When about to enter or leave the train, face the direction in which 
 it is moving, or about to move ; then, when turned that way, place the 
 foot on the side next the carriage first on the step ; and, on alighting, 
 bring the foot farthest from the train to the ground, prepared to lean 
 backwards." 
 
 Attention to this haMt may be the means of saving life in case of 
 accident. 
 
COMPANIES HARDLY USED BY JURIES. 245 
 
 Railway managers should have their due, as well 
 as other offenders, whereas, in regard to compensation 
 for accidents, they have been very hardly used. It 
 appears monstrous that a sum of ;^ 13,000 could have 
 been awarded to be given by a company to the family 
 of one man, who had paid no higher fare than his 
 fellow-passengers, because he happened to be wealthy. 
 For that very reason, if he desired to insure a large 
 compensation in case of death, he should pay a 
 premium proportionate to such assurance. There is 
 no justice, but clearly the contrary, in compelling 
 shareholders to suffer for the accident of conveying 
 a man of wealth, which the company could have no 
 means of knowing or guarding against. If this state 
 ofthings be not altered, companies must, in self-defence, 
 either make a sliding scale of charges in proportion to 
 the passenger's property, attested by declaration on 
 the ticket issued, or decline altogether to carry wealthy 
 men. Let the companies pay, by all means, but let 
 the amount they pay bear some fair proportion to that 
 they receive. 
 
 A system of insurance might be organized, the 
 company being bound to deliver the passenger safely 
 at a fixed rate, or pay a fixed amount as compensa- 
 tion, and to take insurance at a reasonable charge, for 
 extra sums say one farthing per j^'iooo, which is 5 J 
 times the risk ; as it has been seen that fatal accidents 
 to passengers, under proper management, do not 
 amount to one in Sj millions. 
 
 If irregular excursions be discontinued, as they 
 ought, it must be by making all regular trains practi- 
 cally excursions. The fares should be so low as to be 
 a standing inducement to pleasure-seekers to use the 
 road at every opportunity that may offer, not only 
 during seasons of recreation, but whenever temporary 
 
246 CHEAP FARES WILL PAY BEST. 
 
 cessation of business might allow. Excursion fares 
 have hitherto been lower than necessary for this pur- 
 pose ; nevertheless, even these pay, as is proved by 
 their being continued notwithstanding the disadvan- 
 tage of extra expense in advertising, additional labour, 
 etc. The mean to be aimed at should probably be 
 something between the present excursion and ordinary 
 third-class fares, the proportion being greater for short 
 distances, and less as the mileage increases. One can 
 now go to Brighton and back, on Sunday, lOO miles, 
 for 2s. 6d. ; but suppose the opportunity were offered 
 by every train, during the week, of taking the same 
 journey for 5j., nobody, having inclination and time to 
 spare, would be deterred from going by the expense ; 
 and the cost of the extra excursion trains would be 
 saved. The great body of the people never cease to 
 seek recreation of some kind ; sensual pleasures are 
 at present most easily procured ; nevertheless, were it 
 within reach, travelling to see the country, or to visit 
 distant friends, is even more seductive, and would be 
 readily resorted to on all occasions were the tempta- 
 tion always present ; and the change would tend very 
 much not only to the elevation of public morality, but 
 to the improvement of railway dividends. On such a 
 plan not pleasure-seekers alone, but business men of 
 every kind, would oftener visit distant marts, travelling 
 also between provincial towns and villages, as well as 
 to and from important centres ; and trains being 
 naturally more frequent, greater facilities would be 
 offered to suburban residents. 
 
 At present, horses on some common roads can 
 beat rail and steam. This is proved by the fact that 
 numerous loaded vans are, during the summer, daily 
 driven from Bristol to the little watering-places of Cleve- 
 don and Weston (distances of fourteen and twenty 
 
WASTE LANDS MAY BE UTILIZED. 247 
 
 miles), filled with excursionists, because the fares on the 
 Bristol and Exeter Railway, which goes to both towns, 
 are from sixpence to a shilling higher than the rates 
 charged by these horse vans. Is it not strange that 
 shrewd men should be able to invest capital in vans 
 and horses for the purpose of carrying mere pleasure- 
 seekers along the very line of railway and make it 
 pay ? It is evident that if this can be accomplished 
 in one locality, it could in the neighourhood of almost 
 any line as at present conducted. 
 
 Considering the fact that the expenses of getting 
 up steam and working a train are nearly the same 
 whether the carriages be many or few, whether they 
 be full or empty, and therefore that every additional 
 sixpence received is almost all clear gain, it is remark- 
 able that in this practical age the immense resources 
 at the command of railway companies, from a profit- 
 able use of the land in their possession hitherto lying 
 idle, can have so long been unperceived. Incalculable 
 losses have been incurred by the construction of 
 branch lines to unimportant towns, without any effort 
 being made to obtain an increased population either 
 in these towns and villages, or along the lines them- 
 selves. Hundreds of acres belonging to the companies 
 have been turned into mere waste, which, converted 
 into building ground, might have been, and might yet 
 be, rendered highly profitable.* Granting that there 
 may be companies unwilling, or who have no power, 
 to build houses for tenants merely as such, there is at 
 any rate nothing to prevent them from providing 
 cottages for their own servants, who might occupy 
 these houses as part of their wages, and the men 
 might be conveyed by early and late luggage trains, 
 to and from the stations at which their services are 
 
 * Also by the cultivation of fruit for market. 
 
248 SEASON TICKET HOLDERS DESIRABLE. 
 
 required, with scarcely any expense to the company. 
 The effect would be that every servant would derive 
 a benefit much greater than the difference of wage, 
 which would be saved to the management. They 
 would breathe pure air, and be enabled to purchase 
 country produce, each of great value in the mainten- 
 ance of h-ealth, and the provision for their families, 
 whilst the shareholders might get a large percentage 
 on the building capital, by the consequent deduction 
 from salaries in lieu of rent. 
 
 Irrespective of peopling the companies' own land, 
 the increase of population in the neighbourhood of 
 each station ought to be assiduously encouraged. This 
 might be done by the judicious application of the 
 annual-ticket system. The citizen is carried three 
 miles in an omnibus for sixpence. The railway might 
 carry him thirty for the same money, within the same 
 time. Is there any doubt which tens of thousands 
 of sensible men would choose, provided that easy 
 carriages were contrived and brought into use, and 
 numerous trains to give choice of time provided ? 
 When it is considered, moreover, that according to 
 the same proportion he might go ten miles for two- 
 pence, or five for a penny, can any limit be imagined 
 to the number of country-living townsmen that might 
 be produced ? At present, the ticket almost equals 
 a second I'ent, and when taken the labour of using 
 it is so great that an escape from the journey is re- 
 garded as a holiday, and the experiment is often not 
 renewed. 
 
 Annual tickets for ladies and children might be 
 even more remunerative, in proportion, if charged at 
 about a fourth or sixth of the rate of those for gentle- 
 men, because they would probably not be used more 
 than one-tenth as often on the average ; — nevertheless, 
 
CHARGE SHOULD BE TAKEN OF LUGGAGE. 249 
 
 they are indispensable to the full development of 
 home-passenger traffic. 
 
 The time occupied at the end of a journey by 
 taking the tickets is a matter of frequent complaint 
 with travellers to whom a few minutes is often of 
 much importance, and it is sometimes remarked, that 
 the adoption of the system prevailing in America, 
 and indeed on some of the Manchester lines, of taking, 
 and even selling, tickets by the guard during the 
 journey, time would be gained, and the staff of the 
 station clerks might be sensibly reduced. 
 
 There are many matters of detail well worthy the 
 attention of directors desirous of promoting the com- 
 fort and convenience of passengers, with a view to the 
 companies' interests. The care of luggage is a source 
 of anxiety from which many would gladly be relieved. 
 The company might easily take charge of it for a fee 
 of zd. per package, a receipt for which being handed 
 to the passenger, the luggage might be delivered at 
 its address in exchange for such receipt, and this 
 might yield a considerable revenue to the company. 
 The charge of 2d. for merely keeping a package, coat, 
 or umbrella, is extortionate, and defeats its object. 
 
 Again, the building of comfortable hotels at lead- 
 ing stations and places of public resort — let at nominal 
 rents, on condition that the tariff of charges be reason- 
 able — would do much to encourage pleasure trips ; for 
 the present exorbitant scale of hotel charges often 
 prohibits travelling. These establishments, however, 
 should be of moderate size, as when building is over- 
 done, all other expenses being increased in proportion, 
 failure must result, which tends to repress experiments 
 in the same direction elsewhere. 
 
 It may be thought hopeless to expect any great 
 reform in railway management without a considerable 
 
250 EFFICIENT DIRECTION NECESSARY. 
 
 alteration in the composition of Boards of Directors, 
 who are too often chosen apparently for no other 
 reason than that their manifold engagements of a 
 public or private nature {e.g. as members of Parlia- 
 ment or heads of large mercantile establishments) 
 must of necessity prevent their giving any real atten- 
 tion to the companies' concerns, which must therefore 
 be almost entirely left to traffic-managers, engineers, 
 and secretaries. Surely three or five respectable men 
 of business, with an efficient working staff, would con- 
 duct the traffic to much better purpose. They should 
 devote their whole time and be well paid for their 
 services, subject — in common with the leading men of 
 the staff — to fines, limited to one-third of their salaries, 
 for all compensations for accidents ; so as to render 
 them personally and pecuniarily responsible. At all 
 events I think it must be concluded that any sub- 
 stantial improvement in railway property must be 
 looked for from more responsible management ; from 
 diminished traffic expenses, and wear and tear ; from 
 legislative justice between the proprietor and the 
 passenger ; from reasonable, without unreasonably 
 cheap, fares ; and — the essential point — from security 
 of con^fort to the traveller ; which may encourage a 
 large increase in pleasure-seeking, as well as business 
 journeys, and also in regular home traffic for residents 
 within many considerable radii of every large town. 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. FUGITIVE PAPERS. 25 I 
 
 ON PRESENCE OF MIND IN EMERGENCY. 
 
 {The Birkbeck Institute, 1876). 
 
 Presence of mind, or self-command in the midst of 
 danger, is a most important faculty — a faculty which 
 deserves attentive cultivation on account of the 
 momentous consequences which often depend on its 
 possession or absence. The ability to decide in an 
 instant what should be done in cases of accident and 
 pressing emergency has been the means of preserving 
 numerous lives, and preventing many calamities, which 
 would otherwise have been of shocking extent ; and 
 the want of this power has from time to time involved 
 the sacrifice of thousands of human beings. 
 
 Presence of mind implies that the person exercising 
 it is possessed of the ability to think in the midst of 
 danger, coolness to judge of the suggestions thus 
 offered on the instant, and courage to act without 
 flinching in conformity with this rapid judgment. 
 
 Its absence, on the other hand, leaves the person 
 who may be threatened with imminent danger in 
 a state of helpless stupor, unable to avail himself of 
 the most palpable means of self-preservation ; and 
 often, through fear, impels unreflecting people into a 
 state of panic, under the influence of which they 
 impetuously rush on certain destruction, when no real 
 cause for alarm originally existed. Cases of this latter 
 kind have so frequently happened of late, and such 
 lamentable public results have been the consequence. 
 
252 ACTION IN CASE OF FIRE. 
 
 that it may be profitable to examine into some of the 
 causes of this unfortunate state of things, with a view 
 of suggesting the manner in which these so-called 
 unaccountable calamities might be averted. 
 
 The general power of self-command is capable of 
 being educated and improved to a considerable ex- 
 tent, like all other faculties. Therefore it should form 
 part of the education of young persons of both sexes, 
 that under all circumstances, and at all periods of their 
 existence, they are liable to dangers of various kinds. 
 Such as are commonly experienced among the several 
 advantages and comforts of civilized life should be 
 clearly pointed out ; and the proper methods of acting 
 to avert these dangers, when threatened, impressed 
 upon the pupil. Accidents which are in their nature 
 so peculiar as not to be anticipated are rare ; but even 
 these may, perchance, be ameliorated or averted by 
 one accustomed to the idea of meeting such as are of 
 ordinary occurrence — by persons, that is to say, who 
 have been brought up to despise the silliness of being 
 frightened, and giving way to alarm at every unusual 
 incident ; whilst children, women, and men who are 
 nursed in ignorance of everything in the world but 
 those things which minister to their wants or enjoy- 
 ments — without a thought of self-reliance or inde- 
 pendent action, either under ordinary circumstances 
 or in emergency — will yield themselves up, as it were, 
 willing victims to the most trivial fright or the slightest 
 unusual occurrence. 
 
 Perhaps the kind of danger to which we are most 
 liable is that arising from fire. Light and artificial heat 
 being necessary to the comfort and well-being of man- 
 kind in our climate, every dwelling contains a constant 
 source of danger, ready to burst forth as the result 
 of a very small degree of carelessness, or unavoidable 
 
GEORGE STEPHENSON IN BURNING PIT. 253 
 
 mischance. Under these circumstances, ordinary 
 prudence would dictate the desirability of all persons 
 considering the very easy possibility of their being 
 placed in the condition, in which the lives and property 
 of themselves, and others, may depend on individual 
 coolness and energy. One moment's self-possession 
 may frequently save a terrible calamity ; one moment's 
 hesitation, Or excess of alarm, as easily insure the 
 occurrence of such calamity. 
 
 When a room is discovered to be on fire, the first 
 impulse with those who are frightened is to run ; but 
 it is evident that observation is the first duty — see if 
 prompt action might not extinguish the flames before 
 they attain the mastery. The alarm can generally be 
 given in the midst of action. The escape of all within 
 the dwelling being provided over, think what water is 
 at hand, where assistance can be most readily pro- 
 cured, and how the means can be best applied. A 
 very small quantity of water, thrown on a burning 
 mass, by being converted into steam, will often ex- 
 tinguish a fire at its commencement. The exclusion 
 of air is almost as important as the introduction of 
 water. If, therefore, it be necessary to leave an 
 ignited room, be careful to shut the door, not wildly 
 rush away leaving it open, as is frequently done, by 
 which air is admitted to feed the flames, and the way 
 is left open for their free extension to the rooms and 
 passages adjoining. 
 
 A coal-pit was once on fire in which the celebrated 
 George Stephenson, then a labouring man, was at 
 work. Taking a shovel full of earth, he called on his 
 fellow-labourers to follow his example, and in this 
 manner a bank was speedily formed a short distance 
 in advance of the flames, which, by excluding the air, 
 efifectually extinguished the fire, so that the lives of 
 
254 MEANS AVAILABLE TO SAVE LIFE. 
 
 all were saved by the energy and intelligence of one 
 master mind. Happily, since the invention of the 
 safety lamp, colliery explosions need never occur 
 except as the result of the most culpable negligence. 
 
 To return to the burning house. When water is 
 brought, the door being shut, knock out a panel to 
 reconnoitre, through which the water may be poured 
 should it be undesirable to enter the room. In this 
 way, supposing the fire to be at the top of the build- 
 ing, it may be perhaps prevented from extending 
 downwards, as flame has a tendency to ascend, and 
 is always fiercest upwards. For the same reason, 
 should it be a lower apartment on fire, deluge the 
 floor above as thoroughly as possible, so as to soak 
 the ceiling of the burning room, and cause it to rain 
 down upon the flames. If the stairs be on fire, and it 
 be necessary to rush through the flames, the body 
 should be enveloped in a blanket, as wool will not 
 easily ignite ; but if the stairs are burnt, so that com- 
 munication downwards is cut off before persons at 
 the top are aware of the fire, concentrate all efforts on 
 escape by the roof, supposing the means exist ; for 
 which purpose one of Myle's fire-escape ladders should 
 be kept near the trap-door. In towns every roof 
 should have such an opening, and means provided for 
 passing from roof to roof ; but if, unhappily, there be 
 no means of escape above, shut the doors of the top 
 rooms inside ; throw out beds and mattresses from the 
 windows, to fall on ; and make ropes of the sheets and 
 blankets, which should be cut in strips about a foot , 
 wide with some instrument always kept at hand, by 
 which, in the absence of ladders, women and children 
 may be let down (a purchase being obtained by push- 
 ing the bedstead to the window, and passing the rope 
 round one of the legs), and men may afterwards slide 
 
PRECAUTIONS. WOMEN S DRESS ON FIRE. 255 
 
 down by the same means. Persons outside should 
 place the beds, etc., or straw, so as best to catch the 
 falling inmates, and erect ladders to meet ropes which 
 may be too short. From the neglect of these active 
 precautionary measures, a whole family was recently 
 burnt. They trusted solely to the fire-escapes, but, 
 before these could be made available, the flames rush- 
 ing from the windows prevented their use. Should it 
 be necessary to enter burning rooms, to rescue persons 
 or property within, first draw a deep breath, retaining 
 it as long and expiring as slowly as possible when 
 compelled ; and proceed with firmness and caution 
 rather than hurry, crawling along the floor as much as 
 practicable, to escape the smoke, which always ascends. 
 On such occasions clamour is always mischievous. 
 One director is better than a dozen. Diversity of 
 advice bewilders the timid, and life is often sacrificed 
 to perplexity thus produced. 
 
 Were it the practice to place balconies outside the 
 upper windowsj especially of lofty houses, a sure 
 means of refuge would be afforded, and sad sacrifices 
 of life often prevented ; and it has been suggested that, 
 to prevent the abuse of such means of access from 
 house to house, fulminatirtg balls might be placed on 
 the hinge or lock, which should explode with a loud 
 noise on sufficient force being applied to open the 
 gate, so as to alarm the neighbourhood. This, in case 
 of fire, would be an additional advantage. 
 
 The most provoking calamities caused by fire are 
 the burning of women by the ignition of their dress. 
 I say the most provoking, because they are needless. 
 Not only is the liability to this mischance very largely 
 increased by the absurd dimensions of the dresses 
 worn by ladies, and the flimsy nature of the material 
 of which they are composed ; not only may the risk 
 
256 BURNING DRESS, HOW TO EXTINGUISH. 
 
 be totally destroyed by dipping the dresses in a 
 solution of aliim before they are got up, which will 
 prevent their ignition ; but there is positively no 
 reason why a woman whose dress has caught fire 
 under any circumstances should be burnt, did she but 
 know how to act, and had presence of mind so to act ; 
 remembering only that fire cannot exist without air, 
 and that heat ascends. The person has only to lie 
 down and roll, to prevent all bad consequences beyond 
 the loss of the dress. The parts next the ground 
 cannot burn. Who does not know that to light one 
 candle from another, placing the wick in the bottom 
 of the flame, is difficult ; but present it at the top of 
 the flame it lights instantly, as the heat is concentrated 
 at its apex. The burning of the dress on the upper 
 part of a prostrate person, furthest from the ground, 
 will therefore be comparatively harmless, even were 
 such person still. In rolling, however, each part, 
 being under in succession, must be also extinguished 
 in succession. 
 
 The proprietor of a large muslin warehouse, when 
 one night alone, accidentally dropped his light, and 
 ignited a loose piece of this inflammable material. 
 One moment's hesitation and the whole building 
 would have been on fire. He threw himself prostrate 
 on the flame, and instantly extinguished it. 
 
 Now, in the case of actresses taking fire at the 
 footlights, as well as of the several unfortunate ladies 
 who have suffered in this manner, the uncontrollable 
 impulse is to run about screaming, feeding the flames 
 as much as possible by an artificial draught of air ; 
 whilst the persons attempting to render assistance 
 appear to think of nothing but adding fuel, in the 
 shape of sheets, table-cloths, and so on, thrown over 
 the sufferer : instead of tripping her up, in the first 
 
DISASTROUS PANIC IN THE "AUSTRIA. 257 
 
 place, which may be done with the foot ; and after- 
 wards proceeding to extinguish the flames, by rolling 
 the body over. Not long since, the husband of a lady 
 on fire threw her down, to prevent her running, and 
 said he managed to put out the flames, " he knew not 
 how." But this was the very exfilaftation. He could 
 not well help extinguishing them when she was on the 
 floor ; had he prevented her moving, by holding her 
 in an upright position, she would have been most ' 
 assuredly burnt to death. Another woman on fire 
 obtained credit for presence of mind because she 
 held up her arms out of the flames, calling for mats. 
 What was the result .' Just what might have been 
 expected — the concentrated heat of the rising flames 
 caused the uplifted arms to be burnt more than any 
 other part of the body ; and she died in consequence. 
 Young girls should early be impressed with the 
 necessity of promptly throwing themselves on the 
 floor, in case of such an accident befalling them. 
 
 The most terrible calamities by fire are such as 
 occur at sea, where a crowd of persons seem to have 
 no chance of escape between the devouring element 
 above and the waves below. Yet, under such fearful 
 circumstances, calm presence of mind has frequently 
 been instrumental in saving an entire crew ; while 
 panic speedily renders death inevitable. A sad in- 
 stance of the latter kind will be fresh in the recollec- 
 tion of all — viz. the German steamship Atistria, on 
 board which self-command was entirely lost almost 
 immediately on the breaking out of the flames. The 
 head of the vessel was not kept before the wind, con- 
 sequently the fire rapidly extended to the whole of 
 the ship : the boats, which would have taken all on 
 board if coolly handled and properly filled, were nearly 
 all swamped ; and thus, although succour was near at 
 
 s 
 
258 HEROISM OF WILLIAM MAXWELL. 
 
 hand, and not one soul need have been sacrificed, only 
 sixty lives were saved out of near six hundred pas- 
 sengers and crew. 
 
 Contraist with this the cool courage and discipline 
 displayed on board the English ships Sarah Sands 
 and Eastern City, and mark the result which attended 
 such noble conduct in each case. The steadiness and 
 daring of the troops in the Sarah Sands (every cask 
 of powder having been removed from the magazine at 
 great personal risk) caused the fire to be extinguished, 
 and enabled the captain to bring the disabled vessel 
 safely into the nearest port. In the Eastern City, the 
 undaunted courage of her commander, though the 
 flames could not be mastered, gave time for the care- 
 ful preparation and arrangement of every available 
 means of escape ; when the appearance of the Mer- 
 chantman offered a refuge for all on board. 
 
 Some fifty years ago a memorable instance occurred 
 off the coast of Scotland, of an entire crew being 
 saved by the cool presence of mind, and almost super- 
 human fortitude, of a single man. The Ocean Monarch 
 being in flames near the shore, one chance was offered 
 by the skill, devotion, and courage of the pilot at the 
 helm, who knew that, if a certain point could be 
 reached in time, the ship might be run aground, so 
 that the crew and passengers might escape. Steadily 
 he maintained his post, whilst the wind — produced by 
 the fearful rapidity with which the engines propelled 
 the vessel through the water — carried the heat towards 
 him with greater intensity every moment. All the 
 rest were crowding at the bows ; though some of the 
 sailors vainly endeavoured to throw water over the hero 
 of the scene. Firmly did William Maxwell stand to 
 be roasted, until the beach was gained and all were 
 safe ; when he jumped into the water, leaving the 
 
." FORTITUDE OF MISS ' KENNEDY. 259 
 
 soles of his feet and the palms of his hands (which 
 had peeled off) sticking to the burning mass ; thus 
 nobly gaining for himself a name which will never be 
 forgotten. He might have sJved himself by swimming ; 
 but preferred to risk his life, and to bear the torture, 
 that those who could not swim might not be lost. 
 
 A boiler explosion once occurred on board the 
 St. Nicholas, an American river , steamer, which was 
 thereby set on fire on the passage from New Orleans 
 to St. Louis. A young lady, Miss Kennedy, who had 
 been forced into the river, laid hold of a ring when 
 floating past the burning hull. To this she held, 
 barely keeping her face above water ; whilst the hair 
 and skin of her head were both singed off, and her hand 
 was burnt to a crisp. Yet, under these agonizing 
 circumstances, her fortitude and presence of mind 
 were so great that, with her disengaged hand, she 
 caught a drowning man by his hair, and sustained him 
 until a skiff arrived to the rescue of both. Not long 
 ago, from a lack of similar fortitude in the endurance 
 of pain, the keeper of a fire-escape, which had become 
 ignited, fell to the ground with a woman and child 
 in his arms, breaking his own leg and killing the 
 child. 
 
 These accidents at sea teach the importance of all 
 persons being used to the water. The invention of 
 life-buoys, etc., have seemingly rendered this of less 
 consequence than formerly ; still it is highly desirable 
 that persons should accustom themselves at least to 
 be sustained in water without alarm. This may be 
 done without learning to swim— nay, even without 
 practice — if, when first immersed, it were possible to be 
 entirely divested of fear. The human body is lighter 
 than fresh, and considerably lighter than salt, water. 
 If, then, any person will lie steadily on the back, with 
 
26o SUCCESSFUL DODGING OF A SHARK. 
 
 arms and hands under the surface, inflating the chest 
 as usual, the body will float, and the head rise suffi- 
 ciently to keep the face above water ; and a slight 
 movement of the open han'ds downwards, raising them 
 edgeways and lowering them flat, will assist the up- 
 ward tendency of the body. On the other hand, 
 raising the arms above the surface increases their 
 weight, by the pressure of the air on the surfaces of 
 the exposed limbs ; whilst struggling at the same time 
 agitates the water, thus driving it in waves into the 
 mouth, ears, and nostrils ; and the body must rapidly 
 sink. If an oar, or any smaller piece of wood, be 
 within reach, it may, by being held under the neck, 
 materially assist to sustain the head above water. 
 
 Deep breathing, however, is almost the " one thing 
 needful" in floating or swimming. Persons should 
 therefore, above all things, acquire the power of 
 rapidly inhaling a large quantity of air, and of sus- 
 pending expiration. 
 
 There are numerous instances recorded of wonder- 
 ful escapes from imminent danger by presence of 
 mind. As, for example, an expert swimmer saving 
 himself from the jaws of a shark, by facing the enemy, 
 and diving whenever the monster turned on his back 
 to make the fatal gripe ; thus dodging and keeping 
 him at bay, until the arrival of a boat enabled the 
 intended victim to make a secure retreat. This man 
 was guided by the knowledge that the shark, although 
 swimming on the belly, is, from the peculiar forma- 
 tion of the mouth, obliged to turn over on his back 
 in order to seize his prey. 
 
 In another case, an unarmed man, formerly em- 
 ployed in making surveys for an Indian railroad, was 
 attacked by a full-grown leopard. Death would have 
 appeared inevitable, but courage and judgment gave 
 
THE LIGHTED FUSE AND MATCH EXTINGUISHED. 26 1 
 
 him the advantage : he grappled with the savage 
 beast, and, at the moment when the huge jaws were 
 opened to despatch him,- thrust his arm into the brute's 
 throat, clutching the root of its tongue with a vicelike 
 grasp ; and thereby causing so much pain that, as 
 soon as loss of strength forced him to relax his hold, 
 the animal slunk howling away. 
 
 During the late Russian war, a shell with its 
 lighted fuse fell on the deck of a British ship in the 
 Baltic. A young midshipman seized it in his hands, 
 and threw it over the side into the water — a harmless 
 ball, which one instant left alone would have scattered 
 death and destruction on all sides. This noble 
 promptitude, having been published through Europe, 
 was afterwards imitated, on more than one occasion, 
 in the trenches before Sebastopol. 
 
 On one occasion an inspector went down to look 
 at a mine unobserved by the men. Returning from 
 the lower to an upper level, he found the miners 
 absent. Not knowing he was there, they had prepared 
 for a blast, and retired to fire the train. The truth 
 flashed on him as his eye fell on the lighted match. 
 One moment's shrinking or hesitation would have sent 
 him to eternity. Darting forward, however, he seized 
 the burning brand ere its flame had reached the 
 powder, and hurled it down the shaft. 
 
 We may be sure that man will never again pass 
 the miners without acquainting them with his presence. 
 
 There is a beautiful instance on record of maternal 
 instinctive presence of mind. Near the sea-shore a 
 little child, not a year old, had toddled off, unobserved, 
 to the verge of an overhanging cliff. The mother 
 turned and saw the danger. Had she screamed or 
 run forward, the infant would have continued its 
 course from her, either in playfulness or alarm. She 
 
262 EIRE EFFECTS OF SENSELESS PANIC. 
 
 hastily bared her breast, stooped down with extended 
 arms, and gently called the child. It ran towards her, 
 of course, and she was just able to clasp it to her 
 bosom — saved — ere she fainted. 
 
 The most fearful consequences of senseless panic 
 — because attended with great loss of life — which have 
 occurred in our time, on land, have been produced at 
 some of our public buildings and places of amusement. 
 Among these instances are the catastrophes at the 
 Surrey Music Hall, the Shefifield Concert Room, and 
 the Victoria Theatre ; and it is not a little singular that 
 at each of these places the panic was the result of a 
 false alarm. In the first case a noise was heard which 
 some persons imagined, and therefore without hesita- 
 tion proclaimed, to be the falling of a gallery. There 
 was not the slightest ground for the idea, nevertheless 
 a general panic was speedily communicated through- 
 out the building, and at once, as if a pack of wolves 
 had sprung upon a' sheepfdld, almost every individual 
 among the assembled thousands, carried away by a 
 frantic excitement, commenced to provide, as he 
 thought, for his own personal safety; with such an 
 insane intensity as to preclude the possibility of escape 
 for the great majority, supposing the danger really to 
 have existed. Every doorway became choked with a 
 concatenation of living wedges, each separately driven 
 by the mallet of his own selfish love of life. Youths, 
 women, and children were crushed, smothered, thrown 
 over banisters, trampled underfoot, and killed, and all 
 for nothing. The terrific struggle lasted for an hour, 
 whereas the building was capable of having been 
 cleared in a few minutes. 
 
 " What ! " some of these panic-stricken worthies 
 might say, "suppose the building to be really fall- 
 ing, would you have us quietly and voluntarily sit 
 
ALARM TAKING POSSESSION OF SENSES. 263 
 
 Still to be buried in the ruins ? " Certainly I would, 
 when, by so doing, you render your own death not a 
 whit more speedy, but a great deal less so, whilst 
 aiding the escape of hundreds. In such a case of 
 alarm, however well founded, the first consideration 
 with a sensible man would be, that calmness and self- 
 possession afford the only chance. Those near the 
 places of exit may indeed walk out as quickly as 
 possible, each taking especial care to wait till all 
 before have gone, and the way is clear. They who 
 are further removed, by summoning sense, as well as 
 courage, will perceive that a little patience will bring 
 their opportunity of escape very much sooner than 
 any ill-judged haste, which must, indeed, prevent their 
 chance arriving at all, whilst preventing those whose 
 time is come from taking advantage of it. As con- 
 ducing to this calm fortitude, as well in each individual 
 as on the general assembly, strict silence should be 
 observed. Noise not only excites fear in others, and 
 in those who produce it, but prevents any directions 
 being effectually given by persons better aware of the 
 danger, and of the best means of precaution ; or even 
 the announcement that the alarm is false in the 
 numerous instances when such is the fact. 
 
 At the Sheffield Concert Room a similar panic was 
 produced, according to several witnesses, by the firing 
 of a pistol by some diabolical rascal among the 
 audience ; but others thought the report was that of a 
 gas explosion. Whatever the cause, there was no real 
 ground for alarm ; and had the people retained the 
 quiet possession of their senses, they would soon have 
 been made to understand that there was nothing to 
 fear. The crowd, however, immediately lost all self- 
 command, and the same wild insanity of demeanour 
 ensued as in the Surrey congregation, quickly followed 
 
264 THE BLUNDERS OF ARCHITECTS 
 
 by a similar catalogue of victims, maimed, mangled, 
 and crushed to death. 
 
 So, again, at the Victoria Theatre a causeless ciy 
 of fire, among the occupants of the gallery, created a 
 despairing rush' down the narrow staircase, broken by 
 angular windings, in the corners of which many persons 
 were suffocated, whilst others were pressed against 
 the iron balustrades, or thrown headlong over, so that 
 fifteen young persons lost their lives, besides broken 
 limbs and injuries of every description. Something 
 of the same sort happened not long since in a church. 
 
 Now, it would be impossible to admit that the 
 mass of these several collections of people had received 
 a commonly decent education, such an education as 
 would secure the proper development of their common 
 faculties, or they could not be thus easily, and literally, 
 frightened out of their lives. 
 
 A large share of the culpability attaching to the 
 persons having charge of public buildings, in which 
 such terrible misfortunes have occurred, is attributable 
 to architects, who erect edifices of every description 
 without reference to these contingencies, and there- 
 fore affording no adequate escape for the thousands 
 periodically assembled within the walls. A few narrow 
 doorways, because sufficient to admit the entrance of 
 large masses one by one, are the only means provided 
 for the rapid exit of the same masses all pouring out 
 in a body. 
 
 Thus considerable inconvenience is experienced 
 whenever the building is used by a crowded audience ; 
 whilst on occasions of alarm, such as have been 
 described, a large sacrifice of life becomes, in the 
 present state of popular education, almost inevitable. 
 
 These architectural blunders are so common that 
 examples will occur to every one. Theatres, concert 
 
AFFORDING INSUFFICIENT MEANS OF EXIT. 265 
 
 halls, assembly rooms, churches, and chapels are alike 
 constructed with this disregard for the safety of the 
 persons accommodated within. A theatre is placed in 
 the centre of a mass of buildings, narrow and intricate 
 passages only communicating with the outer air. A 
 concert hall or assembly room is perched on the top 
 of a lofty range of buildings, and having one or two 
 doors only, approached by a common staircase ; as, 
 for example, Exeter Hall, the London Tavern, Bridge 
 House Hotel, etc. A particular church occurs to me 
 at which people from one broad centre aisle, two side 
 aisles, and two galleries, all meet together to be dis- 
 charged from a single doorway, which is the only 
 opening into the street. Imagine such a place on fire. 
 This one door would probably become at once choked 
 by the rush of people, preventing alike their own 
 egress, and the entrance of all succour from without, 
 and in that case the bulk of the congregation must 
 remain to be burnt without the slightest chance of 
 escape. 
 
 It is palpable that places of meeting for large 
 numbers should be on the ground ; that all galleries 
 should be approached by external staircases ; and 
 abundance of room for hasty exit afforded. Small 
 rooms and offices in connection with the larger should 
 not be under — as at Exeter Hall and the taverns above 
 mentioned — but above or at the end of the main 
 building. It may be doubted whether it be not 
 practicable to construct the sides of the building so 
 that the entire assemblage may, in cases of emergency, 
 escape almost simultaneously. It has been suggested 
 that the lower walls of a church, for instance, might 
 be composed of arches, which should be filled in by 
 large double iron doors, opening outwards, overlapping 
 each other, and bolted on the inside, so that no 
 
2 66 CAUTION REQUISITE WITH BROKEN LIMBS. 
 
 amount of external pressure would force them inwards, 
 although a very slight internal pressure would force 
 them outwards. These, indeed, might be placed under 
 every window of an existing building, without materially 
 weakening the edifice. By means of paper internally, 
 and cement externally, these doors may have all the 
 appearance of stone walls, and yet, in case of danger 
 or panic, the whole congregation might obtain imme- 
 diate egress. 
 
 Many occasions occur of a less appalling nature 
 than those hitherto mentioned, when presence of mind 
 is, nevertheless, of manifest importance. 
 
 Persons are liable to assaults from thieves, as high- 
 waymen, for instance, or burglars, when preservation 
 of life and property may very much depend on firm- 
 ness and discretion — having one's wits about one, as it 
 is called. These are not occasions which will admit 
 of preparation by way of instruction, as no one can 
 anticipate the particular circumstances of the attack ; 
 but there are numerous well-known anecdotes on 
 record of successful resistance to assaults of this kind, 
 by dint of tact and resolution. 
 
 There are accidents of various kinds which require 
 cool judgment on the part of those who may be able 
 to render assistance. Much mischief is sometimes 
 occasioned by ignorance and misguided zeal. This is 
 particularly so in the case of fractured limbs. A leg 
 • or arm may be broken by a fall, but many persons 
 will hurriedly lift the prostrate body, without waiting 
 to inquire whether any, and what, injury has been 
 sustained. Thus a broken arm may be seized, and 
 rendered incapable of being set, in a moment, and the 
 simple fracture of a leg made compound, as it is 
 termed, (i.e. when the two portions of broken bone are 
 violently separated so as sometimes to protrude 
 
ACCIDENTS IN CROSSING STREETS. 267 
 
 through the skin), by raising the upper part of the 
 body from the ground, and making a lever of the 
 injured limb, which must immediately bend and 
 separate. Now, a simple fracture is easily set and 
 cured ; but to reduce a compound fracture is often a 
 very difficult operation, attended with a great deal of 
 pain and danger to the patient. The bones are much 
 more easily broken in adult life than during youth. 
 Men and women, therefore, who may have reason to 
 suspect the possibility of a catastrophe of this kind, 
 should neither attempt to rise themselves, nor be lifted 
 by others, until they are satisfied that no such injury 
 has been sustained ; and if there should have been, 
 the only wise course is to remain quietly on the 
 ground until the arrival of a stretcher or shutter, on 
 which the sufferer should be shifted with great care, 
 and taken to the nearest hospital or house, at which 
 he may be attended by a surgeon. A broken bone 
 may then be set without difficulty, and the patient 
 be immediately after removed to his own home with 
 safety, and speedily recover, when, under less con- 
 siderate treatment, even if life were not sacrificed, the 
 limb may have been lost or deformed for the re- 
 mainder of his days. 
 
 Severe burns or scalds require very prompt allevi- 
 ation. A method often resorted to is to dredge the 
 injured parts with flour. Plunging and keeping 'Cas.vd 
 in cold water is better ; or to apply treacle is an 
 excellent remedy, as well for burns and scalds as 
 bruises. 
 
 As to the causes of these mischances, many are 
 unavoidable. In towns, street accidents are frequently 
 occasioned by sheer carelessness ; but they are still 
 oftener the result of unnecessary fright, especially 
 in women, who may be not unfrequently seen to 
 
2 68 STEPPING ON OR OFF MOVING CARRIAGES. 
 
 wait before crossing a road, whilst dozens of people 
 pass quietly over in safety ; and at last, making an 
 inopportune rush, catch sight of some approaching 
 carriage when halfway over, hesitate, and finally run 
 back just in time to be knocked down by a second 
 vehicle, before unseen. Under precisely such circum- 
 stances, I have seen a woman save her life by a 
 vigorous roll over on the ground, which enabled her 
 only just to clear the wheels of an omnibus. Ladies 
 should learn that a crowded thoroughfare ought never 
 to be crossed without delibei'ation, at a walking 
 pace. A number of carriages moving slowly are less 
 dangerous than one approaching rapidly, although 
 appearing to be at a safe distance. If unable to 
 get over before such a vehicle, by no means run 
 back, but remain steadily in the middle till it has 
 passed on. 
 
 Even in railway accidents advantage may some- 
 times be gained by cool and prompt action. Where, 
 for instance, there be any notice of an impending 
 upset or collision, it would be prudent to lie down at 
 the bottom of the carriage. Omnibus riders will find 
 it a good rule to get out backwards ; in which case, 
 should the horses make a sudden start forward, there 
 will be no danger of falling, as the impetus is with the 
 carriage, not in an opposite direction. For the same 
 reason, it is better to get in whilst the omnibus is in 
 motion, rather than wait till it has quite stopped, for 
 then the start is avoided, which, otherwise, always 
 takes place before the lady is seated, and very 
 generally throws her off her balance upon the other 
 passengers. 
 
 In stepping on or off a moving railway carriage, or 
 a steamboat also, be careful to move in the same 
 direction with the train or vessel. , The neglect to- 
 
HOW TO DEAL WITH FOUL AIR IN WELLS. 269 
 
 observe the effect of so palpable a law of motion has 
 often caused persons to fall into the water or under 
 the wheels.* 
 
 Where danger is occasioned by collections of foul 
 air at the bottom of a well or unused vat, further 
 mischief is sometimes caused by the descent of others 
 to the assistance of the fainting person, without 
 suspecting the reason of the mischance, and therefore 
 taking no steps to dispel the evil. The first thing to 
 be done in every such misfortune, is to obtain and 
 throw a bucket or two of water against the sides of 
 the well. If some lime be stirred in the water, so much 
 the better: but it should be just allowed to settle, so 
 that no clots be thrown on the person below, but only 
 as much lime as can be suspended in the water ; and 
 time should not be lost in waiting to fetch it, if the 
 lime be not at hand. Even the repeated lowering of 
 an empty bucket, rapidly drawing it up and turning 
 it over away from the mouth of the well, will be 
 advantageous ; as the foul air, being heavier than 
 common air, will readily pass out of the bucket, whilst 
 a draught will be created in the well, and pure air rush 
 in to replace that which has been extracted. These 
 measures will most effectually bring succour to the 
 person below, by driving out or purifying the foul air, 
 and afterwards allow another to descend in com- 
 parative safety. Such second person should, however, 
 always take the precaution of tying a rope round 
 himself, and carry another rope with him to place 
 round the prostrate body as quickly as possible ; or if 
 he cannot readily do this, clasp it tightly in his arms, 
 when both may be drawn to the surface without loss 
 of time, by those remaining at the top. 
 
 A remarkable case of well-directed energy, intelli- 
 * See Note, p. 244. 
 
270 GALLANT RESCUE FROM A CLAV-PIT. 
 
 g^ence, and humanity, recently occurred at Wareham. 
 Two men were blocked up in a tunnel by the falling 
 in of a clay-pit, on a Monday afternoon, and choke- 
 damp emerging from the sides, prevented the workmen 
 without from going down. Mr. Pike, who was the 
 proprietor, on learning the mischance, hastened to 
 the spot, and after procuring some large bellows to 
 blow air into the pit through a flexible tube, he 
 directed the men, two of whom only could work at a 
 time, relieving each other. They were partly guided 
 in their operations by the tappings of the prisoners 
 below, who fortunately had a little food with them. 
 Thus they continued labouring without intermission 
 until the following Friday morning (eighty-six hours 
 in all), when their efforts were crowned with success, 
 and the men brought out alive, Mr. Pike himself 
 bringing each up in his arms, amid the solemn silence 
 of an assembled multitude, too much overcome with 
 prolonged excitement for audible emotion. 
 
 There is one other cause of fear, or rather imaginary 
 cause, to be noticed, which has frequently led to 
 terrible consequences, but which is really more 
 causeless than any yet mentioned, because entirely 
 superstitious ; I allude to the fancied visions of 
 supernatural spirits or ghosts. The ghost-stories which 
 have been recorded, and the truth of which has readily 
 passed current among the ignorant of all ages, would 
 fill many volumes. If any sensible people ever 
 believed the truth of these narratives — in the reality, 
 that is to say, of the appearances they profess to 
 relate — it has been in times far less enlightened than 
 our own. And yet the amount of terror these tales 
 have inspired is truly wonderful. That tricks and 
 practical jokes have been frequently played off for the 
 purpose of imposing on the credulous, is undoubtedly 
 
TERRORS PRODUCED BY GHOSTLY TRICKS. 2J I 
 
 true; and in times of tyranny and civil war, secret 
 passages in the walls of dingy old castles were often 
 made use of as a powerful means of self-protection, 
 and for the concealment of fugitives from oppression. 
 In such times a haunted house, in which the custom 
 of dragging a chain in the vicinity of the chamber 
 occupied by a stranger was periodically observed, 
 was exceedingly valuable ; and the sighing of the 
 wind among the tapestry of an ancient chamber, 
 readily admitted through chinks and crevices, often 
 allowed to remain for this purpose in the decaying 
 walls, added not a little towards the maintenance of 
 power by the lord of the mansion, especially after 
 some mysterious tales of historical midnight ad- 
 ventures, or some legend of iniquity in connection 
 with a departed ancestor, with which the inmates, 
 especially the servants, were sure to be well charged. 
 Without much trouble to the owner, such stories were 
 easily kept on foot from one generation to another. 
 These practices, and their use, are well illustrated by 
 Sir Walter Scott in his novel of " Woodstock." 
 
 Imitating the example of their betters, country 
 bumpkins have set whole counties in a ferment by 
 walking through a secluded churchyard with a sheet 
 over their shoulders. And among the middle classes 
 scientiiic knowledge has been aforetime prostituted to 
 the production of magical illusions, e.g. by means of 
 phosphorus, magic lanterns, setting up skeletons before 
 a strong light, etc., to frighten silly people for the 
 so-called amusement of the operator ; but which 
 amusements have sometimes ended in very serious 
 consequences, producing death, or in other cases 
 hopeless imbecility, in the persons (" distilled to jelly 
 by the act of fear ") who have been subjected to this 
 kind of practical joking. 
 
272 EARLY EDUCATION IN COMMON SENSE 
 
 It is evident that such consequences, when 
 produced, have been chiefly the result of vicious 
 education in relation to these matters. Nurses have 
 repeated their " old wives' fables " as being possible 
 in the natural or supernatural course of things, but 
 nevertheless as objects of terror. If the young were 
 taught that such appearances were common, natural, 
 and harmless ; or that they were impossible, except as 
 the result of trick, joke, or imposture, and therefore 
 equally harmless ; if, I say, either of these ideas were 
 early and frequently impressed upon the mind, the 
 appearances themselves would cause no alarm, and 
 thus fail to create amusement. It is in this, as in all 
 other kinds of unnecessary fear, the absence of know- 
 ledge, either that there is in reality no danger, or in 
 what precisely the danger (if any) consists, which 
 produces the evil ; and a convincing illustration that 
 this is the case is afforded in the daily experience of 
 all. Suppose a person of ripe age accidentally to 
 meet with a dead body without ever having heard of 
 death or man's inevitable decease, we cannot imagine 
 any circumstance which would be more calculated to 
 inspire alarm and horror ; but, as we are from early 
 childhood taught that all must die, the period being 
 uncertain, and are constantly reminded of the fact, 
 and made familiar with the reality by the decease of 
 friends, neighbours, and countrymen, however natural 
 it may be to feel impressed with an indefinable awe 
 at the sight, especially the first sight, of a dead body, 
 no person ever dreams of being frightened thereby. 
 The moment, however, that darkness supervenes, and 
 brings the imagination into play, those who have been 
 so educated to credit the possibility of spiritual 
 horrors, immediately becorne the senseless subjects of 
 alarm. 
 
AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-RELIANCE. 273 
 
 When, then, we consider that the deplorable 
 accidents and fatalities, which are so frequently brought 
 before the public observation, are due, in a very large 
 proportion of instances, to foolish panic, cowardly 
 alarm, want of common foresight and sensible edu- 
 cation, it surely becomes apparent of what importance 
 it is that young people should early be instructed in 
 the idea of danger, how to meet difficulties — to be 
 able to collect their thoughts so as to be ready to act 
 in emergencies ; that they should not be for ever 
 leaning on the judgment and assistance of elders and 
 superiors, but learn the value of self-reliance, so that 
 they be not only able to elbow their way among the 
 eager crowd, pressing forward in the race for worldly 
 honour and distinction ; and not only be prepared to 
 resist with firmness the various temptations which 
 must beset them ; but prepared to buffet with the 
 waves of chance, and stand against the sudden storm 
 of accident, at whatever time and from whatever 
 quarter it may approach. 
 
2 74 A BATTLING LIFE. — FUGITIVE PAPERS. 
 
 A PEEP AT THE RHINE, 1881. 
 
 Having some business at Cologne recently, I visited 
 Germany, for the first time in my life, in the third 
 month of my grand climacteric. Though not an 
 agriculturist, I have lived long in the country, and am 
 acquainted with farmers in more counties than one. 
 "Dilapidated Husbandry" has engrossed much atten- 
 tion of late in England, and I was therefore greatly 
 interested in observing some of the German and 
 Belgian methods of cultivation, as compared with our 
 own. Very forcibly I was struck, in passing through 
 the country, at the extreme cleanliness, so to speak, 
 and economy, of the foreign management. Every 
 blade of grass appears to be utilized. There is no 
 rank vegetation left to be cut down by the winter 
 frost, but the fields are cut or fed as closely as the 
 garden lawns in England. Not a waste corner to be 
 seen. The cattle are commonly tethered and tended, 
 and this secures the biting down of every inch. The 
 people, working in gangs, also appear much more 
 assiduous and interested over their occupations, their 
 eyes bent on the ground, their bodies stooping, and 
 their hands literally dragging, as it were, the crop or 
 the weeds out of the ground, with every indication of 
 intense earnestness. I noticed men and women, too, 
 who did not rise or lift their eyes to look at the train 
 as it passed them. It forms a perfect contrast to the 
 
cows AND DOGS USED FOR DRAUGHT. 275 
 
 apathetic devil-may-care manner in which much of the 
 labourer's work in England is commonly performed. 
 The men earn from ys. to 8j. a week wages, and 
 work longer hours than Englishmen. Potatoes about 
 Coblentz were worth about 2j. per cwt., such as were 
 then selling in England at 6s. 
 
 The common use of oxen and cows for ploughing 
 and draught in Germany is another point of difference. 
 On the top of the Niederwald I saw a cow bringing 
 down a heavy load of potatoes with ease, such as no 
 horse could have done. The strong wooden shafts 
 fastened to the animal's horns enable it, by simply 
 elevatipg its head, to keep back the load on the steepest 
 incline ; whilst on the level or ascending the hill, the 
 nose goes close to the ground, plodding forward with 
 sure and steady pace. Altogether it struck me that 
 a trip up the Rhine could not but be beneficial to many 
 a British farmer. 
 
 Another animal much utilized abroad is the dog, 
 which our " Grandmotherly Government " forbids a 
 poor man to help him in his labour. In Antwerp 
 I saw eight dogs abreast, drawing with infinite zest, 
 as it seemed, a full-sized cart. Each dog evidently did 
 its utmost ; and the ready docility with which they 
 followed the man, who walked before, dovim narrow 
 turnings at right angles, etc., showed that considerable 
 practice and training must have been experienced; 
 but there was not the slightest indication of lameness, 
 pain, or want of will, in any one of them, nor was any 
 whip required to keep each to his fair share of work. 
 At Johannisberg, I walked some distance alongside 
 a small loaded wagon drawn by a tolerable-sized 
 mastiff bitch. Some of the road was sandy, and on 
 an upward incline, but there was no sign of flagging ; 
 and in response to the owner's frequent caresses there 
 
276 EXTRAORDINARY DOCILITY OF SHEEP. 
 
 was much licking and display of affection, especially 
 when he sometimes helped by pulling at a trace. On 
 my return, the same animal was seen out of the shafts, 
 hunting and sniffing about the land with all the eager- 
 ness of a hound long confined to the kennel. 
 
 I had three days from Cologne to devote to the 
 Rhine scenery, and followed a programme furnished 
 me by a German friend. Leaving at 9.15 by rail for 
 Bonn, I there visited the Hofgarten, Altengall, etc., 
 with the monuments of Arndt and Beethoven ; next 
 went forward at 12.40 to Godesberg, and walked up 
 to the ruin, 280 feet above the Rhine, and ascended 
 the tower, up 158 steps (about a hundred feet), from 
 whence there is a splendid view of mountain, wood, 
 and river. The number of persons who had immor- 
 talized themselves by cutting or writing their names 
 on the walls amused me, more particularly as I recog- 
 nized one out-of-the-way name of an old friend I have 
 not seen for thirty or forty years, and who may not 
 now be living. Departing for Mehlem at 2.40, 1 there 
 crossed the Rhine, by flying bridge, and at once 
 ascended the Drachenfels on foot, resisting the press- 
 ing offer of donkey assistance, and succeeded in reach- 
 ing the top (1050 feet) in forty minutes. Here another 
 magnificent prospect ; and then down, at a somewhat 
 more tripping pace, to the boat at Konigswinter, at 
 4.30, for Rolandseck. There I walked up the incline 
 to the tower and ruin, five hundred feet, I should 
 guess, but was not informed. Issuing from the wood 
 at the top, I found the land in full cultivation ; and 
 there witnessed, to me, a remarkable sight. A flock 
 of several score sheep were feeding in charge of a 
 herdsman. I saw no dog. As I passed by, a word 
 of command was given from the side opposite, and 
 instantly about two dozen of the animals that had 
 
STOLZENFELS, COBLENTZ, RUDESHEIM. 277 
 
 been facing outwards, that is towards me (going 
 beyond the limit probably), jumped smartly to the 
 right-about, with one accord, just as a company of 
 soldiers might have done. There remained light 
 enough to admire the third Rhine panorama for the 
 day ; but dusk was by this time coming on, when I 
 descended from the ruin, by apparently endless flights 
 of almost perpendicular steps, at once high and half 
 filled up by crumblings from the soil — a somewhat 
 dangerous undertaking in the twilight, for a stranger 
 not quite so fresh as in the morning. The authorities, 
 I thought, might do well to keep these steps cleansed, 
 if there be any such as desire to save visitors from 
 untoward accidents. When, thankfully, at the bottom, 
 I gladly found the station for Remagen, where I 
 turned in for the night. 
 
 Next morning, I walked up to the Appolinaris 
 church — hearing on the way some singing in another 
 church, to a small organ most vilely out of tune — and 
 departed at 8.50 for Capellan, above which stands the 
 Empress's Castle of Stolzenfels, from which I enjoyed 
 another splendid outlook, and then mounted through 
 innumerable windings to the top of the mountain 
 behind, nearly a thousand feet, I should fancy. At all 
 events the descent occupied twenty minutes, although 
 I hurried down as fast as possible, running a good bit 
 of the way, because I had elected to walk (this was 
 going back) to Coblentz, which I was told would 
 occupy an hour, to take the boat, instead of crossing 
 to Lahnstein, which did not seem, as seen from 
 Stolzenfels, to be worth visiting during the short time 
 at my disposal. The distance to Coblentz, however, 
 I found greater than I anticipated, so that the boat 
 was gone when I reached the pier, and I was relegated 
 to the I'ail at 2.30, for Riidesheim. This turned out 
 
278 THE RHINE SCENERY, BELLS AND CLOCKS. 
 
 a fortunate mishap, for, the rail beating the boat, I 
 arrived at my destination at 4.30, in time to ascend 
 the Niederwald, to inspect the monument built by the 
 Emperor in memory of those Germans who fell in the 
 war with France, and which I was told can be seen 
 from the frontier. Darkness had arrived ere I once 
 more attained the river bank, and found my hotel. 
 
 On the morning of the third day, when, according 
 to my programme, I was to have ascended the Nieder- 
 wald, a thick fog prevented a sight of the hills on 
 either side. I therefore walked out to Johannisberg, 
 to the castle or mansion built in 1846, I think, by 
 Prince Metternich, and back in time for the boat at 
 eleven for Cologne, where I duly landed at 6.30, 
 having perambulated the deck the entire time, anxious 
 to catch each varying scene — castle, gorge, glen, vine- 
 yard, and mountain photographed by the eye at everj'- 
 turn. This was a lengthened feast for memory during 
 the I'est of life ; compared with which the most 
 luxuriant viands in the cabin had small attractions for 
 me. There were several English and Americans on 
 board, and plenty of agreeable conversation. One 
 German American was particularly struck with the 
 cultivation of every inch, of soil to the mountain-tops, 
 no less than with the beautiful peeps and panoramas. 
 
 The bells in Germany struck me as generally, and 
 individually, sonorous in tone ; but when jangled, 
 during some of the services, the whole peal being 
 struck together as I heard them at Cologne, the din 
 could not be but most vile. The church clocks would 
 not seem to equal the bells, if one may judge from 
 the fact that, at Godesberg, when close to the church, 
 I was asked by a young lady what o'clock it was, 
 and looking up at the dial I found its time forty-five 
 minutes wrong. 
 
CATCHING A TRAIN, MISSING A STORM, 279 
 
 On my return I had an instance of slovenly railway 
 management, coupled with absence of English grand- 
 motherliness. Arriving at Antwerp, I lost not a 
 moment in inquiring, from person to person, for the 
 train for Flushing ; but just as I reached it — not at the 
 platform, but across one set of rails — it had actually 
 started, when the guard opened the first available 
 door, and bundled me, head foremost, with both hands 
 full of baggage, into a third-class compartment, 
 crammed full of pipe-smokers of the worst tobacco, 
 in which I stood until the next station, where I got 
 a first all to myself, and was able to get a breath of 
 pure air. This was better than losing a day, as would 
 inevitably have been the case in England for a person 
 too late (only with us a look-out for passengers is 
 kept before starting). So I crossed in a roughish 
 night to Queensborough, and after passing through 
 London, arrived at my own roof-tree, to find two 
 chimney-pots blown off, and ijo tiles broken, about 
 a couple of hours before (October 14), in a building I 
 had previously deemed impervious to all the winds of 
 heaven. 
 
28o A BATTLING LIFE. — FUGITIVE PAPERS, 
 
 ON TEMPERANCE ADVOCACY. 
 
 Within the last half-century more has been said 
 about temperance than any other single subject. It 
 is not that temperance has been newly placed among 
 the virtues ; but that the enormous evils arising from 
 by far the worst form of intemperance, have become 
 more palpable and glaring with the increased facilities 
 offered to this indulgence by modern discoveries in 
 chemistry, by commercial enterprise, and the employ- 
 ment of accumulated capital in the manufacture of 
 ardent spirit. 
 
 It has been the custom of moralists to insist on the 
 inculcation of four cardinal virtues, to the true practice 
 of which all minor virtues might be traced. These 
 are prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. But 
 we may fairly assert that without temperance neither 
 of the rest can be fully practised. 
 
 The intemperate man, who spends the chief portion 
 of his means in the gratification of sensual appetite, 
 and consumes, in the fancied enjoyment, time which 
 should be devoted to the proper business of life, 
 cannot be prudent, either in the present or for the 
 future. 
 
 He who gives unlimited sway to his passions, 
 which become more debased by every fresh in- 
 dulgence, cannot he just to himself, and it is impossible 
 that he can be just towards others. Nor, in the state 
 
THE PLEDGE DEVISED BY FATHER MATTHEW. 28 1 
 
 of physical disease and debility, which is ever induced 
 by vice, in whatever shape it may be practised, can 
 the intemperate man hope to meet with becoming 
 fortitude those trials which, in a greater or less degree, 
 must happen to all men. And yet how much more 
 numerous and aggravated are the trials which he must 
 encounter, the inflictions of his own /oily, when, his 
 family without bread, his prospects ruined, his enemies 
 strong on eveiy side, and his body racked with pain, 
 the mind, which in its weakness has willed alt this 
 destruction, sinks in utter helplessness into the lowest 
 depths of despair ! 
 
 Seeing the importance of this virtue, then, it is not 
 surprising that educated men in all ages have united 
 in praise of temperance. Its value, indeed, is admitted 
 by every man in possession of his reason. 
 
 The terrible evils arising from drunkenness have 
 become so palpable in modern times, and their effects 
 so ruinous — not only to individuals, but nations — that 
 the attention of several of our modern philanthropists 
 has been directed towards the best means of stemming 
 the tide of destruction. 
 
 The late estimable Father Matthew, who took the 
 lead in this movement, devoted his life and fortune to 
 the work. 
 
 Whether it was owing to the peculiar tempera- 
 ment of the Irish people, among whom he chiefly 
 laboured, or from some other cause, he conceived 
 that, as one element of success, it was necessary to 
 provide some other excitement for his converts — some- 
 thing to call off the mind of the intemperate, and to 
 engage their attention, in substitution for that stimula- 
 tion which they would lose. He therefore administered 
 a pledge, which not only bound those who took it to 
 abstain from imbibing the poison which had hitherto 
 
282 CHERISH INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITV. 
 
 enslaved them, but, at the same time, afforded a 
 common bond by which they became united in a kind 
 of brotherhood, supporting and keeping each other in 
 countenance, and yielding a portion of the mental 
 excitement which they needed, by their constant 
 meetings for mutual encouragement and good-fellow- 
 ship. The application of this pledge was so far wise 
 and politic. It displayed a deep insight into human 
 nature. For, not less morally than physically, men 
 are always stronger in company than alone. Persons, 
 who are acted upon by feeling, will attempt and 
 execute individual reformation, when supported by 
 the excitement produced by extensive community of 
 feeling, which they would deem hopeless if undertaken 
 by themselves. 
 
 But this counter-excitement should not be too 
 much relied upon, for such demonstrations ai'e very 
 apt to become tiresome, and soon lose their attractive- 
 ness, unless sustained by something deeper and 
 stronger than mutual self-glorification. 
 
 If the cause of temperance is to advance, we must 
 look to improved education and the increasing strength 
 of the moral sense among the people, rather than to 
 the continuance of the pledge, towards which, indeed, 
 there is naturally a strong objection in many English 
 minds. It is the glory of the British that they are 
 free — free to speak and think and act according to 
 the dictates of their understanding alnd conscience. 
 The very sound of the pledge, therefore, is jarring to 
 some Englishmen, and those who have bound them- 
 selves in this, or any other manner, can with difficulty 
 resist the feeling of being, in some sort, in a state of 
 thraldom, which is irksome and unpleasant. There is 
 a loss of individual accountability, which it may be 
 hardly desirable to encourage. Now, the spread of 
 
THRIFT TO BE ENCOURAGED BY EDUCATION. 283 
 
 enlightened education must, in fact, afford the only- 
 true and safe bulwark against intemperance. 
 
 The inward determination to do that which we 
 believe to be right, without regard to the opinions of 
 the ignorant, or the ridicule of the foolish, should be 
 assiduously encouraged as of the very highest import- 
 ance to individual and national character. 
 
 After all, the maintenance of the pledge can only 
 depend on the determination to act up to our convic- 
 tions of what is right ; whilst it is much more manly, 
 independent, and virtuous to rely rather on the strength 
 of our own principles, unsupported and alone, than to 
 be leaning on the assistance and the association of 
 others. 
 
 Any person who has so lost the power of self- 
 control as to be unable to resist a mere gratification 
 of the palate, which gratification he well knows to be 
 injurious to his welfare in various ways, is simply 
 insane, not fit to be trusted with the care of his own 
 person. If a man does not know what injuries he 
 inflicts on himself and others by the foolish and 
 criminal indulgence, he must be either of weak 
 intellect, incapable of understanding ordinary circum- 
 stances, and therefore on a par with the insane, or his 
 education has been entirely neglected or perverted. 
 
 The last case is that of the great majority of those 
 who indulge in excessive drinking, and therefore the 
 only effectual means of reforming them is education 
 properly directed. 
 
 They should, for instance, be instructed in the 
 principles of economy, to understand which the com- 
 mon rules of arithmetic must be made familiar. They 
 sneer at saving the price of a glass of spirits, or a 
 draught of beer, because they have no idea of the 
 power of simple addition. 
 
284 IMPORTANCE OF THRIFT TO THE LABOURER. 
 
 A young man of twenty spends, perhaps, sixpence 
 per day in stimulants, which are unnecessary, but 
 thinks nothing of so insignificant an outlay. Let him 
 learn that this small sum would, at the end of one 
 year, amount to nearly ten pounds, which, placed in a 
 Savings Bank, will double itself in time, whilst each 
 year is adding to its now probably increasing savings 
 to the stock. 
 
 In a very few years he might in this manner 
 become possessed of several hundred pounds ; he 
 would have a stake in the commonwealth, and a voice 
 in the legislation of his country.* 
 
 When some such arithmetical calculation has been 
 fairly worked out by the pupil, he will undei'stand 
 something of the value of accumulated savings, the 
 advantages of economy in the management of a 
 household, and in mere personal, superfluous gratifica- 
 tion. He will begin to perceive, if he be a poor man, 
 that his children may be better provided with food 
 when the continual soaking and smoking shall have 
 been dispensed with ; that more decent clothing, 
 additional fuel, and a better house, which would not 
 only increase his own personal comfort, but that of 
 each member of his family, might be the result of a 
 self-denial which, if trying at first, would soon become 
 light, and end in being not only none at all, but rather 
 the source of much real gratification. The lesson will 
 be further improved by an appreciation of the time 
 gained, by saving or turning to useful account the 
 
 * Make a dockyard man work out the following illustration : Sup- 
 pose he lay a pin on board the Leviathan the first Saturday he receives 
 his weekly wages ; two the next ; four the next ; and so on, doubling 
 the number every Saturday, for one entire year, or fifty-two Saturdays. 
 Allowing 160 pins to the ounce, let him find what weight will have 
 been put on board the vessel at the year's end. The answer will be^ 
 785,365,448 tons, 8 cwt. 25 lbs. 9 oz. 9 drams and 5 pins. 
 
DRUNKENNESS IN TRUTH A DISEASE. 285 
 
 hours formerly devoted to besotted imbecility, and so 
 the prices of gills and pints saved will go on multiply- 
 ing. The comforts which have been enumerated, 
 coupled with additional cleanliness, both of person 
 and abode, promote health. Hence time before lost 
 in sickness is turned to fresh account, and the usual 
 charges for medical attendance added to the fund. 
 Again, health prolongs life, and some years of im- 
 proved strength will wonderfully aid the provision for 
 children and for old age. 
 
 Now, by the time the formerly ignorant full}- 
 comprehend these principles and their consequent 
 effects, they will understand how fortunes are made by 
 small gains ; how ruin is brought by apparently trifling 
 waste ; and how a little self-denial at first may be 
 applied to improve their condition and prosperity. 
 
 In estimating the physical and economical ad^ 
 vantages of temperance, it must not be forgotten that 
 mental and moral degradation is by far the greatest 
 evil experienced by the habitually intemperate. 
 
 The moral sense, which is the finest portion of the 
 human organization, having disappeared, the great 
 object of life is gone ; and the man who has lost 
 instinct, reason, and the very sense of degradation 
 in the gratification of mere sensual appetite, has, 
 for the time, fallen lower than the brute. 
 
 As to the means of reforming the drunkard, \t 
 should be remembered that it is a disease with which 
 we have to deal, and of a very obstinate character. 
 The vicious habit creates bodily infirmity, which again 
 reacts upon the mental depression — often the original 
 cause of the habit — and the entire nervous system 
 becomes at length so thoroughly prostrated that, 
 whenever in a state of consciousness, the patient is 
 completely miserable, tortured both in mind and 
 
2 86 HABIT ALTERABLE BY DETERMINATION. 
 
 body, and the demoniacal stimulant alone can afford 
 relief. Whilst the patient is in a state of ignorance 
 as to the real extent of the mischief which is being 
 inflicted ; and that each new alleviation of the misery 
 suffered will but increase it for the future ; it is not to 
 be wondered at that so much difficulty exists in curing 
 this most horrible of diseases. 
 
 The first requisite is that, during his moments of 
 reason, he be brought to a sense of the manifold self- 
 inflicted evils he endures, and to a real desire to 
 emancipate himself from them. The rest is com- 
 paratively easy. He may take the pledge ; and under 
 the solemn obligation of the promise, and a strong 
 determination to keep his word, he may patiently 
 endure very great privation and suffering for a time, 
 under the support of an approving conscience and the 
 countenance of numbers of associated friends, until 
 the nervous system, gradually recovering its tone, the 
 suffering and privation vanish, and the good alone 
 remains. There are vast numbers, however, in too 
 abject a state of misery to be reached by this con- 
 scientious remedy. Nevertheless, it may be well 
 conceived that, in the event of the patients desiring 
 reform, such cases are not hopeless. Any habit can, 
 at the wish of the individual and by methodical 
 observation, be changed without much inconvenience. 
 As with the inveterate snuff-taker, the smoker, and 
 the opium-eater, so also with the spirit-drinker, a 
 careful measurement of the quantity of poison which 
 can be borne without visible ill effect, or rather of the 
 smallest portion actually requisite to relieve the im- 
 perative craving for the stimulant, regularly taken, 
 and diminished by almost imperceptible degrees, 
 cannot fail to be at length effectual in altering the 
 vicious habit, and that, too, without the physical incoh- 
 
TliE WILL GUIDED BY EDUCATION. 287 
 
 venience which must, in the nature of things, be 
 experienced by sudden change. Sometimes one 
 stimulant has been substituted for another, as sal- 
 volatile for gin ; but there can be no doubt that the 
 most intelligent, as well as the most effectual, method 
 for these aggravated cases is that which has been 
 pointed out, viz. by inducing the wonted suicide 
 gradually to diminish the poison dose. 
 
 It is evident that if the man who takes the pledge 
 in a fit of remorse, has not sufficient determina- 
 tion and moral principle to induce him to keep his 
 faith, no earthly power but absolute personal restraint, 
 which our law of lunacy unfortunately does not permit, 
 will make him. So, also, in the other case, if there be 
 not the desire to overcome the habit, or it cannot be 
 implanted in the mind of the individual, there is no 
 cure for the habitual drunkard but the grave. 
 
 Take it, therefore, which way you will, it is and 
 must be, after all, an affair of education. 
 
 A very slight acquaintance with physiology, the 
 laws on which the life and health of the human body 
 ordinarily depend, would be sufficient to teach most 
 men that no part of the animal system can be over- 
 taxed, or violently disturbed, without entailing a con- 
 sequent amount of suffering and danger. Thus, by 
 over-stimulating the nervous system with ardent spirit, 
 or other intoxicating substances, corresponding, weak- 
 ness inevitably follows ; and when this process becomes 
 habitual, the nerves soon lose their natural tone, and 
 eventually become powerless. Hence the shaking of 
 the hand experienced by hard drinkers, whenever they 
 happen to be sober ; hence the shrivelled and weak 
 appearance of the confirmed dram-drinker ; and — as 
 the brain is intimately connected with that part of the 
 nervous system which presides over the vital functions 
 
288 INTEMPERANCE IN SPEECH OR ACTION. 
 
 particularly the nerves of the stomach — hence the early 
 imbecility of the intemperate ; hence the frequent 
 idiocy of their unhappy children. 
 
 Whilst touching on physiology, it may be remarked 
 that not only excess in drinking, but excess of any 
 other kind, as over-eating, over-excitement of the 
 passions, is also exceedingly injurious to the physical 
 system, although not mentally or morally so degrading 
 as excessive drinking. As far as mere length of days 
 is concerned, it may be even doubted whether gluttony 
 be not more destructive than drunkenness ; the vital 
 organs being more nearly affected and overworked 
 by excess in eating, and therefore more rapidly worn 
 out. It has been observed, indeed, by a celebrated 
 physiologist, that a drunkard may, by force of a vigorous 
 constitution, sometimes attain to an advanced age, 
 but a glutton never. 
 
 Other forms of intemperance, as intemperance of 
 speech and action, are much promoted by the fore- 
 going evils. These are very generally but additional 
 forms of disease common to sufferers from bodily in- 
 temperance. They act and react upon each other. 
 They are each injurious in their way, both physically 
 and morally. 
 
 There is one kind of intemperance, viz. intemper- 
 ance of thought — i.e. with regard to the motive, 
 feelings, and privileges of those who differ from us in 
 opinion — from which some even of our temperance 
 advocates are not always free. As in religion, so in 
 morals, there is nothing so injurious to a cause, 
 nothing so impolitic, nothing so destructive, as offen- 
 sive bigotry. They who wish to persuade others must 
 begin by respecting the rights, the character, and 
 opinions of those they would instruct. If I desire to 
 convert a, person to my views and set out by attacking 
 
DECLAMATION AGAINST "MODERATE DRINKERS." 289 
 
 his motives, principles, or right or capability of form- 
 ing his own judgment, what chance have I of success ? 
 The imputation of improper motives is an insult. 
 The denial of his right to judge, affords no proof of 
 my right to judge for him. The assertion of his in-, 
 capability destroys the only ground on which I could 
 be justified in employing rhy own time, or his, in 
 attempting to improve his understanding of the 
 matter. Nothing can be more ill-judged, or subversive 
 of its own purposes, than intolerance. 
 
 If we would teach men to respect themselves, we 
 must begin by showing them that they are worthy of 
 respect, and therefore that we respect them. Reason, 
 argue, persuade, as much as you please ; but no 
 popery, and by no means insult. 
 
 Temperance advocates (it is to be hoped but few) 
 have been sometimes heard to consume time in ex- 
 pressions of at best contemptuous pity for drunkards, 
 on the one hand, — a very poor method of gaining con- 
 fidence, to say the least, — and open and undisguised 
 abuse of those whom they call, by way of scorn, 
 " moderate drinkers" on the other. The effect of such 
 a style of oratory is, that many, who under more 
 judicious treatment might be made to see their errors, 
 go unreclaimed ; and that numbers of the most highly 
 educated and wealthy class decline to have anything 
 to do with a movement urged forward by such 
 questionable means. In this manner a cause which 
 should unite all liberal, enlightened, and good men 
 may be deprived of much of the support which it 
 deserves to command. 
 
 I have heard a lecturer consume the whole evening 
 in accusations against those who were not total 
 abstainers, for thus, as he alleged, openly encouraging 
 drunkenness ; and then use at the end of his dis-. 
 
 u 
 
290 FOOLISH REVILING OF MODERATE FRIENDS. 
 
 course, in depicting the terrible extent of the evils 
 arising from habitual intoxication, the charge of an 
 eminent Recorder to the grand jury, pointing out in 
 more glowing terms than the lecturer himself could 
 command, that the great majority of offences tried in 
 our criminal courts have their origin in intemperance. 
 
 Now, I happened to know that the learned Recorder 
 whose disgust at this vice, and sorrow at its baneful 
 effects, had so well illustrated that which should have 
 been the main argument of our orator's discourse, was 
 himself one of that large class of educated, high- 
 principled, and virtuous men whom it had been the 
 chief business of the evening to revile, viz. a " mode- 
 rate drinker," or, in other words, a person who took as 
 much wine as he thought good for him, and no more. 
 So much for consistency, which I considered far more 
 exemplified by the abused than the abuser. 
 
 On another occasion, I was present when a very 
 violent contrast was drawn between the conduct of 
 two thousand medical men, and the entire body of the 
 clergy ; very much to the disparagement of the latter, 
 who were even accused of the desire to encourage 
 intemperance, because the doctors had certified that, 
 in their opinion, if no fermented liquors or spirits were 
 used at all, the present average health of the popula- 
 tion at large would be improved ; and because the 
 clergymen had signed no such certificate. 
 
 The speaker did not allege that the doctors were 
 teetotalers, or that they certified that a moderate 
 use of these beverages was injurious to health ; for 
 their statement was quite consistent with a contrary 
 opinion. They might have meant, and probably did, 
 that the diseases caused by want of stimulants were 
 so much less destructive than those now suffered from 
 over-stimulation, that the balance of gain would be in 
 
OPINION MUST BE LED BY REASON. 29 1 
 
 favour of the entire abandonment of stimulants, as 
 compared with their present excessive use. 
 
 Nor did the lecturer say that any man living, and in 
 his senses, was of a different opinion ; nor did he say that 
 the clergymen had refused to sign such a document, 
 or had been ever asked to do so ; or that their opinion 
 on the point would have been of any value profes- 
 sionally if they had. And yet the amount of abuse 
 which was heaped upon this respectable and pious 
 tody of gentlemen, for what the advocate was pleased 
 to allege as this their neglect, was so great, that I, 
 who had been a total abstainer almost before tee- 
 totalism was heard of, was positively ashamed to be 
 listening to such outrageous and utterly unfounded 
 -aspersions. If such were the effect on an abstainer, 
 what could be the impression on a temperate consumer 
 of beer or wine, but that the man was drunk with 
 ;his own conceit ? What but contempt would be the 
 feeling, even of the man who indulged to excess, with 
 such a specimen of intemperance before him .' 
 
 The apostle Paul has told all teachers of their 
 fellow-men, that, though they speak with the tongues 
 of men or of angels ! if they have not charity, they 
 are as sounding brass or tinkling cymbals. Is it not 
 strange, then, that Christian philanthropists should 
 ever forget this truth t 
 
 It is entirely useless to attempt to convert man- 
 kind by force. Opinions must be led by reason, not 
 knocked down by violent demonstration ; and vice 
 must be conquered by charity, if it be conquered at all. 
 The moment a contrary spirit is exhibited, suspicion 
 is aroused ; motives are attributed to the teacher, and 
 the argument falls powerless. How much more, then, 
 •should we be careful in discussion with persons who 
 -agree with us in principle, but differ only in opinion 
 
292 THE ABSURDITY OF INTOLERANCE. 
 
 as to the means of action ? Men must in some 
 respects agree to differ, for it is absolutely impossible 
 that any two minds can think precisely alike ; any 
 more than that any two leaves in the boundless forest, 
 or any two blades of grass upon thousands of miles of 
 prairie, can be precisely alike. The very unity of 
 nature is exhibited in infinite variety of expression. 
 Can any man arrogate to himself omniscience .-' By 
 so doing he would evince the greatest degree of folly. 
 Therefore each man may be sure that his neighbour 
 possesses some knowledge of which he is ignorant 
 Therefore it behoves all to be humble in the midst of 
 firmness, in the assertion and inculcation of his own 
 convictions. Be assured that intolerance is not only 
 another name for pride, but it is also another name 
 for absurdity. 
 
 We may instruct, and if our cause is good, it is 
 our duty to persevere, so long as good may be accom- 
 plished ; but we must do so with simplicity as well as 
 earnestness. Our moderation must be known unto 
 all men if we are to succeed in our endeavours. 
 
 Those who would assume to themselves the right 
 of judging for others, are simply endeavouring to 
 reduce their fellow-men to a state of mental and moral 
 slavery. Now, as I have before observed, it is the 
 birthright of every Englishman to be free to judgg 
 for himself, and to hold his own opinion ; and it would 
 be a sad day indeed for England when that principle 
 shall be lost. Persons who rely on the opinions of 
 other men, and blindly submit to their dictation, are, 
 in so far, children, endeavouring to throw off their own 
 personal responsibility, and thereby, as has already 
 been intimated, lowering themselves in the scale of 
 intelligent and accountable beings. 
 
 But vigorous and healthy men will be above this. 
 
■ ALL SHOULD CO-OPERATE FOR GOOD. 293 
 
 bondage ; they will not yield the right of free action, 
 and will choose that the responsibility attached to 
 their actions shall rest, as it ought, upon their own 
 shoulders. This, of course, implies that they are 
 v/illing to undertake the duty of inquiring into and 
 studying the subject, which may be in question, for 
 themselves. If they neglect that duty, following the 
 guidance of mere sensual appetite, that is no inquiry, 
 this is forming no judgment. It is worse than hiding 
 the talent in the earth. It is the blind wilfully 
 following the blind, and the penalty due to neglect 
 and perversion will infallibly fall upon them. We 
 must strive to open their eyes, and awaken their sense 
 of responsibility. Let it not be done, however, by 
 upbraiding or contempt, but by charitable persuasion 
 and argument ; fully recognizing the right of individual 
 judgment, and success will certainly attend our 
 efforts, producing far nobler results than could be 
 effected, were it possible, by abuse, or power to 
 transfer them from one kind of moral slavery to 
 another. 
 
 In truth the cause of temperance loses immensely 
 by some of its advocates so pertinaciously repudiating 
 moderation, and the co-operation of those who are 
 temperate in their use of stimulants, although 
 erroneously differing in opinion with total abstainers 
 as to the desirability of avoiding such invidious sup- 
 ports altogether. 
 
 This question of moderation versus abstinence is 
 a scientific physiological question ; and while the 
 custom of civilized nations of overworking the 
 animal powers, and the mental powers, in search of 
 gold, of fame, and in the struggle for bread, continues, 
 much apparently scientific reasoning will continue to 
 be urged in favour of stimulants. 
 
294 PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF STIMULANTS. 
 
 In the nature of things this overworking causes a 
 commensurate depression. Add to this, anxiety for 
 the future, and grief for the past, which enters so 
 largely into the account with most of us ; and it is no 
 wonder that those who suffer the effects of such a 
 combination of wear and tear, should fancy that the 
 pleasurable sensations caused by stimulants, not only 
 do them no harm, but are positively and permanently 
 beneficial. They feel stronger at the moment, and 
 better able to get through the accustomed work by 
 the aid thus afforded ; and they believe that a real 
 advantage has been gained. Not having studied 
 physiology, they are ignorant of the fact that stimu- 
 lation is not nourishment, that it is only a false 
 excitement, and therefore it must cause its correspond- 
 ing relaxation when the unnatural effect is past ; that 
 they are thus only adding to the future load for the 
 sake of the temporary relief ; that, unless the dose be 
 increased as time wears on, they will feel no better 
 supported than they would have done without, had 
 they never begun the practice ; that the weakness 
 at first felt, on discontinuing the habit, will be but 
 temporary until the system shall have recovered its 
 natural tone ; and that to continue, and much more 
 to increase, the habitual use of the poison, is only by 
 so much the more hastening the work of the original 
 evil (the unnatural degree of labour), viz. a corre- 
 spondingly premature grave. 
 
 The moderate drinker, as he is called, is ignorant 
 of these things ; and we may teach him their truth, 
 if we can : but don't endeavour to persuade him that 
 it is his duty to abstain from doing that which he 
 thinks, or fancies he thinks, right, under the notion 
 that by so doing another man may be better persuaded 
 to abstain from that which he knows to be wrong ! 
 
A DOCTORS UNPHYSIOLOGICAL REASONING. 295 
 
 The attempt is absurd, and our cause is injured by 
 its being made. 
 
 Unfortunately the practice of taking stimulants 
 in moderation is approved, defended, and upheld by 
 as yet a very large class of those gentlemen whose 
 profession it is to allay the pains of disease, but in 
 whom their patients rely for advice as to the preserva- 
 tion of health. It is not that medical men do not give 
 such counsel as they conscientiously believe to be 
 sound, but it is evident that the amelioration of 
 disease and the preservation of health are two very 
 different things ; and it is undeniably true that it is 
 the first, viz. cii.re, which is chiefly attended to in our 
 medical schools, even at this day ; and equally true 
 that physiological science, or the means for the preser- 
 vation of health, has been but very recently introduced 
 at all in these schools.* A knowledge of physic does 
 
 * A few years since. 
 
 " Stimulants. — Sir, — A letter appeared in the Examiner of 
 December 25, 1858, from a medical practitioner, in which he gives 
 it as his opinion that mankind ought to make use of stimulants, and 
 that the Chinese benefit themselves by taking opium ; because, he says, 
 the inhabitants of all parts of the globe do take stimulants of some 
 kind or other ; adding, that in civilized countries, where the brain is 
 most worked, the greater is the demand for some stimulant. He 
 argues that the same stimulant does not suit all constitutions, because 
 some take one kind, some another, and so on. And further, that we 
 have only to supply the poor with good wine and spirits in order to 
 diminish drunkenness ! 
 
 " This letter is signed ' F. R. S.,' which stands for ' Fellow of the 
 Royal Society.' The logic of this gentleman exhibits the best specimen 
 of jumping to a conclusion I ever met with. He finds that men readily 
 fall into bad habits, sensual excess, or the use of stimulants of some 
 kind ; ergo, these habits, excesses, or stimulants are good. We read 
 that ' God hath made man upright, — but they haye sought out many 
 inventions ; ' ergo, our commentator ' F. R. S.' would argue the 
 inventions are desirable. Eveiy brute animal, like every human animal, 
 will readily acquire a relish for stimulants, and soon prefer them to 
 their natural food, as those animals do which are under the super- 
 intendence of man. Dick Turpin's mare, it has been asserted had, tied 
 
296 LIFE A CERTAIN NUMBER OF PULSATIONS. 
 
 not by any means imply a knowledge of physiology. 
 So true is this, that an accomplished physician has 
 admitted that he had practised some years in his pro- 
 fession before his attention was directed to the study 
 of the laws of health. 
 
 But if our present life be a preparation for a better, 
 if the health of the mind be greatly dependent on 
 that of the body, and moral health on both — and who 
 will dispute these truths .' — then I hold that it is the 
 positive duty of every individual to study the laws 
 which govern his existence for himself, so far as his 
 means of information will allow, independently of all 
 others ; and to do his best towards the lengthened 
 preservation of that existence, in order that he may 
 be better and better prepared for the final result. 
 
 It is a much larger question than that of mere 
 length of days, yet that alone is considered desirable 
 by most men. On this point a physician of ripe age 
 and experience once remarked in my presence, that 
 the water-drinkers were quite right. " Life," said he, 
 " consists of but a certain number of pulsations ; as 
 soon as the beats are completed, death will come, and 
 by hastening their speed you but hasten death." This 
 
 to her bit, beefsteaks ; other horses drink ale ; ergo, according to the 
 reasoning of ' F. R. S.' (for all other horses miglit be trained to the 
 same tastes), beef and beer are beneficial to horses, just as corn is proved 
 to be the best food for those animals, because they will always leave 
 their grass for it, although many horses are deprived of half their 
 existence by the too free use of corn. 
 
 " The brain and nervous system of civilized man being overworked, 
 do not diminish the labour and take the natural stimulus of air and 
 exercise, but increase the load by unnatural alcoholic and narcotic 
 excitement, says our 'F. R. S.' That an English medical, and no 
 doubt duly qualified and duly registered practitioner according to lawj 
 could be found to write in such a manner ! But 
 
 " I am, etc., 
 
 "Not 'F. R. S.'" 
 ^-Weeklv Recoi-d, February 5, 1859. 
 
EVERY STEP GAINED AN ADVANTAGE. 297 
 
 most true and philosophic observation illustrates the 
 fallacy so often relied on, that the apparent health of 
 an old man who has been an habitual hard drinker 
 affords a proof that he has not been injured by this 
 habit. Although it is wonderful to what an extent 
 the law of nature, which allows the animal system in 
 some measure to adapt itself to circumstances not 
 friendly to life, may be abused in the human subject 
 without apparent injuiy, yet it is none the less certain 
 that injuiy must ensue ; and no man, old as he may 
 be, can tell how many years of his original fund of life 
 have been cut off from that he would have attained 
 had he lived, under precisely similar circumstances in 
 other respects, without the baneful vice. Moreover, 
 in considering the causes of longevity or early decay, 
 and instituting comparison between different persons, 
 we must remember that it is the balance of very 
 numerous circumstances which is to be struck ; as, for 
 instance, early physical training, air, exercise and diet, 
 labour and rest, anxiety or equanimity, sorrow or joy, 
 comparative ease and comfort, general habits, etc., all 
 of which, and many others, are to be taken into the 
 account. But it is most certainly true that, all other 
 things being equal, the man who confines himself to 
 natural and healthy nourishment will survive him who 
 indulges in artificial stimulation, and the difference 
 will be in proportion to the degree of such indulgence. 
 This being so, every step in diminution of the evil 
 is important, and the inculcators of abstinence are 
 doing, or might be doing, efficient service, not only in 
 persuading the strong-minded to shun the danger 
 altogether, but in inducing those who are weaker- 
 minded to indulge in a lesser degree. Therefore, to 
 give offence, and thus shut the ears of those who 
 might be benefited to some extent, if not altogether, 
 
298 FRIENDS SHOULD NOT FALL OUT BY THE WAY. 
 
 by our warning, is to waste the opportunity for good,, 
 and thus to deprive our efforts of perhaps the chief 
 portion of their value. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that the advocates of 
 temperance should have been sometimes unable even 
 to agree among themselves, and have become thus 
 divided into antagonistic parties, favouring different 
 modes of action for accomplishing their professedly 
 common object. As far as persons not engaged in the 
 contest can pretend to understand the dispute, it is 
 only as to the commission of what I have been en- 
 deavouring to show is a mistake, in a different degree.. 
 For, while some of those who are denominated " moral 
 suasionists" fall into the error of offending moderate 
 drinkers, they, in their turn, are abused by the 
 "Alliance " party, because they do not agree in the 
 desire to compel obedience to their principles by form 
 of law — an attempt which, supposing the love of 
 political independence would allow it to be nominally 
 successful, could only have the effect of adding deceit 
 to moral slavery, hypocrisy to sensuality. Crush inde- 
 pendence of thought and action, and the sensualist 
 becomes debased indeed. 
 
 It can hardly be necessary for those who are un- 
 able to approve this line of policy altogether, to point 
 out with which section they differ the most. But 
 surely, that the leaders of a noble cause should fall out 
 by the way is a lamentable occurrence, and one most 
 tending to bring themselves into disrepute. Truly the 
 harvest is plenteous enough, truly the labourers are- 
 few enough, without exhibiting disunion among them- 
 selves ! 
 
 Every glass of wine discontinued is a gain to the 
 cause of temperance, and should be so considered. To> 
 every one who will preach temperance to the drunkard^ 
 
THE MARCH OF GENERAL CIVILIZATION. 299 
 
 therefore, should the right hand of fellowship be ex- 
 tended, although he be himself open to improvement 
 from the more advanced preacher of total abstinence. 
 Do all the good you can, but " let every one be fully 
 persuaded in his own mind ; " " let not your good be 
 evil spoken of ; " and refuse not to effect that which is 
 at present possible, because unable to accomplish all 
 you wish in a moment. 
 
 Reforms which are lasting are generally effected 
 slowly. Let the enthusiast consider what progress 
 has already been made in the upper ranks of society, 
 within the last century, in this matter of temperance, 
 by means of more advanced general education alone. 
 The "six-bottle man," if such an animal is now to 
 be found, is regarded with as much unmitigated 
 disgust, by all moderately informed and inteUigent 
 persons, as formerly he would have been with applause 
 by those of the highest rank. Such a worthy, once 
 looked up to with admiration, would now be scouted 
 from decent society. 
 
 If, then, general education had done so much 
 before teetotal societies were formed and pledge- 
 taking was heard of, let us have more faith in the 
 extension of education, to those who have not as yet 
 experienced its blessings, to carry on the work, and 
 more faith in particular education, the true under- 
 standing of the laws of life and health among the 
 already generally educated classes, for yet further 
 improvement. Let us be satisfied with assisting this 
 certain progress, and be temperate in success. 
 
 The consciences of men are ever leading them for- 
 ward towards the consummation of moral perfection. 
 The more good we attain the greater the desire to 
 become better. The inward aspiration is always, " Be 
 right ; be right." The moral instructor has only to 
 
300 THE NATURE AND EFFECTS OF NARCOTICS. 
 
 supply fresh fuel, in order to insure the increasing 
 brightness of the flame within. One thing in nature 
 is impossible, that is stagnation. If we go not back- 
 ward we must proceed. What an encouragement is 
 this for the pjiilosophic teacher ! for he has only to 
 arrest retrogression, to render certain the onward 
 march. 
 
 As perfection is impossible on earth, let the teacher 
 also be careful that he relatively keep pace with those 
 he would instruct. Let me warn the advocate of total 
 abstinence from fermented liquors and ardent spirits, 
 that he do nothing which may encourage the use of 
 stimulants of a different and even more baneful 
 chatacter ; such, for instance, as powerful narcotics, 
 which undermine the health of body and mind, with- 
 out giving that salutary and visible warning which 
 intoxicating poisons do. Many of these will readily 
 occur to us. There is no doubt that the free use of 
 tobacco is excessively injurious, and yet the consump- 
 tion of this noxious weed is increasing to an alarming 
 extent ; soy also, I fear of opium, in different forms. 
 It has been asserted by several eminent physiologists, 
 and, amongst physicians, by Dr. Lettsom and Dr. 
 Beddoes, near a century ago, that even tea and coffee 
 are in their action unfriendly to life. I mention these 
 for the purpose of showing that there are many dis- 
 puted points in physiological science which demand 
 inquiry. And if it be the duty of some men to 
 examine as to the nature and effects of alcohol, it is 
 equally incumbent upon others to satisfy themselves 
 with reference to the action of narcotics, and other 
 stimulants, to which men might resort in their igno- 
 rance, as a substitute for those which have been 
 discontinued. 
 
 Let me reiterate once more that all attempts at 
 
TEMPERANCE AND JUDGMENT IN ALL THINGS. 3OI 
 
 force in matters of opinion must ignominiously fail. 
 If we have no right to place fetters on the body, still 
 less have we to fetter the mind. Intolerance, as I 
 have said, is folly ; and the worst form of intolerance 
 is exhibited by hurling contempt, and derision, and 
 insult on those who may differ from us. Every good 
 movement is infallibly retarded, and cannot be ad- 
 vanced, by its display ; and the cause of temperance 
 can be no exception to the rule. 
 
 Those, therefore, who would inculcate temperance 
 in others must be temperate themselves — temperate, 
 which is charitable, in thought ; temperate, which is 
 moderation, in speech ; temperate, which is discretion, 
 in action. We must teach temperance in mental 
 study, temperance in bodily labour, temperance in 
 passion ; temperance in attachment to worldly advan- 
 tages, temperance in ambition, temperance in pleasure, 
 temperance in grief, temperance in eating, and temper- 
 ance in drinking such beverages as we approve, as 
 well as total abstinence from all such things as we 
 condemn. But, above all, let us inculcate upon our 
 hearers that, " with all their getting, they be careful to 
 get understanding," and never attempt to interfere 
 with the full and free right of private judgment in all 
 things. 
 
302 A BATTLING LIFE.- — FUGITIVE PAPERS. 
 
 YELLOW FEVER AND QUARANTINE. 
 
 {Epidemiological Society Discussion, 1851.) 
 
 At a meeting of this society, held the 7th of April, 
 185 1, at the rooms of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical 
 Society, Berners Street, on a discussion which had 
 been adjourned at the previous meeting, arising from 
 a paper read by Dr. McWilliam, medical officer to the 
 Customs, on the contagious nature and presumed 
 importation of the yellow fever into the Brazils, which 
 caused such a frightful mortality in that country in 
 1849-1850, Mr. Baker, a visitor, spoke as follows : — 
 
 It may appear presumptuous, sir, in a non-pro- 
 fessional person, as I am, to enter into a discussion 
 with a gentleman of Dr. McWilliam's erudition upon 
 any medical subject. But I would observe that the 
 question at present before this society, as connected 
 with the able paper read by Dr. McWilliam, is mainly 
 one of fact, and upon questions of fact all persons are 
 alike capable of forming an opinion. 
 
 If any apology be needed for taking a lively 
 interest in the subject of yellow fever, it appears only 
 necessary to point to those hundreds of the flower of 
 our British population who are being continually 
 shipped off to the tropics in the service of their 
 country, there to find a premature grave. Sir, this of 
 all subjects is one which, in my judgment, every man 
 should approach with impartial candour, without pre- 
 judice, and with no other object than that of arriving, 
 
ALLEGED IMPORTATION OF FEVER INTO BAHIA. 303 
 
 if possible, at the truth ; because it is a subject of the 
 most vital importance to our fellow-mortals in every 
 region of the globe. With reference to the yellow- 
 fever epidemic at the Brazils in 1849-1850, Dr. 
 McWilliam has given a series of conclusions to which 
 lie has arrived, which may be summed up in the 
 •opinion that the disease was contagious and not 
 ■endemial, and that it was imported. On a former 
 •occasion (in noticing the evidence on which Dr. 
 McWilliam had based these conclusions, chiefly founded 
 on the report of Dr. Paterson — a most unsatisfactory 
 and inconclusive document, from the opinion expressed 
 in which, by his own confession, the great majority of 
 the medical men of Bahia appeared to differ) I stated 
 that the importation of the fever into Bahia was, 
 during its prevalence, first attributed to the French 
 ship Alcyon; in the despatch of the 21st of December, 
 1849, to the cleaning of that vessel ; on the loth of 
 January, 1850, to some slave vessels from the Gallinas. 
 But the Alcyon and the slavers alluded to, having 
 probably been found on inquiry to have arrived sub- 
 sequently to the first cases, we find, in the despatch of 
 the 19th of August, 1850, that the American brig 
 Brazil is mentioned as the third source of its intro- 
 duction. This vessel arrived on the 30th of September, 
 1849, and, on the 2nd of October following, an 
 anonymous letter appeared in the Correio Mercantil 
 of Bahia, blaming the health officers for admitting to 
 pratique a vessel with a clean bill of health from New 
 Orleans, where the same anonymous authority asserted 
 that both yellow fever and cholera were raging. From 
 the animus shown on the face of this letter, it was 
 evidently written by some mercantile rival, who does 
 not hesitate to impute improper motives to the health 
 officer. The first case of fever occurred on the 3rd of 
 
304 EVIDENCE RESTING ON PURE CONJECTURE. 
 
 November, in a boy living over the American Store, 
 which the captain of the Brazil frequented. The presi- 
 dent, in his opening speech to the provincial assembly 
 of Bahia, March i, 1850, says that he is "inclined 
 to believe that this scourge was made a present to us 
 by foreigners, . . . and it is stated, with some probability, 
 that it came from New Orleans, in the American brig 
 Brazil" which, circumstance did not escape an 
 announcement inserted in the Correio Mercantil ; and 
 adds, " On board which vessel, as / am informed, and 
 during the voyage, individuals died attacked by yellow 
 fever, which was raging in that American port." On 
 the 9th of August, 1850, we have a Report by Dr. 
 Paterson, in which the port of the Brazil's departure 
 is thus called in question: "Her papers said from 
 New Orleans, but, as it was afterwards understood, 
 actually last from the Havannah." In forwarding these 
 papers to the Foreign Office, the British consul uses 
 the following expression in allusion to the Brazil — 
 " Reported from New Orleans, but said to be direct 
 from the Havannah, at which place it is pretty 
 well ascertained she landed a cargo of slaves." Dr, 
 McWilliam, in his paper, has thought himself therefore 
 justified from this language of the consul to adopt the 
 expression, " but, as it was afterwards ascertained, from 
 the Havannah," thus assuming as fact that which must 
 on examination appear as entirely conjectural. In 
 order to give even the smallest probability to such a 
 surmise, we must assume the perpetration of gross 
 fraud, amounting to forgery and connivance by the 
 authorities at New Orleans, Havannah, and Bahia, 
 to say nothing of the captain. We should be careful 
 not to impute such fraud without the strongest 
 evidence, but here there is positively none. If, indeed, 
 such iniquity could be successfully practised, it would 
 
•UNRELIABILITY OF ALL THE TESTIMONY. 3O5 
 
 prove that all clearances, bills of health, and declara- 
 tions at the port of arrival, were utterly valueless ; and 
 clearly show the uselessness of quarantine regulations 
 which may be so easily set at nought. If the Havannah 
 slave story be true, the New Orleans fiction on which 
 the whole fabric, as connected with the Brazil, 
 originally rested, falls to the ground. 
 
 But neither is there evidence of the prevalence of 
 the yellow fever at New Orleans at the time, for no 
 such information has reached the Foreign Office, which 
 is surely sufficient to refute the authority of an 
 anonymous letter ; nor evidence of the captain's fraud 
 in coming from Havannah with false papers ; nor 
 evidence of deaths from yellow fever on the passage : 
 consequently nothing but the wildest hearsay to 
 warrant the inference of Dr. McWilliam that yellow 
 fever existed on board this vessel on her arrival at 
 the port of Bahia. Dr. McWilliam tells us that 
 conjectural evidence cannot be taken. Here we have 
 nothing but conjecture. I put it to Dr. McWilliam 
 whether he would risk a question of the value of forty 
 shillings, or forty pence, on such evidence as this ? 
 Yet here is a question involving, it may be, the lives 
 of tens of thousands of our fellow-creatures. I ask 
 any gentleman in this room whether, as a juryman, he 
 would accept such evidence as this on the most trivial 
 matter which could be brought before him? I say, 
 on such evidence as this, that the direction of the 
 judge must be, "Gentlemen, there is no evidence 
 before you on which you can find a verdict, the case 
 must therefore be dismissed.'"' 
 
 But we have not arrived even yet at an attempt to 
 prove the importation of contagion into Bahia from a 
 sick man. We are told that the captain of the Brazil 
 was himself in good health, and are left to infer that 
 
 X 
 
306 FALSE INFERENCES IN FAVOUR OF QUARANTINE. 
 
 he had been in the habit of perambulating the streets 
 of Bahia for from twenty-five to thirty days ere the 
 supposed "fomit.es " fell in with its first unfortunate 
 victim, whose personal contact with the captain, by 
 the way, has still to be established. But after the 
 erection of this extraordinary castle, we find it entirely 
 demolished in a single sentence by Dr. Paterson him- 
 self (who, Dr. McWilliam tells us, " is more circum- 
 stantial in his account than others "), for he writes, 
 " I have stated what I believe the fact of its importation, 
 but, as it was some time in the place before it was duly 
 recognized, exception might be taken to the evidence." 
 The whole evidence, therefore, of the importation into 
 Bahia is sustained simply and entirely on Dr. Paterson's 
 belief in the contagious nature of yellow fever. 
 
 At Pernambuco the disease is asserted by Dr. 
 Paterson to have been imported from Bahia by the 
 Alcyon ; but the despatches from Pernambuco clearly 
 show that the first cases in that town had not the 
 slightest communication with that vessel. At Rio de 
 Janeiro the alleged importation by the barque Navarre, 
 which arrived from Bahia with a healthy crew, and 
 bringing no intelligence of the fever there, three weeks 
 and a half before the first case occurred in the town, 
 is, to say the least, little better than the story of the 
 Brazil at Bahia. In the despatch from Maranham, 
 dated April 8, 1850, we are told that this town and 
 province were exempt, and, as Dr. McWilliam says that 
 "ports at which quarantine measures were adopted 
 entirely escaped the disease," we are to infer that the 
 disease was kept out of Maranham by quarantine. 
 Can we be satisfied that such was the fact when we 
 consider what the quarantine regulations of Brazil 
 were ? At Bahia clean bills of health were given to 
 the 29th of January, 1850, nearly three months after 
 
THE INFECTED STATE OF THE ATMOSPHERE. 307 
 
 the first recognized case occurred in that town. At 
 Paraiba, we are informed in the official despatch that, 
 on the outbreak of the disease the arbitrary sanitary 
 arrangements imposed a quarantine of three days. 
 But so far from importation being hinted at, the 
 consul attributes the rarity of attacks and low 
 mortality (given from January 21st to April 23rd) to 
 sanitary arrangements, instead of quarantine, which 
 had been abandoned from March ist. At Para there 
 appeared a few isolated cases to March nth, eight in 
 the city and ten in the ships. Why did it hot spread 
 in Para ? In Rio Grande do Sul there was one case 
 of yellow fever at AUegre — bilious fevers prevalent. 
 Monte Video, Dr. McWilliam informs us, escaped 
 throughout. But I find from the despatches that the 
 Tweed and Cormorant, English ships of war, both 
 having cases on board, were in the harbour ; and it is 
 also stated that, in the steamer Poony, the French 
 troops on board did not suffer, although the disease 
 prevailed among the crew. Why was this .■' 
 
 As the only medical report from Bahia is from Dr. 
 Paterson, whose belief in contagion appears to have 
 been too strong to render any attention to endemial 
 causes in his opinion necessary, we have no further 
 information from that place on this point. At Pernam- 
 buco, however, the weather is described as " fearfully 
 hot," and the " atmosphere in the morning appeared 
 loaded with mist, which contrasted with its usual 
 purity ;" and the despatch, dated January 7, 1850, 
 contains the following : " Dr. Sarmento states the 
 atmosphere to be infected, for the simplest diseases 
 have a tendency to become malignant and fatal." 
 Dr. McWilliam describes the lands near Pernambuco 
 as " low and swampy," the " banks of the river studded 
 with the mangrove," and in the locality where the/ 
 
308 FORMER FEVER OUTBREAKS IN BRAZIL. 
 
 disease first appeared the streets are narrow and 
 filthy, whilst no attempt has been made to connect 
 these cases with shipping. In Rio Grande do Sul the 
 bilious fevers prevalent were attributed to the great 
 drought experienced for many months. 
 
 Dr. McWilliam has informed us that, previous to 
 1849, the yellow fever had been, for a century at least, 
 unknown in the Brazils. Now, according to the 
 doctrine that the disease is contagious, it must be 
 supposed that no vessel from Africa, engaged in the 
 slave trade or otherwise, had arrived for a century 
 at the Brazils having cases of yellow fever on board ; 
 or, on the supposition that the disease is endemial, the 
 atmosphere must have proved too pure to enable the 
 disease to localize itself, so as to gain any important 
 footing. When, however, Dr. McWilliam stated that 
 "yellow fever had been, for nearly a century at least, 
 unknown in that country," he must not only have 
 overlooked the statements of Dr. Allemande (to 
 which I shall presently refer), but also the despatch 
 fi-om Pernambuco of the 28th of February, which 
 states that "yellow fever epidemics had prevailed in 
 that place in 1640, 1710, 1780; and these periods, 
 together with the last, 1850, were noticed, curiously 
 enough, as having been each seventy years distant 
 from the former outbreak. Of all the accounts relative 
 to the epidemic in Brazil, that from Rio by Dr. 
 Allemahde is by far the most instructive ; and although 
 he has drawn conclusions which have been noticed, 
 and almost alone noticed, by Dr. McWilliam as being 
 favourable to the importation of the disease, we should 
 take the/arfj which he has furnished to assist us in 
 forming our own opinion. 
 
 To commence in the order of chronology with 
 the point last noticed in reference to Pernambuco, viz. 
 
CHANGES IN THE CLIMATE AT RIO. 309 
 
 the existence of yellow fever at former periods : Dr. 
 AUemande informs us that there was a report that it 
 prevailed at Rio at the close of the last century, and 
 Dr. Thomas Gomes dos Santos affirms that, "in 
 1 808-9- 10, an epidemic prevailed at Rio, the charac^ 
 teristic symptoms of which were the yellow colour of 
 the skin and vomitings." Dr. AUemande writes, " I 
 have not the slightest doubt in my own mind that the 
 yellow fever prevailed at Rio forty years ago." He 
 tells us that Rio is an " almost entirely land-locked 
 bay, little subject to the ebb and flow of the tides ; and 
 into which a series of rivers discharge themselves, 
 having marshy mouths. ... To this geographical pre- 
 disposition to the yellow fever may be added a highly 
 important climatic change, which has developed itself 
 more and more for several years past." On his arrival, 
 thirteen years ago, he was struck by the regular 
 occurrence of thunderstorms, almost daily during the 
 hot season, for six or seven years, rendering the streets 
 impassable to foot passengers for an hour or more. 
 He says that it was a common afternoon adieu, " Till 
 after the thunderstorm ; " that four years ago these 
 storms became less frequent, when Rio was " for the 
 first time " (meaning during his residence, of course) 
 " visited by an epidemic, sjii generis at the height of 
 the hottest season ; " that it prevailed " chiefly among 
 foreigners not acclimatized," affected whole crews of 
 vessels, was "perfectly innocuous," and he called it 
 " insolation fever." It returned " with a more decided 
 character in the two following years." He tells that 
 this insolation fever, which represents with almost 
 mathematical precision the first stage of the present 
 yellow fever, was merely the precursor or admonisher 
 of a more deadly epidemic ; that he received a letter 
 from Germany reminding him of his own observation 
 
3IO FIRST CASES FROM A LODGING-HOUSE. 
 
 in 1847, viz. '"this insolation fever might easily 
 develop itself into a perfect yellow-fever epidemic, if 
 the circumstances to which the insolation fever are 
 ascribed were to assume a more important character;' 
 and this has actually occurred." The heat was " far 
 greater than in previous years, and there was a total 
 absence of storms. . . . The sea breeze was far less 
 frequent than formerly, a dead calm rested upon land 
 and sea, and only a few slight showers fell occa- 
 sionally." He refers to a memorandum in his private 
 diary, December 1 3th : " A remarkable number of 
 gastric fevers ; " writes, " At the beginning of December 
 a very significant disposition to the development of 
 more aggravated morbid phenomena manifested itself 
 at Rio. ... At the close of December several cases of 
 insolation fever again occurred, at the very same time 
 that the decided cases of yellow fever appeared in 
 Frank's house." 
 
 On December 28, 1849, the first cases were sent 
 to hospital, from a sailor's lodging-house, kept by a 
 man named Frank ; the sleeping apartment on the 
 ground floor " was very dirty, close to the Rostleberg, 
 and many sailors were congregated in it." One of the 
 first sailors attacked happened to have belonged to 
 the Navarre, which had arrived at Rio on the 3rd of 
 December, after a voyage of " eight " or " twelve " days, 
 from Bahia ; she had no cases on board, nor brought 
 any account of the fever. Other sailors from various 
 parts of the world quickly became ill " in the above- 
 named filthy sleeping-room at the back of the house." 
 From this focus the disease gradually spread, "pro- 
 ceeding from the house above mentioned, running 
 almost without interruption from house to house, 
 though with milder symptoms, and even passed into 
 the narrow cross streets ; " whilst " for some days not 
 
IMPORTATION ASSUMED BY "BRITISH CABINET. 3 II 
 
 a single suspicious case occurred in any other part of 
 the city." It next appeared " in many streets along 
 the river, running down to the banks ; " and so on, till 
 it eventually prevailed over the whole city. The 
 sailors from the Navarre (for the vessel was paid off 
 and sold immediately on her arrival) would appear to 
 have been three weeks or upwards living in the focus 
 of the poison before becoming infected. 
 
 Quarantine would have saved the lives of these 
 poor men by keeping them from the town, but could 
 not have kept the fever from the town. All diseases 
 at a seaport must of necessity be preceded by the 
 arrival of some vessel. I may observe that the report 
 of Dr. Allemande did not emanate from his own desire 
 to write, but was furnished in answer to certain 
 questions forwarded to him by Sir William Pym, the 
 British superintendent-general of quarantine, from 
 England. These queries, bearing the signet of the 
 Privy Council Office, were really supposed by Dr. 
 Allemande to have been put to him by the "British 
 Cabinet." The first question was, "By what vessel 
 was the yellow fever supposed to be introduced into 
 Rio de Janeiro ? " and the second, " From what place 
 had she arrived \ " Now, sir, upon these leading 
 questions from such powerful authority, how could 
 Dr. Allemande avoid the inference that the fever had 
 been brought to Rio by some vessel? how could he 
 help finding one when it was so directly implied that 
 it must be so ? But I contrast the opinion of Dr. 
 Allemande in favour of contagion with his acts, whilst 
 practising with unremitting diligence, night and day, 
 amongst the poor inhabitants of a country thousands 
 of miles from his native land. Were his acts those of 
 a contagionist .■' I make bold to assert that they were 
 not. And I believe that he never would have given 
 
3 I 2 THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR VISITS THE SICK, 
 
 an opinion favourable to contagion, but for the opinion 
 of the " British Cabinet " ! He tells us that a bad 
 character had been given to his hospital ; that many 
 more deaths occurred there than elsewhere ; and states, 
 as a reason, that numerous patients were sent thither 
 in the last stage of the fever, only to die ; that in the 
 midst of this he entreated all the consuls "and 
 foreigners of distinction " to visit his hospital, to come 
 and see how the sick were treated and cared for 
 Why, are we to suppose that he had a design on these 
 " foreigners of distinction " ! Did he wish to murder 
 them in cold blood ! This is the very opposite to 
 what a contagionist would have done. Well, one 
 visitor came ; and who do gentlemen suppose this 
 was ? Was it the representative of that country the 
 inhabitants of which are now so jealous of their 
 religious character? Was it the representative of 
 Christian England, think you ? No, sir, it was not. 
 The only one who came was the Russian ambassador, 
 Count Von Medem, who " conversed fearlessly with 
 the individual patients, and remained a long time in 
 the sick ward." 
 
 The next word in the report is " Unhappily." I 
 confess that when I read that word a chill passed 
 over me! In one moment was presented to mind 
 the calamitous result of this noble-minded man's 
 temerity, struck down by the malignant contagion, 
 a martyr to his disinterested philanthropy! I took 
 courage, however, to finish the sentence : " Unhappily 
 this distinguished man found none to imitate his 
 example." 
 
 Dr. Allemande affirms that it is quite decided that 
 the fever was incommunicable in the elevated settle- 
 ments—" not a single case is recorded of any individual 
 having come from Rio, and having conveyed the 
 
FEVER EVIDENTLY OF ENDEMIAL ORIGIN. 313 
 
 disease from that place to another person who had 
 not been in Rio." At Petropohs, at an elevation of 
 1 200 feet only, " there was not the slightest appre- 
 hension of infection, and this under the same roof 
 with yellow fever patients (forty of whom died in one 
 hotel) with whom they came into continual personal 
 contact." He gives an instance in "proof that a 
 previously surmounted attack of yellow fever by no 
 means causes an exemption from a fresh attack ; " and 
 observes, " Yellow fever is not an acclima:ting process ; 
 it is rather an indication that the individual is not yet 
 acclimatized." The despatch of May 12 also contains 
 strong evidence of the endemial source of the disease 
 among the shipping, which has not been noticed by 
 Dr. McWilliam. The consul therein complains that 
 the inspector of customs at Rio having ordered the 
 merchant vessels to return to the usual anchorage 
 near the shore, the yellow fever instantly again made 
 its appearance in a virulent form on board those ships, 
 which had previously almost ceased to attack the 
 seamen while the vessels were at a greater distance 
 from the shore. 
 
 Sir, so far from there being no evidence of 
 endemial origin, we find that, at the time the epidemic 
 was raging, the atmosphere was peculiarly morbific ; 
 that the climatic change, which had been gradually 
 taking place, had deprived the towns on the coast of 
 that thoroughly cleansing process which had formerly 
 been effected during the daily thunderstorms in the 
 hot seasons ; that, in consequence of this climatic 
 change, fever, which no one can doubt was the 
 ordinary remittent of warm climates, in a mild form, 
 had been gradually becoming more frequent and 
 severe ; that, four years previously, it had been 
 predicted by Dr. Allemande that, under certain peculiar 
 
314 BANEFUL EFFECTS ON THE SICK, PRODUCED 
 
 circumstances, this mild fever "might easily develop 
 itself into a perfect yellow-fever epidemic ; that these 
 very circumstances actually occurred, and that the 
 pfediction was verified, for the " insolation fever," or 
 mild remittent, which had prevailed for the previous 
 two or three years, did, during the " fearfully hot," 
 misty, unhealthy season of 1849, assume that much 
 more malignant and aggravated type, which is 
 usually called the yellow fever. We find that in 
 order to get this malignant fever the ships had to 
 anchor close in shore, and the inhabitants of the 
 villages were obliged to come into the town ; for 
 it neither prevailed on board the vessels whilst they 
 were at a distance from the shore, nor could the 
 infected inhabitants from the infected town of Rio 
 infect those who continued in their own healthy 
 district, though in constant communication with the 
 sick. 
 
 If such a disease as this be contagious, we may 
 safely affirm that all diseases are contagious, however 
 simple in character and causation. As, however, it 
 is to be hoped we are too much enlightened in this 
 latter half of the nineteenth century to believe in 
 ghosts, witches, and other antiquated superstitions of 
 the dark ages, let us also hope that we are in- 
 capable of being " frighted from our propriety " by a 
 bugbear which would appear as if invented for the 
 special purpose of un-Christianizing the Christian 
 world. Those who uphold the system of quarantine 
 and segregation adopt that hateful language, " Stand 
 by thyself, come not near to me ; for I am holier 
 than thou." * Their opponents, on the other hand 
 on the arrival of an infected ship at a healthy 
 port would say, " Here are strangers, let us take 
 * Isa. Ixv. 5. 
 
BY FEAR AND QUARANTINE RESTRICTIONS. 315 
 
 them in ; they are sick, we will tend them ; they 
 are imprisoned in a poisoned, loathsome, and deadly 
 atmosphere, we will bring them forth into the free air 
 of heaven, and they shall share with us the breath 
 of life." 
 
3l6 A BATTLING LIFE. — FUGITIVE PAPERS. 
 
 THE PREVENTION OF DISEASE. 
 
 {Social Science Congress, Plymouth, September, 1872.) 
 
 I HAVE undertaken to address the Health Section, 
 on the prevention of disease. Will it be held pre- 
 sumptuous in a lawyer to discuss such a subject t I 
 would affirm, as deprecatory of such a judgment, that 
 the prevention of disease is nothing more than the 
 preservation of health ; that health is the normal state 
 of man's existence ; that we have, as a race, only to 
 adhere to the laws of Nature to secure health ; that 
 properly to discover the laws of Nature we must have 
 recourse to evidence, the evidence of our senses, and 
 evidence furnished by facts, thoroughly sifted and 
 well ascertained ; that to sift evidence is the business 
 of my profession ; therefore a lawyer is justified in 
 discussing a question of health or the prevention of 
 disease. 
 
 I do not claim to advance anything new. But if 
 not placed in a new light, it is sometimes requisite to 
 have old knowledge brought to bear so as to guard 
 against the reintroduction of still older fallacies, 
 ignorance long exploded, and superstition erroneously 
 regarded as worn out. 
 
 " Disease," wrote a celebrated American physiolo- 
 gist, " always precedes the physician." To our medical 
 friends I would say, "Your special business is to 
 
DISEASE VERY FREQUENTLY HEREDITARY. 317 
 
 cure ; it is your patient's business to prevent disease." 
 Tiie study of human physiology forms a proper and 
 necessary part of the education of every man and 
 woman. It is the business of the medical professor in 
 common with all other men, but as a speciality his 
 functions are associated with the cure of disease re- 
 sulting from a violation of Nature's laws. Let not 
 the medical practitioner assume to himself the sole 
 right to examine and explain those laws. Ne sutor 
 ultra crepidam. 
 
 I start, then, with the assertion that disease is 
 neither more nor less than a result produced by a 
 violation of natural law. It is often hereditary ; a 
 taint passing down through, it may be, generations, 
 but still originating in violated law : a fact proclaimed 
 by Moses to the Hebrew nation. " The iniquities of 
 the fathers shall be visited upon the children unto the 
 third and fourth generation," whilst " mercy " shall be 
 enjoyed by thousands who respect the law. To restore 
 the diseased organ to its pristine vigour, and re-adjust 
 the balance among that assemblage of wonderful 
 machines which combine to form the human body, 
 may well tax the utmost energies and advanced 
 intellects of a noble curative profession. Nature, 
 however, will only be assisted ; she will not be 
 coerced ; and it is no less the duty of every one to 
 examine for himself the laws of health, and to obey 
 such as he shall conscientiously find to be true, not 
 only for his own personal well-being, both here and 
 hereafter, but for the sake of those who, by the 
 same inexorable but beneficent law, must inherit the 
 blessing, or the curse, through and by means of his 
 habits and actions, 
 
 If one of the bodily'organs or fluids be hereditarily 
 diseased, it may be said to be poisoned already, and 
 
3l8 HOW POISON MAY BE TAKEN INTO BLOOD. 
 
 it is the triumph of the physician's art so to assist 
 Nature with antidotes, or otherwise, as to enable her 
 to invigorate the diseased organ, and establish that 
 even balance which alone constitutes health. If there 
 be no hereditary disease actually or actively existing, 
 there is an almost infinite variety of tendency. The 
 relative degrees of natural strength among the 
 numerous organs will probably never be found pre- 
 cisely the same in any two individuals, any more than 
 two peas, two leaves, or two faces can be found 
 precisely alike. This variation of natural tendency 
 produces what is called, not very accurately, that 
 difference of constitution so often talked about. Every 
 one has, therefore, so to speak, a particular barometer 
 in a particular spot, and this barometer should be 
 consulted with care in all circumstances. 
 
 Our subject being the prevention of disease, let me 
 be permitted to assume that some few, at least, of our 
 race are to be found in sound health. How can they 
 surely preserve it ? or, in other words, how are they to 
 prevent the entrance of disease ? i.e. disease not arising 
 from over-excitement or undue wear and tear, on the 
 one hand, nor from lack of exercise or ennui on the 
 other ; for with these we at present have no concern. 
 I answer, unhesitatingly, by preventing the admission 
 of poison of any kind into the blood. But how may 
 poison enter, and how are we to guard against its 
 admission? (i) Poison may be absorbed into the 
 blood through unwholesome food or drink. (2) By 
 the inhalation of foul air through the lungs, which is 
 sometimes denominated " infection." (3) By inocula- 
 tion through open wounds, externally or internally, 
 i.e. cuts, sores, or ulcers in the skin or mucous 
 membrane. 
 
 Whether we may also introduce by absorption 
 
MEN AFFECTED BY FLESH OF DISEASED ANIMALS. 3 IQ 
 
 through the pores of the skin, poison exhaled from the 
 skin of diseased persons, which is true " contagion " 
 (though that term is often used so as to include lung 
 infection), is a moot question in epidemic disease, but 
 I very much doubt the possibility. 
 
 To take these in the order above mentioned. It 
 appears to me that in the discussion of sanitary ques- 
 tions, by no means sufficient importance is attached to 
 the quality of food ; and especially in reference to the 
 health of the animals used as human food. It ought 
 never to be lost sight of, that whatever poison tends 
 to promote disease in man, will probably promote 
 disease of a similar character in the lower animals. 
 Surely it is incumbent on us to provide against evils 
 and their consequence, as affecting animals whose 
 healthy or unwholesome flesh we consume ! But, 
 except in the presence of some general cattle murrain, 
 do we do so ? I think it must be confessed that we 
 do not. Whereas it must be plain to the meanest 
 intellect, that if unsanitary habits will produce disease 
 in an individual man or family, the like conditions 
 enforced by ignorant farmers, or butchers, upon the 
 ox, the sheep, the pig, etc., will induce disease in 
 these, though no general visible murrain prevail. The 
 horse on the prairie needs no veterinary surgeon, nor 
 does he suffer from horse-grease ; swine in the forest 
 contract no measles ; sheep on the mountains get no 
 small-pox ; nor are " cattle on a thousand hills " in 
 anything like the state of fever produced by steamer 
 decks, railway trucks, and markets, or stalled beasts 
 in metropolitan dairies. I speak not of palpably 
 diseased or putrid meat, occasionally seized by an 
 inspector ; but if civilized and civilizing man would 
 recover and maintain his pristine health, he must be 
 careful by his management not to produce disease in 
 
320 ADULTERATION. — FOUL EXHALATIONS. 
 
 the inferior animals before imbibing their milk or 
 preparing their flesh, often insufficiently cooked, to 
 introduce either nourishment or poison into the 
 lymphatics and blood-vessels of his own system. Yet 
 not in our towns alone, but in every country lane and 
 village, when passing the cottager's garden, are we 
 not compelled to seek the farthest side of the path, 
 warned by Nature's sentinel that a special manu- 
 factory for measles is established in a corner above 
 the open ditch, wherein a poor animal is penned, 
 reeking in filth, with just room to turn about and 
 gorge the washings of that cottage tub, until sufficient 
 poison-charged fat has been raised upon its carcase, 
 preparatory to its slaughter and distribution among 
 the neighbouring not already too healthy human 
 stomachs, or to the dwellers in the still more polluted 
 city ? The wonder truly is, not that measles, scarlatina, 
 and small-pox prevail, but that their intensity is not 
 ten times greater than has ever yet been experienced. 
 I pass over the known adulteration of various 
 articles of food practised by fraudulent dealers, 
 enormous as it is, as well as the deleterious influence 
 of narcotic and intoxicating poisons, because these 
 causes of disease are frequently dilated upon by large 
 numbers of people, and have also been the subject of 
 recent legislation. I will only remark with regard to 
 these latter, that wherever depraved sensual appetite 
 enters into the competition, all considerations of health 
 are, but too frequently, alas ! entirely disregarded. 
 The importance of pure water has also been abundantly 
 insisted on of late years. 
 
 2. The inhalation of foul air, through the lungs, 
 affords the second of our modes of poisoning the 
 blood. It was long since pointed out by physiologists 
 that putrefying animal excreta, untrapped drains, and 
 
WANT OF VENTILATION A CAUSE OF CHOLERA. 32 I 
 
 polluted streams, contribute largely to this description 
 of inhaled poison ; nor can I think that the over- 
 burdening of land with decaying composts may not 
 frequently be charged with injurious exhalations both 
 for man and beast. Rotting swamps and marshes, 
 too, very commonly become a fruitful source of disease 
 in warm climates, especially where the free mixture 
 of salt with fresh water, or sewage, takes place ; hence 
 yellow fever in the tropics usually first appears at sea- 
 ports. But there can be no question that overcrowd- 
 ing, or lung poison, in the exceedingly general absence 
 of adequate ventilation, is by far the most prolific 
 cause of disease. Miss Nightingale, in her inimitable 
 " Notes on Nursing," abundantly corroborates the 
 universal testimony of other advanced sanitary philo- 
 sophers. Thus, whenever the absence of wind during 
 a damp season, without a drying sun in summer, or 
 congeaHng frost in winter, produces an epidemic of 
 any kind, it always mainly prevails in dirty, damp, 
 and, most of all, unventilated places. It was shown 
 by the late Mr. Grainger and others, in the truly 
 valuable cholera reports of 1849, that want of ventila- 
 tion was the greatest promoter of that epidemic ; and 
 this view has appeared to me to be confirmed by the 
 fact, that cholera has, without exception, chiefly raged 
 in Russia during the winter, the season there of close 
 stoves and double windows ; whilst in England it has 
 been more prevalent in summer, when the ventilating 
 open fire is extinguished. Any one who has ever 
 experienced the corrupted atmosphere generated, even 
 out of doors, by a dense crowd, such as the street 
 outside Exeter Hall, the Duke of Wellington's funeral, 
 the Prince of Wales' thanksgiving-day, or after a 
 review near a gate in Hyde Park, may readily under- 
 stand (to return for a moment to the food question) 
 
 y 
 
322 HEALTH IN MODEL DWELLINGS. 
 
 that sheep folded thickly together, with a farmer's 
 view to warmth, or penned in a market, with a dealer's 
 view to economy of space, will scarcely thereby be 
 brought into a better state, either to live, or die for 
 human nourishment. 
 
 A very striking example of the value of proper 
 sanitary arrangements has been afforded in London 
 during the late small-pox epidemic. The mortality 
 from that disease during the epidemic year in the 
 whole of London, including Belgravian and suburban 
 districts, where no cases occurred, was 2-4 per looo of 
 population. This mortality was mainly furnished by 
 the districts where typhus and cholera, etc., whenever 
 present, always locate themselves ; those districts, in 
 fact, which Dr. Southwood Smith distinguished as the 
 " fever nests." In the midst of these districts large 
 blocks of buildings have been erected by the Metro- 
 politan Association for Improving the Dwellings of 
 the Industrious Classes, in which blocks are contained 
 a population, in proportion to the ground area they 
 occupy, four times more dense than that of the sur- 
 rounding "fever nests" themselves. Yet these dwell- 
 ings, within which typhus has never entered, cholera 
 never appeared, furnished a small-pox mortality 
 during the year in question of i per lOOO of population 
 only, i.e. perhaps one-twentieth that of the surround- 
 ing localities, if the numbers therein were separately 
 given : the sole explanation for this remarkable dif-' 
 ference being that the model dwellings are provided 
 with ventilation and every sanitary appliance, no 
 supervision or interference whatever of any other kind . 
 being exercised over the tenants. In fact, sick people 
 have been known to be sent thither from neighbouring 
 hospitals to die, thus unfairly increasing their normal 
 death-rate. As if in special confirmation of the ad-. 
 
ARMY MORTALITY GREATER THAN IT SHOULD BE. 323 
 
 vantage of sanitary measures, we find, on the contrary, 
 that Dublin and Dundee, during their small-pox 
 epidemic, the following year. Just past, furnished a 
 mortality three times, and two and a half times greater 
 than that of London respectively ; Dublin yielding y6 
 per 1000 the first six months of this year, and Dundee 
 5 J per 1000 for the year. Contrast the healthy con- 
 dition of the model dwellings,, too (having a general 
 death-rate of 16 per 1000, while London at large has 
 24 per 1000), with the mortality in the British army 
 at home, which, for the year 1870, among 75,305 rank 
 and file, reached ()\ per 1000. When it is considered 
 that this mortality occurs among picked men at the 
 age of least mortality, whilst the civil population 
 death-rate includes both the infant and the aged, the 
 weak and diseased, as well as the healthy and strong, 
 this contrast will be fully appreciated. Moreover, the 
 military death-rate now never fairly states the case as 
 between that and the civil mortality. Formerly men 
 were enlisted for a long time, and had a pension if 
 discharged sick; they were therefore retained to be 
 treated and die in the service. Now the enlistment is 
 for a short time, with no right to pension ; so, on 
 becoming seriously sick, men are discharged at once 
 when possible, and die as civilians. Yet we still have 
 G)\ per 1000 actually dying in the service. Every 
 recruit must pass two doctors, each of whom subjects 
 him to a searching examination before he is accepted 
 at the age of most vigorous health. Subsequently he 
 is said to be better clothed, and fed, and lodged, than 
 ever he was before ; in spite of which the mortality 
 among such picked men, during the ten years of their 
 service, is probably at least double what it would 
 have been were they left alone in their homes. 
 
 3. The third mode of introducing poison into the. 
 
324 SECOND ATTACKS OF DISEASE OCCUR. 
 
 blood is by inoculating, through wounds, any kind of 
 virus. That this can be effected is too well known 
 to need proof. Small-pox was largely inoculated in 
 the last century, but discontinued in favour of vacci- 
 nation, and is now made penal. The notion, derived 
 from the Turks, which savoured much of superstition, 
 was that any person having had a febrile disease once, 
 was ipso facto less likely, if not altogether unable, to 
 have another attack of the same disease. But what is 
 this disease .' A state produced by poison. And for 
 what purpose ? Simply to expel that poison. It is 
 Nature's effort to get rid of the noxious intruder. 
 Given the conditions, then, — let the poison be present, 
 — what is the next very best thing to happen but the 
 disease .' and especially an exanthematous disease, to 
 purify the blood, by driving out the poison through 
 the skin. When this is thoroughly effected and health 
 restored, it will, in the nature of things, or may, be a 
 long time before the same conditions recur ; but 
 should the poison not be all thrown off, or be again 
 absorbed, what but another effort at its expulsion 
 ought to happen, and will indubitably happen (as it 
 often has happened), in order to save, if possible, the 
 patient's life ? Accordingly, very numerous cases are 
 on record, of second, and even third attacks of small- 
 pox in the same person. Every medical man knows 
 of such. 
 
 It is the same with yellow fever. In 1804, in 
 order to allay popular panic. Dr. Arejula placarded 
 the streets of Malaga with the comforting assurance 
 that nobody could have that disease a second time, 
 and therefore those who had previously suffered an 
 attack were safe. But either that to allay panic was 
 Dr. Arejula's sole motive, or that the assertion was 
 a delusion, has long been patent to all dwellers in 
 
GIVING, TO PREVENT, DISEASE, UNPHILOSOPHIC. 325 
 
 tropical climates where that form of fever prevails; 
 notwithstanding that the late Sir William Pym claimed 
 to have made the same absurd discovery in 181 3, at 
 Gibraltar, for which he drew a pension of a guinea a 
 day from the revenues of that fortress to the end of 
 his long life. Superstition has ever been more profit- 
 able than sense, or Pym would never have been petted, 
 nor Galileo gyved. 
 
 That some other diseases are inoculable has been 
 fully proved, both abroad and in England. Several 
 such cases were brought to the notice of a committee 
 of the House of Commons in 1 871, by Mr. Hutchin- 
 son, a surgeon of eminence in London. When this 
 fact is considered, in connection with the opinion of 
 that gentleman, and other professional witnesses, that 
 the presence of the disease could not be discovered ; 
 and, if inoculated, could not appear earlier than from 
 three weeks to a much longer period after inoculation ; 
 also that vaccination officers do not see the children 
 they vaccinate subsequently to the eighth day follow- 
 ing that operation ; we cannot wonder at the con- 
 scientious objection of a very numerous portion of the 
 community to submit their children to a similar risk : 
 and' especially when it appears from the registrar- 
 general's returns that many infants under five die of 
 the loathsome disease proved by Mr. Hutchinson to 
 have been unwittingly and unblamably transmitted, 
 by the vaccinator, to eleven out of thirteen adults from 
 one apparently healthy infant's arm. So that if this 
 disease has not been inoculated upon those children 
 so dying, it may have been easily conveyed from them 
 to others, without the practitioner's knowledge or obser- 
 vation. The idea that disease can be prevented by the 
 inoculation of disease, is, to my mind, so utterly un- 
 philosophical and superstitious, that I own to some 
 
326 DISEASES EXTERMINATED BY CIVILIZATION. 
 
 ; impatience in dwelling upon such an absurd contention. 
 In the first place, were it possible, it would be highly- 
 undesirable so to prevent what in the course of nature 
 ought to take place for the well-being of the patient; 
 and in the second place, it is impossible, except, 
 indeed, by so lowering the constitutional strength as 
 to cause death, by rendering the person too weak to 
 throw off the accumulated poison. Yet this fallacy has 
 very generally obtained. In its origin we have the 
 unfounded fear of " contagion," so unworthy of a 
 civilized community. The contagion theory assumes 
 that liability to epidemic disease is altogether external, 
 without regard to the state of the individual, and that 
 therefore all are equally liable to attack, which is a 
 simple contradiction of universal history. Surely it 
 should be sufficient to point out — as has been so well 
 done by Dr. Southwood Smith, in the immortal 
 quarantine reports, and other writings, now, but for a 
 time only, forgotten — that far worse epidemic diseases 
 than any which now exist in this country have been 
 altogether extirpated by civilization and cleanliness, 
 without having first swept off the entire human race. 
 It should be noted that the mortality 'among small- 
 pox hospital patients is as high now as it was in the 
 last century. Have the medical men become . less 
 skilful in their treatment, or has some evil influence 
 supervened to weaken the patients ? I leave the 
 hospital professors to settle this question. But where- 
 fore arises the special popular dread of small-pox, 
 which is a more beneficent form of epidemic, yielding 
 a greater proportion of recoveries to attacks than 
 probably any other ? That this is so, is proved by 
 the fact that whenever small-pox prevails the general 
 death-rate is low. Thus, in the last six months, 
 during and following the severest small-pox epidemic 
 
DISEASE PANIC PRODUCED BY EVERY RUMOUR. 327 
 
 of the century, the mortality in London has been no 
 less than 4582 below the average of the last ten years. 
 Small-pox, therefore, ought by no means to be made 
 the subject of popular panic, and never would have 
 been so, had not blundering treatment formerly pro- 
 duced that marking so inimical to personal vanity ; 
 but which is now seldom, and ought never to be seen. 
 Since the world was, the weak have fallen a prey to 
 the accumulated force of the epidemic at the time 
 existing, added to the latent unhealthy condition in 
 which it found them ; whereas the strong, not suffi- 
 ciently acted on by former poisons or habits of in- 
 salubrity, resist the force of the enemy, and survive to 
 teach their successors greater wisdom. 
 
 Whether the contagion notion be based on actual 
 contact of skin with skin, the infection of peculiar 
 lung poison from the sick, or the newer theory which 
 is about to import cholera by excretal germs floating 
 in the air or water, it comes practically to the same 
 thing as if the disease were, as in truth it is, simply the 
 epidemic influence, or effect of peculiarities of season, 
 e.g. extremes, or sudden changes of temperature, 
 undue moisture, etc., intensifying locally existing 
 poison emanations : the weak succumb, the strong 
 resist ; and so it will be to the end of time, in spite of 
 official reports, and scientific whims, fished from the 
 waters of Odessa or Bengal. 
 
 These contagion theories have always been most 
 acceptable to the ignorant, and especially to those 
 whose culpability is exonerated or excused by them. 
 Thus, the Irish registrars — who appear to be medical 
 men, in some sort feeling themselves responsible for 
 the health or credit of their districts — invariably 
 ascribe any febrile disease to importation from some 
 other district or distant place. Those who may have 
 
328 FILTH WILL BRING FEVER IN CERTAIN SEASONS. 
 
 the curiosity to examine the reports made by these 
 gentlemen to the Irish registrar-general for the three 
 quarters ending 31st March last, may thus satisfy 
 themselves, if they please, that no such disease is ever 
 indigenous in a country where the most filthy habits 
 are, by the same identical reports, ascribed to the 
 people. But how, indeed, can we wonder at these 
 ideas from such a source, when, as recently occurred 
 at Ryde, in England — "the land of the brave, the 
 land of the free " — an unoffending citizen can be fined 
 or imprisoned for selling a newspaper not sufficiently 
 disinfected in the opinion of a (miscalled) officer of 
 health, who alleged that by such means disease might 
 have been spread ; at the same time stating that he 
 never had carried "contagion" in his own clothes 
 during forty years' practice ; going into the air being 
 always, in his own case, a sufficient disinfectant ? 
 
 Seaports will generally be first affected by 
 epidemics, because the added condition of superfluous 
 moisture with filth is present, ready to affect the 
 unacclimatized stranger, almost invariably the first to 
 suffer — thus furnishing constant and convincing evi- 
 dence to those who resolutely shut their eyes to any 
 conditions unconnected with the personal transmission 
 of disease. At a seaport, ships are always arriving, 
 themselves not the most sanitary of dwellings, in which 
 the sailor has been well prepared to fall under the 
 newly added poison of the filthy, on-the-eve-of- 
 epidemic-stricken town. Nevertheless, such plague 
 spots as Berlin has been recently described to be 
 by the T'm^'j'correspondent, the season favouring, will 
 assuredly be the seat of epidemic cholera, as it now is 
 of its precursor diarrhoea, and as it has been of small- 
 pox, far worse than even Dublin or Dundee — assuredly, 
 though no eastern wind, nor stream, nor traveller, carry 
 
FOOLISH TAMPERING WITH HEALTHY RECRUITS. 329 
 
 " contagium" (the latest term invented by "science ") 
 through the whole German army drawn up in close 
 cordon, to keep out all comers, and streams, and 
 winds. Assuredly, also, cholera is none the less likely 
 to reach London because 380 helpless infants, under 
 one year old, have fallen victims to diarrhoea within 
 one week (August lOth). 
 
 To sum up in a word : if those healthy persons 
 who would prevent disease could consume none but 
 wholesome food and drink ; beware of overdoing, 
 which is undoing ; breathe pure air, keep the skin 
 clean, take due exercise, and avoid inoculating poisons 
 of any kind, they may defy epidemic disease, though 
 they spend their lives as ministering angels to the 
 sick ; always provided the patients be taken out of 
 the reach of the external poison which conduced to the 
 attack, and brought as much as possible within the 
 healthy control of Nature. 
 
 Additional Notes. Health of the' Army after 
 careful Examination of Recruits. — What, after all this 
 care, does " science " first do with the recruit .? Poison 
 him, to " protect " him from a disease which he will 
 never have, unless his blood become in such a state as 
 to make it beneficial that he should be so cleansed; 
 and which, that happening, he will have notwithstand- 
 ing. A recent parliamentary return, No. 328, Session 
 '84, shows that small-pox is never absent, in any year, 
 from the army ; and sometimes among these picked 
 lives the small-pox death-rate is higher than among 
 the civil population of all ages and conditions. 
 
 Value of Vaccination Statistics.- — In truth, all vacci- 
 nation statistics clearly show that among those most 
 injured by that operation, the mortality, when attacked 
 by small-pox, is greater than in those least affected. 
 
330 DEDUCTIONS FROM CRUDE STATISTICS. 
 
 Also, that constitutions strong enough successfully to 
 resist one poison can also better resist another than 
 those originally too fragile to have been subjected to 
 the first. Suppose, for example, two travellers — A 
 a robust man, B of weakly constitution^to be in the 
 neighbourhood of those malarial districts in the tropics 
 described by Baron Humboldt, to spend a night in 
 which is almost certain death to the stranger. A, 
 braving the danger, has an attack of yellow fever, but, 
 by virtue of his constitutional strength, recovers. B, 
 warned by prudence, making a detour, avoids both 
 the danger and its consequence. Arriving some years 
 subsequently at a filthy town where cholera is raging, 
 both A and B are struck down by that disease ; which 
 has the best chance of resisting the attack ? We have 
 but to substitute vaccination for the marsh fever, and 
 small-pox for cholera, to complete the analogy. 
 
 Revaccination. — To sustain the inoculation, or 
 vaccination theory, in the face of its general failure, it 
 has recently been the fashion to recommend increased 
 doses ; and truly Sir Culling Eardley, who was killed 
 by revaccination, did not live to die of small-pox, 
 though, but for his fear and superstition, he might 
 probably be living now. And to prove the value of 
 revaccination we have been furnished with such con- 
 vincing evidence as that, out of 14,800 patients treated 
 in the Metropolitan Asylums Hospitals, only four had 
 been properly revaccinated. A student of logic would 
 assert that such statement proves nothing more than 
 the fact that revaccination will not prevent small-pox- 
 There was no attempt to decide how many persons of 
 the class frequenting such hospitals in London had 
 been revaccinated. For aught we know, the four 
 attacked might have been the sum total. But in the 
 absence of any knowledge whereon to found a proper- 
 
CONTRASTING VICTORS WITH VANQUISHED. 33 1 
 
 tion of those so re-" protected," as alleged, to these 
 four, the reporters innocently fill their own eyes with 
 dust, if not ours, by setting the said four against the 
 14,800, the great majority of whom had been vacci- 
 nated, but were never alleged to have been re- 
 vaccinated. 
 
 N.B. — In the absence of any authentic returns, it 
 has been stated (Vaccination Committee Evidence, 
 qy. 2973-75) that the general mortaHty, 1660-1780, 
 was double, and the small-pox mortality twelve times, 
 its present rate, to 1 868 ; but as these proportions, 
 when compared with the birth-rate, would have resulted 
 in leaving the last corpse unburied within about a 
 hundred years from the commencement of the calcula- 
 tion in the former, and sixty years in the latter case, 
 we may take such guesses for what they are worth. 
 
 Again, it has been asserted that only 263 re- 
 vaccinated German soldiers died of small-pox during 
 the late war, whereas the mortality among the French 
 was far greater. Although no returns are yet pub- 
 lished, as we now know that the latter are revaccinated 
 as well as the former, the assumption that they were 
 not, and consequent comparison drawn in favour of 
 revaccination, falls to the ground ; and surely little 
 science'is needed in finding reasons for a very much 
 higher mortality from epidemic disease among the 
 beaten, dejected, crestfallen, pining French prisoners 
 — many of them raw recruits without stamina of any 
 kind, shut up in fortresses, necessarily overcrowded, 
 ■necessarily dirty, necessarily exposed to cold, and 
 every privation, without one single ray of hope or 
 consolation, separated from home and friends, in the 
 power of the hated enemy- — than existed among the 
 victorious Germans, elated by success in every field, 
 .roving freely over a conquered country, feasting on 
 
332 SPECIMENS OF MEDICAL (sUPPOSEd) EVIDENCE. 
 
 the fat of the land, supplied with every necessary and 
 every comfort at their option, shouting their national 
 songs, revelling in the triumphant joy with which they 
 would be welcomed on their return by all they held 
 most dear! Moreover, Dr. Stramm, medical staff 
 officer, Prussian army, in a pamphlet condemning 
 vaccination, not only as entirely useless, but positively 
 mischievous, concludes as follows : " I myself have 
 been vaccinated, and twice successfully revaccinated, 
 and yet, in the exercise of my official medical duties 
 during the late epidemic in Prussia, I have been 
 attacked with small-pox in the most virulent confluent 
 form, and been only saved from worse consequences 
 by a speedy change of climate." 
 
 Medical Ideas of "Evidence." — The following are 
 specimen quotations of medical evidence : — 
 
 "The garrison continued in perfect health until 
 20th October, when, in consequence (as I must sup- 
 pose) of a breach of quarantine regulations, which, 
 however, could not be detected, a Minorcan family 
 was attacked with the disease." — Sir William Pym, 
 Superintendent of Quaratitine. 
 
 " In no case where the operation was successful, 
 except one or two (except one or two who took the 
 small-pox before the 8th day), did they take the 
 small-pox at all." — TrisA Medical Registrar. 
 
 " He would consider it extremely probable that it 
 [the newspaper] having been set up \i.e. the type] by 
 a person while suffering from small-pox, would carry 
 the disease into various parts of the town." — Ryde 
 Officer of Health. 
 
 " Two nurses suffered from small-pox, one having 
 had an attack six years before ; the second was re- 
 vaccinated on arrival at the hospital, but no doubt the 
 poison was in the system before it could take its 
 
proper effect." [No dates of arrival or attack given.] 
 " I would especially call attention to the great value 
 of revaccination, as affording almost certain immunity 
 from the disease ; for I may state that not a single 
 case where undoubted successful revaccination had 
 been performed presented itself for admission." [No 
 attempt at guessing even the proximate number of 
 the hospital-frequenting population who had been re- 
 vaccinated.] " On inquiry I found, to my surprise, 
 that there were thirteen human beings in that wretched 
 place, all unprotected by revaccination. . . . That 
 small-pox has been confined, in the majority of cases, 
 to the poorer classes, does not admit of any doubt. 
 ... It raged with greatest virulence in the houses of 
 the poor, well fitted by overcrowding, imperfect venti- 
 lation, and neglect of sanitary precautions, as well as 
 by the neglect of vaccination and revaccination. . . 
 It is not at all uncommon to hear the mothers of 
 children asserting that the eruption on the skin, for 
 which they are asking advice, followed after vaccina- 
 tion in a very short time." — Stockwell Hospital Report^ 
 Dr. McCann. 
 
 " It must not be supposed that I believe effective 
 vaccination to be a positive protection against an 
 attack, because I do not, but I consider it to afford at 
 least as good a protection as an attack of small-pox 
 would do. I had under my care a lad, thirteen years 
 of age, who was deeply pitted from a former attack 
 of the disease, and who yet died from the second, 
 which assumed a confluent form. I have seen 
 numerous cases of second attacks of small-pox, and 
 one of a third, and in nearly all the progress of the 
 malady was similar to that which it takes after efficient 
 vaccination." — Dr. Tripe's Report to Hackney Board of 
 Works. 
 
334 MORTALITY IN BRISTOL ORPHAN HOMES. 
 
 Diarrhoea, &c. — Oft kill infants, probably unable 
 to bear up against such attacks by the, shall we say, 
 "scientific" State tinkering^ — which robs them of the 
 little strength they naturally have at the moment 
 " when the struggle for life is keenest." The deaths 
 from syphilis (chiefly among infants) have doubled in 
 the fourteen years ended 1870. — Dr. Parr's Report. 
 N.B. — Compare with Mr. Hutchinson's cases, page 325. 
 
 The small-pox death-rate among the children in 
 the Bristol Orphan Homes (all -vaccinated by way of 
 precaution), equalled the rate of Great Grimsby, 
 though the whole of Bristol yielded scarcely a tenth 
 of that rate (see tables, p. 425). But, according to 
 J. Massey, the small-pox deaths (cases being many) , 
 during the last century in Christ's Hospital were very 
 far less in proportion, i.e. not more than one in five 
 thousand of inmates in nine years, or almost nil. 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. FUGITIVE PAPERS. 335 
 
 THE CAUSES OF EPIDEMICS. 
 
 (" Medical Circular" February, 1 876.) 
 
 Sir Wm. Jenner, president of the Clinical Society, 
 asks, " What are the conditions which favour outbreaks 
 of epidemics V {Lancet, February 25, 1875), and he 
 urges upon observers the importance of reporting all 
 such facts as may tend to throw light upon the inquiry 
 — Are all specific diseases contagious .' i.e. " from 
 some part of the sick is something given off which 
 can, when properly applied,, excite the same disease in 
 another, and which can excite no other disease .'' " 
 " How little," he remarks, " is known of what that 
 something is ! " 
 
 In considering this subject we ought first to settle 
 what is to be received as evidence : (i) of this "giving 
 off ; " (2) its proper application ; (3) its reception or 
 absorption by othersi Mere assumptions have some- 
 times heretofore been caiUed medical evidences. " In 
 consequence (as I must suppose) of a breach of 
 quarantine regulations, which, however, could not be 
 detected, a family belonging to the dockyard was 
 attacked with the disease," wrote a superintendent of 
 quarantine. And a certain statistician writes, " It is 
 estimated " so-and-so ; " so that if we can assume " so- 
 and-so ; " it will follow " so-and-so. And this has 
 been accepted as evidence that the consequence in- 
 
, 336 SIR WM. JENNER's cases OF COMMUNICATION. 
 
 dicated must follow! But can such reasoning be 
 admitted by any scientific body of men ? 
 
 Before decisively attributing the communication of 
 disease to contagion from person to person, is coin- 
 cidence to be deemed possible ? Or that exposure to 
 like causes may produce similar effects ? And is the 
 previous state of those thus said to be infected to be 
 taken into account ? 
 
 A child convalescent after measles arrives among 
 a family of sixteen, and " one only takes the disease." 
 Another having the disease comes from school amongst 
 eight others, only two of whom suffer, all being freely 
 exposed to the poison. 
 
 Seven out of ten young men contract typhoid fever 
 in the same house, without communicating the disease 
 to any one on returning to their respective homes. 
 One, out of several clinical students, sees a case of 
 small-pox in a large hospital ward, and takes small- 
 pox. 
 
 An obstetric practitioner, having several cases of 
 puerperal fever, believes that he had communicated 
 the fever from one to another by his hands ; these 
 either not having been sufficiently disinfected, or, as 
 another suggests, through the perspiration of moist 
 hands. 
 
 Enteric fever breaks out in Marylebone, and it is 
 reported that milk from a particular farm, having been 
 supplied to that neighbourhood, must (though many 
 escaped) have conveyed the poison, through well-water 
 impregnated by soakage from piggeries, etc., having 
 been drunk by the cows and mixed with the milk. 
 
 Sir Wm. Jenner points out the effect of constitu- 
 tional proclivity to particular diseases ; also that too 
 little importance is attributed to bodily condition, or 
 " out-of-healthedness," arising from erroneous habits 
 
HOW MEASLES MIGHT BJE PRODUCED. 33/ 
 
 of living. He further dwells upon the production of 
 typhoid by imbibing excreta in water used for drink- 
 ing purposes. 
 ■ The object of this paper is not to dogmatize, but 
 simply to suggest investigation. Nothing perhaps is 
 more easy than to be led into fallacy in the considera- 
 tion of evidence as to the communication of disease ; 
 especially if the investigator has any preconceived 
 ideas on the subject. 
 
 Taking the cases above mentioned in their order : 
 it is so common for children to have measles, that 
 njost people consider it essential to the child's welfare 
 that an attack should be suffered. May not the 
 arrival of a convalescent among the sixteen, one of 
 whom got measles, be a coincidence merely .'' Might 
 it not be that bacon or pork in an unsound state, or 
 pastry made with lard, may have been consumed by 
 each patient nearly at the same time ? and that the 
 tendency about the period and neighbourhood, in each 
 case, towards any exanthematous disease, whether an 
 epidemic prevailed or not, was towards measles ? Ere 
 accepting bodily contagion as the all-sufficient cause 
 of measles, or any other eruption, would it be well to 
 inquire carefully into all the dietetic habits, the local 
 surroundings, and the physiological condition of the 
 patient in every instance ? 
 
 Why may not measles be sometimes inoculated by 
 the ointment applied to wounds ? A vast deal of 
 ointment is sent about the world, and lard probably 
 forms the foundation of most of it. Excess of fat 
 is disease in any animal ; measles is peculiarly the 
 swine disease ; hogs are grossly fatted before being 
 killed (to save their lives) ; and this most unwholesome 
 -fiart of their carcase is melted down for town-made 
 iutter, confectioner's or domestic pastry, and ointment 
 
 z 
 
338 CARE NECESSARY TO AVOID FALLACY. 
 
 by whomsoever manufactured. Might not the micro- 
 scope be here usefully applied ? 
 
 Of the seven young men who contracted typhoid^ 
 while located in one house^ probably each returned to a 
 healthy home, properly ventilated, free from local im- 
 purity, and where the diet would be exempt from some 
 probable irregularities practised in the infected house. 
 
 The fever wards of our London hospitals claim, of 
 late years at least, to be well ventilated, and it is 
 generally admitted that under such conditions fever 
 does not spread. There was perhaps, therefore, 
 nothing remarkable in the clinical students escaping 
 typhoid. And as it seems only on one occasion that one 
 alone out of several suffered an attack of small-pox, 
 after seeing a patient in the wards, is it quite impos- 
 sible that some other conditions, such as " out-of- 
 healthedness " of this student, poison in some other 
 locality he had visited or lived in, etc., might have 
 been coincident with his visit to the hospital ? 
 
 Much has been said upon the conveyance of 
 disease by drinking water, as well as " germs " through, 
 other sources, bacteria, etc. Has each investigator 
 been careful to inquire, whether or not the person, 
 attacked in the house supplied with impure water, was 
 in the habit of drinking water at all? Intemperance 
 is one of the most prolific causes of fever; and it is 
 by no means uncommon for intemperate persons to 
 deride the very notion of ever tasting water. Like 
 the Hollander- — • 
 
 " Of water alone he drinks no moi'e , 
 Than a rose supplies 
 WTien a dew-drop lies 
 On its bed in a summer morning." 
 
 Again, if cooking or tea be pointed at, may it not 
 be useful to investigate what effect in the purification. 
 
ALL CONDITIONS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED. 339 
 
 of noxious matter, held in aqueous solution, is produced 
 by boiling such solution ? 
 
 With reference to enteric fever from milk, it is well 
 known that any poison taken into the animal system, 
 will be cast out by dame Nature by the readiest 
 available method. Hence, during lactation, any im- 
 purity imbibed by the mother may, by killing the 
 infant, be prevented from injuring herself. So if these 
 cows really absorbed water proved, by chemical 
 analysis, to contain sufficient foul soakage to have 
 diseased the animals themselves, had they not been 
 giving milk at the time, such milk would undoubtedly 
 be unwholesome. Perhaps it was found that other 
 animals on this farm, drinking the same water, e.g. 
 bulls, heifers, pigs, sheep, etc., were all more or less 
 diseased ? 
 
 But if soakage through a considerable quantity of 
 earth from so small a surface is capable, indirectly, of ' 
 causing so much mischief, what epidemics might not 
 be ascribed to the over-manuring of large tracts of 
 highly farmed land in moist, open, calm seasons, by 
 impregnating the air of neighbouring districts to 
 leeward .' 
 
 Was it satisfactorily shown that in no case could 
 either the local surroundings in Marylebone, or any 
 habits of the patients, unsound food, or other cause, 
 have induced this outbreak ? 
 
 Had, for instance, such an innocent expedient as 
 revaccination been rife in that neighbourhood? If 
 so, what was the lymph supply ? 
 
 In considering the causes of puerperal fever most 
 especially, should not the peculiar state of the patient 
 be taken into the account ? Both strength and endur- 
 ance then are sorely tried. The nervous reaction, as 
 Dr. Richardson has well observed, must be immense 
 
340 NONE SHOULD DOGMATIZE TOO CONFIDENTLY. 
 
 by the stoppage — almost equivalent to the loss of a 
 limb — of one kind of nutrient process through the 
 blood, and the commencement of another in lactation. 
 We surely have here a concatenation sufficient to 
 produce the keenest susceptibility to any added cause 
 or poison. What were the habits of the unfortunate 
 obstetrician in regard to ventilation .'' Did the unlucky 
 nurse allow her patients to poison themselves, aided 
 by their attendants, from the dread of an open 
 window ? Of all aids to cholera, the defunct General 
 Boai'd of Health found want of ventilation, or lung- 
 poisoning, the most pernicious. Again, in each case 
 should we not ask what was the physiological con- 
 dition of the patient's blood ? Was it such as to be 
 highly inflamed by a scratch or rupture ? Had it been 
 receiving nourishment from sheep-pox mutton, from 
 measly pork, vitriol gin, cocculus porter, or sewer- 
 water tea (if boiling does not destroy that evil) .' Was 
 there any hereditary disease or tendency, etc., etc. .' 
 Should not all these questions be sifted thoroughly, 
 before a sapient judge allows an ignorant jury to con- 
 vict a nurse of manslaughter, or a medical practitioner 
 accuses the moisture from his hands ? 
 
 Sir Wm. Jenner, in regard to small-pox, pronounces 
 it to be eminently contagious, and states that " by 
 vaccination we prevent its, occurrence." But seeing 
 that in the years 1871-1872, " upwards of 44,000 deaths 
 were registered from small-pox in England ; that 62 
 per cent, of these were under twenty years of age in 
 1871, and 72 per cent, under twenty in 1872 (vacci- 
 nation having been compulsory nineteen years), can 
 we safely assume that all these persons were anti- 
 vaccinists ; or must we conclude that further investiga- 
 tion is necessary ere we dogmatize too confidently— 
 the undoubted fact that small-pox was much niore 
 
CRUELTY TO SICK FROM FEAR OF CONTAGION. 34 1 
 
 prevalent prior to the vaccination and sanitation era, 
 especially when inoculation was freely practised, not- 
 Withstanding ? 
 
 It is well known that in warm climates yellow 
 fever patients have been frequently nursed with 
 impunity, when taken out of the focus of infection, 
 and conveyed to neighbouring high lands. People' 
 were often much influenced by fear of contagion, how- : 
 ever ; so much so, that when, at Rio de Janeiro in 
 1849, the Russian ambassador visited the yellow fever 
 hospitals, the British consul was compelled to report 
 that "that distinguished man found none to imitate 
 his example." Yet there was no hint of his having' 
 caught the disease. 
 
 True, such contagion-fears have influenced the 
 populace, and led to neglect of the sick through 
 quarantine laws, and various other ways ; but is such 
 a humane or manly feeling ?■ Should not medical 
 men seek for every means of averting the. evils it 
 engenders ? Does not the kingdom blush when a 
 poor woman, suffering from cold and privation, and 
 pronounced to be "feverish," is turned out of her 
 lodging forthwith for fear of contagion^ and, being 
 refused admission at two other places, dies on the 
 stones ? Yet this happened in London last year ! 
 reminding us of the Spanish sailor with yellow fever; 
 dragged for three hours at night, by a rope found his 
 neck, to an uninhabited lazaretto, and there left, with- 
 out water or attendance, to die! How many have 
 been sacrificed to this fear ! And what have we 
 arrived at now ? When, in the present day, it is pro- 
 posed to erect a fever hospital, the populace or the 
 property holders rise almost in arms against it. The 
 sick are not to be treated, forsooth, lest " contagium " 
 should fly out of the windows ! 
 
342 .TiEADY BELIEF IN IMPORTATION STORIES. 
 
 Perhaps we cannot wonder, when so many stories 
 have been published to prove that disease of various 
 kinds has been imported by ships. Yet, if we would 
 look into the matter, could any port exist without the 
 perpetual arrival of ships? Could, according to this 
 hypothesis, any local miasm ever engender disease? 
 The unacclimated always suffer first from want of 
 seasoning. Are not the crews of ships precisely in 
 that condition ? Plenty of local predisposing causes 
 exist within the ship, probably, to make the crew more 
 liable to be affected by the superadded poison as soon 
 as the shore breeze shall waft it towards their vessel. 
 Will these not be naturally first struck by disease in 
 an about-to-be-epidemic-stricken port ? 
 
 But why the port before the inland town .' 
 
 Do we not know that the mud banks of rivers — 
 the marsh land — and, above all, the mixture of tidal 
 salt water with the foul fresh, are among the worst 
 sources of febrile miasma ? Hence importation by 
 ships will always be a readily improvised cause of 
 disease ; yet may it not be in almost every instance a 
 complete fallacy ? 
 
 The newest importation story is the introduction, 
 " it is believed " (this is quite sufficient evidence), by 
 H.M. ship Dido, of measles into the Fiji Islands. The 
 islanders may possibly have been most cleanly in 
 their habits, and they may never eat pork, therefore 
 it may be the more easily " believed " that the ship 
 did the mischief, like all the other ships before alluded 
 to. And it seems evident that the rushing into water 
 holes by the sick, the neglect of the dead so that the 
 pigs mangle. the bodies, and the noisome effluvium 
 therefrom, have as yet taken very little of the blame 
 for the unwonted mortality from the unlucky Dido. 
 But may not this state of things suggest the proba- 
 
■FEVER AT NORWICH. — CHOLERA AT BALTIMORE. 343 
 
 bility, that missionary i-eports of whole tribes having 
 formerly been swept away by small-pox, rested on 
 possibly questionable grounds, at least as regards the 
 -virulence of that eruption had it been left to nature or 
 sensibly treated ? 
 
 So also the low-lying and dirty parts of a city or 
 heavily manured rural district may, in a moist open 
 calm season, emit foul vapours, which, not concentrated 
 enough to strike the acclimatized inhabitants of that 
 district, might nevertheless be just wafted by a gentle 
 breeze against some neighbouring hill-side, the 
 dwellers on which, themselves provided with sanitary 
 appliances, and therefore unused to the poison (but 
 plenty of other evils co-operating doubtless), shall 
 ■suffer an epidemic, and wonder whence it came, 
 groping after some fanciful contagion story ; and if 
 •the first person attacked can only be said to have 
 been within any known distance of another patient 
 having a similar illness, or even to have received a 
 letter from such an one, the world is satisfied, and the 
 real cause is overlooked. It is suspected that this 
 was the case at Norwich a year or two since. 
 
 With reference to the. general effect of any par- 
 ticular epidemic influence, may it not be commonly 
 felt, without in numberless instances producing the 
 specific epidemic attack? At Baltimore, in 1850, all 
 the inhabitants felt uncomfortable and " out of sorts," 
 yet no cholera occurred, because the town had been 
 thoroughly cleansed as a forewarned precaution, 
 except in one spot, which ,had been overlooked — & 
 filthy marsh close to the workhouse. Here cholera 
 broke out, on that side the house only. The cause 
 was found and removed, and the cholera stopped. 
 
 Thus also, in 1849, the writer of this paper, then 
 attached to the General Board of Health, working 
 
344 INFLUENCE OF SEASON ON EPIDEMICS. 
 
 with and among cholera-visiting people, sitting up 
 sometimes three nights a week over cholera statistics, 
 etc., distinctly felt the epidemic influence throughout 
 the season, in uncomfortable sensations, but had no 
 fear of contagion and suffered no attack. When, in 
 1853, he visited every house in Croydon where a 
 death from the famous fever of that year had occurred, 
 the epidemic had passed off. He saw one case only, 
 a poor girl moaning in a room with a window that 
 would not open, and vainly remonstrated with the 
 mother ; but the marsh miasm which appeared to 
 have produced that outbreak had then been dispersed 
 by genial sunshine. At the request of a philanthropic 
 peer he visited Tyndall's Buildings, Gray's Inn Lane 
 (now swept away), to take a night census of the popu- 
 lation there crowded together. A great variety of 
 surroundings existed even there. A general average 
 of disease-generating dirt (as well as of character 
 requiring the guard of a detective). 
 
 Why, however, is it that epidemics prevail at one 
 time, and not at another ? And why in varying form ? 
 Has sufficient attention been directed to differences of 
 season ; dry cold winds producing lung and throat 
 disease tendency ; hot and moist 01^ mild and wet 
 seasons inducing exanthemata in forms varying in 
 accordance with accompanying circumstances ? May 
 not these circumstances of season be far more closely 
 investigated ? Has, for instance, small-pox any 
 favouring conditions brought about by excessive 
 moisture? 1871 was wet in the south and about 
 London ; in 1872 the rainfall was above the average 
 in the north : was it so in Scotland and Ireland ? and 
 was it so concurrently with the small-pox epidemic in 
 those countries ? There was no small-pox in 1871 at 
 Tewkesbury, yet the average of ten years previous 
 
WHAT THE INFLUENCE OF OCEAN CALMS. 345 
 
 shows that disease to be generally far more prevalent 
 in that district than in the surrounding districts * 
 Does this arise from the flooding produced by the 
 confluence of the rivers there ? 
 
 If so, was 1870-71 drier than usual? 
 
 If it should turn out that difierence of season 
 develops from local causes different tendencies, so 
 that the disease, ever ready in unhealthy (improperly 
 stimulated, under or over nourished) bodies to take 
 shape from the added conditions of the season, greatly 
 influenced it may be also by the prevalence or absence 
 of wind and storm, then we should have surely almost 
 enough to explain any epidemic. Still it is commonly 
 believed that there is yet something else requisite 
 beyond the physiological state of the persons attacked, 
 and beyond the development of local causes, modified 
 by season, to account for most epidemics; 
 
 It may, then, be well to ask whether such super- 
 added cause might not be engendered at sea, during 
 calms, under a tropical sun, or by volcanic action, 
 destroying marine life, — foul vapours conveyed by 
 subsequent breezes, divided by ocean currents and gulf 
 streams, aided by mountain draughts, and blown 
 hither and thither chiefly along the course of rivers 
 to aid in developing the almost-ever-sufficiently-pre- 
 sent previously existing causes towards an epidemic 
 outbreak ? When ocean calms are long continued, 
 the water appears to lose its vitality, and to become a 
 mass of decomposing material. Strange-looking jelly- 
 like masses and animal monsters are formed without 
 
 * There was one single death only from small-pox in Bath during 
 tlie great 1871 epidemic, so general throughout the country ; but in 1880, 
 when there was no general outbreak, Bath suffered a considerable 
 mortality. These cases occurred in or to leeward of Dolemeads, a loW 
 damp district, subject to flooding. Was there a flood in 1880, and 
 was such cause absent in 1871 ? 
 
34^ METEOROLOGICAL WARNINGS MAY BE DEVISED. 
 
 limit. Sir Richard Hawkins, in his account of calm&, 
 in 1 593, as the cause of sickness, writes : "Were it 
 not for the moving of the sea by the force of winds, 
 tides, and currents, it would corrupt all the world. 
 The experience I saw in 1590, lying with a fleet of 
 H.M. ships about the islands of the Azores almost six 
 months, the greatest part of the time we were be- 
 calmed ; with which all the sea became so replenished 
 with several sorts of jellies, assuming the form of 
 serpents, adders, and snakes, as seemed wonderful: 
 some green, some black, some yellow, some white, 
 some of divers colours, and many of them had life, 
 and some there were a yard and a half, and two yards 
 long ; which had I not seen, I could hardly have 
 believed : hardly a man could draw a bucket of water 
 clear of some corruption." 
 Or, as Coleridge has it — 
 
 " Th.e very deep did rot." 
 
 Should intelligent investigation lead to the dis- 
 covery that we may look in this direction for one of 
 the originating causes of special epidemics, it may be 
 for science, if possible, to invent some method of pro- 
 tection for a country like India, for instance, from 
 such noxious air-blasts as may probably be prognosti- 
 cated by meteorologists, and forewarned by telegraph, 
 in the same way that the hoisting of the drum now 
 Warns the mariner to seek safety within harbour from 
 impending storm. 
 
 If ever such a time arrive, well shall we be able to 
 afford to place all fears of mere contagion from person 
 to person among the exploded superstitions of a by- 
 gone age ! 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. — FUGITIVE PAPERS. 347 
 
 ON HEREDITARY TENDENCIES. 
 
 {House and Home, July, 1 882.) 
 
 Among the phenomena of Nature few are, perhaps, 
 more wonderful than the almost infinite variety in the 
 forms of organic life. In the vegetable kingdom 
 plants of all kinds have numerous varieties of species, 
 depending probably on differences of soil and climate ; 
 and though one characteristic may pervade the whole 
 of a particular family, such distinctive character fades 
 off towards that of another, so that two specimens of 
 different families almost as nearly assimilate as any 
 two of the same. As an example, there are one 
 hundred and fifty varieties of the oak. 
 
 In the animal kingdom this approximating ten- 
 dency is no less conspicuous ; and any visitor of the 
 natural history collection in the British Museum may 
 observe how nearly different species of beasts and 
 birds converge towards each other. The tenants of 
 the land, by almost imperceptible degrees, appear, on 
 the one extremity of physical conformation, to descend 
 into the water ; on the other, to ascend into the air. 
 In the same way, the instinctive and reasoning 
 capacities seem to proceed upwards, step by step, 
 from the serpent to the monkey ; and almost at the 
 stage where the latter leaves off, in the orang-outang, 
 ■chimpanzee, and gorilla, the lowest order of man 
 
348 BALANCE OF FUNCTION TO BE MAINTAINED. 
 
 begins. So, also, in the human race : from the Cinga- 
 lese, through the Negro, the Mongol, and the Sclav, 
 we at length attain the full grandeur of the Teuton. 
 
 How are these changes, at once manifold and 
 minute, brought about .-' As a general rule, it would 
 appear to be mainly by habitude. Thus, to confine 
 our view to the highest order of mankind, and for a 
 moment to outward physical conformation, or appear- 
 ance, it will very generally be apparent that the 
 children of a man of a Well set-up figure will naturally 
 be more ei^ect, and their joints better knit, long before 
 any influence of education or drill can be exhibited, 
 than those of an awkward, slipslop, ungainly person. 
 So much is this the case, that we may often see men 
 who have passed several years in the army fall back 
 readily, after their discharge, into their natural sloven- 
 liness of carriage, while, on the other hand, the in- 
 heritors of a manly bearing, who may never have 
 been under the drill-sergeant for an hour, will retain 
 their inborn grace through life. 
 
 If we leave the outward appearance, and contem- 
 plate the internal physical organization of man, we 
 find a vast assemblage of organs and systems, the 
 health and proper functional performance of which 
 depend, more or less, on the maintenance of a correct 
 balance among the whole ; for complete healthy action 
 can only be maintained when there exists an exact 
 balance of sound function and result among the com- 
 plete system of organs composing the human body. 
 
 Given a body completely and evenly balanced 
 in every minute particular, throughout the entire 
 organism, and, so long as that balance is main- 
 tained, there will be an example of perfect healths 
 But how is such equal balance to be secured ? 
 Obviously and only by rigid attention to the laws 
 
THE LAWS OF HEALTH LITTLE STUDIED. 349 
 
 which govern the healthy function of every organ. 
 Where, then, shall we look for this specimen.'' and 
 where shall we find this necessary attention towards 
 its conservation .'' 
 
 The answer will be difficult, or rather, alas ! in 
 civilized life, far too easy ; for it must be confessed 
 that the only correct answer must be, " NowJiere ! " 
 
 Unfortunately, it is too much the fashion of our 
 time to suppose that health is only to be attended to 
 by a profession set apart for the purpose. No indi- 
 vidual member of the community seems nowadays to 
 consider that it is his business to attend to his own 
 health. Whilst they feel well, people will not believe 
 that any actions or habits can conduce towards 
 disease and pain. They act, at least, as if they 
 thought that health is their natural inherent right ; 
 that nothing which they themselves can do will in 
 any way conduce to the production of ill health ; that 
 if such affliction comes, it is in no degree the result of 
 causes over which they have any personal control ; 
 and that, provided they consult and remunerate a 
 professor of the healing art, he is morally bound to 
 reproduce the health which, but for a moment, as they 
 hope, appears to have been lost. It is, in fact, his 
 business, and in no respect theirs, beyond the pay- 
 ment of the fees. The doctor makes his living by his 
 art. If he fails to bring about that for which he is 
 paid, he commits a wrong in his patient's estimation, 
 and is blameworthy in proportion, whatever the suffer- 
 ing may be. And. not only so, but the practitioner 
 who, in prescribing, most nearly conforms to the cus- 
 tomary habits and preferences of his patient, will best 
 secure the favourable opinion of such patient. 
 
 It is unquestionably true that epidemic diseases 
 iave very much diminished during the present century, 
 
350 ACCUMULATION OF UNSEEN MORBID ACTION. 
 
 as the result of attention to what has been denominated 
 the science of " pubhc health." The various legisla- 
 tive measures which have been enacted have well-nigh 
 abolished the almost universal air-poisoning which 
 formerly prevailed, and which, when aggravated by 
 solar heat, excessive moisture, etc., every now and 
 then produced the outbreak of extensive plagues, carry- 
 ing off a large percentage of the population ; the 
 victims being always those who, by reason of some 
 other weakness, either hereditary or acquired, were 
 least able to resist the superadded morbific influence 
 of the hour. The drainage of towns and houses, 
 surface cleansing, ample supplies of water for per- 
 sonal ablution, the suppression of overcrowding, aind 
 improved methods of ventilation, have nearly exter- 
 minated certainly the worst, if not the whole, of the 
 zymotic class of diseases ; and yet it must be confessed 
 that the average death-rate, as exhibited by the 
 registers, has not been reduced in anything like a 
 corresponding degi'ee. Civilization advances out- 
 wardly : but, at the same time, wealth has increased ; 
 wealth begets luxury ; and appetite, or rather the 
 artificial contrivances of cooks to stimulate and gratify 
 the palate, in the absence of healthy appetite, has 
 engendered, among the people at large, habits of life 
 greatly tending to the production of organic disease. 
 
 In this state of things the evil result creeps on by 
 slow, but by no means less sure, degrees. As, day by 
 day, any vicious habit is repeated, so, step by step^ 
 unseen morbid action is set up. For a long time 
 unfelt and unsuspected, the accumulated suffering, 
 after many years perhaps, falls like an avalanche on 
 the probably innocent offender against natural law. 
 He has most likely inherited a weakness or diseased 
 condition of that organ which he has been uncon- 
 
FAVOURABLE CONDITIONS ASSIST HEALTH. 35 1 
 
 sciously misusing. He has, as lilcely, been educated 
 to the belief that his treatment of the very organ he 
 has abused is the best which could be adopted. He 
 strengthens the tendency to weakness and disease, 
 which he inherited from his parent, and transmits the 
 same tendency with manifold force to his unhappy 
 children. 
 
 The need of examining the true conditions of 
 healthy life seldom suggests itself to our ordinary 
 citizen of the world. It never occurs to him as a 
 duty. To study, by observation of the habits of the 
 different races which occupy the globe, — by the aid of 
 comparative anatomy, as between man and the lower 
 animals, having no means of violating natural law, — 
 and by regarding morbid, as contrasted with normal 
 appearances, never seems to enter the mind of the 
 general gold-seeker of our age ! 
 
 The blood and lungs require pure air, the stomach 
 and assimilating organs wholesome food ; the nervous 
 and circulating forces must have nourishment of a 
 proper character, and the muscular powers due 
 exercise ; while the excretory organs should not be 
 overtaxed, nor any of the whole allowed to suffer 
 from excess. As soon as its own proper law of right 
 is departed from, or neglected, so soon will disorder 
 commence, from which, though it be hidden for a 
 time, suffering must infallibly ensue ; and as time lost 
 can never be regained, so true is it that injury inflicted 
 in any organ of the body can never be entirely 
 repaired. If no compensatory power existed among 
 the organs of the body, by which one may be induced 
 in a great degree to perform the work of another, 
 weakened by ill-treatment or neglect, then such treat- 
 ment of any one would of necessity speedily result in 
 death ; but as that power does exist, mankind are 
 
352 HEREDITARY TENDENCY MAY BE ALTERED. 
 
 deluded, by the mere absence of pain for a time, into 
 the belief that no evil has been, or can be, caused by 
 habits to which they have been accustomed, and to 
 which they may have become wedded by appetite or 
 passion. A continuance of any erroneous habit or 
 action, however, surely, though it may be slowly, 
 impairs the function of the ill-used organ in every 
 case, until acute or chronic disease is confirmed ; and 
 when the compensatory organs can no longer bear 
 the abnormal strain thus put upon them, death 
 ensues. 
 
 The process, however, may be a long one ; and such 
 is the power of adaptability in the human body, even 
 to evils of the most serious nature, that very many 
 years may pass before dissolution occurs. Meantime, 
 men and women marry, children are born, whilst the 
 causes of disease in the particular case may be most 
 actively present, and whilst, therefore, impaired func- 
 tion in the ill-used organ, or organs, is at its height ; 
 and thus " the iniquity of the father is visited upon the 
 children." In the offspring the corresponding organ 
 will be weak, if not actually diseased, from the disease 
 existing in the parent. The habit of the son may be 
 such as to carry on, and therefore aggravate, the 
 weakness or disease ; and if so, the tendency may be, 
 even in greater force, transmitted by him to sons and 
 grandsons. Or, attention to the incipient weakness 
 may lead to a change of habit, and consequently an 
 amelioration of the suffering ; for it is not unfair to 
 presume that Nature, under favourable circumstances, 
 being able to maintain healthy function, may also be 
 strong enough to correct the evils arising from un- 
 favourable conditions whenever, and exactly in pro- 
 portion as, such are removed. 
 
 The almost total extermination of leprosy, once so 
 
FAMILY RESEMBLANCE LONG PRESERVED. 353 
 
 common in our island, is a notable example of this 
 power. 
 
 This transmission of similar tendency, weakness, 
 or power in any internal organ of the body is, in 
 truth, not a whit less natural or more wonderful than 
 the well-observed resemblances of figure, tone of 
 voice, facial expression and likeness. A remarkable 
 instance of family likeness through successive genera- 
 tions was not long since incidentally forced upon the 
 observation of the writer of this essay. A relative 
 who had emigrated to Australia in early life and 
 made his fortune, on returning to England was very 
 desirous of setting up his armorial bearings, which 
 had long been disused by his stay-at-home and less 
 wealthy cousins. Heralds' College was invoked to 
 record the family pedigree, and a very respectable one 
 of ten or eleven generations was clearly established. 
 Curiously enough, it happened that a gentleman of 
 the same name, but apparently no relation whatever, 
 called on the writer about this time, making inquiries 
 concerning the same coat-of-arms, to which he con- 
 sidered himself entitled. The new inquirer fancied 
 there must be property in the family to which he 
 might lay claim. On examination of the pedigree, it 
 turned out that this gentleman was in truth descended 
 from a common ancestor nine generations back ; but 
 the remarkable part of the story is, that the stranger 
 bore a much greater facial resemblance to the writer's 
 own father, than himself or either of his brothers. 
 
 That mental and moral qualities are to a very 
 considerable extent traceable from generation to 
 generation in the same family will not be questioned 
 by any one. Numerous examples are on record of 
 most remarkable characteristics of this nature being 
 handed down from father to son, in some instances 
 
 2 A 
 
354 HEALTHY ACTION PROMOTES VIGOUR. 
 
 through a loijg line ; nor, indeed, are such less trace- 
 able in nations. The physical conformation is scarcely 
 less distinctive than the mental force, or the moral 
 tone. This is a matter on which all observers and all 
 historians agree. It is, in fact, a mere truism to state 
 that which is so universally obvious. Indeed, it only 
 appears extraordinary that it should be necessary to 
 insist that the force of habitude can hardly be less 
 powerful in relation to the internal physical organism. 
 As in all cases healthy exercise promotes growth 
 and vigour, so excess or abuse of power induces 
 exhaustion or collapse ; while, on the other hand, 
 want of exercise, by lassitude and inanition, alike 
 establishes absence of power and decay. The increase 
 of muscular development in those who labour within 
 bounds is witnessed by every one, and is universally 
 understood, as also the physical inanition of the idle. 
 This law no less applies to the nervous system, and, 
 indeed, to all others. The glandular, the circulatory, 
 the excretory systems of every living person are 
 either being strengthened or impaired, from day to 
 day, and hour to hour, during life. And it may be 
 accepted as no less certain, that the neglect, and 
 consequently impaired function, of any one will act 
 upon and, however indirectly to our perception it 
 may be, impair to a corresponding extent the vigorous 
 action of all the rest. Thus the student who, by a 
 too concentrated attention to mental pursuits, alto- 
 gether omits to exercise his muscular frame, however 
 he may develop his brain power by constant applica- 
 tion, will never attain the amount of mental vigour 
 which he might have done, had the healthy action of 
 the muscles been secured concurrently with his mental 
 exercise. At the same time, his digestive and assimi- 
 lating powers diminish, the circulating forces are 
 
INJURY PRODUCED BY ABUSE TRANSMISSIBLE. 355 
 
 impaired ; and it follows that his children, born at a 
 time when the general condition of his animal consti- 
 tution is thus degenerated, may indeed, if the brain 
 has not become diseased, prove. to be brilliant writers, 
 but in all probability will be miserable dyspeptics. 
 But should our parental example have carried on his 
 excess and neglect so long that his own brain has 
 become diseased, his offspring, under such conditions, 
 may be deficient in intellect, if not altogether idiots. 
 If we consider the case of those who habitually indulge 
 in excessive appetite — the glutton or the sot, who to 
 gratify such desires totally neglects all other pursuits, 
 and allows his mind to become a blank — no less will 
 it be apparent that such utter lack of mental exercise, 
 coupled with the ruin of the nervous system in general, 
 may, and often does, result in the transmission of 
 idiocy to the child. 
 
 The major includes the minor. If, then, such terrible 
 effects may be produced and transmitted by abuse or 
 neglect of brain power, so also may the manifold 
 diseases to which thfe cerebro-spinal system is liable 
 — such as apoplexy, paralysis, in all its stages, etc. 
 A parent over-anxious concerning his or her duties 
 and responsibilities, toiling, self-denying, and fretful ; 
 and during long years absorbed by increasing mental 
 and bodily effort for the welfare of a numerous family ; 
 may easily induce a state of chronic nervous excite- 
 ment, which may end, in later life, in slow paralysis, 
 especially if the previous ancestors were occupied 
 chiefly with mental pursuits. And the children will 
 exhibit a similar tendency, more or less rapidly as 
 their habits of life may tend to excite, or to soothe, the 
 brain and nerves. 
 
 Let us for a moment glance at the osseous system. 
 As one example, hot and soft food has a powerful 
 
356 NUMEROUS WAYS OF CONTAMINATING BLOOD. 
 
 influence for evil upon the teeth, and still more so 
 have mineral poisons. The age of mercury is past, 
 but the effects produced by this bane during the 
 period when its exhibition was almost universally 
 resorted to by the faculty, and perhaps even more 
 commonly used by the domestic dispenser of the 
 deadly drug, because from the absence of taste it was 
 so easily administered in the form of calomel to 
 children and young persons, will yet long be felt. It 
 is in the present day extremely rare to find a set of 
 naturally sound teeth beyond the period of middle 
 life. The profession of dentistry is one of the most 
 thriving of recent times. Although cookery and hot 
 drinks have much to answer for in keeping up this 
 tendency to dental decay, there can be but one opinion 
 as to the inheritance of the evil of mercui'ial poisons 
 from our immediate progenitors. 
 
 Blood diseases, to take another class, are con- 
 stantly observed to be transmitted from generation to 
 generation. The members of the school of medicine^ 
 which founds its pathological researches upon the 
 presence or absence of any corrupt humour in the 
 blood, are most careful to insist on this hereditary 
 tendency. And it may not be unfairly argued that, if 
 it be true, as they assert, that bad humours may hang 
 about the system, and vitiate the blood through a 
 long life, the same humours may be transmitted to 
 children. Improper food, want of ventilation, or other 
 insanitary habits may tend to aggravate and increase 
 the humoural taint ; while attention to strict hygienic 
 rules may as naturally diminish or relieve them ; but 
 the tendency, for weal or woe accordingly, remains. 
 
 There are many ways in which the blood may be 
 contaminated besides unsound food — such as poisons 
 of various kinds, narcotics, etc., impure water, diseased 
 
BLOOD PURIFICATION FAR LESS EASY. 357 
 
 milk, and indigestion from over-eating. Contributions' 
 daily supplied from some or all of these causes lead 
 the way towards an aggregation which may be months, 
 or years, in producing appreciable disease. They may 
 lay the foundation for eruptive fevers, sporadically or 
 during epidemic periods ; or they may indirectly, by 
 debilitating the stomach, add to the suffering caused 
 by disease in some other organ, a tendency towards 
 which may have been induced by other vicious habits, 
 in the individual or his progenitors. In addition may 
 be stated the contracted taints by vicious indulgence 
 — scrofula, cancerous affections, etc., any of which, it 
 is lamentable to think, may be as readily transmitted 
 as they may be inherited. It is, alas ! an infallible 
 truth that to corrupt the blood is easy ; and more 
 lamentable to know that, once corrupted, by whatever 
 means, the purification of the blood, under the mani- 
 fold counteracting influences of civilized life, is a work 
 of extreme difficulty. If, as is the fact, marks from 
 the cross-budding of a rose have been distinctly traced 
 through fifteen separate and subsequent inoculations, 
 just so much greater, by the unphysiological habits of 
 mankind, must be the difficulty of eradicating any 
 corruption of blood from a family of human beings 
 through successive generations. 
 
 The health of the blood, moreover, must in a great 
 measure depend on the condition of the lungs ; and 
 these, again, are dependent on the quality of the air 
 with which they are supplied ; as is also the blood, 
 once more, on the quality and quantity of its aeration. 
 Neglect of adequate ventilation in houses, especially 
 in towns ; the noxious exhalations from ditches, 
 drains, compost heaps, and gutters promote lung 
 disease, probably even far more than exposure to 
 climatic changes. If consumption is not inherited it 
 
358 ENORMOUS INCREASE OF RENAL DISEASE. 
 
 is readily set up by such causes as have been above 
 indicated ; and once established, the tendency can 
 but be as easily transmitted. Unfortunately, the 
 transmission takes place in these and many other 
 cases before the presence of the' evil is suspected in 
 the parent. 
 
 The glandular system, which is to so large an 
 extent overtaxed by the vicious habits of the com- 
 munity, is, according to the returns of causes of death, 
 becoming more and more the seat of disease and pain. 
 Not absolute drunkards alone, but habitual soakers, 
 turn their excretory organs into so many sponges for 
 the perpetual absorption, and more and more feeble 
 rejection, of poisons innumerable. The quantity, also, 
 is fearful. All spirituous and vinous stimulants, 
 drugged beer, the whole family of narcotics, and too 
 often more active agents administered in the shape 
 of medical remedies, impose an enormous amount of 
 labour on these wonderfully elaborated and delicate 
 organs. As one consequence, may be noted the 
 alarming increase in the average annual mortality 
 from renal diseases of all kinds. Weakness in these 
 excretory organs, inherited undoubtedly from diseased 
 parents, is as certainly increased by the ever-growing 
 luxurious habite prevalent among the people. Where 
 self-denial is neither cultivated nor understood, desire 
 alone induces gratification, which too rapidly passes 
 into excess ; while the subsequent craving, which 
 results from the nervous depression caused by over- 
 stimulation, only re-creates the apparent necessity for 
 re-entering upon the perpetual debauch. Within 
 living memory the mortality ascribed to renal diseases 
 alone has increased nearly two hundred per cent., as 
 exhibited by the tables (p. 252) of the annual report 
 of the registrar-general for 1877. (See page 443.) 
 
RANGE OF HEREDITARY TENDENCY IMMENSE. 359 
 
 Again, the excessive stimulation produced by the 
 large consumption of alcoholic liquors abnormally 
 excites the circulatory forces ; and this excitement 
 is also often aggravated by self-imposed anxiety. 
 Luxury necessitates expense, while competition lessens 
 gain. The parent has created numberless wants, 
 which, it may be, loss of character renders him less 
 and less able to supply ; and carking care atTords its 
 aid to the perturbations of excess, to increase more 
 rapidly the tendency to heart disease inherited from a 
 perhaps respectable but over-anxious parent, as well 
 as to fix that tendency, with greatly accelerated force, 
 upon generations yet unborn. 
 
 All these hereditary tendencies and contributory 
 causes may, no doubt, be aggravated or diminished 
 by the force of natural temperament, which varies so 
 greatly among people of the same race, and even of 
 the same family. 
 
 To examine minutely each one of the causes which 
 has been enumerated, its consequent manifestations, 
 and the effects of each, would supply materials for 
 several volumes. So widely do these influences 
 extend, that the only concise reply to the question, 
 " What is the range of hereditary tendencies in health 
 and disease ? " must be that it is infinite ! but that 
 any such may be either intensified by the habits of 
 the individual, or modified, or, even by the action of 
 a few generations in the right direction, altogether 
 eradicated. 
 
 It is obvious that where few or none are healthy — 
 absolutely sound- — too great a particularity would 
 altogether put an end to marriage. People, therefore, 
 can only be expected to be moderately careful in this 
 regard. But, as obviously, it is all the more incum- 
 bent upon us as a nation to resolve that from our 
 
360 IMPORTANT INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY. 
 
 personal habits there shall be no further deterioration ; 
 that our utmost shall be done towards improvement. 
 And when, if ever, the period shall arrive when culti- 
 vated human beings shall awake to the profound 
 responsibilities of human life ; and every man, and 
 especially every parent, shall find himself impelled 
 seriously to examine for himself into the laws and 
 practices which conduce towards the development of 
 " a sound mind in a sound body," the more apparent 
 will that truth become to him and her and to the 
 world, which as yet none deny, but few put in practice, 
 that " the proper study of mankind is man" 
 
A BATTLING LIFE.— FUGITIVE PAPERS. 36 1 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE LATE 
 LORD LYTTELTON. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The first Act to make vaccination compulsory was 
 introduced in the House of Lords, by the late Lord 
 Lyttelton, and passed in 1853. 
 
 In reply to an inquiry made in 1870, by Mr. R. B. 
 Gibbs, his lordship wrote, that in introducing his Bill 
 of 1853, he took it for granted that there was a general 
 consent as to the value of vaccination, and that the 
 medical men he chiefly consulted were Dr. Seaton * 
 and Mr. Marson. t 
 
 When Dr. Seaton stated to the Vaccination Com- 
 mittee, 1 87 1, that this Bill had been introduced 
 without the knowledge of the Epidemiological Society 
 (he having been secretary to the Small-pox Com- 
 mittee of that society), Mr. Baker wrote to Lord 
 Lyttelton, asking whether the impression in his mind 
 was correct — that his official colleague, Mr. Grainger 
 (who was chairman of the last-named committee), 
 had been active in procuring the introduction of the 
 Bill ; to which his lordship replied — 
 
 * Afterwards medical officer to the Local Government Board, 
 t Vaccinator to the Local Government Board. 
 
362 TRUE ORIGIN OF THE ACT OF 1 853. 
 
 Hagley, Stourbridge, 8th October, 1871. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 It is so long ago that I cannot be quite sure, 
 but I think certainly the Bill was not suggested by 
 the Epidemiological Society nor by Mr. Grainger, 
 though they both took it up very warmly and were 
 of great use, as were Dr. Seaton and Mr. Marson. I 
 believe it was suggested to us by the course of events, 
 and I talked it over with the late Mr. W. B. Collis, 
 solicitor, of Stourbridge, who drew the Bill. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 Lyttei-TON. 
 
 T. Baker, Esq. 
 
 Subsequently Mr. Baker had the correspondence 
 with Lord Lyttelton herein set forth, all further com- 
 munication being ended by the lamentable death of 
 his lordship, in April, 1876. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 17th August, 1874. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 My name may not be unknown to you as 
 connected with the Ilminster School Trustee Case, 
 i860; and during my official engagements at the 
 General Board of Health, Burials Office, Royal Com- 
 mission on the Sanitary State of the Army in India 
 {vide signatures to Report and Precis of Evidence, 
 etc.), I have been in personal communication with — 
 [several noblemen and gentlemen doubtless personally 
 known to Lord Lyttelton]. In 1871 I addressed a 
 note to your lordship, for the purpose of satisfying 
 myself whether or not you had been deceived in the 
 course taken by you in 1853 in reference to vaccina- 
 
MORTALITY FROM INOCULABLE CAUSES. 363 
 
 tion (the late Mr. Grainger having been for many- 
 years a colleague of mine), having always considered 
 that your action on that question was well meant, and 
 entitled to respect. In the belief that personally to 
 examine the whole subject of vaccination cannot but 
 be congenial to your feelings — considering that your 
 name is associated with the original legislation thereon 
 — I beg leave to call your attention to this important 
 question. If you were right in that action, you can 
 only receive pleasure from satisfying your own judg- 
 ment, from the results, that such was the case ; and 
 that your name will be honoured in future ages for 
 the part then taken by you. If wrong, how much 
 more anxious would you be, that through your own 
 personal efforts, that wrong should be atoned for, or 
 set right, even although you were led by others to be 
 instrumental in the evil. It was your action in 1853 
 which induced me to go thoroughly into the question, 
 and I am still open to examination and conviction, if 
 I have been led to conclusions differing from your 
 lordship. You must be aware, however, that good 
 or ill, the compulsory legislation has brought the 
 powers that be into contempt, with many thousands 
 of otherwise law-abiding citizens ; that very much 
 persecution of the most cruel kind (though not in- 
 tended by you) has been practised by unconstitutional 
 straining of the law ; and that, in the opinion of a 
 large section of the community, a very considerable 
 increase * in the general death-rate has resulted from 
 its operation. I do not presume to flood you with 
 literature on this subject, but have a strong desire to 
 personally attend your leisure, if you would permit 
 me to do so, at the time and place most convenient to 
 
 * Rather, diminution prevented. The increase is in inoculable 
 . causes mainly. (See pages 430, 443.) 
 
364 AGREEMENT AMONG SCIENTISTS ASSUMED. 
 
 yourself, for the purpose of deliberately going into 
 the matter, with the assistance of such official Returns 
 and Blue Books as are possibly in your possession, 
 e.g. " The Report and Evidence of the Commons' Vac- 
 cination Committee, 1871," "The Registrar-General's 
 Report, 1871," and other English, Irish, and Scotch 
 Registration Returns, etc. I can bring these with me 
 if you have them not. I will only add that should 
 such conference result in convincing me that I am 
 mistaken, I shall not fail to do all I can to persuade 
 others, who now agree with me, to a more correct 
 conclusion ; whilst, should you find that what has 
 been done by your instrumentality ought to be un- 
 done by the same hand, I may, by communicating 
 with the noblemen above indicated, and others, hope 
 to render you material aid in that direction. 
 
 I have, etc. 
 T. Baker. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton, Hagley Park, Worcestershire. 
 
 P.S. — Should a deputation be preferred, I could 
 bring several clergymen, medical men, and others 
 with me, but such a course may probably not so well 
 conduce to quiet investigation. 
 
 Hagley, Stourbridge, i8th August, 1874. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I regret that I cannot comply with your 
 request, which I should consider an entire waste of time. 
 I could not arrive at any conclusion satisfactory to 
 myself; and I certainly should think ill of any re- 
 sponsible authority which should defer to my opinion 
 on the matter. The question is a purely scientific 
 one. When I" brought in the Bill of 1853, it was on 
 the assumption — which I believe was then correct — 
 that the scientific world was agreed upon it, and that 
 
THE QUESTION SIMPLY ONE OF STATISTICS. 365 
 
 the question was only one of administration. I quite 
 admit that apparently some difference of opinion has 
 since shown itself, but I do not pretend to judge of it. 
 It is a question wholly for the Government. 
 
 Yours, etc. 
 Lyttelton. 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 22nd August, 1874. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Your note of the i8th tends to convince me 
 how thoroughly you were deceived in 1853. I dare 
 say you do not know that it was stated by Dr. Seaton 
 before the committee, 1871 (see page 295, Blue Book), 
 that your action was then spontaneous — taken even 
 without the knowledge of the Epidemiological Society. 
 The evidence taken on that inquiry from other wit- 
 nesses, proves that the scientific world was not agreed 
 upon the matter. It is, moreover, affirmed by men of 
 science, that vaccination is not a scientific question;, 
 it depends entirely on statistics, all of which (official), 
 when examined, disprove its pretended efficacy ; and 
 as to which, any man can judge who is capable of 
 adding two and two. The proved injuries — the most 
 serious part of the question — ^are facts, though sup- 
 pressed by interested officials, and therefoi'e not in- 
 quired into by legislators. Government is, and must 
 be, acted upon in accordance with public opinion, or 
 what it believes to be such. Government has been 
 greatly embarrassed by this legislation initiated by 
 your lordship, and would gladly get rid of it. You 
 were put forward as a leader and exponent of public 
 opinion ; and now we -are told that you acted volun- 
 tarily. The upper classes, who do not suffer, do not 
 look into it; they naturally rely on you. In like 
 manner were you now to say, This legislation was a 
 
366 MEASURE OF POLICE, FOR GOVERNMENT. 
 
 mistake, let us rectify it, that same kind of public 
 opinion would at once follow you again ; or at least 
 would no longer refuse to inquire. Without such 
 action on your part, public opinion will, infallibly, 
 become informed at length ; but tens of thousands of 
 lives will, in the meantime, have been sacrificed — to 
 say nothing of the constitutional liberties of English- 
 men. A full explanation on all points, at a personal 
 interview, would occupy very little time, arid save you 
 much. I will only now add that, had I been made 
 unwittingly instrumental in inflicting public wrong, 
 I should regard one who opened my eyes as a friend ; 
 and consider it a sacred duty to my ancestry, no less 
 than to myself, that a name otherwise honoured should 
 be saved from being handed down with execration to 
 posterity. 
 
 I have, etc., 
 T. Baker. 
 
 The Right Honourable Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 Hagley, Stourbridge, 24th August, 1874. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I did not mean to say that my action in 1853 
 was not spontaneous. As well as I remember, there 
 was nothing said at that time in either House of 
 Parliament against the principle of vaccination. But 
 I did not pretend to be an exponent or leader of 
 public opinion. My Bill was merely a suggestion to 
 the Government of a measure of administration or 
 police, and it was virtually a Government measure, 
 as I should never have thought of pushing it without 
 Lord Palmerston's consent.* Since then the question 
 has been certainly a departmental or Government 
 one, and it was under Government that a parlia- 
 
 * See post, 8th July, 1875, and note thereon. (Page 396.') 
 
FAILURE TO PROCURE DESIRED EXAMINATION. 367 
 
 mentary inquiry took place some time ago. I was 
 not aware that that inquiry was unfair or unsatis- 
 factory. I am not aware of the embarrassment of 
 Government ; and so far from the upper classes rely- 
 ing on me, I do not believe that one in five hundred 
 of them know that I was the nominal author of the 
 Bill of 1853. In my opinion the question is wholly a 
 scientific one. What you mean by saying that the 
 upper classes do not suffer — if suffering there is — 
 I do not know. Your threat, that my name will be 
 execrable to all posterity, does not surprise me, know- 
 ing as I do the peculiar ferocity that seems to 
 distinguish those philanthropists who oppose vacci- 
 nation ; and having been threatened in the same 
 way for the last few years as an endowed schools 
 commissioner, I am become more callous to it than 
 I otherwise might have been. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 Lyttelton. 
 
 T. Baker, Esq. 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 25th August, 1874. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I am quite aware that the vaccination ques- 
 tion excited no interest in Parliament in 1853, nor 
 has it yet, as far as I know, induced any legislator to 
 read on the subject, although official influence has 
 caused the legislation to be carried much beyond your 
 suggestions, in aid of the executive under Lord 
 Palmerston. I know the embarrassments, from 
 having been in frequent communication with the 
 Government departmental administrators. I attended 
 every sitting but one of the committee, 1871 ; heard 
 all the evidence, saw it given, and have since published 
 a digest of it,* the fairness of which has never been 
 
 * " Value of Vaccination : being a Frkis, or Digest of Evidence, 
 
368 WEALTHY OBJECTORS ARE NOT PE'RSECUTED. 
 
 impugned. Knowing that such volumes are not 
 usually read, I wished to induce your lordship — who, 
 as it seems to me, should take peculiar interest therein 
 — to study that evidence in the original. The com- 
 mittee was composed almost entirely of laymen, as are 
 both Houses of Parliament. One is as well able to judge 
 as another of a scientific question brought before him 
 to legislate upon. As a diligent student of physiology 
 for many years, joint editor of Dr. South wood Smith's 
 " Philosophy of Health " (posthumous edition), and at 
 present engaged on a work thereon, I am no more 
 able to class the vaccination superstition among the 
 sciences, than witchcraft. It is a popular error to 
 regard all medical practitioners as philosophical inves- 
 tigators, and on this subject they, in common with 
 the rest of the deluded community, have nothing but 
 fallacious figures to lean upon. There are so many 
 points to illustrate, that I sought a personal interview 
 to explain them, and thereby to save you much 
 labour ; but should you prefer entering fully into this 
 inquiry by letter, I will cheerfully undertake to write 
 to any necessary length. Thus, in explanation, it 
 would have been more strictly correct to say the rich 
 do not suffer from the unconstitutional tyranny of com- 
 pulsion, like the poor or the mass of the population. 
 That they do not always escape the evils when the 
 process is undergone, I could give several incidents to 
 prove.* But the medical attendant of a wealthy 
 
 taken vivd voce (1871), before a Committee of the House of Commons 
 on Vaccination."— "The author of this pamphlet is well known as a 
 pricis writer, and he deserves the hearty thanks of the profession and 
 the public for the way in which he shortens their labours. For sixpence 
 any one may put himself in possession of the facts and opinions elicited 
 from the witnesses, stripped of all verbiage and circumlocution."— 
 Lancet. 
 
 * See Note A,, page 397. 
 
LAW FOR RICH AND POOR UNEQUAL. 369 
 
 opponent can always, by a hint, keep his brother 
 practitioner quiet ; hence I have known several M.P.'s 
 who, it is said, violate the law, but I never knew one 
 such prosecuted. Again, if such an one were so, he 
 would not, from the loss of many hundreds, suffer 
 what the poor man does from a few shillings. How 
 disgusting to me is the selfish apathy which allows 
 such unequal oppression, even on that narrowed 
 ground alone 1 The words " threat" and "ferocity" I 
 need not take as meant for myself, otherwise I might 
 demur as to the fairness of these expressions. I have 
 never suffered from vaccination or from the tyrannical 
 law, except that the cruelties I have witnessed and 
 known have given me many a sleepless night ; but 
 had your lordship by any possibility been persecuted 
 to one hundredth part the extent, in effect, of persons 
 I have known, your even temper might ere this have 
 become somewhat tainted with "ferocity." Practi- 
 cally, then, millions are suffering, have suffered, and 
 will suffer wrong (as will eventually be made plain 
 even to " scientific " men) from compulsory vaccina- 
 tion. Your name is recorded in the Blue Book as 
 having spontaneously initiated that wrong. Can you 
 believe that posterity will fail to associate the name 
 with what has been aptly termed "the curse of the 
 age " ? And is it not worth while, for your own sake, 
 to occupy a short time with a serious inquiry, at least 
 to satisfy your own conscience } 
 
 I have, etc., 
 T. Baker. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 Hagley, Stourbridge, 27th August, 1874. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 If, as you state, rich people, with the con- 
 nivance of their medical men, are in the habit of 
 
 2 E 
 
370 MAJORITY ESCAPE EVERY KIND OF SCOURGE. 
 
 violating the law, it is an unwarrantable proceeding, 
 for which the authors of the law can in no way be 
 held responsible. No doubt parliamentary com- 
 mittees cannot be composed of scientific men, any 
 more than a court of justice is. But I apprehend 
 that both of them are guided in such matters by 
 experts. With regard to your intent of writing to me 
 at some length, I shall, of course, read any letters you 
 may favour me with, and say anything that may 
 occur to me, but it will probably be very little, not 
 from disregard to your opinion, but to my own. When 
 the letters are concluded, I should send them all to the 
 Duke of Richmond and I'equest his attention to them. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 Lyttelton. 
 
 T. Baker, Esq. 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 6th September, 1874. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 As preliminary to an examination of the 
 merits or demerits of the practice of vaccination, it is 
 desirable to consider some fallacies commonly enter- 
 tained. 
 
 1. The reader of history is aware that in former 
 ages Europe has been from time to time visited by 
 severe scourges ; nevertheless the population has 
 always gone on increasing. Those only who were 
 prepared by their previous condition of body, or bad 
 local surroundings, have fallen a prey to the specific 
 poison. The large majority have escaped every 
 epidemic. 
 
 2. This being so, it is obvious that any fancied 
 nostrum, or superstitious charm, if universally applied, 
 might with a specious show of truth be claimed as a 
 proved protection or preventive against any particular 
 scourge ; and if, in the necessarily exceptional cases 
 
INOCULATION BROUGHT B'ROM TURKEY. 37 1 
 
 of failure, we allow the shifts, " it was not done well 
 enough," or " often enough," or " it was not properly 
 worn " or applied," etc. ; and, further, when neither of 
 these suffice, as a supplementary resource we receive 
 the assurance from an expert, or astrologer, that some 
 peculiarity of constitution may account for the failure, 
 it is evident that, with the unthinking, the proved virtue 
 •of the nostrum or charm will amount to demonstration. 
 
 3. Readers of history know that the most mortal 
 of the plagues — e.g. sweating sickness, black death, 
 oriental plague, and lesser scourges — have been ex- 
 terminated without any such nostrum or charm. By the 
 natural operation of civilization and cleanliness alone 
 they are gone. We shall see, as we advance, that the 
 localization of small-pox also, which is simply an 
 exanthematous fever, by which diseased conditions are 
 eliminated from the body, affords no exception from 
 the rule that " filth and fever are intimate associates." 
 
 4. In the year 1722 the superstition was introduced 
 from Turkey, by a lady, that giving disease (which 
 might be a mild operation, the subject being strong) 
 would prevent the future taking of similar disease, 
 which might in that case be severe, the patient being 
 weak. Hence inoculation for small-pox extensively 
 prevailed amongst people desirous of avoiding the 
 possibility of disfiguration ; and, as a consequence, 
 disfiguration became common, visible in all our streets. 
 
 5. This extensive marking proved : — i. That small- 
 pox could not be a highly mortal affliction, since all 
 those people had at least survived its horrors. 2. That 
 medical men did not then understand how to treat the 
 disease. 3. That small-pox itself would not prevent 
 a subsequent attack, circumstances favouring, for 
 numberless cases are on record of second and even 
 third attacks in the same person. To have a patient 
 
372 ENDOWMENT OF MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 marked in our day is a disgrace to the medical 
 attendant, or an evidence of extraordinary virulence. 
 
 6. As regards small- pox we find : — i . The immunity 
 of the majority from any epidemic ; 2. The results of 
 sanitary improvement ; 3. The necessary effect of 
 discontinuing inoculation ; 4. The advantages arising 
 from scientific medical treatment — shown chiefly by 
 the absence of disfiguration — one and all most incon- 
 sequentially ascribed to the introduction of vaccina- 
 tion. 
 
 7. The word " introduction " is used advisedly, for 
 the next in order of the fallacies is the ignoring of the 
 fact that, concurrently with the advance of civilization 
 above, indicated, since the so-called " discovery " of 
 vaccination in 1796, the practice was by no means 
 common as applied to the whole population, and 
 especially the masses most liable to small-pox. Fifty- 
 seven years passed of comparative immunity from 
 small-pox (and that whether we regard the inoculation 
 and previous filth periods, or the present small-pox 
 epidemics now more and more experienced), but the 
 population in general did not vaccinate until the 
 practice was made compulsory by Act of Parliament 
 in 1853. 
 
 8. By the specious offer to " stamp out " small-pox 
 altogether, a few experts then prevailed upon the 
 legislature largely to endow with the public money 
 the practice of vaccination throughout the kingdom, 
 under the guidance of these experts themselves, as a. 
 central department. Fees are distributed by statute 
 from the local rates among the medical profession — 
 never so handsomely endowed before — and substantial 
 bonuses are awarded in addition, as a stimulus to zeal, 
 by these central patrons, who have secured ;^i 5,000 a. 
 year for their own superintendence. 
 
UNFAIRNESS OF COMMITTEES' PROCEEDINGS. 373 
 
 g. At the beginning of the present century Jenner 
 was paid ;^3o,ooo for his adoption of the Dorsetshire 
 farmer Jesty's "discovery;"* and now, forced from the 
 pockets of the people, the profession at large probably 
 receive not less than ;£'25o,ooo per annum for their 
 share of this patriotic legacy. 
 
 lo. No parliamentary or Government inquiry pre- 
 ceded the Act of 1 8 5 3. There had, indeed, been one or 
 two committees to decide upon the rewards to be given 
 for what was deemed an infallible preventive of small- 
 pox, and for the establishment of a Vaccine Board ; 
 but not until the arbitrary, unconstitutional, and illegal 
 proceedings, carried on by straining the Act of 1867, 
 had caused considerable agitation in the country was 
 a single witness ever heard by the House of Commons 
 against the practice of vaccination. At length, in 
 1 87 1, a committee was appointed ; the vice-president 
 of the Council having first declared, in the House, that 
 such would not have been proposed if it were thought 
 possible that any doubt could thereby be cast on the 
 great value of vaccination as a prophylactic against 
 .small-pox. An application from certain opponents of 
 vaccination to be heard by counsel was refused ; the 
 quasi defence was taken first, but after ten witnesses, 
 out of hundreds desirous of coming forward, had been 
 heard, no more were allowed to give evidence ; whilst 
 numerous cases of injury or death, attested before 
 magistrates for the purposes of the inquiry, were 
 rejected, on the technical ground that the clergyman 
 
 * Inscription on Jesty's tombstone, Worth Matravers, Wareham : 
 " Sacred to the memory of Benjamin Jesty, of Downsay, who departed 
 this life April 16, 1816, aged 79 years. He was born at Yetminster, in 
 this county, and was an upright, honest man, particularly noted. for 
 having been the first person known that introduced the cow-pox by 
 inoculation, and who, from' his great strength of mind, made the 
 experiment from the cow on his wife and two sons in the year I774-" 
 
374 INCONSISTENCY OF MARS ON S TESTIMONY. 
 
 who produced them had no personal knowledge of 
 the parties [p. I46].* 
 
 11. In like manner no defendant is ever permitted 
 by justices to state his reasons, or plead as a " reason- 
 able excuse" (allowed by the statute) the injury or 
 death of a former child. Indeed, an anti-vaccinist is 
 to be regarded as a " monomaniac," or an " idiot," and 
 to be put down accordingly, by those who have never 
 been at the pains to consider the subject. We are, 
 therefore, so far mainly dependent on the testimony 
 of official returns, and the admissions, fallacies, and 
 contradictions of the medical experts before referred 
 to, who were not only allowed to give evidence in 
 their own case, but themselves drew up the report of 
 the committee. 
 
 12. The Court physicians examined pointed to 
 Mr. Marson, thirty-five years surgeon of the small-pox 
 hospital, as the chief authority. Mr. Marson considers 
 a number of vaccination marks important [p. 236] ; 
 and in calculating results from his tables of recoveries 
 and deaths, takes no account whatever of the stamina, 
 general health, or condition in life of the patients ; 
 nothing whatever except vaccination and the quality 
 thereof, or non-vaccination ; assuming, among many 
 other assumptions, that whether a patient had been 
 properly vaccinated or not is the sole inquiry neces- 
 sary, as well as to their chances of recovery from small- 
 pox, as to their having " caught," as it is termed, the 
 disease [248] ; " But," he says " we cannot tell why 
 one has small-pox severely, and another mildly even 
 amongst the unvaccinated." 
 
 13. Mr. Marson affirms :— i. That it is difficult to 
 get vaccination well done [239, 245, 267]. 2. That 
 
 * The references given are to the pages of the evidence in the 
 X'accination Committee Report, 1871. 
 
CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE OF THE EXPERT. 375 
 
 the time and state of the child is important to avoid 
 injury (which obviously cannot be attended to under 
 an arbitrary, compulsory law) [240]. 3. That in 
 1845, 44 per cent, of the patients in his hospital had 
 been vaccinated, but in 1864, 84 per cent, had been 
 vaccinated [242]. 4. That the most malignant type 
 of small-pox had been unusually prevalent the last 
 six months (i.e. 1871), eighteen years after compulsory 
 vaccination [242]. 5. That in confluent cases no one 
 can tell whether patients had been vaccinated or not 
 [248]. 6. That in making certain calculations as to 
 comparative mortality, he had' assumed some who had 
 recovered, "were protected to some extent, though 
 there was no cicatrix to show, or else they would have 
 died at the same rate as the unvaccinated did " [248]. 
 
 7. That out of 104 cases of corymbose small-pox 
 (one of its worst forms) in thirty years, seventy-four 
 had been vaccinated, of whom thirty-two died [265]. 
 
 8. That there was no epidemic of small-pox in London, 
 from 1796 to 1825 [266] ; and that during the sixteen 
 years, 1852-1867, there were three times as many cases 
 in his hospital as there had been from 1836 to 185 1 
 [238]. 9. That the nurses (so often alleged to have 
 escaped by reason of vaccination) had frequently 
 entered as patients and afterwards stayed as nurses 
 
 [243]- 
 
 14. Mr. Simon did not claim to have had any 
 vaccination practice [193, 198J. i. He could conceive 
 nothing better than our public stational vaccination 
 [181]. 2. Says the experience of experts is, that the 
 earlier years of life do not give many cases of post- 
 vaccinal small-pox [185]. 3. Quotes Mr. Hutchinson 
 as a high authority that syphilis can hardly be com- 
 municated by vaccination [187, 195, 202]. 4. Quotes 
 ravages of small-pox in Holland, and assumes neglect 
 
376 HUTCHINSON. FALSE STATEMENTS OF SEATON. 
 
 of vaccination [164], but admits the statement is on 
 hearsay authority [190, 199]. 5. Quotes alleged 
 neglect of vaccination on board H.M.S. Octavia [174] ; 
 but is unable to account for the breach of naval regu- 
 lations [190, 191], although, on being prompted, he 
 asserted the men had joined abroad (forgetting that 
 the medical authority quoted would have committed 
 a breach of his duty in neglecting to vaccinate any 
 such). 6. Admits his inquiries in 1856 were addressed 
 to hospital surgeons, etc. (who do not vaccinate) [192]. 
 7. States the law has fully doubled infantine vaccina- 
 tion [190]. 8. Treats the opinion of a physician of 
 such experience as Dr. Epps, long Director of the 
 Royal Jennerian Institution, as "moonshine" [194]; 
 with the same contempt, in fact, as all other " idiot " 
 and " dishonest " opponents [199]. 
 
 15. Mr. Hutchinson (called by accident) proved 
 that out of thirteen adults vaccinated from one 
 apparently healthy child, by a certified vaccinator, at 
 a vaccination station, eleven were syphilized, and that 
 he saw them on the 5th of April, at the suggestion of 
 Dr. Seaton [283]. He (one of the celebrated 542) had 
 not himself vaccinated a child since he was an 
 apprentice [284]. 
 
 16. Dr. Seaton states : — i. That perfect immunity 
 from small-pox was experienced at Mold, as a con- 
 sequence of careful vaccination [298]. 2. That both 
 Scotknd and Ireland were being freed from small-pox, 
 as the result of the Compulsory Acts of 1 863 for those 
 countries. 3. That Mr. Hutchinson's cases (seen by 
 him the Sth of April) occurred after Mr. Simon gave 
 evidence (31st March and 21st April, and not brought 
 forward till Mr. Hutchinson was called, 9th May) 
 [311]. 4. That Prussia he knew to be well protected ; 
 but Ireland and Scotland were getting still better 
 
NO RELIABLE STATISTICS PRIOR TO 1 838. 377 
 
 [317]- 5- Cannot deny Mr. Startin's statement that 
 he had not been asked (by Mr. Simon when the 542, 
 who do not vaccinate, were questioned) as to his cases 
 of syphilitic transmission [320]. 
 
 17. Sir D. Corrigan is sure the then absence of 
 small-pox in Ireland resulted from the operation of 
 the Compulsory Act in that country [231]. 
 
 18. Dr. Wood testifies to the same effect concern- 
 ing Scotland [253] ; and should be very much sur- 
 prised if there was any great mortality among children 
 under ten, if small-pox afterwards broke out there 
 
 [257]. 
 
 19. All notice of the evidence given by those anti- 
 vaccinists, who were first heard, is herein left for 
 examination by persons who deem it fair to look at 
 both sides. Before proceeding to comment on the 
 above with the light afforded by more recent facts, 
 however, it is fair to point out that we have it on the 
 authority of Dr. Farr, that no reliable vital statistics 
 of any sort are in existence prior to 1838, by which 
 the experts' array of figures to be found in the Report 
 can be tested. 
 
 20. Before a law is enacted to compel a surgical 
 operation, at least there should be certainty as to its 
 proper performance ; and that no injury could possibly 
 ensue [compare with par. 13, ss. i and 2 ; pars. 15 and 
 16, s. 5].* 
 
 21. The mere negative evidence that ten million 
 vaccinated persons have not had small-pox [par. 16, 
 ss. I, 2, and 4; pars. 17 and 18] is no proof that they 
 would have had it without vaccination, because 
 hundreds of millions who have not been vaccinated 
 have also escaped [pars, i and 2]. On the other hand, 
 
 * These and subsequent references are to paragraphs and sentences 
 of this letter. 
 
378 MOST SMALL-POX WHERE MOST VACCINATION. 
 
 every single case of small-pox, after vaccination, is 
 positive proof that vaccination has not in that case 
 prevented small-pox [par. 13, ss. 3, 4, 7, and 8]. 
 Indeed, the proportion of persons who, having broken 
 an arm, have not subsequently fractured a leg, will be 
 very many times greater than the percentage of those 
 who, after cow-pox, have not died of small-pox. 
 
 22. If further proofs of the fallaciousness of this 
 mere negative evidence were wanted, we find, from the 
 Registrar-General's Returns, that Mold [par. 16, s. i] 
 during the 1871 epidemic lost 3 J per 1000 of its 
 population from small-pox ; the London rate being 
 only 2\. From official returns since received from 
 Prussia [par. 16, s. 4], the small-pox death-rate, 1871, 
 was as 2\, to i in England ; and in Berlin it was as 8, 
 to 2|- in London. In Scotland, 1871-72, the small- 
 pox death-rate was as il, to i in England; also S4 
 in Dundee, to 2\ in London [pars. 16, ss. 2, 4; pars. 
 17 and 18]; and, in Ireland, Dublin 7^, and Cork 23 
 (second quarter, 1872), to 2 J in London. 
 
 23. The epidemic, 1871-72, had not reached Ireland 
 and Scotland when the committee sat ; but these 
 statistics have not been publicly brought forward bj^ 
 the medical department, and the London press never 
 publishes communications from anti-vaccinists ; whilst 
 Blue Books, and least of all volumes of statistical 
 figures, are read by very few, hence the legislature and 
 the public are kept in ignorance of the truth. 
 
 24. Recently, small-pox having been epidemic in 
 Birmingham (where .£'625 beyond fees, by way of 
 bonus for first-class vaccination, had been awarded 
 by Dr. Seaton to the public vaccinator, during the 
 preceding three years), ninety per cent, of the cases- 
 are admitted to have been vaccinated ; and of these 
 eleven per cent, died, a rate of deaths to cases higher 
 
SANITATION ALONE PREVENTS SMALL- POX. 379 
 
 than usually obtained in the last century prior to 
 the Jesty superstition [p. 99, Blue Book]. Burnley, 
 Gloucester, Bury, Newmarket, and other places have 
 also suffered from recent epidemic small-pox. And 
 the No. 2 subdistrict of Londonderry, during the first 
 quarter of this year, lost 16 per 1000 (annual rate) of 
 its population from small-pox alone ; and in the second 
 quarter 8 per 1000. 
 
 25. It is surely unnecessary to pursue further the 
 positive proof that vaccination does not prevent small- 
 pox ; nor in the face of the rate of deaths to vaccinated 
 cases, now everywhere prevailing, can the shift that it 
 mitigates the disease be maintained. But may it not 
 be affirmed, on the contrary, that this spurious inocula- 
 tion (for modern vaccination is nothing else) is really 
 reproducing and multiplying small-pox like its pre- 
 decessor, inoculation proper, in times. past [pars. 7 and 
 13, s. 8; 14, s. 7; 22 and 24].? 
 
 26. In corroboration of this, as well as in further 
 proof of the absence of " protection " from vaccination, 
 and all the other fallacies of the experts — the tables 
 of ages at death, furnished by the Registrar-General's 
 Report for 187 1, show that out of the total small-pox 
 deaths 37 per cent., in London, were children under 
 five, and in England 33 per cent. In Dundee (the 
 Scotch Registrar-General, claiming that all the births 
 are accounted for as vaccinated, and the Act having 
 then been in operation eight, years) 37J per cent, were 
 under five [par. 14 ss. 2 and 7 ; par. 18]. Again, com- 
 pulsory vaccination had been then eighteen years in 
 operation in this country, and of the total small-pox 
 deaths, 1871, 62 per cent, in England were under 
 twenty years of age, and in London 64 per cent. 
 
 27. In calculating results from an operation doing 
 violence to nature, like vaccination, how careful should 
 
380 ABSURDITY OF PERCENTAGES ON UNITS. 
 
 the expert be that he does everything fairly, so as to 
 exclude the possibility of mistake, which might give 
 rise to false conclusions ; yet how is this care shown ? 
 [par. 13, s. 6 ; par. 14, ss. 4, 5 (compared with par. 13, 
 s. 5), and 6]. 
 
 28. In like manner the medical department per- 
 sistently put forward mere hospital official statistics, 
 calculated on small numbers, percentages on which 
 are worthless, and subject to all the fallacies and shifts 
 herein pointed out [par. 2] ; patients being taken from 
 the class most liable to disease of any kind (and on 
 whom suspicion can always be freely cast to make out 
 the case required), whilst they utterly ignore, as if they 
 would suppress, the reliable national statistics dealing 
 with millions, and yielding proper data for percentages 
 on a sufficient scale to found conclusions. 
 
 29. One main fallacy is that which blinds these 
 experts to the part played by poisonous local sur- 
 roundings in the development of small-pox, as in 
 other epidemics [par. 3]. No cause is allowed by 
 them but contagion, and non-vaccination (though the 
 statute exempts those who are not able to bear the 
 operation), however constitutionally weak the patient 
 may have been from birth.* All were ever born equal 
 for the purposes of superstitious contagionists. Yet 
 
 * Thus the Birmmgham Medical Officer gravely reports the larger 
 percentage of deaths among the few iinvaccinated patients, without 
 pointing out that these are swelled by weakly infants, and others, dying 
 before the vaccination age. 
 
 A recent report from Merthyr also most ingeniously re-manipulates 
 every exploded fallacy ; in spite of which the practical proof is the same 
 as in all other places and circumstances. Therein percentages of 
 deaths in proportion to vaccination marks are given ; but, as usual, 
 without stating the factors. With equal truth may it be said, that a 
 surgeon, having treated one drunken man with a fractured limb, who 
 died, lost 100 per cent, of his cases ; — whilst his rival, treating a sober 
 one, who recovered, saved 100 per cent, of his I 
 
IMMUNITY of: LONDON MODEL DWELLINGS. .-^Sl 
 
 any one who will be at the pains to examine the 
 returns of the Registrar-General may see that only in 
 the low-lying, dirty, and densely populated districts 
 did the small-pox epidemic seriously prevail in 
 London. It need not be pointed out that Berlin is 
 one of the dirtiest cities in Europe. Dundee can ill 
 compare with London ; and as to Dublin, and Cork, 
 and Londonderry, the Irish official reports testify 
 what are still the habits of the Irish people ; never- 
 theless, following the lead of the medical experts of 
 the day, according to the reporters, no fever is ever 
 indigenous in Ireland ; the " contagion " is always 
 imported from elsewhere. 
 
 30. A crucial example of this contagion fallacy is 
 furnished by the Metropolitan Association for Im- 
 proving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes. 
 Most of their buildings are situate in the localities 
 in which small-pox chiefly prevailed in 1871 ; yet 
 although the population contained in them, in propor- 
 tion to the ground area they occupy, is four times 
 more dense than that of their surrounding neighbour- 
 hoods, there were but two or three cases of small-pox 
 amongst them — ^just enough to prove that the disease 
 may be present^ without spreading, in localities 
 furnished with proper sanitary appliances. 
 
 31. Before passing to the direct evils of vaccina- 
 tion, it may be proper to allude to a question, and the 
 answer thereto, recently put in the House of Com- 
 mons, concerning Banbury, with a view to insinuate 
 that neglect of vaccination had produced an outbreak 
 of small-pox in that town. On inquiry it is found 
 that, among a population of 12,000, there had been 
 fourteen cases and two deaths, all vaccinated ; and 
 one of these, a man who died, had been RE- 
 vaccinated. 
 
382 INCREASE OF INOCULABLE DISEASES. 
 
 32. Vaccination is a process which, by diminishing 
 the constitutional stamina, especially in the weak 
 organism of an infant, renders it less able to withstand 
 the ravages of any disease. But the direct evils which 
 have been communicated by the operation are mani- 
 fold, and utterly beyond calculation. Mr. Hutchinson 
 has brought before the Medical Chirurgical Society 
 three sets of cases similar to those proved by him 
 before the committee [par. 15]. This positive evidence 
 of injury is surely sufficient to explain the i^eason for 
 the terrible fact given us by the Registrar- General, 
 that syphilis (the large majority being infants under 
 one year) had doubled during the fourteen years pre- 
 ceding 1 870 ; * for by the Act the vaccinated child is 
 obliged to be taken on the eighth day after, to have 
 lymph extracted from its arm for others. Now the 
 evil did not show itself in the cases mentioned for two 
 months, and the operator was not to blame ! What 
 further is needed to support the inference .' 
 
 33. The Contagious Diseases Act claims to have 
 greatly diminished syphilis (and it is indefensible on 
 any other ground), yet during the thirty months, to 
 27th June last, no fewer than 910 infants under five 
 (chiefly under one) died in London alone from syphilis. 
 Mr. Pickering, F.S.S. (whom the committee refused 
 to hear, though a memorial from three aldermen and 
 eight town councillors, of Leeds, requested that he 
 might be examined), has eliminated from the Registrar- 
 General's Returns, that concurrently with compulsory 
 vaccination the deaths from six diseases, chiefly 
 prevalent among infants, have increased on an average 
 60,000 a year (after allowing 24,000 for increased 
 population), «>. three times every year the number of 
 
 * And see Returns Nos. 76, Sess. i, and 392, Sess. 2, 1880. 
 
INJURIES INFLICTED BY VACCINATION. 383 
 
 small-pox deaths in the one worst epidemic year of 
 the century. 
 
 34. We know the general death-rate has by no 
 means diminished as it ought — Mr. Henley, whim- 
 sically (or rather, it may be presumed, ironically), 
 ascribing the cause to be a diminution in the number 
 of doctors ! We know also that, in spite of increased 
 population and diminished armies, the standard is 
 obliged to be lowered to obtain sufficient recruits able 
 to pass the doctor. We know that the mortality 
 among infant children in St. Pancras Workhouse last 
 (a healthy) year reached 215 per 1000 ; yet how many 
 millions sterling have been spent on sanitary works, 
 apparently quite thrown away? But in reality the 
 good has been more than swamped by the medical 
 curse !, 
 
 35. It is very difficult to refer to authentic cases 
 of direct injury from vaccination, for all naturally 
 shrink from publishing their misfortunes, especially 
 any bodily taint ; but the subject is never mentioned 
 to a stranger without some fresh case being revealed. 
 A clergyman in Suffolk says he knows three ladies 
 syphilized, but dares not give their names. Many 
 cases of death in infants were given before the com- 
 mittee. At Gainsborough, two children were vacci- 
 nated from the same arm : one died, black, in a fort- 
 night ; for the other ;^28 had been paid to the doctor, 
 but it was never expected to get well. At Stafford, a 
 previously healthy infant having died, rotten, the 
 cause was certified by the legal murderer as hydro- 
 cephalus. In a rural neighbourhood (houses a mile 
 apart) one child nearly five has never recovered the 
 operation, and is now an object of pity to its relatives; 
 all — parents, grandparents, and other children — totally 
 free from any such taint. In another family, a child 
 
384 EXAMINATION OF MOTIVES ON BOTH SIDES. 
 
 has been for five years covered more or less with an 
 eruption since vaccination, the rest being quite free. 
 A third case, a lady of seventy, vaccinated by Jenner 
 himself, is deeply marked by small-pox, and, besides, 
 has never got rid of a skin "disease which periodically 
 shows itself, and which she has always ascribed to the 
 vaccination. At Chatham, a father who lost two 
 children, each immediately after vaccination, has only 
 saved his third in health by suffering imprisonment 
 five or six times, and even hard labour, illegally im- 
 posed by straining the Vaccination Acts. At War- 
 rington, a father who had lost a child (at the same 
 time two neighbours' children vaccinated from the 
 same arm also died) was not allowed to claim his 
 experience as a "reasonable excuse;" and we might go 
 on multiplying cases ad infinitum. 
 
 36. Mr. Simon is free in his imputation of idiocy, 
 falsehood, and dishonesty against such sufferers [par. 
 14, s. 8], yet what but conscientious duty can prompt 
 these to incur opprobrium, fiiies, in some cases ruin 
 and imprisonment (for they cannot purchase justice), 
 to save their children from more cruel suffering ? On 
 the other hand, what motive could induce Mr. Simon, 
 etc., not to inquire concerning Mr. Startin's cases [par. 
 16, s. 5], to keep back Mr. Hutchinson's cases [par. 14, 
 s. 3 ; pars. 15 and 16, s. 3] ; to lean on hearsay evidence 
 [par. 14, ss. 4, 5] ; to rely on hospital authorities who 
 do not vaccinate, instead of general practitioners [par. 
 14, s. 6] (for how can a man see what he has no oppor- 
 tunity of seeing .') ; to withhold truth from the public 
 [par. 13, s. 9; par. 16, s. 3 ; pars. 19, 23]; to ignore 
 the opinions of such men as John Hunter, Birch, Dr. 
 Moseley, and others of that day ; Drs. Epps, Collins, 
 Garth Wilkinson, Mackenzie, Skelton, Bell, Johnson,^ 
 Pratt, Brickwell, Acworth, Galgey, Haughton, Hitch- 
 
GENERAL PRACTITIONERS LED BY EXPERTS. 385 
 
 man, Ellis, NichoUs, Turnbull, and numerous others at 
 home ; Ricord, Hammernik, Keller, Nittinger, Cordere, 
 Hermann, Stramm, Bayard, Capadose, Verde de Lisle, 
 Carl Both, Durocher, Schufendecker, De Grob, and 
 many more abroad — all opponents of vaccination, 
 taught by injury witnessed in their medical practice ? 
 what still to suppress subsequent Statistics [pars. 22, 
 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29] ; and if not themselves to in- 
 sinuate falsehood, to allow the suggestion of falsehood 
 to pass uncorrected [par. 31] ? Are we to look to 
 pars. 8 and 9 for the answer? 
 
 37. I bring this paper to a close by calling atten- 
 tion to the gross violation of every principle of English 
 constitutional law and justice, introduced at the dicta- 
 tion of a few medical experts behind the scenes (for 
 each single legislator repudiates the responsibility), 
 whilst every lawyer knows that, in any medical case 
 whatever, he can procure experts to swear to dia- 
 metrically opposite opinions. Moreover, general prac- 
 titioners yield no greater proportion of philosophic 
 independent thinkers than any other class. These 
 must go with the fashion or starve ; and they have 
 only official figures to guide them, beyond their indi- 
 vidual experience — often very small. They have been 
 taught at home, at school, at the hospital, and by the 
 departmental experts, that vaccination is necessary ; 
 they have too much work on their hands to study 
 philosophy or statistics ; and many of them have 
 acquired very little physiology (which is the preserva- 
 tion of health, while the cure of disease is the business 
 of medicine). To oppose vaccination would, for the 
 majority of them be ruin. In defending it, when 
 attacked, they can only avail themselves of the figures 
 furnished to them by the expert leaders, on whom by 
 so much the more rests the duty and responsibility of 
 
 2 c 
 
386 RIGHT TO THINK NOT TO BE " STAMPED OUT. 
 
 stating all facts fairly, and not to suppress or mis- 
 represent such for any purpose whatever. For their 
 extenuation, however, it may be said that no man 
 likes to confess that he has been in the wrong ; more- 
 over, resistance excites passion, and passion obscures 
 the reason ; so that it may be a mistake to impute 
 wilful unfairness, even to them. Let us hope that it 
 is so. Nevertheless, where it is a solemn duty to 
 inquire and see, too long a persistence in blind preju- 
 dice will assuredly be ascribed by the public to 
 interested dishonesty. The ignorant populace have 
 always been eager to catch at any fancied "royal 
 road " to escape the chances of " contagium." Lady 
 Wortley Montagu's folly having been found so disas- 
 trous, Jesty and Jenner's was readily embraced ; and 
 when our legislators— not much better informed on 
 physiological matters than their constituents — were 
 persuaded to give ;£'3O,0O0 as a reward, the nostrum 
 perforce became more fashionable, even with the pro- 
 fession itself, than bleeding and mercury had been. 
 The, whole subsequent support of vaccination rests on 
 spurious statistics (which some say may be made to 
 prove anything), and the results of sanitary civiHza- 
 tion fallaciously manipulated. The crowning stupidity 
 was when experts deemed it possible to " stamp out " 
 from the brains of the British people all freedom of 
 thought, observation, and parental duty, by the com- 
 pulsory law.* Under this law (so called), administered 
 universally by prejudice, and set in motion by a low 
 class of fee-seekers,t parents who scorn to tell a false- 
 
 * The Bill of 1853 (introduced by Lord Lyttelton) provided for one 
 penalty only ; but the subsequent officially obtained Acts (without dis- 
 cussion in Parliament) aim at the ruin and imprisonment of all thinking 
 and conscientious opponents. 
 
 t " Vaccination officers " are here meant, not medical " public 
 vaccinators." 
 
LYTTELTON AND GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBLE. 387 
 
 hood are beguiled into convicting themselves, without 
 the smallest regard to the rules of judicial procedure, 
 of evidence, or legal interpretation. Indeed, every- 
 thing is strained to make " criminals " of the most 
 intelligent of the lower and middle classes, who think 
 for themselves (for the rich do not suffer, and the 
 poorest either do not care, or cannot resist) ; and this 
 goes on in England, under the miserable influence of 
 superstition, and slavish fear of " contagium," excited 
 by the same experts ! " In summo periculo timor 
 misericordiam non recipit ! " It is but for the nonce, 
 however ; a day will come and speedily ! Magna est 
 Veritas et prmvalebit. 
 
 I have, etc., 
 T. Baker. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 Hagley, Stourbridge, loth September, 1S74. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have, as I said I meant to do, sent your 
 papers to the Duke of Richmond, and requested his 
 attention to them. I shall take no public part in the 
 matter at present. If I said that I was not responsible 
 I said nonsense. We are all responsible for all we do. 
 I am responsible for bringing in the Act. Like most 
 persons in such a country as this, I am responsible 
 for doing nothing to get the Act repealed. I am 
 specially responsible as a member of Parliament, and 
 still more so as the author of the Act. What I meant 
 was, that, considering the nature of our Government 
 arrangements, the Government of 1853 was quite as 
 responsible as I was, and I conceive that for many 
 years past, and now, when the question has long been 
 part of the ordinary administration of a public depart- 
 ment, the Government are much more responsible 
 
388 OFFICIAL EXPERTS STUPID, OR DISHONEST. 
 
 than I am. On the other points your explanation, 
 such as it is, removes the charge of wilful misdoing 
 from certain of the medical profession (not, however, 
 from the ablest and most eminent of them, whose 
 business it is to guide the rest). It removes the 
 charge, and substitutes for it that of great stupidity 
 and unfitness for their duties. If the smallest country 
 practitioner were to cut off legs when he might have 
 saved them, it would be no excuse for him to say that 
 he had not time or faculties for the independent study 
 of surgery. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 Lyttelton. 
 
 T. Baker, Esq. 
 
 P.S. — I have nothing to remark on the paper, 
 except to repeat my surprise at your adherence to 
 the statement that the rich do not suffer, which to me 
 is unintelligible, and inconsistent with your own view. 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, nth September, 1874. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I fully subscribe to the first three pages of 
 yours of yesterday, and plead guilty to imputing a 
 vast deal of stupidity — and perhaps, on the part of 
 the officials, something more — on the vaccination 
 question. ... To prevent being misunderstood, let 
 me trouble your lordship yet once again to say that, 
 although the rich suffer from vaccination, they do 
 not suffer from the compulsory law. I enclose a 
 specimen of what that is to the poor. A rich man, 
 even if prosecuted, would hand out the fines with the 
 satisfaction of knowing that he, at least, could thus 
 purchase freedom of opinion and conscience. One 
 word on the " something more " of officials. I append 
 
MISLEADING IRISH REGISTRATION REPORTS. 389 
 
 extract of a letter I sent to Mr. Sclater-Booth three 
 months since. (Of course he has no control in Ireland.) 
 You may have observed the Registrar-General's 
 (Ireland) Report for the last quarter, quoted recently 
 in the Times (I also send extract). There, you will 
 perceive, the inoculation of six cases at an out-of-the- 
 way place in Connaught (italicized as before in the 
 Report itself) is again made to do duty, by inference, 
 with those who know nothing of Irish geography, as 
 explanatory of small-pox in Londonderry and Belfast, 
 to be found only in the tables which nobody reads or 
 quotes, not a syllable being said about vaccination or 
 inoculation in the local reports from those places. 
 The number of small-pox deaths in these respective 
 districts are, Donegal, 4 ; Dunkinerly, 6 ; Mount- 
 charles, 2 ; Belfast, 38 ; Londonderry, 36. Pray do 
 humble seekers after truth the justice to observe that 
 they, with slender means at disposal, have to hunt up 
 and expose these and other such fallacious statements, 
 against all the official and money power of the State, 
 aided by a tutored press. 
 
 I have, etc., 
 
 T. Baker. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 29th October, 1874. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 In. the Mail oi yesterday (reprint of Times) 
 I see that Mr. Bright has told his Birmingham 
 constituents that the Compulsory Vaccination Act 
 ought to be repealed. It is, therefore, evident that, 
 unless your lordship at once thinks proper to address 
 a letter to the Times, to the effect that, finding that 
 the ground on which you introduced the Act of 1853, 
 viz. that the medical profession were unanimous on 
 
39© PUBLICATION OF LETTERS AUTHORIZED. 
 
 the question, was not the fact ; and that — inasmuch 
 as increasing difference of opinion, as well as many 
 proved failures of vaccination, and injuries arising 
 from the practice, renders the enforcement of it upon 
 unwilling parents unwarrantable — it is your intention 
 to introduce a Bill to repeal the existing law, — unless, 
 I say, some such course be announced without a 
 moment's delay, the odium of the measure will for 
 ever remain attached to your name, and the credit 
 of its inevitable removal from the Statute Book will 
 be accorded to others. May I presume that I am 
 at liberty to publish the papers which I addressed 
 to you, entitled " The Vaccination Laws, Letters 
 addressed, etc., by, etc." .■" 
 
 I have, etc., 
 
 T. Baker. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 Hagley, Stourbridge, 31st October, 1874. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have no objection to the publication of 
 these papers.* I am surprised you should again 
 threaten me with "odium" which I should not care 
 about if it came from all the fanatics of England. 
 
 Yours, etc. 
 Lyttelton. 
 
 T. Baker, Esq. 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 2nd November, 1874. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I am obliged by yours of the 31st ult, but 
 unable to refrain from expressing my astonishment 
 that anything I have- written to your lordship should 
 be so misconstrued as to be deemed offensive, or that 
 the endeavour to save your reputation from the 
 natural consequences of action, into which you 
 * This correspondence was first published August, 1875. 
 
NO RELIEF ANTICIPATED FROM DEPARTMENT. 39 1 
 
 appeared to have been misled, should again be 
 denominated a threat. With your designation of me 
 as a " fanatic " (imbued also, I may presume, with 
 " ferocity ") I am content ; but much regret having, 
 it would seem, utterly failed to induce you seriously 
 to study the momentous question with which you 
 formerly connected your name. Men, forsooth, may 
 zealously concern themselves in opposing the fantastic 
 tricks of ecclesiastical mountebanks before the altar, 
 but think nothing of forcibly violating, by their own 
 direct personal legislative influence, the very temple 
 and " image of God," and that not once, but daily and 
 hourly ; not in small numbers, but the millions (since 
 1853) sacrificed to your Moloch ! 
 
 I have, etc., 
 
 T. Baker. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 \A child was born to his lordship, December, 1874.] 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 31st December, 1874. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 My letter on the Vaccination Laws, dated 
 6th September, forwarded by your lordship to the 
 Duke of Richmond, as representing the Government, 
 has not been answered, and if any action is con- 
 templated thereon, I am in ignorance of it. In the 
 meantime numberless prosecutions and fines, and 
 several imprisonments have taken place, and a largely 
 increased crop is anticipated with the commencement 
 of the new year. I confess that I never anticipated 
 relief from official sources. But now a crucial test is 
 offered to the faith and sincerity of your lordship, in 
 the double capacity of a parent and legislator. Will 
 the officers of the Local Government Board advise 
 you to send your infant, in humble guise, to the 
 
392 APPEAL FOR MERCY ON THE POOR. 
 
 Public Vaccination Station — say at Bethnal Green ? — 
 and will you, after re-perusal of Mr. Hutchinson's 
 evidence (p. 283 of the Blue Book), venture to under- 
 take such risk ? With a far stronger natural con- 
 stitution, doubtless, than the great majority driven 
 thither (witness the puny state of our army), your 
 child would probably pass the ordeal apparently 
 scathless (and not a syllable of what I have written 
 would be thereby disproved) ; but will you fairly 
 venture ? If so, I will at least maintain that you 
 are thoroughly honest, however superstitious. If you 
 hesitate, however, to incur such frightful responsibility, 
 and do not then and there determine (unless you 
 have already determined) to do your utmost to 
 abrogate the law first initiated through your means, 
 I ask, in the name of suffering humanity, what will 
 be thought of your fairness and sincerity? Should 
 thousands of equally conscientious parents pray that 
 your babe may suffer no more cruel torture than they 
 have seen their own endure, in consequence of 
 mistaken infatuation, under your name, would you 
 ascribe such to a feeling of malignity ? Believe me, 
 such opinion would not be justified, for it would rather 
 arise from a fervent hope that such a sacrifice, if 
 unhappily added to the rest, may at length be the 
 means of saving millions from various degrees of like 
 immolation in the future. 
 
 I have, etc., 
 
 T. Baker. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 42, Portland Place, January 1st, 1875. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 If I understand it right, your present letter 
 refers not to the principle of the Act, but to a point 
 in its administration. I cannot now refer to the Act 
 
OUR STATIONAL SYSTEM, THE BEST. 393 
 
 and Reports, but my impression is that the Act does 
 not require any one to send their children to the 
 pubUc station. I have never been called upon to do 
 so, and do not expect it now. I think every one can 
 get it done in the way he prefers, provided it can be 
 certified to be done efficiently. I imagine that the 
 public stations are distinctly meant as an accommoda- 
 tion to the poor, and I think there is some discretion 
 allowed in weather like this, and with delicate children, 
 etc. At all events, I apprehend Parliament thought 
 it far the lesser of the two evils ; and if in any such 
 particular an improvement can be suggested, no doubt 
 it would be considered. But I cannot think that any 
 such matter ought to compel any one to abstain from 
 the best and safest way he can command of obeying 
 the law. I regret that this conduct, as I understand you, 
 should make me appear to you unfair, insincere, and 
 dishonest, as well as superstitious. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 Lyttelton. 
 
 T. Baker, Esq. 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 2nd January, 1875. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I have to thank your lordship for your note 
 of yesterday, and to submit that if it were ever so 
 true (which I deny) that vaccination, under any cir- 
 cumstances, ought to be practised, it is a matter 
 entirely for parental discretion, and altogether beyond 
 the proper sphere of legislation. The rich can observe 
 all the cautions you allude to ; and if they even dis- 
 approve the practice, their immunity can be managed 
 by the medical attendant. 
 
 With the poor it is quite otherwise ; yet, as pointed 
 out in my printed letter — par. 14,, p. 6, s. i — Mr. 
 Simon can conceive nothing better than our public 
 
394 SUFFERINGS OF PEOPLE WHOLLY IGNORED. 
 
 stational vaccination. To which, however^ I venture 
 to assert, that no member of the Legislature dare, 
 himself, have recourse. I have seen a poor woman 
 at Belppr fined for not having exposed her child in 
 such weather as we are now experiencing, by carry- 
 ing it several miles for examination on the eighth 
 day after vaccination. A woman at Stratford has 
 just been imprisoned for not obeying an order 
 which she had obeyed — committed without evidence 
 in her absence. The poor are in the hands of the 
 ignorant vaccination ofScer, and the magisterial 
 officials. No defence is admitted or even listened 
 to unless through a lawyer. They cannot, if they 
 know how, go to the expense of arming themselves 
 with medical certificates or legal advice ; and the 
 amount of utterly illegal and arbitrary tyranny carried 
 on under cover of this legislation would shock your 
 lordship, as much as any other right-minded man, if 
 you would assiduously inquire into what has- been, 
 and is, carried on, professedly by virtue of the Act 
 bearing your name. All sorts of suggestions for 
 amendment have been offered, and inquiry into injuries 
 and deaths urged, to no purpose. The medical officials 
 ignore both statistics and the sufferings of the people ; 
 and the Government will continue to be led by them 
 until popular indignation shall have reached the 
 culminating point, when the disgrace with which, in 
 spite of warning, the name of Lyttelton, I fear, is 
 destined to be indelibly associated, will be summarily 
 ejected from the British Statute Book. 
 
 I have, etc., 
 T. Baker. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 P.S. — In my humble opinion, no one, who believes 
 that to wound the skin and poison the blood of an 
 
REFUSAL TO TAKE ACTION FOR REPEAL. 395 
 
 infant will be to its advantage, can be otherwise than 
 superstitious. 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 4th July, 1875. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I trust you will credit me that it is from no 
 lack of materials that I am not addressing you 
 frequently. Although it seems this subject, touching 
 the lives and sufferings of the people, is not one which 
 interests you beyond compelling them to follow, for 
 good or ill, the course which you have been taught 
 right (admittedly without examination) ; I would, 
 nevertheless, urge you, as not being wilfully hardened 
 or cruel, to read the cases mentioned in the address 
 of Mr. Henry Lee, a surgeon of eminence, to the 
 College of Surgeons, in the Lancet of the 12th ult, 
 p. 817, par. 5. Such cases are, in truth, legion. Then, 
 as to prevention, to note in Registrar-General's Report, 
 1872, that out of 19,000 deaths from small-pox — 
 nineteen years after your Compulsory Vaccination 
 Law — 72 per cent, were persons under twenty years 
 of age (see ages at death, page 146). Allow me to 
 ask whether, upon these facts, you will allow me 
 to submit to you draft of a short Bill to stop the 
 persecution now going on ? 
 
 I have, etc., 
 T. Baker. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 42, Portland Place, 7th July, 1875. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I regret that I cannot accede to the proposed 
 Bill. The ground of the existing law is not that 
 persons should be forced to have their own children 
 healthy, but that they should not be able to infect 
 others. This may be right or wrong, but as long as it 
 
 { I 
 
396 PALMERSTON DESIRED POSTPONEMENT. 
 
 is the law, it seems to me unreasonable to modify it 
 by an enactment which would entirely render optional 
 what is now compulsory. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 Lyttelton. 
 
 T. Baker, Esq. 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 8th July, 1875. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I should, of course, be far better satisfied with 
 a total repeal of the Acts which pander to ignorant 
 popular prejudice by legalizing the murder of infants 
 to prevent their possibly becoming ^« of infection in 
 after life. Since your letter of the 24th August last, 
 I have learnt from a gentleman, consulted at the time 
 by Lord Palmerston, that he was personally adverse 
 to the Bill of 1853,* and, by accident almost, suffered^ 
 it to pass at the end of the session, at the instigation 
 of a small knot of would-be philanthropists, moved 
 by successful office-seekers.t The authorship of this 
 un-English legislation, therefore, cannot be repudiated, 
 or thrust upon Lord Palmerston or any other states- 
 man. I recollect an old friend assuring me that 
 your lordship was a diligent personal investigator in 
 matters which interested you. I am, therefore, much 
 puzzled to understand why you do not feel impelled 
 to examine the official evidence now so largely avail- 
 able, on a subject with which your name must be 
 
 * This was stated to the writer in conversation, about the time the 
 above was written, by the Registrar-General. On being asked to verify 
 the same. Major Graham writes, 15th November, 1876, as follows : — 
 " When the late Lord Lyttelton introduced in Parliament a Bill making 
 vaccination compulsory; the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
 [Lord Palmerston] agreed with me in thinking that such a measure 
 should be more amply considered and discussed, and expressed a wish 
 that it should be postponed." 
 
 t See Note B. "' 
 
FRIGHTFUL " DISASTERS FROM VACCINATION. 397 
 
 historically identified — for your own letters indicate 
 that you decline to read. Jenner's delusion is fast 
 becoming otherwise exposed, but the hand most 
 fitting to wipe out the legislative disgrace, is surely 
 the one which was deceived into originating it. 
 
 I have, etc., 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 T. Baker. 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 Lord John Manners had an infant, in the spring of 1875, vaccinated ; 
 it died a fortnight after, the cause being certified ' ' Convulsions." 
 
 So, Sir Culhng Eardley died a fortnight after revaccination, in 1863. 
 
 Again : a young lady, aged 1 5, of one of the first families of Prince's 
 Park, Liverpool, and in the best health, v/as revaccinated by Dr. 
 Skinner. Eleven days after, this blooming girl died. Dr. Skinner 
 affirms that the death was due entirely to vaccination, and that this was 
 concurred in by his professional friends at a meeting of the Medical 
 Institution, but it was thought undesirable to make it public. 
 
 These are no solitary instances of manslaughter by superstitious 
 delusion, under medico-legal auspices. They are daily occurring in all 
 parts of the kingdom. Thus in Leicester (1873) 431 infants under one 
 year died after recent vaccination. In that town 51 '6 per cent, of the 
 total deaths (and quarter, 1876) were infants under one year ; and 95 
 per cent, of the births are, by the department, certified as vaccinated : 
 all these, therefore, must have been previously healthy, because the 
 Medical Officer to the Central Board stated to the Commons' Com- 
 mittee, 1871, that every vaccinator who knows his business takes care 
 that the child is healthy before he vaccinates it. 
 
 The most frightful special disaster on record is that of fifty-eight 
 French soldiers, vaccinated 30th December, 1880, in Algeria, from a 
 single infant vaccinifer. AH syphihzed without exception ; half died soon 
 after, the rest surviving for a worse fate. 
 
 NOTE B. 
 
 The public press writers of the Medical Department, led by their 
 quondam head, Mr. Simon, in the Times, have been of late zealously 
 reproducing the various worn-out arguments in favour of vaccination, 
 and, when that fails, revaccination. These official experts, however, 
 carefully ignore the facts^ 
 
398 UNFAIR STATISTICAL CALCULATIONS. 
 
 1. That whilst small-pox has been only redwed; plague, sweating- 
 sickness, jail fever, etc., have been exterminated by civilization and 
 cleanliness, 
 
 2. That ceasing to inoculate for small-pox, naturally diminished 
 the prevalence of the disease ; and that improved medical treatment 
 naturally much lessened the risk of pitting from small-pox. 
 
 3. That small-pox had become much more reduced during the first 
 quarter of the present century, but has again become more prevalent, 
 and with greater " malignant intention," since compulsory vaccination 
 brought these press advocates into office. 
 
 4. That the hospital statistics thus produced for the twentieth time 
 are utterly fallacious, inasmuch as the percentage of deaths to attacks 
 among vaccinated and not vaccinated is made unfavourable to the latter 
 by carefully refraining from distinguishing the ages. Notoriously, infants 
 and young children yield a large proportion of the deaths in every 
 epidemic, whilst such infants — either from being attacked before the 
 vaccination age, or' born too weakly to be submitted to the operation — 
 necessarily furnish a large proportion of the so-called "unvaccinated." 
 E.g. out of 637 small-pox deaths in Birmingham (1874), 189, or 297 
 per cent., are returned by Dr. Hill as not vaccinated. Of the total, 79 
 were under one year, 69 of whom, or 87*3 per cent., had not been 
 vaccinated ; and of 59 others, under five, 26, or 44"3 per cent., were not 
 vaccinated. AMiereas, of the remaining 499, at five and upwards, 94, or 
 1 8 '8 per cent, only, were returned as not vaccinated. Now, the births 
 in 1874 were under 15,000 — i.e. small-pox deaths under one year to 
 births 5 '27 per thousand. The total population estimated was 360,892 ; 
 deduct the 15,000 and we have small-pox deaths to population above one 
 year I '61 per thousand. Seeing, therefore, that four times the propor- 
 tion die of small-pox among the infants — giving 87 per cent, not 
 vaccinated, because not able to be — than of the remainder, giving less 
 than one-fourth the rate of ^'neglect" it needs no statistician to prove 
 that, when stated in the gross, the not-vaccinated of all ages, if attacked 
 with small-pox, die in greater proportion than the vaccinated of all ages.* 
 
 * The following was addressed to the Registrar-General : " Kings- 
 cote, Wokingham, 23rd November, 1876: — Sir, — In reference to the 
 remark appended to your recent Small-pox Mortality Returns, that 
 ' ' among the vaccinated cases treated this year, the mortality has been 
 13 per cent., whereas, among the unvaccinated cases, it has been equal 
 to 57 per cent.," allow me to observe that the proportion of deaths to 
 cases must of necessity be much greater among the unvaccinated when 
 taken in the lump at all ages ; because a considerable number of the 
 deaths in all small-pox epidemics are among infants and young children 
 — [a] some under the vaccination age ; [b] others born too weak to 
 allow of their being vaccinated. To say that such died of small-pox in 
 consequence of not being vaccinated, would be gross fallacy. If, how- 
 
ADVERSE FACTS TREATED WITH CONTEMPT. 399 
 
 The results at each age should be compared ; for those who desire that 
 statistics shall speak truly, will take care not only that the factors are 
 given, but that the conditions are the same. 
 
 5. That while they so glibly accuse anti-vaccinists of preventing 
 vaccination, and attribute the prevalence of small-pox as the effect of 
 such agitation ; they cannot often jind these opponents of vaccination 
 (who from their intelligence attend to sanitary requirements) themselves 
 suffering from small-pox. 
 
 6. That according to Mr. Marson, the leading authority, it fre- 
 quently cannot be discerned in confluent cases, whether the patients 
 have been vaccinated or not ; though in some of his own calculations, 
 where recovery had taken place, he had assumed that vaccination had 
 been performed. 
 
 7. That the oft-repeated assertion that the hospital nurses escaped 
 small-pox because of vaccination, was disproved by Mr. Marson before 
 the committee, 1871. 
 
 8. That before the admission of pnly four r^vaccinated cases into the 
 pauper hospitals, in 1871, demonstrates the value of revaccination, it is 
 first necessary to show that a large number of that class had actually 
 been revaccinated — which, notoriously, was not the case. 
 
 g. That percentages on units or small numbers are of no value 
 as a basis for scientific deduction. No more, indeed, than statistics of 
 vaccine panic-mongers, who, in the absence of any returns prior to 1838, 
 magnify former mortality above the birth-rate, which would have 
 exterminated the race. 
 
 10. That a frightful amount of inoculable disease has been dis- 
 seminated by vaccination (as proved before the committee, 187 1, and 
 more largely since) ; the very numerous deaths directly and continually 
 resulting from the operation being by far the lesser of the two calamities. 
 It is coolly said, the victim " mtist have been infected" beforehand. 
 Leper wards are now to be established in London hospitals. 
 
 11. That the annual average death-rate from inoculable causes, e.g. 
 syphilis, etc., has been so much increased by this practice (though 
 under the average when small-pox prevails), that even the general death- 
 rate from all causes has apparently not been greatly reduced by the 
 operation of the Factory Acts, and two hundred millions sterling expended 
 on sanitary works. Inquiry on the spot, from place to place, by im- 
 partial persons, has been pressed on the Government ; and an annual 
 
 ever, you will distinguish the ages at death, and give the proportion of 
 deaths under one year, under five, and so on, it will probably be found 
 that, the conditions being equal, there is little or no difference in the 
 percentage of mortality among the vaccinated and unvaccinated at each 
 age. — I am, etc., T. Baker. — P.S. — It would be well if you could tell 
 us what is the proportion of deaths FROM ALL causes among the 
 vaccinated, as compared with the unvaccinated." 
 
400 MORTALITY RETURNS REFUSED BY EXPERTS. 
 
 return of infant mortality under one and under five, from specified 
 causes (the too often direct cause being carefully excluded from the 
 scientific nomenclature of disease), has been asked for, with averages 
 during three periods — viz. from 1838 to 1853 ; 1854 to 1867 ; 1868 to 
 date of return. But these reasonable requests have been refused, 
 because it does not suit the views of the Medical- Vaccine Department 
 which now alike governs Premier, Parliament, and Press. 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. — FUGITIVE PAPERS. 4OI 
 
 SPEECH ON THE 
 
 TRIAL OF MR. AND MRS. HURRY 
 
 (the " PECULIAR PEOPLE "), CHARGED WITH MANSLAUGHTER, 
 
 AT THE CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT, MAY 8, 1 872, 
 
 BEFORE MR. JUSTICE BYLES. 
 
 George and Cecilia Hurry were indicted for the 
 manslaugliter of two of their children, by neglecting 
 and refusing to procure for them proper medical aid, 
 during their illness with the small-pox. 
 
 Mr. Baker addressed the jury as follows : — 
 Gentlemen of the jury — It will not be necessary 
 that I should address you at any great length in 
 reference to this most extraordinary charge against 
 the prisoner, and, if it were desirable, I have had no 
 opportunity of fully looking into the case. The 
 charge is altogether so unprecedented that I feel 
 almost at a loss how to deal with it. Here is a man, 
 acknowledged to be a most respectable member of 
 society, without a stain upon his moral character — my 
 learned friend has not ventured to impugn that for 
 a moment — afflicted by the loss of his children, the 
 objects of his most tender regard, with every attention 
 paid to them necessary in the belief of the parents, 
 charged with misdemeanour. And what is the 
 avowed foundation for the charge ? The foundation, 
 I blush to say, is that he trusted in the Lord! 
 Whether this preposterous charge — this most mon^ 
 
 2 D 
 
402 " PECULIAR PEOPLE HAVE RIGHTS. 
 
 strous proceeding — be a case of religious persecution 
 in intention, or of medical despotism, or of craven fear 
 caused by the small-pox panic, or of all combined, I 
 know not. But this I will say, that such a charge is 
 a disgrace to the age in which we live. It has been 
 well said that history sometimes repeats itself In 
 bygone days this city has been illumined by the fires 
 of Smithfield ; when some men were burnt for being 
 papists, and others for abjuring the Pope. We have 
 also had, in former times, miserable old women 
 judicially murdered under the accusation of witchcraft. 
 But it has been reserved for this year, 1872, that pious 
 people (deluded though they may be) are charged 
 with misdemeanour for trusting in the Lord ! These 
 people quote St. James the apostle, who says (5th chap. 
 14 and 1 5 vv.) : " Is any man sick among you ? let him 
 call for the elders of the church ; and let them pray 
 over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the 
 Lord : And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and 
 the Lord shall raise him up." And they believe it 
 to be their duty to follow literally that injunction. 
 Gentlemen, I am not one of the " Peculiar People," 
 but I say they have an equal right to their own opinion 
 in religious matters with you, and with all of us. To 
 the arrogant and intolerant coroner, who has manu- 
 factured this charge, I would say, " Who art thou that 
 judgest another man's servant .■' " Now, gentlemen, it 
 is imputed to the prisoner, who places his faith in the 
 Lord, that he has no faith in vaccination. Well, we 
 know that in the best-vaccinated places the small-pox 
 mortality has be'en three and four times greater than 
 in London, where vaccination is said to have been 
 greatly neglected. Dr. Seaton, the vaccination in- 
 spector to the Privy Council, in his evidence before 
 the Committee of the House of Commons last year, 
 
IS THERE TO BE NO MORE MEDICAL INQUIRY ? 4O3 
 
 stated that Prussia was one of the best-vacciqated 
 countries in Europe, vaccination having been compul- 
 sory there for years and years. Also, that Ireland 
 was now so well vaccinated since the Compulsory Act 
 of 1863, that small-pox has been altogether stamped 
 out ; yet it was well known to those who keep their 
 eyes open and see what is going on around them that, 
 according to the Registrar-General's Returns, the 
 small-pox death-rate in Berlin, during the quarter 
 ending 31st December last, had been nearly eight 
 times that of London, and in Dublin it has been 
 seven and a half per thousand for this last quarter, as 
 compared with one per thousand in London. In 
 Bridgewater also, which I have lately had occasion 
 to visit, I found the small-pox mortality rate had been 
 double that of London last year, and seven times 
 as great this year ; yet 99^ per cent, of the popula- 
 tion, on a house-to-house visitation, had been found 
 vaccinated. Moreover, we find also, according to 
 Mr. Marson's evidence, that 84 per cent, (in 1864) of 
 the deaths in the small-pox hospital were vaccinated 
 cases, a steadily increasing proportion with the increase 
 of vaccination. Can we, then, blame the " Peculiar 
 People" for trusting less in vaccination than in the 
 Lord ">. Are WE not rather 2. peculiar people to be ever 
 leaning on a broken reed ; seeking to supplement by 
 persecution what medical nostrums fail to accomplish .' 
 Have not the " Peculiar People," who trust in the 
 Lord, as good a right to allege that they have been 
 specially raised up to restore the British people to 
 their pristine common sense ? Again, gentlemen, are 
 we to have no freedom of opinion on physiological 
 subjects? Is there to be no niore medical inquiry.' 
 In medicine, is "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther " 
 to be the established rule ? What has become of bleed- 
 
404 MANY DIFFERING SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE. 
 
 ing— not long since universal ? What has become of 
 the once pet poison of the faculty — mercury ? What 
 has become of inoculation for small-pox, formerly as 
 much the rage as vaccination now ? All assigned to 
 the limbo of perdition, as vaccination will also be ere 
 long. In the face of the facts before us — ^^the notorious 
 failures of vaccination, and the acknowledged evils 
 produced by it in the transmission of other loathsome 
 diseases, such as was proved before the Commons 
 Committee by Mr. Hutchinson (and numberless such 
 instances of transmission have occurred abroad) — in 
 the face also of the opinions of such authorities as Dr. 
 Copland, who writes, in 1848, that " the middle of the 
 nineteenth century finds the majority of the profession 
 in all latitudes doubtful as to the efficacy of vaccina- 
 tion ; " are the people of this country (whether 
 " peculiar " or otherwise) to be dragooned into the use 
 of the poisoned lancet, without being allowed a voice 
 in the matter ? Are the necks of the British people 
 so utterly beneath the heel of an iron medical des- 
 potism as this .'' Gentlemen, I feel confident that you 
 will agree with me that the idea is preposterous ; by 
 your verdict you will scout this infamous persecution. 
 Well, gentlemen, besides a lack of faith in vacci- 
 nation, the prisoner has presumed to avow a want of 
 faith in doctors, or at any rate a greater faith in the 
 Lord. Are we, then, all agreed as to the wisdom, and 
 learning, and virtue of doctors ? Are ikey all agreed 
 amongst themselves } Which school of medicine are 
 the " Peculiar People " to adopt ? Or is every prac- 
 titioner, not of the Privy Council school — a homoeo- 
 . pathist or hydropathist, for instance, having more faith 
 in water than poison — and the friends of every one 
 who follows his advice (for " it is appointed unto all 
 men once to die ") to be charged with misdemeanour ? 
 
. TOLERATION ON THE PART OF PERSECUTED. 405 
 
 [The learned gentleman then read copious extracts 
 from the work of Dr. Dickson — who, he said, was a 
 physician of considerable and acknowledged eminence 
 — pointing out numerous fallacies in medical practice 
 and opinion, and proceeded :] It was perfectly clear 
 that a superstitious dread of contagion by those who 
 neglect sanitary arrangements was at the bottom of 
 this iniquitous persecution. This, indeed, was apparent 
 from the opening of his learned friend, who was 
 instructed to put forward the statement that the 
 " Peculiar People " had spread the small-pox, a state- 
 ment utterly disproved by the evidence. It was not 
 the first time that contagion panics had cursed this 
 country. It was no\y small-pox, but it had been the 
 same, as pointed out by Dr. Dickson, when cholera 
 prevailed. 
 
 That such a question as vaccination was a bread- 
 and-butter question must be manifest to every one. 
 What would become of any young medical man daring 
 to avow opinions out of the fashion ? Why, he would 
 be left to starve ! It is only men of eminence who 
 have made themselves independent that can afford to 
 speak out and tell the truth on such subjects. 
 
 Dr. Dickson very truly says : " Philosophy, wisdom, 
 and liberty support each other ; — he who will not 
 reason is a bigot — he who cannot is a fool — and he 
 who dares not ■ is a slave ! The base and selfish of 
 all ages have ruled mankind by terror. By this the 
 priest has trampled down reason ; the despot, the 
 rights of a people." 
 
 The learned gentleman proceeded to say that one 
 of the "Peculiar People," like a good Samaritan, 
 tolerant of the opinions of others, had recently, in the 
 course of his visits to the sick, found a young man, 
 not of his faith, and therefore, as he thought, requiring 
 
406 DEBASING EFFECT OF POPULAR PANIC. 
 
 a doctor. What did he do ? Why, he went to a 
 medical man, who had given evidence in this case 
 before the coroner (why was he not called now?), 
 and this doctor refused to go to the sick man, until 
 the Samaritan had put his hand in his own pocket 
 and paid the medical Leyite his fee. Is the respect- 
 able citizen, who places greater faith in the Lord than 
 in such men, to be herded with common felons on a 
 charge like this t 
 
 Gentlemen, when I consider the nature of this 
 charge, and the absurd superstition that underlies the 
 excuse for it, — when I think that it is in England that 
 this fearful tyranny exists, and that I am an English- 
 man,^ — I confess myself almost overwhelmed with 
 shame. In former ages, and especially in foreign 
 climes, the bugbear CONTAGION has led creatures, 
 bearing the shape of men, into the commission of 
 frightful crimes. We once thought that England, at 
 least, had been emancipated from all stain of such 
 brutality. The writings of the late Dr. Southwood 
 Smith on Epidemics, Contagion, and its offspring 
 Quarantine, brought the British Government — some 
 twenty years ago — the cordial thanks of foreign rulers ! 
 This subject is of special importance in view of the 
 presentment of the grand jury. 
 
 Now, said the learned gentleman, the " Peculiar 
 People " paid especial attention to sanitary matters — 
 they keep their dwellings clean, and their children 
 too — that is why I have troubled you at length with 
 these opinions, which are so important as showing 
 that sanitary works and cleanliness, which had banished 
 jail fever, plague, and other epidemics, would also 
 banish small-pox. This, gentlemen, is the way to 
 "stamp out" epidemics, small-pox among the rest. 
 But just now the people of this country seem to have 
 
NATIONAL DEGRADATION BY SELFISH FEAR. 4O7 
 
 lost their wits ! A small-pox epidemic, mainly pro- 
 duced by our own folly, appears to have emasculated 
 the nation ! " distilled almost to jelly with the act of 
 fear," as our immortal poet well delineates the effect 
 of that degrading passion. The liberties of the people 
 are lost sight of amidst a slavish dread, lest the liberty 
 of one man should be injurious to another! When 
 we have added a slavish fear to the other vices which 
 disgrace our country (such as drunkenness and avarice), 
 truly will the glory of England be departed ! Nations 
 as well as individuals may be carried away by passion, 
 and must suffer in consequence as surely as indi- 
 viduals. Gentlemen, I never contemplate the baneful 
 effect of giving way to evil passions without being 
 reminded of an eloquent simile which it was once my 
 lot to hear from the pulpit, when the reverend gentle- 
 man,* rising to a pitch of eloquence, which, would that 
 I could imitate ! said, speaking of the passions — " They 
 are like those daughters which the f)oet has fabled 
 for King Lear ! — they first beguile their victim of all 
 his moral sovereignty and power ; and when he is 
 weak, and old, and dependent, they then strip him of 
 every ministering joy, of every attendant consolation ; 
 and cast him out into the desert ; and leave him, in 
 his wretched solitude, in his miserable imbecility, to 
 the darkness of the night, and the fury of the ele- 
 ments ! " Gentlemen, if nations be carried away by 
 degrading passions, as I have said, they must assuredly 
 suffer in like manner. Now, in England a new vice 
 seems to have sprung up, as new diseases are created, 
 — a kind of craven apathy, which stands by witnessing 
 the most monstrous acts of tyranny perpetrated by 
 men " dressed in a little brief authority " on con- 
 
 * The Rev. Henry Giles, formerly of Liverpool, and afterwards of 
 the United States. 
 
•408 THE PEASANT, AS THE PRINCE, MAY PRAY. 
 
 scientious citizens who, under the Hampdens of a 
 bygone age, would also have been free men. Now, 
 alas ! while members of the House of Commons and 
 the Government think mainly of the votes of ignorant 
 constituents, these voters are bowed down by the 
 abject selfishness of a causeless terror ! 
 
 Gentlemen, I will not insult you by supposing it 
 possible that you — an intelligent jury of this metro- 
 polis — -will hesitate for a moment to acquit the 
 prisoner : I cannot, I dare not, I will not believe 
 that any twelve true men can yet be found capable 
 of convicting a worthy member of society of mis- 
 demeanour, because he trusted in the Lord! Why, 
 gentlemen, are we not all urged every Sunday, from 
 the pulpit, to trust in the Lord ? Gentlemen, one 
 word more. A short time since this city knelt in 
 thanksgiving that the life of a prince was spared! 
 Physicians of the first eminence had done their 
 utmost, and watched around the royal patient's bed; 
 and watched, they thought, in vain. They felt they 
 had done all they were able, and knew that they were 
 powerless. The prayers of the people were invoked ! 
 The nation knelt ! The prince recovered. Thirty 
 million thanksgivings were poured forth that their 
 prayer was answered ! Gentlemen, was all that prayer 
 and thanksgiving a solemn act of national hypocrisy .? 
 Was it not believed that the prayers were heard? 
 And shall not the peasant pray as well as the prince } 
 Shall we be told that in the one case faith in the Lord 
 is all-powerful, in the other that it is misdemeanour >. 
 I call upon you, gentlemen, to answer the question by 
 your verdict I * 
 
 * On the understanding that the prisoners would not be punished, 
 a nominal verdict of guilty was submitted to. It has since, however, 
 been more than once laid down from the judicial bench, that faihng to 
 employ a doctor is not a criminal offence. 
 
A BATTLING . LIFE. — FUGITIVE PAPERS. 409 
 
 (VITAL STATISTICS.) 
 
 {Society of Arts Journal, 2i,th June, 1880.) 
 
 Among the sciences that have made great progress 
 in modern times, is the science of statistics, which 
 treats of the general condition and resources of society. 
 As applied to commercial questions, and manufactures 
 especially, the science has attained a high degree of 
 perfection, and is correspondingly valuable. That 
 branch of the science, however, which we call " vital 
 statistics," and which purports to elucidate the con- 
 ditions pertaining to the health of communities, cannot 
 be said to have made anything like parallel progress 
 with commercial and political statistics ; inasmuch as 
 it will be admitted that there exists scarcely any single 
 deduction, professedly based upon vital statistics, 
 which has not been, if it be not still, largely disputed, 
 or seriously brought into question, by numerous persons 
 claiming to be qualified to form a correct opinion. 
 The reason of this uncertainty probably arises from 
 the fact that, because vital statistics relate to the health 
 of the people, the people themselves take very little 
 interest in their investigation ; and the matter is left 
 almost solely in the hands of medical men. It seems 
 to be supposed that because it is the business of 
 doctors to cure disease, therefore it falls within their 
 province alone to consider and treat of all matters 
 relative to the preservation of health. Now, the 
 
410 "vital statistics often unscientific. 
 
 practice of medicine has been, from time immemorial, 
 and is still, a practice of empiricism ; and the nature 
 of empiricism has nothing in common with that of 
 statistics. Moreover, the kind of education which 
 instructs a medical student to make use of some par- 
 ticular drug in the Pharmacopoeia, to mitigate certain . 
 symptoms, because the great physician So-and-so 
 introduced it at such a time, and the profession have 
 adopted it since ; nevertheless, the equally eminent 
 pathologist So-and-so maintains that, for the same 
 symptoms, the exhibition of some other substance is 
 even more efficacious, if not greatly preferable ; and, 
 therefore, the practitioner should try one, and then the 
 other, according as he finds this or that best suited to 
 the constitution of his patient, or until some still more 
 patent remedy comes into fashion ; — this kind of edu- 
 cation surely is not that which best fits the student 
 for the pursuit of questions depending upon mathe- 
 matical precision, or the examination of evidence on 
 which he may base any scientific induction. Hence 
 it is, therefore, that manifold rash deductions are put 
 forward ; and hence that " doctors differ " is not more 
 true in relation to symptoms and treatment, than to 
 statistics. Premising, then, that it is surely far more 
 the business of a citizen of the world to preserve his 
 own health, than it can be of the medical practitioner, 
 whose very maintenance depends upon curing or 
 mitigating the diseases and pains of the community, 
 let me point out a few of the kind of statements 
 commonly put forward as "vital statistics," which 
 really are not scientific. 
 
 Suppose we take two hospitals, A and B, and say 
 that, in the treatment of a particular disease, the 
 superiority of A over B was shown by the fact that in 
 A the proportion of recoveries to cases had been 50 
 
THE SUPPRESSION OF FACTORS DISHONEST. 4 II 
 
 per cent, whereas in B they were only 20 per cent. 
 This would by no means be a scientific statistic. It 
 might impose upon numberless people, but is of no 
 value whatever. To arrive at any fair comparison in 
 such a case, it is necessary that, not one alone, but 
 every possible factor should be supplied. Now, in the 
 above statement, no mention is made of the number of 
 cases treated in each hospital ; the statement may be 
 quite true, but if A had four cases only, while B had 
 five hundred cases, the truth of the statement will not 
 save it from insinuating, by a suppressio veri, one of 
 the grossest species of falsehood. Often in com- 
 parisons of this nature particular circumstances, such 
 as season, local surroundings, class and condition of 
 patients, length of period during which the comparison 
 is made, are also necessary to be considered ; but in 
 no case can the numbers upon which the calculation 
 is made be fairly omitted. Often, indeed, where the 
 numbers are large, as in the case of national statistics, 
 where many millions are taken into account, a balance 
 of some minor conditions may perhaps suffice ; but 
 the more limited the area the more important is it to 
 consider every possible varying condition and circum- 
 stance. Yet we constantly see statements analogous 
 to the foregoing put before the public, and called 
 " vital statistics." And, whenever we do, we may be 
 sure the object is to prop up some baseless theory; 
 unless, indeed, it be " a tale told by an idiot." What- 
 ever the object be, whether to found a theory or 
 support a foregone conclusion, any suppression of 
 facts, in order to suggest an erroneous inference, is one 
 of the worst species of moral turpitude. 
 
 It is to be feared that this kind of parboiling, as 
 applied to vital statistics, is far less uncommon than 
 it ought to be. Hence we hear honest men say they 
 
412 STATISTICS MADE TO PROVE ANYTHING. 
 
 have " no faith in statistics," " statistics may be made 
 to prove anything," and so on ; whereas nothing can 
 be more certain, more axiomatic, than deductions 
 from statistics fairly given, where all facts are taken 
 into account, and comparisons, when made strictly 
 ccsteris paribus. There is sometimes a loose method 
 of constructive reasoning indulged in, as, for instance, 
 that " in the last century such a malady largely pre- 
 vailed, and vast numbers were destroyed ; whereas, 
 during such and such a period, two per cent, only of 
 the population have suffered from the cause in ques- 
 tion," This again sounds very convincing, but it is 
 absolutely worthless as a statistic. We cannot com- 
 pare two periods unless we are furnished with the 
 number of the population at each period, the number 
 of attacks, on competent authority, the number of 
 deaths, and ages at death, at least. Even then im- 
 proved methods of treatment, local sanitary surround- 
 ings and habits, may give rise to very considerable 
 fallacy in any scientific comparison. 
 
 In truth, the science of vital statistics can com- 
 mence only, in any country, with the date of trustworthy 
 official registration of births and deaths, with classifi- 
 cation of diseases, and ages at death. In England 
 this date was 1838. 
 
 From thence we are able to obtain the population 
 in the kingdom, or in any district ; we can get the 
 mortality during every year, from any specified cause, 
 and the ages of those who died. 
 
 If we direct our attention towards the prevalence 
 of any zymotic disease, for example, we may thus 
 deduce the death-rate per cent, or, better, per million 
 — where comparison is required — of population ; and 
 the proportion of deaths at each age to total deaths 
 from the cause under review. We can, moreover. 
 
CARE REQUISITE TO PREVENT FALLACY. 4I; 
 
 trace the operation of sanitary improvement from time 
 to time during the periods under examination, the 
 effect of millions expended on works of drainage, 
 supply of pure water, improved ventilation from 
 superintendence of buildings by local surveyors, etc. 
 We can further see, when comparing the proportional 
 mortality at the different ages, the effect of official 
 care in the protection of the young by children's 
 employment commissions, which have laboured and 
 reported at several periods, and, above all, of the large 
 supervision over the employment of women and 
 children in factories, and now in. almost all branches 
 of industry, by the large factory department of the 
 Home Office. Enlightened physicians, too, may trace 
 the effect of more scientific medical treatment, im- 
 provements in the pharmacopoeia, and in legislative 
 measures taken to prevent the adulteration of food, 
 the sale of poisons, and diseased meat, etc. 
 
 In every inquiry of this nature, however, the 
 greatest care should be.taken to guard against fallacy ; 
 and fallacy may easil)' arise. We must have all the 
 factors ; no number must be omitted, no circum- 
 stances left out of the account. If we would show 
 the result of any improved practice in any particular 
 trade, let us have the population, the number employed 
 in the trade, their ages, the rate of mortality among 
 the whole, and at each age as compared with that in 
 similar localities, their surroundings, etc. ; and if any 
 difference of condition or treatment is to be observed, 
 let us be careful to know the numbers under each 
 variety ; e.g. it is by some imagined that a particular 
 drug will prevent the effect of lead poison in chemical 
 manufacture. Such a statement as the following has 
 been aforetime put forward : — " Out of fifteen thousand 
 cases of lead poisoning treated, only four died who had 
 
414 ABSURD STATEMENTS TO PROP UP THEORY. 
 
 had this specific properly administered. See the won- 
 derfijl protection thus afforded ! " But where is the 
 wonder, or proof, in such an assertion ? We are not 
 told how many out of the fifteen thousand had taken 
 the specific ; far less how many had it properly ad- 
 ministered. From the bare statement, it would be 
 perfectly possible that the four only who died had the 
 benefit of the supposed remedy. To give percentages, 
 founded solely upon a varying number of doses, would 
 be equally delusive, the number of recipients and 
 other conditions in each case being omitted. Yet 
 persons unaccustomed to the consideration of figures 
 are but too apt to receive such, and similar statements, 
 as axiomatic proof of the value of a remedy ; and the 
 introduction of the " properly administered " provides 
 the quack with an excuse for any amount of failure. 
 
 To prove the efficacy of a nostrum, we have seen 
 an amount of suffering, in former times, put forth 
 constructively, when no means whatever of testing the 
 assertion were in existence ; and a rate of mortality 
 claimed that, had it been true, would have killed off 
 the entire population to the last man, many decades 
 before the comparison commenced ! 
 
 With reference to the spread of epidemics, also, we 
 have seen the most positive statements that a par- 
 ticular disease which prevailed at A, was kept out of 
 B by isolation or quarantine, without the smallest 
 attempt to show that no one had passed from A to 
 B, without any reference to the direction of the wind, 
 or of the local conditions of the two places ; and yet 
 such valueless opinions have, with the multitude under 
 panic, and fear of contagion, had the effect of setting 
 aside scientific deductions, the result of minute in- 
 vestigations, over thirty-five degrees of latitude,* that 
 
 * By the French physician, Dr. Chervin. 
 
NO GOOD CASE SHOULD BE OVER-STATED. 415 
 
 the disease in question was invariably dependent 
 on local sanitary conditions, and never in a healthy 
 locality communicated by the sick to their attendants. 
 On the other hand, in claiming large benefits from 
 sanitation, we have to guard against the fallacy of 
 proving too much. About twenty years ago, some 
 highly important statements (had they been true) were 
 put forth by medical authorities, to the effect that a 
 very large diminution of mortality had taken place 
 in the army, in consequence of certain measures of 
 sanitary improvement, then recently adopted. The 
 percentage of deaths in the forces was given for a 
 long period prior to the improvements, and, side by 
 side, was placed the then present rate of mortality. 
 The difference was immense ! Apparently one-half 
 of those men who had died during the former period 
 had been sacrificed to the want of appliances and 
 conditions which had since been provided. Unfor- 
 tunately, this mighty superstructure was destroyed by 
 one most monstrous, and, when pointed out, no less 
 transparent fallacy. During the first period given 
 recruits were enlisted for an indefinite period ; and if 
 men were invalided out of the service, such invalids 
 were entitled to a pension. These were therefore 
 treated in hospital by the army surgeon, and if they 
 died, it was the practice to debit the mortality to the 
 army. But before the second period of our famous 
 statistical comparison had arrived, the short service 
 system had been introduced. The men were then 
 enlisted for twelve years only, and in case of invaliding 
 out were not entitled to any pension. On this system 
 a man suffering from any serious malady readily 
 obtained his discharge, by which the regimental doctor 
 would be relieved of trouble and responsibility, and 
 the department saved the cost of maintenance and 
 
4l6 ALTERATION OF ARMV ENLISTMENT PERIODS. 
 
 burial, or subsequent pension. Tlie sick man returned 
 to the civil population ; and if he died, the military- 
 rate of mortality, at least, was rather diminished than 
 increased by his discharge. What, then, became of 
 the boasted life-saving by these measures? They 
 may have been to a considerable extent beneficial ; 
 but how easily do we see that fallacious inferences 
 may be built up on a base of very slender foundation. 
 A similar claim has been more recently put forth by 
 a correspondent in the Times, without the smallest 
 allusion to the different periods of enlistment (first, 
 for life ; next, for twelve years ; which, in 1 870, was 
 reduced to six years), so innocent are authorities on 
 figures when dealing with statistics. The case is 
 quite strong enough when fairly stated, and always 
 suffers by exaggeration. This factor of comparative 
 length of service will be, for a considerable time, no 
 doubt, a, very important one in any other statistical 
 calculations relating to the health or mortality from 
 any specific cause in the army, and probably also in 
 the navy. In order to afford results for any practical 
 comparison, not deaths alone should be given, not 
 careful classification of diseases only, but deaths at 
 each year of age, and from each cause separately. 
 Also number of years passed in the service, both in 
 the cases of death from the cause under review, and 
 in invalids discharged by reason of the same specific 
 cause, and the number of years served. 
 
 Suppose, again, our inquiry relates to the pre- 
 valence of any specific disease, which may be, in its 
 nature, chronic, or of long duration. Among recruits 
 in their first year, a certain proportion suffer from this 
 cause. Under the long-service system, the bad cases 
 would be treated in hospital during the second year, 
 the third, and so on ; but, under the short-service rule. 
 
IMPORTANT THAT AGES BE DISTINGUISHED. 417 
 
 such bad cases would be at once discharged, and thus 
 only the number sickening in each year would be the 
 number under treatment from time to time. Obviously, 
 there could be no just comparison as to the prevalence 
 of such disease in the two periods, or as a result of 
 any practice introduced in the second which had not 
 prevailed during the first period. In short, to be of 
 any real practical value, the returns, both in relation 
 to death and disease, should furnish materials for 
 thoroughly exhaustive investigation. 
 
 So also in civil life. If, for instance, any real com- 
 parison be desired in reference to the prevalence of 
 zymotic diseases, so as to note the march and result 
 of improving civilization, fair comparisons can only 
 be made when every possible difference of circum- 
 stances is taken into account. We must have age, 
 condition, occupation, local surroundings, and season. 
 The returns should specify the deaths from each 
 specific cause, under one year of age, from one to two, 
 two to five, five to ten, ten to twenty, twenty to 
 forty, forty to sixty, sixty and upwards. The two 
 first years it is very important to distinguish, but 
 usually we jump from one to five. Now, no infant 
 can be said to have attained to what may be called 
 child strength before two years old, and all epidemics 
 carry off most victims in infancy. Often, indeed, the 
 confounding, or mixing up, of infant with adult 
 mortality opens the door to considerable fallacy in 
 calculating results of sanitary improvement. Children, 
 especially infants, should invariably be kept distinct 
 from adults, and all comparison as to effects of varying 
 circumstances should, as invariably, be made between 
 subjects of the same age. 
 
 That sanitation must, in all cases, be productive 
 of benefit, no reasonable and intelligent person can 
 
 2 E 
 
41 8 LOCAL CONDITIONS SHOULD BE SIMILAR. 
 
 doubt. Take, as an example, the comparative 
 mortality in improved dwellings for the artisan class. 
 It has been customary, however, to compare the 
 death-rate in such model dwellings in London with 
 that of the entire metropolis. But it is manifestly- 
 unfair to contrast the value of exceptional improve- 
 ments in Bethnal Green with the normal mortality of 
 Belgravia : to draw comparisons between suburban 
 districts and the densest purlieus of a crowded city. 
 The comparison should uniformly be made between 
 the average mortality of the population, within the 
 smallest area immediately surrounding the model 
 dwelling which can be obtained, with that of its own 
 mortality. At the request of the directors of the 
 Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwell- 
 ings of the Industrious Classes — the pioneer society 
 in that movement — I, last year, obtained, at the 
 General Register Office, the mortality in the registra- 
 tion subdistrict within which each building of the 
 association is situate ; and was thus able to show, as 
 I expected, that the saving of life in these buildings, 
 when contrasted with the average rate of its sub- 
 district, was far greater than it had appeared when 
 compared with the whole of London. 
 
 We may, indeed, always feel certain, that improved 
 sanitation will lower the death-rate of any building, 
 district, town, or country. When, therefore, it is 
 asserted that the large expenditure during the last 
 half-century — amounting, I believe, in the aggregate to 
 about 1 20 millions sterling — has had no effect in lower- 
 ing the death-rate in this country, I stand prepared to 
 deny the statement. 
 
 I deny that purer air, by improved ventilation, and 
 the removal of nuisances of every kind, the supply of 
 purer water, the official supervision of women and 
 
OUR DEATH-RATE NOT GREATLY LOWERED. 419 
 
 young children in manufactures of all sorts, and 
 improved medical treatment of diseases of all kinds, 
 have been without effect. 
 
 It follows, if I am thus far right, that there mijist 
 exist some counteracting cause or causes. Let the 
 scientist, then, direct his labours towards the discovery 
 of such counteracting cause or causes. 
 
 Given fewer epidemics, resulting from improved 
 sanitation of various kinds, why has not the general 
 death-rate exhibited a corresponding diminution ? 
 
 One zealot may point to intemperance ; but is it 
 true that, in proportion to the population, there is 
 more drunkenness than formerly ? 
 
 Another enthusiast may urge that increased com- 
 forts, or, in other words, more luxurious habits among 
 the community, tend to lessen the constitutional 
 ability to resist the causes which induce death. 
 
 A third may point to the more general use of 
 narcotic poisons, as tobacco ; but the manufacturer may 
 allege that many hundredweights of substitutes, such 
 as cabbage leaves, etc., are smoked for one hundreds 
 weight of tobacco. 
 
 Every theorist may have his particular fancy, and 
 no doubt the personal habits of the people must 
 greatly affect the weal or woe of their existence, as 
 well as length of days. I much question, however, 
 whether any of the foregoing will anything like suffice 
 to account for this apparent mystery. Could we point 
 to some universal cause, some altered circumstance 
 which affects alike all persons of all habits and con- 
 ditions, it might help us. Suppose, for the sake of 
 example, the climate of the country had changed for 
 the worse, instead of the contrary (which, I believe, 
 meteorologists will affirm to be the case), that would 
 be a cause altogether independent of the habits of 
 
420 STATISTICS OF VALUE MUST AVOID FALLACY. 
 
 the individual, from which all alike would naturally 
 suffer. 
 
 It is manifestly not the purpose of this paper to 
 account for the great and disappointing fact, that thus 
 far, spite of universally improved sanitation, the general 
 death-rate of England has not been more diminished. 
 
 Inquiries of this nature may be carried to any 
 extent, by reference to the Registrar-General's returns. 
 We have at present the general death-rate, and the 
 proportions at fifteen different periods of life, to total. 
 Also a general classification of causes of death. From 
 these the statistician, may find annually, and as far 
 back as his records extend : — 
 
 1. The proportion of deaths, from any specified 
 cause, to total deaths. 
 
 2. The proportion of deaths at each age, to deaths 
 at all ages. 
 
 3. And, further, the proportion of deaths, from any 
 specified cause, at either division of age, to the total 
 deaths at such ages, and to the total of such cause of 
 death respectively. 
 
 I have only again to urge, that all deductions, to 
 be of value in the inquiry, must be based on well- 
 ascertained facts, stripped of every possible source of 
 fallacy. 
 
A BATTLING LIFE. FUGITIVE PAPERS. 42 I 
 
 STATISTICS OF SMALL-POX AND VACCI- 
 NATION IN ENGLAND,* 
 
 DEDUCED FROM THE RETURNS OF THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL. 
 
 In England we now have peculiar advantages which 
 enable us to observe the ravages of any epidemic, in 
 particular districts ; and the effect of any practice 
 upon the death-rate, such as sanitary works on the 
 one hand, or vaccination. 
 
 So far back as 1838 a complete system of registra- 
 tion of births and deaths was established, presided 
 over by a public officer called the Registrar-General, 
 who classifies the causes of death, as certified by 
 medical practitioners on registration. We can thus 
 compare the rate of increase or diminution, from all 
 or any causes of death, in proportion to the popula- 
 tion, and to the births. 
 
 Before 1838 we have no records of this kind. With 
 regard to small-pox, therefore — although numerous 
 well-meaning persons assert that the ravages of this 
 disease were most alarming and constant prior to the 
 " great discovery," as it is falsely t called — we really 
 
 * This paper, read at the International Congress held at Paris, 1880, 
 subsequently appeared in the Truthseeker. 
 
 t It was farmer Jesty— not Dr. Jenner— who first substituted for 
 small-pox, cow-pox inoculation ; which was opposed by John Hunter, the 
 greatest of physiologists— but patronized by George III., when brought 
 out by Jenner, three years after the death of Hunter. (See note, p. 373. ) 
 
42 2 HOW CONSTRUCTIVE S.P. MORTALITY BUILT UP. 
 
 know only that Mr. Marson, the surgeon to the Small- 
 pox Hospital for forty years, has testified * that there 
 was no epidemic of small-pox in London from 1796 
 to 1825. 
 
 What the small-pox mortality was in 1825 we 
 have no means of knowing ; but Baron, in his life of 
 Jenner,t says, " In 1823 Edward Jenner died, and in 
 1825 small-pox was as prevalent in London as during 
 any of the three great epidemics of the preceding 
 century." Here we have evidence that small-pox 
 was not a constant quantity, as so often insisted ; but 
 epidemic only, in the last, as in the present century ; 
 during which we have also had three great small-pox 
 epidemics — 1825, 1838, and 1871. 
 
 The sole foundation for the constant small-pox 
 theory, formerly, is the statement of Dr. Lettsom : | 
 " In London and its environs there are about one 
 million inhabitants, of whom about 3000 die annually 
 by the natural small-pox ; or about 36,000 in England 
 and Ireland." But it is obvious, on its face, that 
 nothing could be more fallacious than this statement. 
 Even for London, what were then called the Bills of 
 Mortality were made up from reports of ignorant 
 nurses, who called any sort of exanthematous disease 
 "small-pox:" — and the "or" is ridiculous, or some- 
 thing worse. 
 
 The following are extracts from reports of National 
 Vaccine Establishment, constituted in 1808 : — 
 
 1811. — " Previous to the discovery of vaccination the average deaths 
 
 by small-pox, in London, was 2000 annually. " 
 1818.— The above was repeated. 
 
 * Reynolds' "System of Medicine," Article "Small-Pox.' 
 
 t Vol. i. p. 272. 
 
 % "Observations on Cow- Pox," p. 31, 2nd Edition. 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE 187I EPIDEMIC. 423 
 
 1826. — " Before the introduction of vaccination the average number of 
 deaths by small-pox, in London, was annually about 4000." 
 
 1834. — "Only 334 deaths by small-pox have been reported . . . 
 falling short by at least 4000 of the average deaths annually 
 by small-pox, in London, before the cow-pox was dis- 
 covered." 
 
 1836. — " The annual loss by small-pox in the metropolis, before vacci- 
 nation was established, exceeded 5,000." 
 
 1839. — " 4000 lives are saved every year in London since vaccination." 
 N.B. — This year, 1839, was one of those small-pox epidemic 
 years from which Dr. Seaton's famous average was taken 
 before compulsory vaccination. 
 
 Thus has constructive small-pox mortality in the 
 past been built up by the experts to impose upon the 
 credulous. 
 
 With regard to 1825, then, we are utterly ignorant 
 as to the extent of the epidemic. That of 1838, which 
 prevailed four years in England, was very severe ; 
 and the average of those four years has been con- 
 tinuously assumed to have been the annual average 
 death-rate from small-pox from the commencement 
 of the century down to 1853, when the neglect to 
 vaccinate an infant within three months of its birth 
 was first made a penal offence by the wisdom of the 
 British Parliament. We have no means, however, of 
 comparing the mortality in different localities in the 
 1838 visitation. 
 
 The 1 87 1 epidemic in England and Wales may be 
 said to have commenced in the last quarter of 1870, 
 and continued to the end of the second quarter of 
 1872, soon after which dry weather set in. Brighton 
 and Llanelly, two coast towns, appear first to have 
 been epidemically attacked ; next London, and the 
 ports on the east coast. With very few exceptions 
 the epidemic period did not extend over more than 
 four quarters at one place ; in some only two,- — burst- 
 ing into activity, and as suddenly departing. In 
 
424 DAMP DIRTY DISTRICTS SUFFER MOST. 
 
 several, the greatest mortality was during the second 
 quarter of 1872. The epidemic varied exceptionally 
 in its duration, as well as its date. Thus its force 
 was spread over six quarters in Swansea and Guis- 
 borough ; five in Durham, Leeds, and Wolverhampton ; 
 whilst, on the other hand, at Norwich, Yeovil, Chester, 
 Weymouth, and Stoke-upon-Trent it spent itself in 
 two quarters. 
 
 Persons who believe that vaccination spreads 
 instead of mitigating the disease, note that many of 
 the later outbreaks (marked f in the tables) followed 
 the panic, and vaccination prosecutions. They point 
 to this as cause and effect — e.g. Northampton suffered 
 the highest small-pox mortality of any inland town. 
 In that place, not particularly clean, perhaps, much 
 opposition to vaccination was felt. In the middle of 
 January (the small-pox deaths in the two previous 
 quarters having been 47 and 9 respectively) 120 
 vaccination summonses were disposed of in one day. 
 The people, being chiefly working shoemakers, were 
 too poor to pay repeated fines, and therefore suc- 
 cumbed to the pressure. The small-pox deaths during 
 the then current quarter reached 1 57, and in the next 
 quarter 216. The same results followed similar action 
 in other places : the result of such increased inoculation, 
 as they deem vaccination to be in fact. 
 
 From the following tables of small-pox mortality 
 in proportion to population, calculated on the census 
 returns of 1871, it is abundantly plain that this, in 
 common with all other epidemic diseases, chiefly 
 prevails in crowded and dirty towns, the presence of 
 superabundant moisture increasing its force ; and 
 probably that the mixture of salt, with filthy fresh 
 water, supplies an additional aggravation in seaports 
 at river mouths. A large number of inland and clean 
 
PRESENCE OF THE EPIDEMIC UNIVERSAL. 425 
 
 towns on the coast, as well as inland watering-places, 
 depending on free comnaunication and reception of 
 visitors from all parts, at all times, afford ample proof 
 that such were able to bear the presence of sporadic 
 cases — either inoculated, as alleged by some, under 
 the name of vaccination, or imported, as alleged by 
 others — without any spreading of the disease. 
 
 At all events, it must be admitted that by these 
 statistics we have demonstrative proof that vaccina- 
 tion cannot either prevent or mitigate small-pox. 
 How far the general mortality from all causes is 
 increased by vaccination and revaccination can never 
 be known ; or at least until the practice, after having 
 thus proved abortive for the object for which it has 
 been introduced, shall have been — like its forerunner, 
 inoculation proper— for a long period discontinued 
 before the light of sanitary science. 
 
 The following tables show the rate of small-pox 
 mortality .1870-1872, per million of population in 
 the principal districts in England, having 50,000 
 inhabitants and upwards, including also any of less 
 population where the epidemic was severely prevalent 
 — the four heaviest quarters in each case. Early 
 outbreaks marked * ; later outbreaks marked t- 
 N.B.— There are 600 principal districts in England 
 and Wales, reckoning London as one; of which 61 
 only had no small-pox deaths during the 18 months 
 ended 30th June, 1872 : — 
 
 
 I Inland Towns. 
 
 tNorthampton ... . 
 
 8450 
 
 Croydon 
 
 Bedwellty 
 
 7940 
 
 fBurton-on-Trent. . 
 
 Auckland 
 
 . ... 6670 
 
 Manchester 
 
 tWalsall 
 
 6170 
 
 tClifton 
 
 Coventry 
 
 . ... 5080 
 
 Nantwich 
 
 tWolverhampton . . . 
 
 4810 
 
 (5 qrs-) 
 
 Keighley 
 
 Bolton 
 
 960 
 900 
 
 870 
 810 
 780 
 
 750 
 740 
 
426 COMPARATIVE SMALL-POX MORTALITY, 
 
 tMerthyr ... 
 tDudley 
 
 fPontypridd 
 Nottingham.. 
 Yeovil 
 
 tSheffield .. 
 tMold 
 
 tUlverstoii . . 
 tStourbridge 
 +Leicester 
 tRotherham 
 Guisborough 
 
 *tWest Ham 
 
 fBasford 
 Wakefield 
 
 Prescot 
 
 Salford 
 Stoke-on-Trent 
 
 tChesterfield 
 
 Redruth 
 
 Brentford . . . 
 *Ormskirk . . 
 
 Leeds (J qrs. 
 
 Barton-on-Irwell 
 
 ■■ 4550 
 
 4320 
 (chiefly i) 
 ... 4200 
 
 3980 
 ... 3920 
 (2 qrs.) 
 
 3810 
 - 3530 
 
 3270 
 . . . 2960 
 
 2810 
 ... 2800 
 
 2560 
 (6 qrs.) 
 ... 2450 
 
 (5 qrs.) 
 
 2390 
 . . . 2060 
 
 2040 
 ... i960 
 
 1670 
 (2 qrs.) 
 ... 1630 
 
 1570 
 ... 1510 
 
 1380 
 .. 1270 
 
 1030 
 
 Warwick 
 
 fWarrington 
 
 tBirmingham and Aston 
 jOldham 
 
 Chorlton 
 
 tYork 
 
 tBelper 
 
 Kingston ... 
 
 Wigan 
 
 tDerby 
 
 Penzance 
 tBamsley 
 
 Wolstanton . . . 
 tBumley 
 
 Rochdale 
 tLincoln ... ... 
 
 tWest Bromwich 
 
 Halifax 
 
 Dewsbury . . . 
 tKing's Norton.. 
 fBradford 
 
 Stockport 
 
 Huddersfield 
 
 Bury (Lan.) .. 
 
 Haslingden ... 
 
 Macclesfield .. 
 
 Preston 
 
 Ashton-under-Lyne 
 
 Blackburn . . . 
 
 720 
 700 
 680 
 640 
 600 
 
 2. — Ports at River Mouths. 
 
 *Great Grimsby 950O 
 
 *Sunderland §790 
 
 *South Shields 8250 
 
 tBideford 6740 
 
 Southampton 6300 
 
 tScarborough 3390 
 
 tPortsmouth 3380 
 
 tEast Stonehouse 2950 
 
 Yarmouth 2760 
 
 Alverstoke, Gosport ... 2340 
 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne . . . 5900 
 
 tDover 5790 
 
 *Llanelly ... 5560 
 
 (last qr. 70) 
 
 *Gateshead 5260 
 
 Tynemouth 397o 
 
 Neath 3850 
 
 Maryport 
 
 Stoke Damerel ... 
 
 Plymouth 
 
 Liverpool 
 
 Falmouth 
 
 *S wansea 
 
 Weymouth 
 
 Hull and Sculcoates 
 
 Hartlepool 
 
 Whitby 
 
 Burnham 
 
 fWhitehaven 
 
 Barnstaple 
 
 Birkenhead 
 
 ... 3810 
 
 3770 
 ... 3610 
 
 3580 
 ••■ 3470 
 
 2270 
 (6 qrs.) 
 ... 2270 
 (2 qrs.) 
 
 i860 
 
PORTS AT RIVER MOUTHS MOST AFFECTED. 427 
 
 3. — Ports on Rivers. 
 
 Norwich ... 
 
 Durham ... . 
 
 Bridgewater ... 
 Bridport 
 
 *Stockton 
 
 tipswich ... . 
 
 London 
 
 (Hackney gave . 
 Shoreditch ,, 
 Bethnal-green) . 
 
 ... 6910 
 (2 qrs.) 
 
 595° 
 (5 qrs.) 
 
 ... 4100 
 
 3530 
 ... 2990 
 
 2520 
 ... 2380 
 
 3230 
 
 ... 4220 
 
 4190 
 
 Newport (Mon.) ... 
 
 tChepstow 
 
 Bristol and Bedr ... 
 Chester... 
 
 King's Lynn 
 
 Medway (Sheerness) 
 
 tCardiff 
 
 Gravesend 
 
 Totnes 
 
 Sheppey (Chatham) 
 
 1940 
 
 1310 
 
 1000 
 
 840 
 
 2 qrs.) 
 
 820 
 
 710 
 
 630 
 
 510 
 
 400 
 
 no 
 
 4.— Coast Watering-places. 
 
 Cromer 
 'Brighton 
 
 Holywell (see Mold) 
 Exmouth 
 Harrogate 
 Newhaven ... 
 Isle of Wight . 
 Haverfordwest 
 Conway . . 
 Barmouth ... 
 Eastbourne 
 Workington... 
 
 1070 
 (last qr. 70) 
 1020 
 
 930 
 740 
 520 
 360 
 290 
 270 
 240 
 230 
 210 
 
 Ramsgate 
 
 170 
 
 Harwich 
 
 150 
 
 Newton Abbot (Teign 
 
 
 mouth and Torquay) 
 
 no 
 
 Tenby 
 
 100 
 
 Folkestone 
 
 100 
 
 Worthing 
 
 90 
 
 Margate 
 
 70 
 
 Deal 
 
 70 
 
 Anglesea 
 
 60 
 
 Pembroke 
 
 60 
 
 Bangor 
 
 50 
 
 5. — Inland Watering-places. 
 
 Matlock 
 
 Tunbridge Wells 
 , Cheltenham ... 
 
 560 
 
 280 
 
 40 
 
 Bath 
 
 Leamington , 
 Buxton ... 
 
 10 
 o 
 o 
 
 It will be seen that the epidemic prevailed most 
 severely at the river-mouth ports. In like manner 
 Leith, and especially Dundee, suffered most in Scot- 
 land ; Dublin and Cork in Ireland, where the mortality 
 reached 7500, and 23,200 (i qr.) per million respec- 
 tively ; and the Hague, Hamburg, and Rotterdam, 
 more than double that of Berlin. 
 
 It is truly astonishing to observe what loose state- 
 ments, and what hardihood of assertion, are commonly 
 
428 LOOSE STATEMENTS MISCALLED EVIDENCE. 
 
 indulged in by some advocates of vaccination, and 
 accepted as evidence by others. Dr. Worlomont, of 
 Brussels, who recently read a paper before the British 
 Medical Association, therein stated that out of 10,000 
 subjects whom he had vaccinated with calf-lymph, not 
 one, as far as he was aware, was attacked by small- 
 pox during the epidemic of 1871 ; and this has been 
 referred to as evidence that they were not. The 
 medical chief associated with the Health Department 
 of the British Government, 1848-1854 (Dr. Southwood 
 Smith), was much impressed with the axiom which is 
 instilled into the mind of every student of law — that 
 evidence is what a man has seen, not what he has not 
 seen. Dr. Worlomont may not have witnessed an 
 attack of small-pox among any of these 10,000, but 
 that is no evidence at all that none of them suffered 
 an attack ; for they might have been treated by any 
 number of other practitioners. 
 
 A most remarkable instance of this difference' in 
 what is called evidence was afforded in the following 
 case. Among the 542 medical men, chiefly hospital 
 surgeons, who answered the celebrated questions 
 issued by the English Medical Officer of Health in 
 1857, Mr. Hutchinson was specially mentioned to the 
 Commons Committee on Vaccination, 1871, and a 
 letter exhibited to them from that gentleman, to the 
 effect that during many years he had not seen the 
 slightest suspicion of injury resulting from vaccination.* 
 What could be more apparently conclusive, as coming 
 from so close an observer, of such high standing and 
 unimpeachable veracity .■• But, called before the com- 
 mittee a few days after, Mr. Hutchinson proved — 
 I. That he had not vaccinated since he was an 
 apprentice. (How, then, could a man see that which he 
 * See page 187, Committee's Report. 
 
FRIGHTFUL INCREASE OF INFANT SYPHILIS. 429 
 
 had no opportunity of seeing ?) 2. That he had then 
 before him eleven cases of invaccinated syphilis, out 
 of thirteen robust adults, revaccinated from a single 
 apparently healthy vaccinifer, at a vaccination station, 
 without, in his opinion, any blame to the operator.* 
 Here, then, was an appeal, not from Philip drunk to 
 Philip sober, but from what Hutchinson had not seen, 
 to that which he had seen. 
 
 At the discussion on Dr. Worlomont's paper, the 
 meeting was asked by Dr. Stevens, of the Medical 
 Department, to believe that the danger of the trans- 
 mission of syphilis by arm-to-arm vaccination is " the 
 millionth part of a chance," and Dr. Ballard, also of 
 that department, asserted that the risk is " infini- 
 tesimal, for," he said, " I never saw it." The meeting 
 was also told that the late chief vaccination inspector. 
 Dr. Seaton, was not bigoted, but open to conviction, 
 if he could see mischief. But is it not possible that 
 gentlemen may sometimes view these matters through 
 departmental spectacles, which have not the power of 
 exhibiting actual facts } If we examine the figures 
 of the Registrar-General, in a return to the House of 
 Commons (No. 433, session 1877), procurable from 
 Hansard, it will be found that the deaths from syphilis 
 among infants under one year, had increased fourfold 
 per million of births in 1875, as compared with 1847. 
 In 1847 the rate was 472 per milHon born, died of 
 syphihs under one. In 1875, 1826 per million born, 
 died of that disease under one. Now the Contagious 
 Diseases Act is upheld on the ground that it has 
 very much diminished syphilis. Whence, then, comes 
 this frightful increase ? Is it impossible that that which 
 has been communicated to robust adults in revaccina- 
 tion, may affect weakly infants at three months old } 
 * See his evidence, page 283, Committee's Report. 
 
430 GREAT INCREASE OF INOCULABLE MORTALITY. 
 
 If so impossible, why ? And is the " millionth part of 
 a chance " of Dr. Stevens, and " I have not seen it " 
 from Dr. Ballard, to neutralize the evidence of the 
 Registrar-General, which it may never have occurred 
 to these gentlemen to examine ? When thousands of 
 helpless infants die of such diseases, no wonder there 
 are fewer of them than formerly to be carried off by 
 small-pox. Nevertheless, out of 80,000 small-pox 
 deaths during twenty years of enforced vaccination, 
 given in table 17 of the same return, it may be seen 
 that 43,000 were under five years old. When, it may 
 be asked, should these have been r^-vaccinated ? 
 
 A return made by the Medical Department itself, 
 No. 50, session 1877, shows that out of sixteen infants 
 vaccinated at Misterton, Lincolnshire, no less than 
 six were dead within a month, from erysipelas. 
 
 From a further return (No. "]&, session i880j 
 Hansard) may be deduced the lamentable fact that, 
 in round numbers, 4500 infants, under five years old, 
 died in 1877 from syphilis, scrofula, skin diseases, and 
 erysipelas, more than the proportion of such deaths in 
 1847 (in which year the causes of death first began to 
 be classified) would have given. As an obvious con- 
 sequence, the return shows that, whereas formerly two- 
 thirds of the small-pox deaths were children under 
 five, since the most stringently enforced vaccination in 
 1 867 only one-third were under five. Those slaughtered 
 by vaccination could not afterwards die of small- 
 pox. Had these survived vaccination, their normal 
 number would have been added to the small-pox 
 deaths, i.e. about 1400, to save which, 4500 were 
 killed. Moreover, we see that, deducting the two- 
 thirds and one-third respectively, the deaths from 
 small-pox at all ages above five had increased in the 
 proportion of 174 to 100, i.e. the annual average since 
 enforced vaccination. 
 
SUCH MORTALITY ALSO GREATER AT ALL AGES. 43 I 
 
 The most recent return, No. 392, session 2, 1880, 
 more than fully corroborates these figures. The 
 deaths among infants under one year, per million of 
 births, from all causes save seven, had diminished 
 37,919 in the year 1878, compared with the rate in 
 1847, as the result of sanitation ; on the other hand, 
 from the remaining seven causes, directly or indirectly 
 inoculable, the deaths had increased 26,313 — the 
 balance, as regards infant life under one, is about 
 11,000, apparently in favour of sanitation. No less 
 than 37 per cent, of the small-pox deaths are still 
 under ten years old, i.e. before arriving at the official 
 revaccination age ; and the outcome of the whole 
 matter is — that under one year alone, the number 
 annually sacrificed by the poisoned lancet is just 
 26,000, to save 50 from small-pox ! We see that, in 
 spite of this infant slaughter, the number of deaths 
 from all causes, among infants, has diminished at the 
 same time that the general death-rate, at all ages, 
 has been about kept up to the accustomed average 
 standard. The rate of mortality above five must 
 surely, then, have increased. How 1 By sanitary 
 works } 
 
 Another table to be found in the Annual Report 
 (1877)* of the Registrar-General (table 4, p. 259) 
 gives the death-rate at all ages, per million of popula- 
 tion, from every specified cause, for each quinquennial 
 period from 1850 to 1877. If this table be analyzed 
 it will be found that the average of the three years, 
 1875-6-7, as compared with 1850-1854, shows an 
 increase of deaths from the following causes : syphilis, 
 51 per million, or 138 per cent, upon the 1850-1854 
 rate; skin disease, 13 per million, or 118 per cent; 
 
 » These Reports are necessarily two or three years behind the period 
 to which they relate. 
 
432 FALSE ASSERTION AS TO FRENCH ORIGIN. 
 
 phlegmon (boil), 95 per cent. ; cancer, 60 per cent.-; 
 tabes mesenterica, 26 per cent. There are other 
 causes which have also greatly increased, such as 
 bronchitis, 123 per cent. ; atrophy and debility, 61 per 
 cent, etc. At the same time, almost all the zymbtics 
 or filth diseases, as they are sometimes called, as 
 cholera, fever, measles, diarrhoea, etc., have decreased. 
 But even these do not appear to have decreased as ' 
 much as we have a right to expect, as the result of an 
 expenditure of upwards of a hundred and fifty millions 
 sterling on works of sanitary improvement during the 
 past thirty years. The sum, for only the five years 
 ending 1879, has been stated at seventy-seven millions. 
 
 To return to small-pox — this is one of the causes 
 which in 1875-1877, as compared with 1850-1854, had 
 diminished as much as 62 per cent. ; but during the 
 quinquennium, 1870- 1874, small-pox gave an increase 
 of 64 per cent, above 1850-1854. 
 
 On the discussion of Dr. Worlomont's paper above 
 alluded to, and in answer to the allegation of Dr. 
 Cameron, M.P., that the quality of the human vaccine 
 lymph must have deteriorated, because a greater por- 
 tion of admittedly vaccinated small-pox patients die 
 now than formerly. Dr. Ballard asserted that the 
 epidemic of 1871 was one of peculiar " ferocity," and 
 therefore ought to be excluded in our reasoning on 
 the question. It originated, he said, in a badly vacci- 
 nated district of France, and there, it seems, attained 
 an exceeding " ferocity," spread all over Europe, was 
 , brought to England, and so on. Whether or not 
 Dr. Ballard infers that bad, by which it is presumed 
 he meant absence or neglect of, vaccination, produced 
 this peculiar "ferocity," it may be difficult to conjec- 
 ture, or in what way it could so act. But is Dr. 
 Ballard correct in supposing that the English epidemic 
 
CLEAN AND DIRTY DISTRICTS COMPARED. 433 
 
 of 1 87 1 was really imported from France, by refugees 
 from the war, as it was then said ? Mr. Marson, in 
 his evidence before the committee, said, " The disease 
 was. raging to a great extent in the East of London, 
 before the French war broke out." * Southampton was 
 accused, at the time, of being badly infected ; but the 
 small-pox mortality in that town was much less than 
 in many other .places. It will be seen by the table 
 previously given, that the small-pox death-rate per 
 million of population, during that epidemic, ranged 
 from 10 in Bath, and 40 in Cheltenham (a place 
 in which Dr. Ballard tells us vaccination has been 
 much neglected, and where, therefore, extraordinary 
 " ferocity " was to have been expected), to 2380 per 
 million in London generally (against 4200 in Bethnal 
 Green and Shoreditch districts), 3530 in Mold (which 
 was brought by Dr. Seaton so strongly before the 
 Parliamentary Committee as thoroughly vaccinated.f 
 6300 in Southampton, 8450 in Northampton, 8790 in 
 Sunderland, and 9500 in Great Grimsby. And the 
 outbreak first appeared virulently in Llanelly, in South 
 Wales, and Brighton ; next London, etc. Ireland 
 followed England, chiefly in 1872. Ireland, which, 
 according to Dr. Seaton before the committee, was 
 " the best vaccinated country in Europe " t (there 
 being no small-pox there at the moment), yielded in 
 Cork, during the second quarter of the following year, 
 a death-rate of 23,200 per million from that disease. 
 Compare the two— "much neglected" Cheltenham, 
 40 ; " best vaccinated " Cork, 23,200 per million ! 
 
 Several local outbreaks have, moreover, occurred 
 in Ireland since 1872, as exhibited by the quarterly 
 reports of the Registrar-General for Ireland ; e.£-. in 
 
 * See Evidence, qy. 4705, p. 269. 
 t See Report, p. 298. t Ibid-, P- 3i7- 
 
 2 F 
 
434 DEATH-RATE NOT RAISED BY SMALL-POX. 
 
 the second quarter of 1873 there were 8300 small-pox 
 deaths per million in Tralee (annual rate), and 14,000 
 in Lurgan ; same quarter, 1874, 8000 per million in 
 Londonderry ; third quarter, 1874, gave 7000 in Bel- 
 fast ; the next quarter, 8100 in Balla, 8400 in Kilta- 
 magh, and 17,000 in Fox ford ; while the second 
 quarter of 1875 yielded in Athenry 20,800 per million 
 small-pox deaths. (See these Reports, Nos. 38, 42, 43, 
 44, and 46.) 
 
 Again, if the epidemic of 1871 is to be excluded 
 from our efficient lymph investigations, on account of 
 its " ferocity," why are not ferocious epidemics of the 
 past to be excluded also ? Dr. Seaton, who is no 
 bigot, in his " Handbook of Vaccination," gives the 
 small-pox mortality 1838-1840 as that which we are 
 to bear in mind as the standard rate prior to vaccina- 
 tion laws. Why is our average to be taken from the 
 " ferocity " of 1 838-1840 exclusive of 1796- 182 5 (when, 
 according to a report of the College of Physicians, 
 only one and a half per cent, of the population were 
 vaccinated).' And when, as claimed by the Medical 
 Department, g$^ per cent, of the children born have 
 been vaccinated, why is the " ferocity " of 1 87 1 to be 
 excluded in calculating results ? 
 
 Another pertinent inquiry is, why do not these 
 small-pox epidemics greatly raise the general death- 
 rate ? In 1 838-1 840 the average rate, for the three 
 years, was 22'5 per thousand, the average of the forty 
 years, 1838-1877, being 22'2. In 1871-1872 the rate 
 was 21 g only, or under the general average. 
 
 Dr. Ballard told the meeting that 4I per cent, only 
 now remained unvaccinated. He was asked, "44 per 
 cent, of what ? " and he said, " Of the births." Does 
 any doctor mean to tell us that cent, per cent, of 
 the children born survive ! 
 
SANITATION HAS SWEPT AWAY MANY PLAGUES. 435 
 
 The year i88l was exceptionally healthy, the 
 general death-rate in the first quarter of the year was 
 2 1 '8 per thousand— "so low a proportion in the first 
 three months of the year has never been reported since 
 1856;" and in the second quarter the rate was i8'6 
 per thousand only — " the lowest proportion which has 
 ever been reported for the second quarter of any year 
 in England and Wales since the establishment of civil 
 registration in 1837" (Registrar-General's Quarterly 
 Reports). Sixty per cent, of the small-pox deaths (1698) 
 in London during the six months of 1881 which had 
 the highest small-pox mortality, occurred in the second 
 quarter, when they reached 1018 ; and of these no 
 less than 63 per cent, were in three of the twenty-nine 
 main districts into which the metropolis is divided, 
 viz. : Hackney, Fulham, and Greenwich ;* three others 
 gave 16 per cent; nine more yielded 15 per cent; 
 leaving the other 6 per cent to the remaining fourteen 
 districts. In like manner, during the third quarter 
 there were 461 small-pox deaths, 63 per cent, of which 
 occurred in six only of the districts. 
 
 It was the same in 1884, when, of the total small- 
 pox mortality during the nine months ending Septem- 
 ber, 44 per cent, occurred in one out of the twenty-nine 
 districts, i.e. Hackney. 
 
 To revert for one moment to the nature of " evi- 
 dence." We cannot assume that everybody must have 
 small-pox, in the absence of some specific, or charm, 
 to ward it off; because very many millions have lived 
 ' in the world without having the small-pox, before 
 either inoculation or vaccination was heard of Neither 
 can we assume that sanitation and civilization, which 
 have exterminated plague, sweating sickness, jail 
 
 * See this comparative mortality in the low-lying districts amply 
 confirmed, p. vii., " Annual Summary," 1881. 
 
436 FAILURE OF VACCINATION IN INDIA. 
 
 fever, etc., etc., can have no influence in diminishing 
 small-pox (remember Bethnal Green and Belgravia, 
 Cheltenham and Cork). Therefore we cannot prove 
 that any one who now escapes does so because vacci- 
 nated, any more that because of sanitation. But every 
 vaccinated person who has died of small-pox, does 
 prove that in such case (and they are legion) vac- 
 cination has failed either to prevent or mitigate 
 small-pox. 
 
 The absence of pock-marked faces has hitherto 
 been accepted, by persons who, ignoring sanitation, 
 decline to examine figures, as evidence of the value 
 of vaccination. This has now been given up by the 
 Registrar-General, who, with an ingenuity of assump- 
 tion which out-Herod's Herod, ascribes the increased 
 small-pox death-rate among vaccinated adults, as 
 compared with the unvaccinated, to the obvious cause 
 (as he alleges) that the latter, having in youth neglected 
 vaccination, " at the later periods of life an increasing 
 proportion of them has become protected by attacks 
 of small-pox " ("Annual Summary," London, i88r, 
 p. vi.). The paucity of pock-marked faces now surely, 
 therefore, arises (as well as fewer deaths in adult life) 
 from the absence of vaccination ! 
 
 From reports, 1 877-1 878, by the Sanitary Com- 
 missioners with the Government of Calcutta, we learn 
 that in the provinces of India vaccination has had no 
 effect upon the prevalence of small-pox : i.e. the 
 vaccinations in 1877 exceeded those of 1878, whereas 
 the small-pox mortality was greatest in the latter 
 year. Fever carried off ten times as many victims. 
 We may deduce from these facts that the filthy state 
 of the people has more to do with the prevalence of 
 small-pox, as of other zymotics, than the absence of 
 vaccination. 
 
CIRCUMSTANCES OF SUFFERERS CONSIDERED. 437 
 
 That sanitary appliances do influence the death- 
 rate, we know not only from the official returns, but 
 from the experience of " The Metropolitan Associa- 
 tion for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious 
 Classes." Their buildings are situate in "the fever 
 nests " of London ; the population living in them is 
 four times more dense in proportion to the ground 
 area they occupy than that of their surrounding 
 neighbourhoods ; there is no interference whatever 
 with the habits of the inmates ; yet in twenty-eight 
 years there has been no epidemic within their walls. 
 Cholera did not enter ; typhus is shut out ; small-pox, 
 in 1 87 1, did not spread from one or two sporadic cases 
 present ; and the average death-rate has been from 
 five to ten per thousand every year below that of 
 London at large. For the two years last past it is 
 seven and eight. 
 
 The hackneyed statement that non-vaccinated 
 small-pox patients die in greater proportion than the 
 vaccinated— z>. as cause and effect — may be better 
 credited when scientists are able to say, " We saw a 
 thousand healthy and robust children, born of parents 
 free from taint, well nourished and brought up, with 
 every attendant sanitary advantage, suffering from 
 no overwork, no overcrowding, no dirt, but under the 
 influence of healthful exercise, free ventilation, and 
 cleanliness; nevertheless, they were not vaccinated, 
 and in the course of so many years nine hundred of 
 these were attacked by small-pox of whom half died. 
 Again we saw another thousand children, born of un- 
 healthy parents, left to the care of neighbours or 
 juvenile hirelings, ill fed, unwashed, who were brought 
 up in greatly overcrowded hovels, and never knew 
 what pure air meant ; but they had been vaccinated, 
 with four good cicatrices on each arm :— the small- 
 
438 MEDICAL GUESSES OF LITTLE VALUE. 
 
 pox raged around these children, of whom a hundred 
 only were attacked, and two only died ! " 
 
 Let them prove such to be facts, and we may 
 listen to them. But when, in addition to the poison 
 influences described as attaching to our second thou- 
 sand, numberless infants, in town slum populations and 
 elsewhere, are notoriously born in such a diseased and 
 weakly state, with such a slender thread of life that 
 no doctor, however enterprising, dare add a feather's 
 weight to the load under which the wee ones struggle 
 for breath ; and, though these stagger on a few 
 months, or years, the first effort which nature is able 
 to make, in the shape, probably, of small-pox eruption, 
 takes them, happily, to their graves ; and when, again 
 and again, we are told that such deaths are attribut- 
 able to non-vaccination, who does not sicken at this 
 scientific suggestio falsi f * 
 
 And when to this we add the patent fact that in 
 " medical " statistics the numberless deaths directly 
 resulting from vaccination among our ill-used and 
 weak infantile examples (for we must remember, about 
 half only of such survive their tenth year), but regis- 
 tered as erysipelas, diarrhoea, eczema, syphilis, etc. 
 etc., are never even so much as hinted at, who is not 
 filled with righteous indignation at the equally un- 
 warrantable suppressio veri f 
 
 * Let it again be understood that this applies only to those in 
 authority ; who know, or ought to know, the facts. It by no means 
 touches the medical profession, who have no more opportunity of 
 examining statistics than the public at large. Mr. Marson testified 
 before the committee that, in confluent small-pox, vaccination marks 
 are obliterated by the eruption ; so that none can tell whether such 
 have been vaccinated or not. Yet it is constantly assumed that medical 
 hospital returns and certificates in regard to vaccination are " reliable" 
 (and this is repeated in the "Annual Summary," 1881) ; whereas, on 
 Mr. Marson's showing, they are not worth the paper on which they 
 are written. 
 
ADVERSE EVIDENCES CUMULATIVE. 439 
 
 This cumulative evidence goes on. E.g. during the 
 first three quarters of 1884, the small-pox deaths in 
 the Metropolis were 74 under the average of the last 
 ten years ; 44 per cent, of those which did occur 
 having taken place in one out of the 29 districts, viz. 
 Hackney. A re- vaccination scare, nevertheless, was 
 got up all over London by the officials, the result 
 being that in the fourth quarter the small-pox deaths 
 exceeded the average by 340, and they were more 
 generally diffused over the whole of London, though 
 chiefly in the least sanitary districts (as ever), Hackney 
 still yielding the largest crop. 
 
 On the other hand. Dr. Makuna, late of the Fulham 
 small-pox hospital, sent out queries in 1883, which 
 were answered by about 400 medicos (122 of them 
 being public vaccinators), all, with few exceptions, in 
 favour of vaccination. Yet, in reply to one of the 
 questions, no less than 40 different kinds of disease 
 (from syphilis to erysipelas) were admitted by these 
 medicos to have been observed in their practice, as 
 resulting from the operation. 
 
440 A BATTLING LIFE. FUGITIVE PAPERS. 
 
 VACCINATION MORTALITY.* 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 BOARD .f 
 
 Kingscote, Wokingham, 27th November, 1879. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Permit me to call your attention to the small- 
 pox returns, recently circulated through the press, 
 from the Metropolitan Asylums Board. Whilst by 
 no means disproving the evidence given before the 
 Commons Vaccination Committee, 1871, by Mr. 
 Marson and others, to the effect that when, small-pox 
 is confluent no one can tell whether the patient had 
 been vaccinated or not, and that in many persons the 
 vaccination marks wear out, these returns surely do 
 not bear out Dr. Jenner's contention that a vaccinated 
 person was protected from an attack of small-pox 
 through life ; for 1008 admittedly vaccinated patients 
 died in these hospitals alone, out of 2667 deaths, 
 during the comparatively mild epidemic of 1 876-1 879. 
 
 * This letter, moved for as a Return to the House of Commons by- 
 Mr. Hopwood, Q.C., was laid on the table by Mr. Dodson (No. 63, 
 July I, 1880). Presumably under the influence of the Medical Depart- 
 ment, however, the then President intimated to the Speaker's secretary 
 that it was not desirable it should be printed. It is for those to 
 explain the reason who contrived the suppression of the important facts 
 therein revealed. 
 
 t The Right Hon. G. Sclater Booth, M.P. 
 
MORTALITY AFFECTED BY VACCINATION. 44 1 
 
 They also show that the proportion of deaths to 
 attacks was 17-6 per cent, or within a fraction as 
 great now as it was, as stated by Drs. Jurin and 
 Sydenham, prior to the "great discovery" for which 
 large pecuniary rewards have been paid to Jenner 
 and his adherents. 
 
 Small-pox, which was to be extinguished by this 
 practice, continues to be periodically epidemic as 
 formerly — periodically only then as now. Thus the 
 average mortality from this disease, 1875-1877, 
 appears to have been 62 per cent, less than it had 
 been in 1850-1854; but in 1870-1874, it had reached 
 64 per cent, above the 1850-1854 average, the 
 lamentable increase of infant deaths from other causes 
 alleged to have been aided or produced by vaccina- 
 tion notwithstanding (see Returns No. 50, and No. 
 433, session 1877). Yet, when small-pox happens to 
 be the epidemic of the period, the general death-rate 
 is usually under the average. [Compare 1 846-1 849 
 with 1850-1853, and with 1 871-1874 (table 20, p. Ixv., 
 Fortieth Annual Report of the Registrar-General). 
 In the epidemic period, 1863-1865, the death-rate 
 was above the average ; but on examination it may 
 be found, probably, that the increase took place during 
 the first quarters of those years, and the small-pox in 
 the second and third quarters.] 
 
 On this other side of the question, allow me to 
 point out that many physiologists and medical men, 
 amongst others, have attributed a very large propor- 
 tion of our abnormal infant mortality to the effects 
 of vaccination, although such deaths are registered 
 under the various forms of disease, which some of 
 the symptoms occurring appear to justify. It is not 
 so much, they say, that vaccination per se actually 
 communicates, or even initiates, the mischief (yet, in 
 
442 INCREASE OF INOCULABLE DISEASES. 
 
 numberless instances, it is afifirmed that it has done so), 
 as that the operation reduces the natural or constitu- 
 tional vitality of the infant, and therefore any cause 
 of trouble may less easily be borne, and death result, 
 when, had not the struggling life been tampered with, 
 the patient might have recovered. The chief causes 
 of death alleged to be thus accelerated or encouraged 
 by vaccination, besides the seven zymotics, are bron- 
 chitis, convulsions, teething, atrophy and debility, and 
 lung diseases. 
 
 Notwithstanding this strain on young life, the 
 influence of sanitary improvement has been so power- 
 ful in a contrary direction, that the death-rate from 
 all the zymotic class except whooping-cough, which 
 is about stationary, has somewhat diminished ; and 
 typhus, typhoid, and simple fever as much as one- 
 half; whereas inoculable diseases (at all ages) have 
 more than correspondingly increased — nay, the in- 
 crease from them appears to have been more than 
 double the saving from the others. Among infants 
 the increase from such inoculable diseases seems even 
 greater in proportion to births, as shown by Return 
 No. 433, session 1877.* And if so, it may well be 
 that in this way the general average death-rate very 
 nearly maintains its standard, in spite of sanitary 
 works, which, it is said, have been prevented from 
 manifesting their results by the counter-influence of 
 vaccination. 
 
 The return by Dr. Farr, table 4, page 259, of the 
 latest (40th) Annual Report (1877) of the Registrar- 
 General, furnishes the rates of mortality from all 
 specified causes separately during each quinquennial 
 period from 1850 to 1877 ; from which it appears 
 that the following causes have yielded increased or 
 * See also subsequent Returns, No, 76, sess. i ; and 392, sess. 2, 1880. 
 
RATE EXHIBITED BY OFFICIAL RETURN. 443 
 
 diminished mortality in the under-mentioned pro- 
 portions respectively. 
 
 Average Annual Mortality per Million Living, from 
 Specified Causes at all Ages, 1875-1877. 
 
 Increase (20 per cent, and upwards above 1850-1854). 
 
 
 Per million 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 
 living. 
 
 increase. 
 
 * Bright's disease 
 
 143 
 
 446 
 
 ♦Nephritis 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 254 
 
 (a) Syphilis ... 
 
 
 
 
 51 
 
 138 
 
 Cyanosis 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 128 
 
 {b) Bronchitis 
 
 
 
 
 1350 
 
 123 
 
 (3)Slcin disease 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 118 
 
 Gout 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 108 
 
 Heart disease 
 
 
 
 
 651 
 
 100 
 
 Aneurism 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 100 
 
 * Cystitis 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 100 
 
 (a) Phlegmon 
 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 95 
 
 Spina bifida 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 92 
 
 Purpura and scurvy 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 86 
 
 Want breast milk 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 85 
 
 t Insanity 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 62 
 
 Lung diseases 
 
 
 
 
 90 
 
 62 
 
 (^) Atrophy and debility . . . 
 
 
 
 
 42s 
 
 61 
 
 (a) Cancer 
 
 
 
 
 183 
 
 60 
 
 Rheumatism 
 
 
 
 
 54 
 
 53 
 
 t Brain disease 
 
 
 
 
 88 
 
 49 
 
 * Diabetes 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 48 
 
 t Cephalitis ... 
 
 
 
 
 84 
 
 42 
 
 Metria ... 
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 39 
 
 Laryngitis 
 
 
 
 
 o3 
 
 3§ 
 
 Liver disease 
 
 
 
 
 83 
 
 38 
 
 Joint disease 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 37 
 
 * Kidney disease 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 29 
 
 (0, b) Tabes Mesenterica 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 26 
 
 t Apoplexy 
 
 96 
 
 21 
 
 Total increase , 
 
 3668 
 
 
 * It has been suggested that the increase of all varieties of renal 
 disease may have been promoted by the too frequent substitution of 
 glucose for malt, and other adulterations in the brewing of beer. 
 
 t The increased mortality from brain disease (paralysis increased 
 15 per cent, only) probably is due partly to the growing mental strain 
 encouraged by the march of civihzation, and auri sacra fames. 
 
444 
 
 DECREASE OF ZYMOTIC DISEASES. 
 
 Decrease {20 per cent, and upwards below 1850-1854). 
 
 (b, c) Cholera 
 (c) Remittent fever 
 (b) Influenza 
 
 Dysentery ... 
 
 Dropsy ... 
 (a, b, c) Quinsy ... 
 
 Small-pox 
 
 PrematiTre birth 
 (c) Typhus, typhoid, and continued fevers 
 
 Asthma 
 
 Sudden deaths 
 
 Ascites 
 
 Ague 
 
 Enteritis 
 
 Hydrocephalus 
 
 Old age t 
 
 Phthisis ... 
 
 Croup 
 (i) Measles ... 
 (b) Convulsions 
 (*) Thrush ... 
 
 Child-birth 
 
 Balance of 41 other causes under 20 per cent, 
 difference, or of insignificant numbers 
 
 Deaths not classified, 1850-1854 
 
 Total decrease ... 
 Deduct increase 
 
 Net result 
 
 or '9 per thousand. 
 
 Per million 
 living. 
 
 285 
 32 
 
 75 
 93 
 
 398 
 14 
 
 174* 
 
 563 
 
 528 
 
 136 
 
 99 
 
 i8 
 
 4 
 
 86 
 
 118 
 
 387 
 
 655 
 
 50 
 
 92 
 
 307 
 14 
 26 
 
 207 
 214 
 
 4575 
 3668 
 
 907 
 
 Per cent, 
 decrease. 
 
 91 
 91 
 
 87 
 
 79 
 72 
 64 
 62 
 54 
 53 
 Sz 
 48 
 46 
 44 
 41 
 27 
 26 
 
 23 
 22 
 22 
 22 
 21 
 21 
 
 * The small-pox average 1870-1874 Wfas 64 per cent, increase upon 
 that of 1 850-1 854, having been occasionally epidemic. A change of 
 nomenclature may have influenced the apparent difference between 
 some diseases of a similar class, but the movement in many of the other 
 causes has apparently been regular and constant. 
 
 t The deaths from old age had diminished over 20 per cent. 
 Ought they not to have greatly increased^ 
 
HOW THE BALANCE IS MAINTAINED. 445 
 
 Hence we find, at page Ixv. of the same volume, 
 the average death-rate — 
 
 1850-54 22-3 
 
 1875-77 21-4 
 
 Add -9 
 
 22-3 
 the average of the forty years of registration being 
 
 22-2. 
 
 N.B. — Scarlet fever (5 and c), diarrhoea (b and c), 
 teething (l>), scrofula («) and erysipelas (a) had each 
 diminished under 20 per cent. ; whilst whooping 
 cough (3) had almost exactly maintained its standard. 
 These surely ought all to have very materially 
 lessened, whereas it is believed that under one year 
 both diarrhoea and whooping cough, if not scrofula 
 and erysipelas, actually increased. 
 
 The diseases marked (a) are inoculable, and may 
 therefore be transmitted by vaccination. 
 
 The diseases marked (d) are those from which 
 infants are specially liable to suffer, and therefore 
 likely to be more fatal when their inherent vitality 
 has been lowered by vaccination. This added risk, 
 however, applies more or less in truth to all diseases. 
 Of course it may be said that, inasmuch as nothing 
 can render man immortal, all diseases may follow 
 vaccination ; but the nearer any fatal specific cause 
 supervenes largely upon or after the operation, the 
 more clearly does it show that vaccination is an 
 added risk, and therefore probably a cause of death. 
 
 The diseases marked (c) are such as would be 
 mainly prevented or produced by attention to sani- 
 tation or its neglect, and therefore, in the absence of 
 any other counteracting evil, ought naturally to have 
 been much more influenced or lessened by 120 millions 
 
446 EFFECTS OF SANITATION OBSCURED. 
 
 Sterling expended, within the period under review, on 
 works of sanitary improvement (now, probably, 200 
 millions. 
 
 It is submitted that these Returns seem amply to 
 justify the inquiry, why it happens that the general 
 death-rate from all causes at all ages in England has 
 maintained a pretty uniform average during this era 
 of sanitary progress. 
 
 I have, etc., 
 
 T. Baker. 
 
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 4 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Act 1 
 
 Salar. My wind, cooling my broth. 
 
 Would blow me to an ague, when I thought 
 What harm a wind too great might do at sea, 
 I should not see the sandy hour-glass run 
 But I should think of shallows and of flats, 
 
 in- ' 
 
 And see my wealthy Andrew, doclcM in sand, 
 
 Vailing her high-top lower than her r^bs 
 
 To kiss her burial. Should I go to church 
 
 And see the holy edifice of stone. 
 
 And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks, 
 
 Which touching but my gentle vessel's side, 
 
 Would scatter all her spices on the stream, 
 
 Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks. 
 
 And, in a word, but even now worth this. 
 
 And now worth nothing ? Shall I have the thought 
 
 To think on this, and shall I lack the thought . . 
 
 That such a thing bechanc'd would make me sad ? 
 
 But tell not me : I know Antonio 
 
 Is sad to think upon his merchandise. 
 
 Ant. Believe me, no : I thank my fortune for it, 
 My ventures are not in one bottom trusted. 
 Nor to one place ; nor is my whole estate 
 Upon the fortune of this present year : 
 Therefqre my merchandise makes me not sad. 
 
 Salar. ^Vhy, then you are in love. 
 
 Ant. Fie, fie ! 
 
 Salar. Not in love neither ? Then let us say you 
 are sad. 
 Because you are not merry ; and 'twere as easy 
 For you to laugh, and leap, and say you are merry. 
 Because yoa are not sad. Now, by two-headed 
 
 Janus, 
 Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time : 
 Some that will evermore peep through their eyes 
 And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper ; 
 And other of such vinegar aspect 
 
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