§ Dr. Bowringrose, according to notice, to move a resolution to the effect, that her Majesty may be graciously pleased to continue the inquiries made in foreign countries as to the efficacy of the Quarantine system, and to carry out any negociations which may have for their object such modifications as are consistent with the public safety and the interests of commerce. Also, to lay on the Table of the House, any correspondence, or extracts of correspondence, which has taken place since the last papers were ordered for presentation. He knew the subject was not of an entertaining or at- 609 tractive nature, but it was of great importance, and he besought the patience of the House whilst he laid before them the grounds on which he proposed this resolution. A doubt as to the infectious character of plague, had been prevalent for some time previous to 1815, when a committee of the House was appointed to inquire into the allegations of Dr. M'Lean, a physician of eminence, who had written much to prove, that the plague was not infectious, and that quarantine laws were unnecessary and mischievous. That committee reported that it was not advisable to repeal those laws. In 1822, another committee was appointed, which made at least one important concession, that since the year 1665, there had been no instance of infection from plague in England, though plague existed, and was annually reported in the bills of mortality, for very many years after that period. In 1838, the subject was brought before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and that important body referred it to the medical section, which recommended, that an attempt should be made to induce the Government to appoint a commission for the purpose of prosecuting and completing a thorough investigation of the subject. The question had lately acquired great importance, and when he considered the position of Egypt, which stood midway between this country and its possessions in the East, and that in British India there existed no quarantines or lazarets—no impediment to the communication of travellers, or the conveyance of goods — he thought the fact was strong against the system. There was no difficulty in the way of a person travelling through Egypt to Bombay, Madras, or other parts of India. In the East Indies the opinion was against the doctrine of contagion, and it had never been averred, still less proved, that any evil consequences had resulted from the total absence of quarantine regulations in British India. If you start from Egypt or Turkey, towards the east, there are no lazarets—no impediments to your progress—and no mischief from the absence of those precautions, which the credulity of Europe had provided against the invasion of the plague. Had India suffered in consequence? She was rid of the vexations and the expense of the quarantine system, yet was more secure from the plague than the countries which had imposed upon themselves the burthen of quarantine establishments. The in- 610 quiries made in British India led to a conclusion, that the establishment of quarantines was DO security whatever against the progress of the plague. He understood, that when the plague appeared in Northwestern India a few years ago, a medical commission of five gentlemen was appointed by the Indian Government, who unanimously report against the introduction of lazarets upon our Indian frontier. They were not introduced—the cost and the annoyances were avoided—and their absence instead of an evil, was a positive benefit. Now, if the plague require no lazaret-precautions in the east — if such precautions are both useless and pernicious why should they be employed in the west? It is obvious, that the quarantine system is a great embarrassment to commerce, and that the pecuniary losses caused by it were beyond the power of accurate calculation. But they were enormous. He had heard the annual loss from the quarantine system estimated at between two and three millions, and he believed if the losses in the Mediterranean were added together, they alone would make up that amount. And now look at the absurd consequences of the existing system. If two vessels started from the same port, and one of them occupied two months longer than the other in this voyage, they were subjected to the same quarantine, though it was well known that the longer the vessel was at sea the less was any plague likely to be conveyed by it. But the length of the voyage reckoned as nothing, the quarantine counted from the time of the arrival in port. To the losses occasioned by delay, by fluctuations of markets, by deterioration of cargoes, are added another loss, that of quarantine detention, which, in a variety of cases, was a gratuitous infliction of injury. Every body allowed there was some period beyond which there was no danger from the development of incipient plague. All our legislation was grounded upon the supposition that after a certain absence from the seat of supposed contagion there was nothing to be feared. Sometimes the distance was great, sometimes it was small, but that consideration was wholly lost sight of when we reckoned the days of quarantine from the time of the arrival in the port of destination, and not from that of departure. He begged to read an extract or two from a letter written by one who was a high authority—Captain Basil Hall, and written at Malta:—
"On the morning of the 7th of this month 611 (September, 1841), we sailed into Valetta harbour in company with the Vanguard, 80, from Candia. As we were from England we got pratique at once, but the poor Vanguard, though fully as healthy as we were, and coming from a place as healthy, was put into quarantine till the 23rd, that is for seventeen days. In the meantime she had to refit, and within two days after she got pratique she was sent to sea in company with the Indus: the officers and crew of one ship having enjoyed all the advantages of the shore, the others having been kept close prisoners. It is much to the credit of both men and officers, the patience with which they submitted to these severe and totally unnecessary privations. I need not speak of the extreme inconvenience of refitting a ship under quarantine, arising out of the difficulty of getting new stores and returning old ones; but every one knows the irksome delays which are caused thereby, and the consequent retardation of the service. It does not signify to say that this is of little moment just now, for it is impossible to say when the time may arrive when it is important to re-equip our ships smartly. And I can assure you it is bad policy to try the patience of the sailors too long when in sight of the good things of the shore, with no better reason for their detention on board than some fantastic fears of an antiquated Board of Health-office. Rear-Admiral Sir John Ommanney, in command of the Mediterranean fleet, sailed from Corfu on the 19th of last month (August) in company with the Howe and Ganges, and the Cyclops, steam-frigate. The steamer being sent on ahead, arrived on the 23rd at Malta, and was put into quarantine for seven days, that is to say, she got pratique on Sunday the 29th. The admiral arrived on the 26th, and, as a matter of favour, he was subjected to six days' quarantine only. Still it was not till Tuesday, the 31st, that he could land, two days after the junior officer, who had sailed with him at the same hour, was walking about on shore. On Saturday, the 28th of August last, her Majesty's steamship Stromboli sailed from Beyrout, and reached Malta on the 2nd of September. She was placed in quarantine, which lasted eighteen days, including the day of arrival and that on which she got pratique —viz., the 19th instant. Her Majesty's ship Powerful sailed from the same port (Beyrout) within twenty-four hours after the Stromboli, but not having steam to help her, she did not arrive till the 18th at Malta, that is the day before the Stromboli got pratique. The Powerful's eighteen days then commenced, and they will not expire till the 5th of next month (October)! The Powerful had no sick on board, had touched nowhere, and was in all respects as healthy as the Stromboli, and yet, although she sailed within one day of the other ship, she is 'tabooed' for nearly three weeks time after her consort was let out of this terrestrial purgatory! At any time this would have been irksome, but just at the 612 period when it occurred it was attended with great inconvenience to the public service. The Britannia, bearing the admiral's flag, being ordered home, it was necessary to shift the flag into some other ship; for various reasons the Powerful had been assigned for this purpose. Had the admiral himself gone into the new ship, however, he would have been imprisoned, of course; so he went on shore, while his captain went on board, in exchange with the captain of the Powerful, who, by going into the Britannia, necessarily put that ship into quarantine, while the secretary, clerks, and other persons attached to the admiral's staff had to repair on board a steamer, the Gorgon, till the embarrassment caused by all these restrictions should be over. There surely is much tomfoolery in all this, for there seems to be no good reason why a ship of war might not work out her quarantine time at sea as well as in port. It is stated by some, that there are many families supported at Naples, Leghorn, Marseilles, and elsewhere, solely by the salaries derived from the quarantine, and paid for by the unfortunate ships forcibly subjected to its tyranny. If this be true, as I really believe it is, I am convinced it would be money cheaply spent to pension off every soul of these functionaries and their children to the third and fourth generation; for the delays, loss of markets, and the numerous other evils to commerce which attend the system—to say nothing of the intolerable personal annoyance, the absolute imprisonment, the inquisitorial discipline, the smoking, and other mockeries, called, forsooth, purification, are of such number and extent as to render the whole utterly inconsistent with, and even quite repugnant to, the sentiments of the age; and I do earnestly hope, that by patience and perseverance, you will get it done away with. A very intelligent Maltese, high in office here, remarked drily enough to me the other day 'One of two things must happen, either the quarantine laws must be done away with, or the march of intellect must be stopped.'"
The hon. Member then proceeded to read a communication from Sir J. Ommanney, stating many particulars illustrative of the irregularity of the practice respecting quarantine in the ports of the Mediterranean, showing the injury to commerce, the great inconvenience to merchants and other persons frequenting those ports, and proving the tyranny and the frauds which were perpetrated under the pretence of enforcing those laws. The information which he had received upon the subject entitled him to say, that a prodigious number of individuals were employed to carry into effect the laws relating to quarantine, and that their sinister interests operated most materially in maintaining a system which ought long since to have been abolished. 613 The social position, the opulence, the influence of a great number of public functionaries were intertwined with the maintenance of a state of things at once oppressive, expensive, and unjustifiable. Considerable salaries were paid to the persons so employed, but he must be allowed to say, that he thought exemption from the annoyance of quarantine regulations would be cheaply purchased if the persons to whom he referred were pensioned off to the third and fourth generation. For any purposes of protection against the plague, those people were wholly useless, and there could not be a greater mockery than the modes of purification which they adopted. Fumigation, change of garments, bathing, and various other ceremonies were employed as securities against a disease which if it existed at all, must have possession of the human frame, and certainly not be removable by the removal of vestments, or external transformations of any sort. It was worthy of observation, that in those ports of the Mediterranean which were not under the government of Austria, the regulations were more strict; while in those which were, those regulations had been considerably relaxed; yet there was no reason to believe, that the people in the latter class of ports had found any cause to regret the less stringent practice of their rulers. He hoped and believed, that the opinions which he entertained upon this subject were shared by many hon. Friends of his in that House, and he thought he could confidently appeal to those around him to confirm the views and sentiments which he had thought it his duty to express. He knew, that there were many in that House who could bear testimony to the miseries and the privations to which a despotic, uncontrolled, and most irresponsible power subjected them when visiting ports were those absurd regulations prevailed. Amongst the mischievous absurdities of the system he might notice this, that if a man wanted to proceed from Algiers to Malta, the easiest mode of accomplishing his object would be to go in the first instance to Toulon, and thence take his passage for Malta; because though the British authorities imposed a quarantine on vessels from Algiers, the French allowed them free pratique. From the correspondence which he held in his hand, were he to read the whole of it, the House would see, that even the Government of this country was interested in putting an end to a system clearly inter- 614 fering with the intercourse subsisting between them and their agents and allies. Official dispatches were opened, perforated with awls, incised by chisels, dipped in vinegar, and subjected to a variety of absurd modes of purification, and at length transmitted to their destination in a mutilated, and scarcely legible condition. There was no doubt that political objects were sought for in the maintenance of quarantine in the east; and it was equally certain that political interests were promoted by them, and that these, and not the health of nations, were the principal motives for the great severity with which the regulations were enforced abroad. See how quarantines and sanatory regulations are trampled on when they interfere with political objects. There is in the Levant correspondence lately published, a letter from Mr. Wood, the British consul at Damascus in the following terms:—
§ "Beyrout, October 29, 1840.
§ I hear (says Mr. Wood) that four engineer French officers have disembarked at Acre. To prevent similar occurrences, as also the con-slant communication of French steamers-of-war with the coast, I have proposed establishing the quarantine, which suggestion having been acceded to, all vessels and passengers arriving from Egypt, will have to perform ten days' quarantine at Beyrout."
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Now, here the quarantine was not introduced to keep the plague out of Syria, but simply and solely to prevent the French from communicating with the Syrian coast. As quarantines had been put on, so they had also frequently been put off for political purposes, particularly when the parties favored occupied a high position in society. When Reschid Pasha was at Malta on his way to Europe as ambassador from the Ottoman court, the confinement of the quarantine was found very annoying to his sons; and on application to the governor he did not scruple to violate the quarantine regulations in their favour, and to allow them to disport themselves in a boat in the bay. But when Dr. Holroyd at the same time, applied for the same favour, No, was the governor's answer —if you persist, I must take away the privilege from these Turkish youths, but I can by no means, allow it to you. There was no country which used the prejudices respecting the plague to such an extent as Russia; the quarantine agents throughout the East were political functionaries. They arrested, and released travellers at will. They took possession of all correspondence
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—they checked or facilitated commerce according to the passing interests of the moment—they were among her ablest public servants—and in the name of the public health, they introduced a system of universal police and espionage. To serve political objects, the quarantine regulations were made more stringent or more plastic, they were relaxed one day—and tightened another—always having some paramount object in view. The groundwork of all was ignorance—ignorance which is the parent of fear and the ready instrument of cunning. Connected with diseases the superstitions of many nations exceeded all belief. In many countries of the South, it was thought that phthisis was a contagious disease—and all the clothes of those who died of consumption were burnt — that cholera was contagious; yet in this part of the world no one supposed that consumption was communicated by contagion, and certainly the predominant opinion was, that cholera ought not to be considered a contagious malady. It was satisfactory to think, that many of the errors which prevailed on these subjects had, in the more civilized districts of the world, given way to enlightened and rational views, but in other portions of the globe, he regretted to say, that opinions, as ridiculous as they were mischievous, too generally prevailed —opinions as childish as the doctrines of the older physicians, who held that the plague was connected with earthquakes, with celestial menaces, and with circumstances equally remote in their nature from any human malady. The dread of the plague was in proportion to the ignorance and credulity of the people. In the countries where the plague was endemic, it frequently broke out without any communication with infected places. The strangest ideas then prevailed as to the manner in which the infection had been communicated. A child's kite had been supposed, on one occasion, to have been the medium, when a house had been effectually and completely insulated, and it had been observed, that a youth was flying a kite from the roof. Cats and flies were very often charged with the offence. On the Danube, at Orsova, he had heard of pigs that had been supposed to have been inoculated with the plague, for the purpose of communicating the disease to Austrian subjects. One man had been subjected to imprisonment for ten days, as a punishment for having bought a fish from a Turk, within the line of quarantine;
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because the poor fellow was unable to prove that the fish had been caught within the line But he believed that a close examination would show how very little was really to be found from personal contact with persons suffering from the plague. There was a constant stream of travellers through Egypt, to Arabia, yet he never heard of an instance of the plague having been conveyed across the Red Sea. While the plague of 1834-5 desolated Egypt, ten thousand pilgrims passed through that country to the Holy Cities, but no one conveyed, or was ever stated to have conveyed the disease. There were whole districts in Egypt, with which constant, uninterrupted communication was kept up, yet they had never been visited by the plague. That was the case in the Fayoum, though close to the Egyptian capital; and it was remarkable, that though thousands and thousands of boats navigated the Nile the plague had never reached as far as Assuan. When the plague appeared among the armies of Egypt, it always ceased as soon as the troops were removed from the cities into the wilderness. He would beg leave to read to the House a letter which he had received from a medical gentleman at Alexandria, and which he thought would show pretty clearly some of the prevalent errors upon this subject, and at the same time communicate some interesting particulars of late observation. The hon. Member read as follows:—
Within the walls of Alexandria, in 1841, the total of deaths was 7,017; there were 1,570 cases of plague, of which 405 recovered, and 1,165 died. Of the 1,570 cases of plague which occurred during the year, 1,080 were males, and 490 females. Of these there recovered—males, 375; females, 30; 778 cases were bodies found dead in their dwellings, and consequently had no sort of treatment whatever; and of the 792 remaining, who had some sort of care and attendance bestowed upon them, no less than 407 recovered. There is no return of the proportion of deaths to cases during the different months which can be depended on, but the average rate of mortality may be fairly calculated as two-thirds of those attacked; so that the real mortality of the city, during the month of May, when the plague was at its height, may be calculated thus:—Ordinary deaths, 433; deaths by plague, 353—total, 786. Cases of plague, 515. The inferences to be drawn from these data are, that the season when the plague exists is not necessarily either the most unhealthy, or the most fatal season; it will be seen by the table, that the months of October, November, and December, are productive of
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as many deaths nearly as the most fatal plague month, and that their average mortality far exceeds that of the other months, when the plague raged with a more limited intenseness, while during the last three months of the year only six cases of plague could be detected.
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He could not pass from this part of the subject without observing, that Dr. Laid-law, an extract from whose letter he had read, was a man who had conferred a great benefit upon society by his steady resistance to the injurious and ignorant prejudices which prevailed on this subject, and whose services would be very valuable in pursuing further investigations. And here he would ask, would it be possible for us and other countries to escape from its perils, considering the manner in which the quarantine system was managed? When people died of the plague in Egypt, their clothes were sold in the public bazaars, without losing anything of their value in consequence of their having belonged to infected persons, nor had he ever heard of a well authenticated case where any evil had arisen from the practice. No one could have been in the east without being convinced of the absurdity of the apprehensions entertained respecting the plague. What security; what real security have we in this country? In a letter from Dr. Laidlaw, he found these words:—
I will show the public that, to my knowledge, a certain number of bales of cotton have been shipped for England, which have been taken from stores when the plague was raging: that the plague was on board the ships when it was packed, and that these (some thousands) bales were sent to England; and will then demand if any one of the expurgators of these bales was attacked. I will give the names of the ships, and their captains, and the dates when they left for England, and if after all this, any person is credulous enough to believe in imported infection, he must be quite out of his senses.
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So that though such care was taken to guard against the conveyance of infection in a letter, bales of cotton, it would appear, were comparatively harmless. He (Dr. Bowring) had had a communication from a well-known traveller on the northern coast of Africa, who said,—
There is a perpetual violation of the quarantine on the southern coast of Spain; of the persons who visit the Barbary Coast, great numbers never think of entering the Spanish lazaretto. Would I be such a fool as to subject myself to imprisonment for weeks, because I have been in Africa for a few days? I never did enter a lazaretto—I never will.
§ This Gentleman, to his (Dr. Bowring's) knowledge, by the payment of a small fee, was always able to avoid the inconvenience of a quarantine, and that without the least prejudicial consequence either to himself or to the country he belonged to. The hon. Member then quoted the opinion of Dr. Brown, who, 120 years ago, had reprehended the system then in operation, and, as a proof that the plague infection could not be imported, read to the House a case in which a number of bales of cotton were shipped to England from a place where the plague was raging, and no infection had been carried. He then stated, that there was also much evidence to show that the persons employed in the lazarettos had not caught the plague, and quoted the opinion of Dr. Gregson, as confirmatory of that fact. The hon. Member said, he would not trouble the, House with further details, believing he had said enough to show that the subject required to be re-opened and re-examined. If it was found, that all the vexation, annoyance, and expense of quarantine could be got rid of without injury to the public health, he hoped the Government would consent to open a communication and set on foot inquiries into a subject which had been too long neglected. The hon. Member concluded by moving his resolution as already given.
Sir B. Peelhad no objection to offer to the motion. He was prepared to lay the papers desired by him on the Table of the House. He suggested the proper form in which to shape the motion would be an address to her Majesty.
§ Mr. Forstersaid, that the public, and the commercial world in particular, were greatly indebted to his hon. and learned Friend for the ability and research he had brought to the discussion of this question. As a commercial man, he had long witnessed with regret the inconvenience and sacrifice entailed on the public and on commerce by this absurd system, which he believed to be founded entirely on prejudice and delusion. He trusted, that the time had now arrived when public opinion, aided by science and inquiry, would put an end to the absurdity.
The suggestion of the right hon. Baronet was adopted, and motion agreed to in the form of an address to her Majesty.