HC Deb 15 December 1854 vol 136 cc376-8
MR. HAMILTON

said, the Secretary at War was aware that several Scripture readers had been sent out from this country by benevolent individuals for the purpose of reading the Holy Scriptures to any of our wounded soldiers who might be desirous of their services. It had been reported that these Scripture readers had been refused admission into the hospitals, while other persons, Sisters of Charity, and members of religious orders, whose duty and object it was to promulgate their own religious opinions, were admitted into the hospitals. Considering that the majority of our soldiers were Protestants, he wished to know whether this report was well founded, and, likewise, whether any and what regulations were made by which members of religious orders, when admitted into the hospitals, were prevented from impressing their own peculiar religious opinions upon any but those of their own communion?

MR. SIDNEY HERBERT

said, he would endeavour to explain to the hon. Gentleman what were the regulations laid down for the admission of nurses, of Sisters of Charity, and members of religious orders to the wounded troops in the hospital at Scutari. The Sisters of Charity, to whom the hon. Member alluded, stood upon a different footing from the person sent out by authority of the Government to minister in a religious capacity to the troops. When it was deemed advisable to send out female nurses to Scutari, regulations were laid down that they should be admitted to the hospitals without reference to their religious creed, but at the same time that they should be under the orders of one person, and that one person was a Protestant. A certain portion of nurses were accordingly selected from different training institutions, who were all Protestants; and when the ladies belonging to the Sisters of Charity proposed to go, we told them that we were willing to accept their services; but at the same time observed, that we could make no difference between them and persons of any other religious denomination in regard to the regulations that had been laid down; and he was bound to say that the Sisters of Charity made not the slightest objection. As the question of the hon. Gentleman included what regulations were made for securing practical acquiescence in this, he would read an extract from the instructions addressed to Miss Nightingale— I feel confident that, with a view to the fulfilment of the arduous task you have undertaken, you will impress upon those acting under your orders the necessity of the strictest attention to the regulations of the hospital, and the preservation of that subordination which is indispensable in every military establishment; and I rely on your discretion and vigilance carefully to guard against any attempts being made among those under your authority, selected as they are with a view to fitness and without any reference to creed, to make use of their position in the hospitals to tamper with or disturb the religious opinions of the patients of any denomination whatever, and at once to check any such tendency, and to take, if necessary, severe measures to prevent its repetition. The Sisters of Charity assented to those regulations, and entered into an engagement that they would on no account make any attempt to enter into religious controversy with the wounded. The Scripture readers stood upon a different footing. It was not true that no provision had been made for the reading of the Scriptures to the wounded and the sick. Chaplains of different denominations had been appointed to administer religious consolation to the troops. It was, however, impossible to admit of an indiscriminate admission of persons professing to be ministers of every denomination into the hospitals. The army might be said to be divided, religiously speaking, into members of the Church of England, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics. He trusted he need not say that he considered all to be equally good Christians; and though soldiers were not theologians, at the same time it was most important that every precaution should be taken to prevent the introduction of religious controversy among them. There were sent out to the army in the East and to the hospitals at Scutari chaplains being members of the Church of England, Presbyterian chaplains, and Roman Catholic chaplains, in nearly equal proportions to the requirements of the numbers of the army of each denomination. But, in addition to these, there had also been a number of Scripture readers employed, who were selected from among a body of deserving men, and placed under the orders of the chaplains. He had seen a statement in the newspapers that certain persons described as Scripture readers had been denied admission into the hospital at Scutari. This he understood had arisen; but he spoke under reservation, because he judged only from one or two private accounts he had seen; but he apprehended the fact was, that certain persons acting as Scripture readers had gone out of their way, and, without any authority from home, had been admitted to the hospital, and had distributed tracts of a controversial character. That was evidently in violation of the rules of the hospital, and the proceedings which had consequently been taken, he felt bound to say, were absolutely necessary for the purpose of carrying out the regulations of the hospital, the objects of which were solely these, that every effort should be made to afford religious consolation to the troops, but at the same time to prevent the introduction of religious controversy among them.