HC Deb 19 March 1855 vol 137 cc839-51
MR. A. STAFFORD

said, that he rose in no hostility to the Government to call attention to the medical arrangements for the sick and wounded soldiers in the East. The hon. Gentleman the Under Secretary for War had succeeded to the possession of an office associated in the public mind with the extinction of more hope and the infliction of more misery than time permitted to describe, and, therefore, he must be prepared to admit that distrust and doubt attached to the discharge of the duties of his office at present. Not only was the appointment of the Committee upstairs a proof of that distrust, but the whole country had, during the winter, resolved itself as it were into a Committee to assist the War Office and to save the remnant of that army which had left this country with hopes so bright and had been reduced to a condition so "horrible and heartrending." They had been recommended by a noble Lord in the other House to assist in raising more troops to be sent forth, and the best way to assist in the performance of that duty was to elicit from the Government such information as would show that our fellow subjects would be properly cared for in the East. According to the accounts received and the opinions of those acquainted with the country, with the appearance of early spring and summer a new class of diseases would be developed, and a new chapter of horrors would be revealed, unless the Government had taken means to remedy the causes. He hoped he should be told that the unspeakable horrors of the hospital at Balaklava had been remedied, and that it was no longer a disgrace to any civilised country, as it undoubtedly was when he saw it. If the waters of the Black Sea were clear enough, it was his belief that a vessel might be steered from Balaklava to the Bosphorus simply by following the track of the skeletons of those thrown over from the transports conveying the sick and wounded. He hoped to hear that the sick and wounded were not now kept so long in Balaklava Harbour; that an adequate medical staff was provided for the transport service; that the orderlies were no longer invalided soldiers or boys, incapable of attending to the sick, and only increasing the sum of disease and death; that the debarkation of the sick at Scutari was more satisfactory than it had been, and that due provision was made for the removal of the sick and wounded soldiers from the quay at Scutari to the various hospitals. The tendencies to typhoid fever and other diseases might shortly be expected to develope themselves in these hospitals, and he hoped that, unless the Government were prepared with arrangements for the purification of those enormous buildings, no consideration of trouble or expense would prevent abandonment of them altogether. The hon. Gentleman (Mr. Peel) would be aware that the late Government had established what he (Mr. Stafford) might call an experimental hospital at Abydos, and it depended upon circumstances whether that hospital would be abandoned or be permanently enlarged. The advantages of this hospital were its being on the highway of the Dardanelles, its absence from any large town, and its being placed under the superintence of one of the best public servants the Government had, Mr. Calvert. On the 6th of November last he wrote a letter to the War Office from Smyrna, calling attention to the fact that the French authorities had opened a hospital there, stating that he had visited it, and recommending the War Office to open a similar establishment in the same place. He pressed the same subject upon the attention of the authorities at Constantinople, but, meeting with no success, he was compelled to abandon it altogether. From communications which he had had with the residents there, he found that for three or four months in the year the climate of Smyrna was considered somewhat unhealthy, but that during the winter the temperature was not nearly so variable or severe as at Constantinople. Now, however, that the unhealthy weather was approaching, he understood that the Government had opened a large hospital at Smyrna. He did not blame them for having opened it, better late than never, and he believed that when they received information of the success which had attended the experiment at Smyrna, the result, as compared with Scutari, in regard to the health of the troops would be found to be most satisfactory. It appeared that the Government were about to adopt the plan of sending out wooden huts for the invalids, and during the time these huts were preparing the Government could receive information as to the most advantageous situations in the whole of the Levant upon which to erect them. He believed that well-ventilated wooden huts were better suited to warm weather, and more capable of being purified from contagion, than stone walls. It would therefore be false economy upon the part of the Government to stint the number of huts to be sent out, and they would not be discharging their duty to our brave troops in the East if they fixed the number for whom accommodation was to be found in these huts at less than 5,000 men. With regard to the propriety of imitating the French, and sending home as soon as possible all the invalids who were capable of bearing the journey, he believed, if they were sent home, the prospect of returning together with the change of climate would have a beneficial effect upon the spirits of the men, and numbers of transports now returning home empty might be employed thus at a comparatively small expense. He was bound, however, to state that, having spoken to several men who had come home invalided in Government vessels, the information which he had received had not been altogether of a satisfactory character, and unless the Government made better arrangements for the transport ships, it would be dangerous to encourage the removal of the men further than it had gone as yet. They must be prepared to view the comfort of the human cargo they placed on board as the chief and main object of the voyage; they must select as physicians and officers men in whom they had confidence, and they must place in the hands of the officers they appointed full power with regard to the internal arrangements of the vessels. Otherwise a far grater risk would be run in sending home invalids in transports than if they were kept in the hospitals. He understood that a medical staff was to be sent to Eupatoria, and he, for the sake of the Turkish contingent, hoped that such was the fact. With regard to the hospital at Smyrna, he believed that the principle of employing civil surgeons had been adopted. Hitherto surgeons connected with the civil service had been very unfairly treated. The most noble and disinterested offers had been made upon the part of certain members of the medical profession to the late occupants of the War Office, but answers had been received to those offers which, far from expressing any feelings of gratefulness for the patriotism displayed by those Gentlemen, had excited the strongest feelings of indignation throughout the whole body. The War Office did not avail themselves of the services of civil surgeons until they were urged to adopt such a course by public clamour. As there was now a civil hospital at Smyrna, besides the military hospital at Scutari, it was not impossible that a feeling of rivalry might spring up between the medical officers of the two establishments. If all the serious cases were sent to Smyrna the civil doctors might complain, and if the worst cases were kept at Scutari the military doctors would be dissatisfied. It was, therefore, of great importance that an officer should be appointed at Balaklava or Scutari, or at both those places, who, in the apportionment of the patients between the hospitals at Smyrna and Scutari, would do justice to the civil and military services. He (Mr. Stafford) wished it to be distinctly understood that in putting these questions he was not actuated by any feeling of hostility to the Government, and that any information he could give to the War Office or to any other department he would most willingly afford. He had been sorry to learn that it was not the intention of the Government to remove the invalid soldiers who had returned from the Crimea from the casemated barracks at St. Mary's, Brompton, in which they had been placed. He had lately paid another visit to those barracks, and he was bound to say that everything had been done to promote the comfort of their inmates. He must say, however, that the ventilation of the barracks was exceedingly defective, and the atmosphere at night must be so unwholesome that it would be most satisfactory to him if he could receive an assurance that it was intended to remove the invalids to some more salubrious quarters. He was satisfied that all those persons who had friends in the Crimea would feel great interest in this subject, and it would be satisfactory to them, as well as to the public at large, to learn in what manner the Government intended to provide for the remnant of our army.

MR. FREDERICK PEEL

said, that it was quite unnecessary for the hon. Gentleman to disclaim being actuated by any spirit of hostility towards the Government, and from the attention he had bestowed upon the state of the military hospitals, both in this country and in the East, any suggestions which he might offer on the subject could not fail to be treated with respect and to receive attentive consideration. He agreed with the opinions which had been expressed in that House and in another place, that with the view of obtaining recruits for our military forces it was most desirable that the Government should be able to show that they neglected no means which either medical science, or the mechanical appliances at their command, rendered available, in order to enable invalid soldiers to regain their strength as speedily as possible and to rejoin the ranks of their regiments. He was not sorry that some delay had occurred since the hon. Gentleman gave notice of his questions, because in the interval the Government had received the Report of the Commissioners who had been sent out by the Duke of Newcastle to inquire into the state of the hospitals in the East, and during the last two days he had received authentic reports from Smyrna which enabled him to speak upon the climate of that place with some confidence. Before replying to the questions of the hon. Gentleman with respect to the hospital at Balaklava, he wished to say a word or two with reference to the regimental hospitals in the camp before Sebastopol. There had been in those hospitals a very large number of sick—at times, indeed, as many as 20 per cent. of the whole force under Lord Raglan's command. The numbers of sick and wounded men in those hospitals at this moment were not so large, but still they were very considerable. Although the Commissioners who had reported upon the state of these hospitals were in the Crimea during the first three weeks of January, when the cases were, he believed, of the most malignant character, and when the resources at the command of the medical officers were the smallest, it was plain that much suffering had been endured which a clearer insight into the amount of sickness likely to prevail during a winter campaign might possibly have obviated. The great defects with regard to the hospitals, it appeared, had not arisen from any deficiency in the number of medical men, for be believed there had been no deficiency in the number of surgeons attached to the different regiments, but from the want of means of housing the sick soldiers. Since the Report had been made, however, he under-stood that wooden hospital-huts had been provided for every regiment under the command of Lord Raglan. It was quite true that the general hospital at Balaklava had been in a state of great confusion, and that much which was necessary for the proper treatment of the sick had not been provided in that establishment. He believed the chief cause of the disorder which prevailed in that and in other hospitals was the overcrowding, which arose in the case of the hospital at Balaklava, not only from the number of sick sent down there, but also from that establishment having been made a depôt for the reception of the invalid soldiers sent down from the camp, who were to have been conveyed to the hospitals on the shores of the Bosphorus, but for whose transport no immediate preparation had been made. With respect to the hospital at Balaklava, it appeared from a letter written by Dr. Hall in January that wooden huts had been erected in the town in a most excellent situation, and that steps were being taken to erect from twenty to twenty-five huts, which would provide accommodation for some 500 patients. The next point to which the hon. Gentleman had called attention was the state of the transports carrying the sick from Balaklava to Scutari. It was quite true, as he had stated, that there had been in very many instances a great delay between the first embarkation of the sick and the date of the transport leaving the harbour of Balaklava. A few sick being placed on board at first, the vessel remained in the harbour until it was loaded, and thus for several days those who were first placed on board were obliged to remain for some time in the confined atmosphere between decks. It was also true that the nurses on board in the transports were often unfit for their duty, and insufficient in number. But arrangements had now been made, according to which four or five vessels had been fitted up as hospital ships, to which were attached soldiers as orderlies qualified for the duty, and these vessels, exclusively appropriated for the conveyance of the sick, would run between Balaklava and Scutari. According to the statement of the Commissioners who had an opportunity of inspecting one of these ships, which no doubt was a fair specimen of the rest—five in number, he believed—they appeared to possess all the substantial requirements for the service in which they were engaged. The supply of hospital utensils was sufficient, and there was an abundance of medical comforts on board. He therefore trusted that the passage between Balaklava and the neighbourhood of Scutari would be conducted with as little suffering as possible, under the circumstances, to the sick soldier. The hon. Gentleman also complained of the delay in the disembarkation of the sick at Scutari, and he (Mr. Peel) believed that delays of that sort had occurred partly from the want of small boats to ply between the vessels and the shore, and partly also from there being no accommodation in the hospitals themselves at the moment. He thought the cause of that complaint would be remedied by the measures taken to relieve the hospitals at Scutari. The hon. Gentleman was aware that there was a great number of different buildings appropriated to the reception of the sick at Scutari. The Commissioners had gone very patiently into the consideration of the whole administration of those hospitals; and he anticipated from their Reports, and the measures taken by the Government, that great improvements would be effected in all the different branches of administration. Some time since a gentleman was sent out from the War Office with a view to place the purveyor's establishment on a fit footing, and he believed that there would be no reason to complain of that for the future. The hon. Gentleman had observed that it was important that some means should be taken to relieve these hospitals as the warm season approached. He believed that they were at present overcrowded, and in connection with this subject he had to state the Government had made arrangements by private contract with Mr. Brunel, the civil engineer, to provide wooden huts without delay for the reception of 1,000 persons, and huts for a further number of 4,000 persons would be provided by public competition with as little delay as possible. Whether they would be erected on the Asiatic or European side of the Straits would depend on the advice of the local authorities. The hon. Gentleman had made some inquiry respecting the hospital at Abydos, but he (Mr. Peel) knew but little of that establishment, and he was not able to say whether it ought to be enlarged in the way suggested by the hon. Member. With respect to the hospital at Smyrna, an impression prevailed that the Government had selected for it a place which was unhealthy and where fevers were very prevalent; but he believed that impression to be entirely erroneous, and unfounded. He had collected several documents bearing on this subject, but he would dispense with reading them, because he was in possession of the Reports of the Commandant and the principal medical officer, which had been received so late as Saturday last. The Government had not established the hospital at Smyrna without making some previous inquiry with respect to the salubrity of the place. Dr. Morehead was sent to report on the place, and the information he supplied to the Government was very favourable. That gentleman stated: There are tanks in the barrack square containing water, which is of good quality; and the Pasha of Smyrna, himself a medical man, states that the supply can be increased to any amount, it being conveyed by means of aqueducts from the neighbouring hills; he states that the convalescents from wounds recover very rapidly here, and that the situation is most healthy. He had also a letter from a gentleman who had resided thirty years in Turkey, his head-quarters being Smyrna, and who stated:— My experience tells me that Smyrna, instead of being the most unhealthy climate in the Levant, is without exception the most healthy of all the large towns in that country. Indeed, although I have travelled a good deal, I do not think I ever met with any place, situated in a hot climate, more so. He would now read an extract from the Report of Dr. Macleod, dated the 3rd of March:— I have put myself in communication since my arrival, not only with Drs. Wood and M'Raith, two intelligent and respectable medical men, who have long practised in Smyrna, but also with the consul and many of the chief merchants, with a view of obtaining their opinion of Smyrna in a hygienic point of view. All express their most unreserved conviction, that, except during certain visitations of plague, which fortunately of late years has become very rare, Smyrna will be found to be one of the most healthy places of the Mediterranean. Nay, many do not hesitate to assert, that if its inhabitants take only certain easy precautions, to be afterwards referred to, it may be accounted equal in this respect to the salubrious parts of England. Malaria is the chief and almost sole source of disease. Colonel Storks, the commandant of the hospital, stated that Smyrna was a most desirable place to occupy, and as far as their limited experience went in the conveyance of sick, the voyage, though a long one, had not produced so had an effect as was anticipated. This, however, he added, must depend in a great measure upon the transport-ships not being overcrowded. He believed the building in which the sick were placed at Smyrna was one of the most considerable, for a hospital, which was to be found in that country, but the number of sick there (about 750) was certainly more than that building could well accommodate. It had been suggested, therefore, that the Government should obtain from the Turkish authorities the loan of the lazaretto and other buildings more to the south; and wooden huts would also be erected in a large open space within the hospital walls. A letter from a gentleman who went out from the War Office, dated March 5, stated that the best results had been obtained from the hospital at Smyrna, and that the greater part of a batch of invalids arriving there on the 14th of February were then on their way back to head-quarters as convalescents. This gentleman stated that the air of that place was excellent and invigorating, which was not the case at Scutari, where the men lingered but did not rally. The greatest credit was due to Colonel Powell, who was sent out by Lord Raglan to organise this hospital, and who had been relieved by Colonel Storks, the present commandant. He believed he had already stated that the hospital at Smyrna was a civil hospital. About twenty-five physicians and surgeons had been sent out there, and the rates of pay which those gentlemen were receiving, though not fabulous in their amount, as had been hinted at by some, were very liberal. He was quite unable to account for the remarks made by the hon. Gentleman (Mr. A. Stafford) as to the treatment which certain civil practitioners received from the War Office when they offered their services to the Government. He was quite sure that no intentional slight was offered to those gentlemen; on the contrary there was every disposition on the part of the Government to avail themselves of such offers. He would now say a few words with regard to the convalescent stations which the Government had established. At present the only two places assigned for the reception of convalescents were the two ships in the Bosphorus. It was, however, absolutely necessary that the soldiers should be received at some conva- lescent station previously to their return to camp. It had been represented with great truth, that the confinement of persons between decks in hospital ships was very prejudicial, and the Government had therefore given directions that convalescent stations, capable of accommodating 1,000 persons each, should be established on the island of Gozo, near Malta, and also at Corfu. With regard to the transports for the conveyance of invalids home to this country, it was very possible that, as they were now fitted up, they were not suitable for the reception of sick and wounded; but the Government had arranged for the fitting out of two steamers, which were now preparing at Liverpool, and they would be provided with surgeons and with proper fittings, and would, it was believed, by the month of June, bring some 4,000 sick from the hospitals in the East. In that way great relief would be afforded to those establishments. With regard to the army under Omar Pasha at Eupatoria, the Government had sent out twenty medical men, placed under the charge of Dr. Fuller, and those gentlemen had already left this country. As to the casemates at St. Mary's, Brompton, he had understood that those barracks were not appropriated to the reception of soldiers under medical treatment, but that those who were waiting for their discharges were placed there temporarily. He had now, he believed, answered the different questions which had been put to him by the hon. Member, and it only remained for him to repeat, in conclusion, that Government would be always anxious to give the fullest information on this subject, while they were equally resolved that no unwillingness to owe improvements to the suggestions of private persons should deter them from accepting any recommendations that might come from the hon. Member, or any other Member, which were calculated to mitigate the sufferings of the sick and wounded.

VISCOUNT PALMERSTON

Sir, I trust the House will rest assured that Her Majesty's Government will take effectual measures for the recovery, the cure, and the treatment of those brave and gallant men who have either suffered in conflict with the enemy or whose constitutions have been impaired by exposure incidental to the service. I can assure the House that my noble Friend at the head of the War Department feels that to be one of the most incumbent duties which he has to perform. Besides those different measures which have just been stated by my hon. Friend—I think it has already been stated to the House, but I wish to repeat it—there were not long ago sent out three distinguished civilians to examine into the state of the hospitals in the Levant. They were men who had made it their study to investigate all the circumstances connected with sanitary arrangements, and they have been sent out to the Crimea to look into such matters there. They are—Dr. Sutherland, Dr. Gavin, who was employed on a similar service in the West Indies; and Mr. Rawlinson, a civil engineer. These are gentlemen of the highest attainments in regard to the matters on which their attention is to be turned. The specific object they will have in view is precisely that to which the hon. Gentleman (Mr. Stafford) has adverted, namely, to ascertain if those arrangements have been made in the hospitals, in the barracks, and in the transports, upon which mainly depend the question of sickness or of health. The immediate purpose, indeed, for which they were sent out was to examine all the hospitals at Scutari, at Constantinople, at Balaklava, and at the camp, and to suggest those measures which they might deem essential for placing these buildings in such a condition as to be healthy and perfectly consistent with the purpose to which they are devoted. I wrote myself to Lord Stratford de Radcliffe, to Lord William Paulett, and to Lord Raglan, recommending those gentlemen to their particular care and protection, and requesting that whatever arrangements—whatever improvements—these gentlemen might point out as necessary for the health of the sick or the comfort of the soldiers, should be carried into effect immediately, without reference to any professional jealousy, or any professional obstacles that might be thrown in their way. What they recommended was forthwith to be done; and whether the carrying out of their suggestions depended upon any communication with the Turkish Government, or upon the report of the medical officers in the service or not, I requested that no impediment whatever should be placed in the way of effecting such arrangements and such changes as these gentlemen might recommend. I cannot, then, but hope that when these very distinguished men have arrived at their destination, and have examined these places and pointed out the changes they think necessary, that a very rapid and great improvement will take place in the health of the persons laid up in the hospitals.

COLONEL KNOX

said, he wished to call attention to one point connected with the arrival of wounded soldiers home from the war. It was the system of the service upon an officer returning home from the field of action, when he had been reported as having been dangerously, seriously, or slightly wounded, to require him to go again before a medical board. It often happened that when a man was blessed with a good constitution, though reported dangerously or seriously wounded, he was able to recover in a short space of time. In such case a great act of injustice was frequently committed by the medical board, who perhaps said to him, "You are looking remarkably well, we will not give you so much as we would give to others." On the other hand, a general returning home but slightly wounded, and not blessed with so good a constitution, on presenting himself to the board, might be accosted thus—"You are looking very ill;" and they would give him a higher rate. Now he (Colonel Knox) wished that some plan should be laid down by which the report made by the medical authorities upon the field of action as to the wounds of those persons would be considered final. There was great discontent felt upon this subject, and he hoped the Government would cause an inquiry into the matter so as to prevent any injustice being done to these parties. A circumstance had come under his own knowledge at that moment which exposed the injustice of this system. A most distinguished officer of the Guards was shot through the lungs at the battle of Inkerman; but he was allowed no compensation, because it was said that he had recovered very well, and that the wound did not signify. He held that gentlemen wounded in the service of their country, and sent home, should not be exposed to the caprice of those medical men, who were not very nice as to how they ought to assess the damage. He also thought that some arrangement should be made for granting pensions for wounds to non-commissioned officers.

CAPTAIN DUNCOMBE

said, he thought he understood the hon. Under Secretary of War to say that in the hospital ships the berths were placed at right angles amidships. Now, he hoped that they were placed fore and aft, as being more healthy and convenient for the men themselves. With regard to the hospital at Smyrna, he had some experience of the climate there, and instead of its being the unhealthy place as noticed by the public papers, he did not think it was at all deserving of that character. He would recommend the erection of an auxiliary hospital at Buona Beshi, a healthy spot on the hills near that town.

MR. PERCY

said, he would beg to point out that unless the landing pier at Scutari was repaired the boats of which the hon. Gentleman (Mr. Peel) had spoken would be of little use. If the Spring Palace at Scutari was to be taken as a hospital, he hoped the Government would take care not to retain it for that purpose after the month of May, as it would then become unhealthy. If wooden huts were erected within the hospital walls at Smyrna most injurious consequences would assuredly follow. He believed this plan was attempted at Scutari, but had to be abandoned. These places were all built in the form of a court, and the erection of huts greatly interfered with and impeded the ventilation. Another point to which he was most anxious to direct attention was the ventilation of transport and hospital ships, to which he recommended that Dr. Arnott's plan should he applied. It was at present most defective, from its being impossible to keep the hatchways open in a gale.

MR. FREDERICK PEEL

said, there had been hospital huts erected in the yard of the infantry barracks at Scutari; but the moment the Government were made aware of it, their removal was directed. The huts proposed to be erected at Smyrna were to be on a parade ground adjoining the hospital, but not within its precincts.

MR. KINNAIRD

said, he wished to know if it were the intention of Government to provide an increased number of chaplains, and also to send out additional nurses to the hospitals?

MR. FREDERICK PEEL

said, it appeared that the number of chaplains was not sufficient at Scutari; the Government had it under consideration whether any addition should be made to the number. He was not aware that any arrangement was in contemplation at present for sending out an additional number of nurses.

Motion agreed to.