§ The EARL of ST. GERMANSrose, in pursuance of his notice, to move an Address, praying that Her Majesty would be graciously pleased to order that there he laid on the table of the House translated copies or translated extracts of the Minutes of the Proceedings of the International Sanitary Conference, held at Paris, 1851–52. The question, in reference to which he moved for this information, was of such importance that he should make no apology for calling to it the attention of their Lordships, and he was only sorry that the noble Earl the Chief Commissioner of the Board of Health (the Earl of Shaftesbury), had not himself undertaken the task of bringing it before their Lordships. Without going into any historical disquisition on the subject of the quarantine laws, he might observe that Venice was the first State which instituted them about the end of the thirteenth century, and that her example was followed shortly afterwards by other States bordering on the Mediterranean: it was not, however, till the year 1720 that any regulations for establishing quarantine were introduced into this country. The existing regulations were embodied in the 6 Geo. IV., c. 78, and in various orders of the Privy Council, subsequently issued under the authority of that statute. The quarantine laws were based upon two principles, the truth of which remained undisputed till very recently. The first principle was, that the epidemic diseases which at various times had desolated the world were communicable by contact with persons affected, or by contact with things touched by persons affected. On this first principle he believed that a great modification of opinion had of late years taken place, and that the majority of medical and scientific men were now convinced that these contagious diseases, as they were called, were not communicable by contact, but were produced by local and atmospheric causes, and that these diseases could only be prevented from spreading by sanitary measures, and not by quarantine regulations. The other principle was, that the spread of those epidemics could be prevented by the prevention of the contact to which he had alluded, and that was the 1268 question for Parliament to consider. That was a principle on which much light had been thrown by the information contained in the different Reports of the Board of Health, and it was to that information he was anxious to call the consideration of the House. Heretofore all the information on the subject of quarantine had been derived from interested sources, namely, the officers of the different quarantine establishments. He imputed no dishonesty to those officers, nor any wilful desire to pervert facts; but human nature was such that personal interest would bias men's minds, and lead honest men to see facts through a distorted medium. We now had an impartial and disinterested tribunal in the Board of Health; that tribunal devoted much labour and anxious attention to the subject, and had come to the conclusion that it was to sanitary measures alone that we ought to look for the prevention of epidemic disorders. It was impossible to read the reports without being struck with the array of facts and evidence in favour of the conclusion at which they had arrived, and with the numerous and weighty authorities brought forward in corroboration of it. He did not intend to fatigue their Lordships with any quotations from those reports, but he must advert to two important facts recorded in them. The first was, the unanimous judgment of the Academy of Medicine in Paris, as to the fallacy of the opinions regarding the contagious nature of those epidemics, and as to the impossibility of preventing them except by the adoption of sanitary measures. The second was, that the College of Physicians at New Orleans had decisively established the good effects of such measures, for they showed that a century ago the yellow fever extended to twelve degrees of latitude further north than it did at present, and that its retrogression was to be attributed to sanitary measures and atmospheric changes. The first of these two reports of the Board of Health related to cholera, and was made in 1849, and the latter to the yellow fever, and was made in the present year. The first of these reports had attracted more attention in foreign countries than it had in our own. It had been translated into several foreign languages, and had been extensively circulated on the Continent. Subsequently to this publication, the eyes of the French Government were opened to the uselessness of many of the precautions they had theretofore enforced, and they had modi- 1269 fied the quarantine laws as to France, and had abolished them so far as regarded the communications between France and Algeria. The French Government thought that it would be a desirable thing that foreign countries interested in the question should assemble by delegates at Paris, and should endeavour to modify upon system their quarantine restrictions. In the month of July last a conference took place at Paris, which was attended by delegates—scientific and medical men—appointed by twelve different States. Those twelve States were Austria, the Two Sicilies, Spain, Rome, France, England, Greece, Portugal, Russia, Sardinia, Tuscany, and Turkey. He believed that that conference unanimously recommended a considerable modification in the quarantine system; but he had reason to believe that nearly all, if not all, of those States, were prepared to carry their recommendations still further than they had done, if public opinion were ripe for the change. They recommended certain propositions to public attention, and, with the object of giving them greater notoriety, he now asked their Lordships to grant him the additional information referred to in his Motion. He must also ask his noble Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether any step had been taken by our Government to give effect to the recommendations of this Conference? Those recommendations were a great step taken in advance; and, as he thought that it would be the duty of Parliament to take this question into its consideration within a short time, all the information calculated to enlighten the mind of the public or of Parliament upon it ought to be instantly produced. Whatever might be the opinion of different individuals upon the question, no one could doubt that the intensity of these contagious diseases was greatly aggravated by bad air and vitiated atmosphere; and, on the contrary, was much mitigated by good air and healthy atmosphere. Now, by the present system of quarantine, you confined within a limited space diseased or suspected persons, under circumstances which peculiarly disposed them to receive infection. This was the case in all countries, but more particularly in our own. In the Mediterranean there were lazarettoes, with comparatively airy and commodious buildings in which some classification of persons might be obtained, and there was accommodation within their walls where cargoes could be stored. 1270 In England, however, there were no lazarettoes—no buildings for the accommodation of persons or goods coming from infected or suspected places. Vessels with their crews and cargoes were ordered to pass their quarantine in certain stations, where they were moored at a distance of several miles from the shore. By confining the parties within the confined space of a ship, they only led to the aggravation of the evil which they sought to check. Take, for instance, the case of that unfortunate vessel, the Eclair—he was sure that her sad story must still be fresh in the memory of their Lordships. The Eclair, a steam sloop of war, arrived at Portsmouth from the coast of Africa, having lost on the station and on her passage home half her crew, including her gallant commander, Captain Estcourt. She reached Portsmouth, however, and the principal medical officer at that port, Sir John Richardson, was eager to have the crew landed at once, and carried to an airy and well-ventilated ward of Haslar Hospital. His advice was unfortunately overruled, and the vessel was ordered to perform quarantine in the usual manner. The superintendent of quarantine would not allow her even to lie at the Motherbank, for fear of her doing injury to the ships in the neighbourhood, but insisted on her going with a pilot to Stangate Creek, which was said to be the most unhealthy station on the whole coast of Kent, and a pilot was sent to take her round. She was there kept ten days in quarantine. Several deaths took place in that interval, and among them that of the unfortunate pilot. At last, the Admiralty, on hearing of the mortality, interposed, and stated that if the vessel remained longer in quarantine there were no means or chance of saving the survivors of the crew. In consequence of the representations thus made to the Privy Council, the crew were landed; two of them subsequently died; but he had not heard that any contagion spread into the locality where they came on shore. Now, if that unfortunate ship had been a merchant vessel instead of a ship of war, she would not have been allowed to remove from quarantine, and, in all probability, her crew would have all died. Let this be contrasted with the case of the Arethusa. She arrived at Plymouth two months ago with the smallpox on board. Now, there were doubts as to the contagious nature of the yellow fever, but there were none as to the contagious nature of smallpox. The crew 1271 were, nevertheless, instantly landed and placed in hospital at Plymouth, but he had not heard that any contagion had spread into the neighbourhood. The interests of humanity were the first, but they were not the only consideration in this case. He would ask their Lordships to consider how the interests of commerce were affected by this question. He was informed that if a vessel were kept performing quarantine for twenty or thirty days, the loss caused by such detention would be equal to the whole expenses of the voyage. The depreciation in the value of cotton goods would be 15 per cent, while, if the cargo consisted of perishable goods, fruit, and the like, it was frequently totally lost. But were the quarantine regulations enforced? The fact was, the want of accommodation was such, that it appeared, from the evidence of the parties concerned, that at English quarantine stations, the cotton goods, which were supposed to be peculiarly capable of conveying the seeds of contagion, were very partially opened to the air, and that in the Irish stations they were not opened at all. Such was the case with regard to goods; nor were the regulations more effectually enforced with regard to persons. It was perfectly well known that to avoid the risk of undergoing quarantine, false returns were frequently made by the captains of vessels, and cases of death which had occurred during the voyage were attributed to causes very different from the real ones. He contended, therefore, that the quarantine regulations were both oppressive and inoperative; that they were extremely injurious to the interests of the community and of commerce; and were at the same time perfectly inefficacious. He could not read the reports to which he had already alluded without being struck by the facts and arguments which they contained. He thought that this subject should engage the attention of Her Majesty's Government and of Parliament at a very early period; and that it was, therefore, important that all the information bearing on it should be laid before their Lordships and the public, in order that they might be able to form a correct judgment upon the evil with which they had to deal. He would conclude by putting a question to his noble Friend the First Commissioner of the Board of Health. The first report which that Board made was on the cholera; the second on yellow fever; their third report was, he understood, to be on the plague. Might he ask 1272 his noble Friend when it would be ready for presentation?
§ The EARL of SHAFTESBURYsaid, that the Report to which his noble Friend had referred was in preparation, and would, he hoped, soon be ready for presentation. He rejoiced exceedingly that his noble Friend had taken up this question, and assured him that he would be amply rewarded for his exertions by the public benefits which would accrue from them. It was quite surprising to see the amount of prejudice which had been overcome by this Conference, the harmony with which the representatives of the various countries had met and discussed this difficult question, and the unanimity which they had displayed with respect to the evils of the present system, and the remedies which should be applied to it. It was most gratifying to peruse the conclusion to which they had unanimously arrived. He thought that we were very much indebted to the French Government for taking the initiative in this matter. The conference was proposed by them; they offered a place for its meeting; and it was to their energy and enterprise that we were indebted for its having been carried through. They had not indeed, attained all that was desirable, but a great deal had been done to remove the intolerable shackles which the quarantine system imposed upon commerce and social intercourse along the shores of the Mediterranean. There was a very great anxiety in this country as to the result of this conference. Was this surprising? For none but those who had practical experience on the subject, particularly commercial men, knew what a burden upon commerce these restrictions were, and what tremendous losses they entailed upon persons trading to the Mediterranean. The French Government had shown that the amount of loss entailed upon the Mediterranean trade by the quarantine established against the plague alone, at a time when there was no plague raging in any country upon or near the Mediterranean, was 100,000,000 of francs per annum. The practical inconvenience which it occasioned to travellers and merchants could only be known to those who had experienced them. He would now state to their Lordships the propositions in which the conference had resulted, and which only waited for confirmation, having already received the signatures of the greatest part of the deputies. They proposed, first, that there should be an equalisation of quarantine in every coun- 1273 try, and in every port. This was a point of great importance, for at present the periods of quarantine in different countries and ports varied from three to forty days. They also proposed the reduction of the period of quarantine; the total abolition of suspected hills of health; the issuing of foul bills of health by competent and responsible authority only; the immediate admission of clean bills of health to free pratique in every port; the restriction of quarantine to three diseases only; the total abolition of the former distinction (a distinction that filled volumes) between susceptible and non-susceptible articles; and the reduction of articles to three classes. For "yellow fever" three to seven days, if no cases have occurred on board during the passage; but if cases have occurred, the quarantine is to be from seven to fifteen days. For cholera, the period is to be five days, including the voyage. It is of importance to observe that these proposed quarantines are only operative when diseases actually exist in the countries from which the vessels have sailed. Five-tenths of the quarantines are thus virtually swept away at one blow, while the periods under foul bills, as now proposed, are, on an average, very much shorter. The House would thus see from what great burdens and restrictions commerce and social intercourse would be relieved. He was very happy to say that the conference took as its guide in these matters the principles laid down in reports of the Board of Health—that effective preventive measures were not to be sought for in a cordon sanitaire, or in the suspension of commercial or even of personal intercourse, but that the only-means of prevention which would be found to be effectual were the adoption of proper care with respect to the sanitary condition of seaports, to the ventilation of ships, and to the medical treatment and sanitary care of the crews. They advised that such measures should be carefully instituted by all countries which had ports on the Mediterranean, or had trading operations with such ports. He (the Earl of Shaftesbury) believed that these recommendations were founded upon sound principles, and that we should by their adoption more effectually put down these various disorders, or prevent their extension, than by any known system of a forty days' quarantine, a cordon sanitaire, or any similar measures which were now in operation. He would suggest to his noble Friend to move for a Minute of the Board of Health in Febru- 1274 ary, 1852, on the Sanitary Conference, in conjunction with the other papers to which he had referred. He trusted that the Government would accede to the production of these papers, which would, he believed, throw much light on this subject, which was so interesting in a commercial and a social point of view.
§ The EARL of MALMESBURYdid not think that either of the noble Lords who had addressed the House had sufficiently impressed their Lordships with the great difficulties which stood in the way of any Government arranging with all the States of Europe a measure for amending the laws of quarantine, although he admitted the great necessity which existed for such a measure. Unless, however, such a measure met with the general consent of all the States, it would fall short in effecting any real improvement. With respect to the Motion of the noble Earl, he could only say that Her Majesty's Government had no objection to give the papers asked for; but he must remind the noble Earl that at this very moment the important object which the noble Earl wished to accomplish, namely, the amendment of the laws of quarantine, was proceeding so far favourably that a convention had been commenced between France and this country, and some other Powers of Europe, although the precise terms had not yet been agreed upon. It was unusual to present to Parliament papers relating to a convention of this nature until it had assumed a more solid appearance; but that was no reason why the noble Earl should be refused the information he desired. He thought, however, his noble Friend who had spoken last, had perhaps taken a more sanguine view of the result of this proceeding than would follow from its consummation. The noble Earl, in speaking of the losses suffered by French commerce in consequence of these regulations, had stated them to be 100,000,000 francs annually; but he (the Earl of Malmesbury) believed the gentleman who made the computation spread the loss over a certain number of years, and did not confine it to a single year. There were many difficulties in the way of bringing this matter to a satisfactory conclusion. There was, he feared, a strong prejudice existing among the Italian States against improvement in this matter; and he (the Earl of Malmesbury) thought very great difficulty would be experienced in bringing those States into the convention. Owing to difficulties of a technical 1275 character, he was afraid that not so many Powers as could be desired, would be found to sign the convention. He had no doubt that it would eventually be agreed upon as between England and France; but their Lordships would deceive themselves if, taking the liberal view which was peculiar to that inhabitants of that country, they entertained hopes that the same feeling would be manifested by other countries. He left it entirely to the discretion of his noble Friend to say whether he would have these papers or not. He was quite willing to give them; but, of course, he was not prepared to submit the convention as now drawn up.
§ The EARL of ST. GERMANSwould not press for papers which it would be in-judicious to produce, and readily left it to his noble Friend to supply any that he could give with propriety.
§ The EARL of MALMESBURYsaid, if the noble Earl would leave it to him, he would give such extracts as he thought, under the circumstances, should now be submitted.
§ Motion, with the addition of the Minute suggested by the Earl of SHAFTESBURY, agreed to.