The Press. — London, England, 1856-02-02 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 2, 1856. which affixed an indelible stain upon the Directors, and rendered further trust in the honesty and ability of the Indian Government impossible. Then, again, the ground taken by Sir CHARLES WOOD, Mr. LOWE, and the East India Directors, in resisting Lord STANLEY, that the then legislation on India was to be merely temporary and reversible from year to year, like any other Act of Parliament, has opened a door for the perpetual introduction of improve ments and the curbing of misgovernment, such as the most ardent friend of India could have hardly looked tin•. It is not, therefore, altogether without hopes of coining fruit that wo see the opening of the present session. Mr. DISRAELI has well said, " Rest assured that "when the House of Commons does not take " an interest in the good government of India, " the time is not fur distant when they will " lose that India of which they are so careless." And we cannot, therefore, doubt that in fitting season he will not be oblivious of a cause he can plead so well. When that season shall arrive we hope that no disunion will be seen among our ranks upon this most important subject; for Conservative hands are the fittest to repair the defects of a machinery so nice as that of the Government of India. TIIE NIGHTINGALE TESTIMONIAL. WE publish an important document connected with the Nightingale Fund. Miss NIGHTIN GALE has signified her cordial acceptance of the proposal made to her, and has named the council by whose advice and assistance she desires to be guided when her return to England enables her to carry into effect the contemplated institution for " the training, " sustenance, and protection of nurses and " hospital attendants." The publication of this document will go far to remove whatever doubts exist in the public mind, and whatever difficulties have impeded the progress of the Committee. She has selected her council with the sound judgment she has ever manifested. The majority of them are practical and experienced men, and they are, as much as any nine English gentle. men can be, free from all suspicion ; of that suspicion, more especially, which insinuates against the movement a disposition to foster opinions opposed to the religion of England. It is not easy to comprehend how this impres sion has arisen; but that it does exist is cer tain. Yet a very large majority of the Com mittee are well known to hold sentiments the very opposite to those which are called " True tarian." A casual examination of the list might have induced conviction that no possi ble danger could have been apprehended from this source. Miss NIGHTINGALE'S council is, however, so constituted as to satisfy the most sensitive on this head. They will be her guides ; and the public may safely confide in them, even if we had not that which we un doubtedly have, a sure and safe guarantee in the antecedents of Miss NIGHTINGALE herself, and in the reliance that may be placed on her "judgment, experience, and integrity." It will be perceived that Miss NIGHTINGALE declines, for the present, to furnish any "pro spectus of a plan" on which she will proceed in forming an institution, the formation of which she has solemnly undertaken. Her few observations on this head are clear, straight forward and conclusive Circumstanced as she now is, such a task was simply impossible. But we may judge of her future by her past, and safely believe that the institution she will organise will be productive of immense public good, not alone in the metropolis, but even tually throughout the British dominions ; for there is no place, however isolatad, to which nurses of her training may not go, either as superintendents of public hospitals, er as attendants during sickness in private families. We cannot even surmise the several plans and arrangements by which Miss NIGHTINGALE will render this institution effective ; but we may safely calculate upon some of them. The institution will no doubt be connected with one or more of the existing hospitals of London. In the institute her nurses will be taught, and THE PRESS. in the hospitals they will be practised. In due course they will be supplied with certifi cates, which certificates will have a social and commercial value. The nurses will be pro• tected during sickness, or while not actually engaged in any special service, and will be pro vided for, in the event of incapacity or old age, by annuities from the Fund. Thus, a better class of women will seek and obtain an employment, dignified, as it will be, by the example and practice of Miss NIGHTIN GALE. There are in this country thousands of women well born, nurtured, and educated, for whom no employment can be found, who are unfited to labour as governesses, and to whom manual service would be a degradation, yet who eagerly desire to be useful, and who mourn under a burden of dependence. The continual and urgent appeals that are made from such societies as the " Clergy Friend Society" and the " Home for Decayed Gentle men," will show the classes from which a very large proportion of Miss NIGHTINGALE'S nurses will come. We recommend, therefore, these considera tions to our readers, with a careful perusal of the document issued by the Cornmittee of the Nightingale Fund. GAINS OF THE WAR. ALTHOUGH no sober-minded man could honestly declare himself dissatisfied at the return of peace, and although the congratulations of the Government are doubtless tendered in a spirit of perfect sincerity, yet we would not shut our eyes to the fact that throughout the country there is a very general, though not, we hope, very deep, sentiment of disappointment. It is thought that England has only been second where she ought to have been first, and that the valour of her troops and the exertions of her people should have been crowned with more brilliant and showy results. We should be the last to speak with severity of any such sentiment as this ; and it is rather because we respect the patriotism it displays that we wish to place the results of this war in a truer light, and afford to such persons the satisfac tion they must derive from contemplating its real and its permanent advantages. First and foremost, then, we have tested the personal prowess of the legions of the North, and proved that we can beat them. In close action the Russian soldiers have gone down before our men like nine-pins, and Kars and Silistria have both shown us that in the power of steady endurance we are at least their equals. We have seen also that the traditional gallantry of the high-bred gentleman is still what it ever was, and that forty years of peace, the rapid spread of materialism, and the igno ble political doctrines which have been so zealously preached, have effected no lasting damage on the English character. We have not sustained a single reverse which is fairly attributable to such a cause. Nor are the failures at the Redan any set-off whatsoever against Alma, Balaklava, and Inkermann. It is satisfactory to have obtained such a result at all : we need never fear to use our armour because we have not proved it ; but if we con sider also under what disadvantages it was obtained, it is more than satisfactory—it is glorious. Diplomatists and War Ministers did their worst—yet still we triumphed. No amount of mismanagement, no amount of fatuity, could mar the unconquerable energies of the English nation. This fact stands out bold and well defined. It is because we were so little in the closet that we were se great in the field. What might we not effect when the administrative ability of the country was in proportion to the spirit of its people and the devotion of its troops? We have never had forty years' peace before, and we must not be surprised at the proportionate slowness with which the whole machinery of war was set in motion. Let us be satisfied to feel that the heart of the nation is sound. If we have good raw material we need not despond, though we lack strategical skill. The latter would come in time, but nothing could make up for the former. 99 Yet, great as these fruits of our b,. undoubtedly are, if we turn to the mot aspect of the question they are infinitei, greater. For more tha n a cen t ur y R uss i a h a& been steadily advancing, till Europe had well nigh come to take her at her word, and fancy that she could never recede. Where her ban ners had once waved, there they should wave always; where her foot had once been planted, the soil should be Russian for ever. Germany was fascinated by her cold, unflinching gaze, and even England began to talk of her destiny. This whole fabric of pretension has been scattered to the winds. Her frontier has been pushed backward, and her grasp loosened from her victim's throat. The ground lost may be little, but it is the first step of retrogression. On the other hand, how im pressively have the gigantic resources of this country been unfolded ! We may not have : • done much, but we have shown what we could do in a style that renders the sneers of our enemies as contemptible as they are feigned ; and while we acknowledge with affectionate gratitude the services of our gallant Allies, we must at once disclaim all share in the ridiculous notion that we could not fight Russia without them. In its effect upon our own political parties we discern also another most gratifying re sult. The peace at-any-price party has ceased to exist. Mr. BRIG HT may pipe, but nobody will dance. His faction is decomposed. Had their advice been followed, what would have been the condition of Europe now? Their golden age would have found Constanti nople in the bands of Russia, and war more necessary, with fewer resources. How happy Mr. BRIGHT would have been! Talk of NERO and his fiddle, it is nothing to Mr BRIGHT and his bobbins! Europe might writhe in the fangs of a ruthless conqueror, but the spinning jenny would go merrily round, and the peace ful Quaker would smile blandly as ho modestly confessed that it was his work. The two pictures, of what is and what might have been, are now fairly before the eyes of the people, and it is needless to ask if they are satisfied with their choice. Let us remember also that for the first time in our annals we have made peace without being tired of war. By an act of sublime moderation and self-control we have paused in mid-career as soon as justice was satisfied, and refused to take more than our due, though we had everything before us. The spectacle is grander than a hundred victories. Nor is such conduct without its own reward. When a nation is sated with bloodshed, and bonfires, and illuminations—when it has felt for a long time the real pressure of war—when it has graven fiercely impatient of taxation, and for getful of the original objects of the stru g gle, it is apt to rush into any kind of peace that is offered it, from sheer weariness. Under such circumstances a country like England, where the popular voice is so powerful, is always at a great disadvantage. But we have now begun our negotiations in cool blood—confident, but not elated—desirous of rest, but still not despondent—with, so far, every guarantee that they shall be conducted with resolution, self-possession, and dignity. We make peace, not because we want it, but because we have gained the objects of war; and this is the only kind of peace which can ever be satisfactory. From all these various considerations we think we may affirm with safety that we have more reasons to rejoice, and fewer reasons to grieve, at the present prospect of peace, than this country has often had reason to boast of. NEWSPAPER LICENCE. THE remarks of Lord CAMPBELL in the of Queen's Bench on Thursday last are satisfactory testimony to the justice wi which we last week spoke against the licep of the newspaper press. We are glad to he from Lord CAMPBELL'S own lips that : il assumption of a prisoner's guilt or innobetv before trial is an offence recognised. Ist 'll English law, and that he is himself p . . ou E to carry out that law, should any trans be brought before him. The mischicv we denounce has been long gainifitOddi • r '