The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-01 00:00:00

,
DECEMBER 1, 1855.

THE NIGHTINGALE FUND.

AN influential and brilliant meeting was held on
Thursday at Willis's Rooms, to consider the best
mode of recording "that the services of Miss Nightin-
gale in the hospitals of the East demanded the
grateful recognition of the British people." The
chair was taken by his Royal Highness the Duke of
Cambridge, who arrived shortly after two o'clock,
and experienced an enthusiastic reception. The
Marquis of Lansdowne, the Marquis of Clanricarde,
Viscount Goderich, M.P. ; Lord Stanley, M.P.; the
Bight Hon. the Lord Mayor, the Right Hon. Sir J.
Fakington, M.P.; the Hon. and Rev. S. G. Osborne,
the Hon. Major Powys, Mr. Monckton Milnes,
were present on the platform.
His Royal Highness the Duke of CAMBRIDGE, on
-taking the chair, made an eloquent allusion to the
wretched state of our hospitals in the earlier part of
the war, to the noble motives which actuated Miss
Nightingale to leave home and friends in the hope
of mitigating the sufferings of the soldiers, and to
the success which attended her exertions :--

In spite of loss of health tor a brief period, and notwith-
-standing the many difficulties which surrounded her, she
has never relaxed in her endeavours to accomplish the
object she had proposed to herself. That object I venture
to think she has most fully attained. All the accounts
which come from the East bear testimony to the good
ariler and the good system which have been established in
.oar hospitals there, not indeed by her alone, but certainly
Ito a great extent by means of her most valuable assistance.
'His Royal Highness then came to the point of his
address—the manner in which it was proposed to
-testify to Miss Nightingale the respect and sympathy
her noble conduct had excited in England :

I believe I am authorised to state that the object we have
in view is not to build a new hospital—( cheers )—but to
enable Miss Nightingale, with the assistance of a council
whom she will be requested herself to select, to make use,
unfettered, of a sum of money to establish a school for
nurses, partly I believe of a higher order, if there be any
such who may desire to come forth—and partly of the or-
dinary description, who, when trained by her, may be sent
forth to the various hospitals which shall require their ser-
-vices. (Cheers.) That I believe to be the real object and
intent with which this subscription has been formed.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE, Sir J. PAICINGTON,
Lord GODERICH, and others then proposed reso-
lutions, as advertised.
Lord STANLEY, who was very warmly received, said
that a resolution had been placed in his hands,
worded in the following manner
"That to accomplish this object on a scale worthy of the
nation, and honourable to Miss Nightingale, all classes be
invited to contribute." (Cheers.) That resolution fol-
lowed so obviously from those which had already been
.carried, that it needed but little eloquence to recommend
it to the adoption of the meeting; but a word or two he
might be permitted to say on the general object which they
were there to promote, and on the means by which they
proposed to accomplish that object.
His lordship alluding to the arduous task Miss
Nightingale had undertaken, observed :
The public had heard much of late about " urgent pri-
vate affairs "—( cheers and laughter)—and it might well
happen that those whom no danger could daunt, no diffi-
culty dismay, would turn sick and weary from the tedium
of a protracted exile ; but Miss Nightingale had declared
that, while the war lasted and the necessity for her services
continued, and as long as her own health remained unim-
paired, her " private affairs " should not become " urgent,"
and she would not abandon her self-imposed duty. (En-
thusiastic applause.)

Upon the principal object of the institution about
to be established, Lord Stanley made a few leadi►ig
remarks :

The object of Miss Nightingale's mission was in part to
substitute a voluntary attendance, prompted by charity and
softened by refinement, for the services, sometimes no
doubt valuable, but not always satisfactory, of hired nurses ;
and for that purpose it was proposed to train and educate
benevolent ladies, of whatever rank, by means of an in•
stitution the general object of which was sufficiently clear,
brit the specific form of which was left uncertain,—partly
as a personal tribute to the lady in whose honour it was to
be founded, and partly because they deferred to her as
herself the best authority on the subject. (Loud cheers.)
The noble lord, in conclusion, stated be did not at
all apprehend that this new system of hospital
nursing would degenerate into a mere fashionable
pastime. The duties were too arduous and distaste..
ful to be undertaken by any one not seriously in
earnest in the work :
He regarded the institution, therefore, as earnestly prae•
tical ; he was persuaded that it would be productive of the
happiest results ; and it only remained to consider how it
might be carried out in a manner and on a scale worthy
alike of its object and its author. (Loud cheers.)
After a few more speeches, the proceedings ter
minated.

for regulating the expenditure

of the Turkish Loan are still unable to come to
a satisfactory understanding with the Turkish
Government. The Porte resists the inquisitive pro-
ceedings of the commissioners, who insist upon
executing their ;mission with tillOUte fidelity,

THE Pllt§g.

~.~.<.

LORD STANLEY ON THE EDUCATION OF
THE RURAL POPULATION.
LORD STANLEY, in a letter addressed to Sir Willoughby
Jones, of thimmer hall, Norfolk, upon the subject of
the late educational meeting at Fakenham, pro-
pounds a scheme for encouraging the acquisition of
knowledge among the rural population at once
simple, practical, and suggestive. The establish-
ment of public libraries and local reading-rooms is
the object of this plan. "These once established,"
observes the noble lord, "the desire for more and
better schools will speedily follow. The evil which
friends of knowledge have now to fight against is not
poverty, nor prejudice, nor the want of qualified
teachers, but sheer apathy and indifference on the
part of parents in the labouring class." The noble
lord then proceeds to explain the plan upon which
such libraries should be founded in Norfolk :
I should suggest (observes his lordship) the establish-
ment of five principal or central libraries, from which
smaller institutions of a similar nature might be supplied
with books. Beginning from the west, Lynn occurs as the
first suitable point; and here, in fact, the work has been
done. Norwich and Yarmouth should be provided with
depots of the same kind ; and there, at least, neither means
nor will are likely to be wanting. Fakenham towards the
north, and Thetford on our southern boundary, might, with
a proper organisation, supply the intervening districts. To
pronounce what number of volumes each such library
ought to contain is difficult. I have often stated my belief
that a collection of 5,000 volumes may be so chosen as to
include nearly all that, for popular purposes, is valuable in
English literature ; and that estimate I see no reason to
alter. The cost of books may be taken roughly at 4s. per
volume, or five to the pound, which, allowing for expenses
of furniture, would imply an outlay of 1,2001. for each
library, or 6,0001. for the whole.
To the inquiry, in what manner the influence of
these central libraries may be extended beyond the
limits of their own immediate vicinity, Lord Stanley

replies:—
By the establishment, in every village, of small local
reading-rooms, each of which may be supplied with books
from the nearest central depot, paying for their use, and
having, also, if that be practicable, a limited stock of
standard works in its own possession. Such a reading-
room may be easily established wherever a school exists.
All that is required is that some one person should make
himself responsible for the due payment of the annual
subscription and for the safe custody of the volumes issued.
In the district immediately surrounding Lynn many
parishes and villages are thus assisted, and there is no
reason why the system should not be extended over the
entire county. Taking its area in square miles (in round
numbers, 2,100), it will be seen that forty-two institutions
such as 1. describe would give one to every fifty square
miles, or, in other words, nearly one to every square of
seven miles each way. If the number were doubled, we
should have one to every twenty-five square miles, or one
to every square of five miles each way. The latter
number might probably he considered as sufficient for all
purposes.
In conclusion, Lord Stanley expresses his opinion of
the attempt about to be made at Fakenbam as one
which must ultimately succeed, and which at once
seizes hold of the right end of the great question of
education, and adduces three leading reasons why in
raising the capital required contributions should only
be asked for on condition of success .--4
A manifold advantage is thus gained. First, the
fear of entire failure, and of the consequent abandonment
of the project, acts as a stronger stimulus than the mere
apprehension of an inadequate result. Next, in the unfor-
tunate event of such failure, you have at least the ground
clear for a fresh attempt, and not encumbered with the
ruins of an abortive enterprise. Thirdly (and this is most
important), many persons are more willing to assist in a
good work than sanguine of the issue. Such persons are
apt to hold back, not out of apathy, but because they think
success impossible; their objections are met by a form of
promise which, if their fears prove well-grounded, binds
them to nothing.
After a few more points of detail, his lordship con-
cludes by expressing the pleasure he feels in being
associated in so good and useful a work :
That neither political rivalry, nor sectarian difference,
nor apathy among the wealthy, nor ignorance in the
poorer class, may interfere with its speedy success is the
earnest wish of many. Obstacles to such an undertaking
vanish on approach. Little more is needed than the will
to overcome them and the confidence which a good cause
ought to inspire.
THE MINISTER OF WAR AT Tutus, in order to
favour enrolments in the Anglo-Italian Legion, has
decided that officers of the Sardinian army now in the
receipt of pensions, who enter that corps, shall not
lose either their pension or the rank which they had
attained.
THE EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH, as " a particular
mark of his affection for the Empress," has issued
a decree placing the educational establishments of
the Legion of Honour under the immediate control
of her Majesty. They are also to resume their
original title of "Maisons Imperiale Napoleon."
THE QUEEN OF SPAP.,/, who last year presented the
Pope with a magnificent diamond tiara, has lately
sent his Holiness two fine Murillos, " The Marriage
of St. Catherine" and "The Prodigal Son." The
Pope has had them magnificently framed and placed
in the law= of the Vacitan.