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

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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