The Press.
London, England, 1854-11-04 00:00:00

1034

ELLESLEY in 1808, or than the same hero's
rrative of the Battle of Waterloo. A plain
uestion was to be asked as to whether Miss
IGHTINGALE would superintend a staff of
nurses, and the writer expands tips query with
diffusive ingenuity calculated Va excite ti‘e
envy of recorders of enormous ons imd
.chroniclers of fallen chimnie§, llow
'military matters, feeble as aitician, the
Secretary at War can only aOWct the pros
found in all 'that relate* to ourself. Ha
talks familiarly of " the rank and file of
1," nurses." He records a proposition of the
Rev. Mr. HUME, and condescends to say, " I
'approve of the tone of his letter very much."
What a characteristic sentence ! Just as if
a sentimental official was admiring the tone of
a new bell in some sweet little specimen of a
Della Crusean copy of a mediaeval church
tower. Then he wastes space in pointless
speculations as to whether Lady MARIA FOR-
, Immo did or did not know what she meant to
'lava done, or as to whether the Secretary at
War was or was not mistaken as to the possi-
meaning of Lady MARIA FORRESTER'S
, words, and much more in the same masterly
. ptrain.
Then the letter-writer humorously surmises
that a number of " sentimental enthusiastic
"` ladies turned loose (!) into the hospital at
" Scutari
" raises ci la porte." The phraseology of this
i 'whole passage, commencing with English
ladies " turned loose," and ending with a
French phrase for their being turned out, is a
choice specimen of weakness affecting to be
strong. With what a fine manly air this Titan
of the War-office—this Cecur-de-Lion of the
Mantua-maker's Association—affects to dis-
parage the pretensions of sentimental charac-
ters of the weaker sex. But as there are
women with heroic natures that often put
manhood to shame, so there are ladylike gen.
tilemen who would be evidently more at ease
if they were classified with " the rank and file"
of petticoated humanity. Now that numbers
have perished for lack of proper organised
ssistance, the sentimentalists begin to work.
They are roused into practical activity at
the public cry of " Shame !" Alas! they are
Wise after the event. They send nurses to the
dead, and offer sympathy to those who have
survived pangs which could have been miti
gated if men of sense, not " sentiment," had
" unlimited power of drawing on the Govern-
ment."
But the incoherency of Mr. SIDNEY HER-
BERT'S letter is not the least ridiculous part
of his effusions. In the middle of it he
:writes, " I do not say one word to press you,"
and then, with his ladylike manner of re
serving the substance for the last words, he
concludes, " I know you will come to a right
" and wise decision. God grant it may be one
"in accordance with my hopes." This letter
Was so long that we almost excuse him for
having forgotten at the end what he said
in the middle, for it would be too severe
to expect him to peruse his own prolixity.
His invoking Heaven at the end, how-
ever, after disclaiming the intention of
saying " a word to press " Miss NIGHTINGALE,
is a strange freak in an official pen. The
rhetoric of the letter is certainly the most
ridiculous that has ever proceeded from even
the favourite pupils of Doctor Slipslop, and
we do not wonder at the desperate efforts to
hide it from the public eye.
And such is one of the Ministers of State,
on whom we have read numerous eulogies,
and pharisaical panegyrics ! Such is one of
the official personages on whose shoulders
rests the burthen of power! His mawkish
and maundering letter is all that was wanted
'to throw into high relief the practical sense
led enthusiasm of the nobly as-
-- to whom it is addressed.
NIGHTINGALE has its root
)roils volition, influenced
!s, and the weakness of
springs front the merely
affected by the ladylike
Facto non verbs is the
ic gentlewoman ; but Mr.
the motto He fancies
great act when he has
Iter, whose length can be
his own face as he reads

and sustained entlitu
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The virtue of Miss N
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istiMinie7impulses
SaailEY HERBERT
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Secretary. atk War.
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