The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-07 00:00:00

William Etty with whom Mr. - Gilchrist renders
his readers agreeably familiar. Bolwell-like he
reveals his hero to us even in reference to his little
homely, domestic peculiarities. Such as his insa-
tiable thirst for tea, or his delight in perching
hintiself, in the Life Academy, ' upon a high hard
stool, even when grown old and asthmatic. Beginning
with his arrival in London, We follow Etty into all
his various lodgings in the metropolis, finding him
housed in' 1811. at 15, Bridge-street, Blackfriars,
in 1812. and 1813 at. 23,' Pavement, Moorfield.s.,
,in
'lBl4 atSurrey- street, Strand, whence herremoved in
1820 to 16; Bishop's, otherwise Lambeth, otherwise
S'otngate Walk, Westminster-bridge, whence again
in 1824 he finally removed to Buckingham-street,
Strand. • Finally, we say, because there Etty re-
mained to the last during his protracted reeidence
in London—faithful during 23 years to that one
abode, namely, from 1824 to 1847. Here it was in
1843 that we find him regaling Sir Robert Peel.in
his studio upon a luncheon of beef and porter"
—here during many a cosy evening he re-
freshed a gathering of brother artists with his
favourite. " dish of tea," and what Mr. Titmarsh
calls the "domestic muffin," together with 'other
the like frugal accompaniments. A glimpse is
caught every now and then during the course of
Mr. Gilchrist's narrative of the life of our great
Painter, of one or other among his congonial con-
tempararies thus linking together the times
when Fuseli, and Lawrence, and Stothert, and
Hayden, and Hilton, and , Collins, and Con-
stalde,• and Wilkie, and Leslie, and Turner, and
Mulready flourished, bringing us gradually to our
own days when Maclise and Stanfield, and East-
lake are among the more conspicuouS of our art-
celebrities. The biographer of Etty of course
makes due mention of the great Colourist's method
of painting—recording in this way more than one
of his noticeable habits and peculiarities. It is
thus, for example, we learn that Etty bought his
forty- guinea lay-figure from Huot of Paris, pro-
curing his brushes from Dagneaux, of the same
capital, and having his canvass invariably prepared
by Brown, of Holborn, from whom also he Obtained
his colours—those colours productive in his hands
'of ao many miraculous masterpieces ! Although
Etty, once upon a time, when bothered to reveal
some supposed trick or artifice of his in regard to a
"Medium " declared banteringly to his querist,
" The only Medium I use is Brains"—we here
discover that his canvasses were really always
prepared "in a peculiar manner" with • a
" rough absorbent ground, tempora or fresco-like"
his vehicle being composed of one part satu-

palette to go .when he beard :the roar.of cannon at
a distanc:3, and the rattle of musketry-! " In which
picturesque situation—a, situation expressive of his
all-absoroing- devotion to his art—let us close the
door on our great Colourist.

CIVIL AND MILITARY REORGANISATION OF
THE ME DIOA L PROFESSION.

ELEVATION 'OF THE MOST 'EMINENT
TIONRRS TO- SEATS-. IN THE PRIVY COUNCIL: •

TO THE EDITOR. OF T.-1111

SIB,—I
have to thank you for your courtesy in publish-
ing my letter of last February to Lord Panmure. It is
true, his lordship has suffered from the " embcirrasltte
richesses," for his volunteer advisers- might", well -be called
" legion," but we may hope he has the discrimination-
and the courage to carry out- the right measures. His
infirmity of the "gout " be basin less degree.than had the
" great Earl of Chatham," the most energetic and success-
ful War Minister that England ever possessed. It is to
Lord Yaninure's credit, us a lilmeral Scotchinan, that ho
disapproves the " Scoticism " introluceil tiy tors. W. ire-
gor and Burnett into the medical staffs of the army and
navy ; a system of fitvouritisua towards ome province- of
the empire which has proved highly detrimental to both
services. This is an evil which canbe swedily removed.
My recommendations to the Government nosy be reduced
to the following topics :
-
1. The forwa,ion of a "National Sanitary I3oard,"
•
to be invested with a " voice potential" in the medicalaffairs of war and of peace, and to be formed by the eleva-
tion of several of the most eminent physicians and sur-
geons of the United Kingdom to seats in the Privy
Council.
By this measure the Government would be relieved from
the sycophants and sciulists who have hitherto imposed
upon their ignorance..
2. The Government ought to ply " the market:price "
for medical skill by the creation of ,valuable staff appoint-
ments, and by raisin..' the rate of, remuoerationdu every
grade of the public medical service.
The highest remuneration accorded. to any medical ap-
pointment under-tho Government is LAO/. a-year. Such
an income is very commonly earned in private medical
practice, whilst physicians and surgeons of eminence gain
five, seven, ten, fifteen, and twenty thousand pounds per
annum. "The reason why" is plain, therefore, •of there
being no Hollands, Fancies, Brodies, Christisons, and
Fergusons found in the army and navy.
3. The opening of all eminent positions in the naval and
and military medical departments to the competition of
the whole profession. Such a prospect of distinction wou:d
excite the emulation both of civil and military function.
aries, and' consequently lead 'to the attainment of great
personal skill and the improvement of the science.
An anonymous writer, under the signature -of " Philo-
Medicus " (recently noticed with favour by the Tines),
whilst adopting some of the views previously urged by me
on the atteution of Lord Pan mere, recommends his lord-
ship to continue the separation of the military from the
civil branch of the medical profession. He is evidently
deceived by the old mistake that there is something in mi-
litary surgery which is not to. be learnt in civil life. The
late war, while it produced but one military surgeon of
enduring repwatiou, John Hennen, who was carried off by
an epidemic in the prime of life, gave birth to a delusion
that practitioners who might be dextetous in the use of
the knife, must necessarily possess all other medical excel-
lences. The public partook of the error, and a chair of
" military .surgery " was founded in the University of
Edinburgh. As well might the Government have endowed
professorshipa of " nplitary bootinakieg.'
Since; then, society is better informed. The university
has petitioned for the suppression of this useless chair;
and it is now known that, even in war, the army does not
supply any lessons in surgery which are not equally
afforded by the emergencies of common life ; whilst during
peace, paradoxical us the statement may seem, the sur-
geries of the manufacturing and mining districts constitute
much better schools of military surgery than the medical
establishments of the army. Toe questions of primary and
secondary amputations are perfectly familiar to these prol
vincial surgeons; and as to the subjects of gnn-shot
wounds and general "hygiene," do not the works of Hunter
and Herman, and the suggestions of con:it-J.lon sense, supply
all the doctrine necessary ?

rated sugar-of-lead water, one part • mastic var.-,
nish, and one of linseed oil, to which were
occasionally added a few drops of turpentine.
Upon this he obtained his effects "by passing a
glaze over a solid painting, and when dry a scum-
ble of opaque colour over that ;_when dry a glaze
here -and there," &c., &e.—taking off the glaze
sometimes with his thumb, sometimes with a dab
of his pocket handkerchief ; painting, in fact, says
Mr. Gilchrist, " with nails, handkerchief, palette-
knife, as neither Model nor Connoisseur ever saw
man paint before." After this extraordinary
fashion, Etty, it seems, conjured up his miracles of
art, and wou his high fame as the greatest of Eng-
lish Colourists. The only man, besides Rubens,
who has been able to paint flesh, according to Mr.
Gilchrist, during two centuries. Such flesh too !
that at Venice, in 1823, Martini signs with the
point of a knife, " that if he was to prick Etty's
painting of the figure, it would bleed." Such
flesh that Constabb avers, in London, in
1837, smacking his lips like a cannibal—
You might eat it !" Astonishing though it may
appear to us amateurs, it is no less true that Etty,
in painting as he did, employed very few colours,
deemed a very few all sufficient—Naples yellow,
Indian red, light-red, lake, terra verte, raw umber,
burnt ditto, black, and a little vermillion. Armed
with which, his brush and_ his palette, he painted,
according to the notion of the Italians, " with the
fury of a devil and the sweetness of an angel." So
that we find him gaining. many a soubriquet ex-
pressive of good-will, or wonder,' or admiration, as
the case may he, during his stay in Venice—called
now, in regard to'his rapidity, " Il Diavolo;" now,
ia reference to his colouring, " Tide English. Tin-
foret;" pow, in pleasant allusion to his slipping one
day into a canal—punningly--41ana-Etti. Alto-
other Etty was upwards of a year a sojourner in
that island city of the Adriatic, "sucking the
sweets," as he said, from the efflorescence of Titian,
Tintoret, Giorgione, and Paolo Veronese. Returning
homewards from Italy, from France, and ultimately
from Belgium, he became what his biographer happily
terms " a successful anachronism"—the translator
to canvas of glowing flesh and blood—the inter-
preter of Nature's glories in colour—" the Painter
of Nude Form—in its exhaustless varieties of out-
hie," its "shifting phases of beauty and splen-
dour." This, moreover, in spite of so much
" prudish, or," saya,Mr. Gilchrist. deliciously,—
"which is the same thihg—pr urient delicacy" a tu.•:n,g
his contemporaries! So truthfullrand pathetically,
moreover, with all this, could Etty paint when be
so pleased that a working man standing opposite
'tis picture of illogd,tlen could say to its exultant
~wner—"l see, sir, what it is : I could look at rt

This idea of making-a
distinct profession of military
surgery has a ineanin4 at its root. The absurd arrogance
of the " Peninsular" surgeons has descended with theta
into the " Capitlet vault" of obdvion. Of the dead, what-
ever we may think, we should feel nib nisi bonura ; but,
the half-pay list, of the medical, as well as of other depart-
ments of the state service, whilst burthening the nation
with a heavy expense, is one aniongst. many other
means of Parliamentary influence 1 How is a minister
otherwise to control refractory votes?'
4. The reconstruction of the Army Id.edical Board ex-
elusively of physicians and surgeons of eminence.—Such
men have a congenial sympathy tor merit. Sordid fears of
being eclipsed do not haunt, them, whilst they possess the
intelbgeuce and spirit necessary to the fair regulation' of
promotion, and for the utilisation of the professional re-
ports with which they are supplied:' Their immediate
concurrence with the Secretary fur War would be obtained
by his occasional presidence.
5. The filling all the primary appointments in the lowest
rank by successful 'competitors in " concours" before the
examining "courts" of the medical colleges. affords so ob-
vious a security for the supply of good men that it is un-
necessary to back the proposal by a single argument.
ti. The relief of the medical officers from all but purely.
technical duties will obviate Many inconveniences. The
valuable time now consumed in minor and irrelevant occu-
pations would be devoted to the greater care of the patients,
and by the studious practitioner to original speculations.
7. The concentration of all the ine,aca.l departments of
the army into one organ, and the proper articulation of
each member of this service into lee"ilar subontination to
one chief, is iudispensab:e to its elliciency. The principal
medical officer should be absolute over his subordinates,
and he shod t be independent of all authority save that of
the general-in-chief, the dictator en the spot. The inter-
ferences of commanders of 14,;imeets.of quartermasters-
general, of military secretaries, of adjutants-general, uud
of g,oierals of divisiou, &LI., seriously iMpede medical
functions.
8. The auxiliary duties which I have proposed fo
transfer to a new est Lb, ethinent, to be entitle-1 "The Hos-
pital Cominissatiat," I have explained at length in the
subjoined letter, for which I hive received the acknow-
ledgments and thanks of Lord Paninure.
I,roe, sir, your obedient servant,
Cambridge Villa, May 1. 1). 0. E.

DA h•

ny eyes run over." Gittel with the poetic or
creative power capable of real ng visions or pathos
and beauty such as the one thus appealing directly
to the soul of the untutored artisan, Etty enhauced
the potency of his inherent genius by the acquisi-
tion, through study, of many redoubtable artiAi-,1
itecomplishinents. These were evidenced by tie
rapidity .and precision of what may be called
broadly nis ample and remarkable powers of mani-
pulation. Capacities like those enjoyed by
Etty were only, however, the fruits, of, la-
borious and consistent application—sedulous at-
teutiou to the skeleton, to the origin and inser-
tion.,,, of -the 'muscles—sketching from Albinos,
drawing in the morning, painting in the evening,
practising perpetually in the Life School of the
Abademy. His modus operandi he thus expressed
in a few-suggestive words cf recommendation :
"First night, correctly draw awl outline the
figure, only : second night, carefudy paint in the
figure (with black, and white, and Indian red, for
instance): the next, having secured it [what has
been done already] with copal, glaze, and then
scumble on the bloom ; glaze in the shadows, and.
touch on the lights carefully." That was Etty's
method: to the detail of which he added—" And
it is done"—triumphantly. After such a fashion,.
he painted—and painted too, how much, and how
Magnificently ! It is calculated that altogether in
sketches, studies, single figures, groups, composi-
tions, still-life, portrait, landscape, Etty covered
with his rapid pencil and brush—of panels, mill-
hoards, and canvasses, not much less (Mr. Gilchrist
thinks) thau " two thousand." Almost enough as
Etty 'himself conjectured to fill the great hall at-
Westminster. Among this prodigious variety of pic-
tures - " Three times Three"—Colossal: Namely
the three illustrative of the history of the
Judith, together with The Combat, and Benaiah,
and he Sirens, and ultimately the other three
illustrative of the tragic career of Joan of
Arc. It can scarcely be woneered at in the
presence of such . habitual industry and sus-
tained powers of productiveness that Etty was
enabled to leave behind, as the material products
of his toil in art, his house in York, 17,000/.,in the
funds, and an almost invaluablii collection of pic-
tures and other personal possessions.
As an appropriate motto for the record of a life
thus calmly, but resolutely, and energetically am-
bitious—a sentence scrawled by Etty in chalk at
the side of one- of his studies (representing "an
Athlete striving upwards")—" To faint or loiter,
when only a little effort"—has been here intro-
duced upon the title-page of his biography. Its
significance is that inspiritingly comprised in the
"xcelsior" of Longfellow.
Occasionally, in these memorials, we have caught
glimpses of-some among Etty's immediate contem-
poraries. We find our artist, for example, avow-
ing his profound " veneration" for the. genius of
Turner, but protesting against his later works as
"-fiery abominations." Another moment we have
him commending Frost (then an unknown student,
not as now au eminent associate), apeaking of him as
" a very clever, modest lad." While in mentioning
the name of the late lamented and gifted Pugin he
exelitima enthusiastically, " There never was but
one Pugin, one of the most remarkable men of his
age. Architecture, painting, drawing, music, sing-
ing,: all come alike to him. Besides, he is one of
the best fellows iu the world." An unaffected and
deserved admiration, which must have enhanced
the pleasure with which Etty, during the summer
of 1838, attended the opening of the Roman Catholic
church of St. Mary, Oscott, near Birmingham—an
exquisite specimen of Pugin's skill in ornate deco-
ration: It may he interesting possibly to particu-
larise as among the number of Etty's patrons one
of the reputed originals of the famous "Brothers
Cherryble" of Nicholas Nickleby— William an 1
Daniel. Grant, of Springfield, near Manchester.
And interesting in another way to some among the
connoisseurs of art .to learn that about the only
.engra,vi ug after one.. of Mty's pictures, really prized
and admired by that painter, was Sevier's (larm-
ing stipple engraving of Venus Descending. As
the one solitary incident of anything like import-
ance, c ipable of being recorded in the equa-
ble . narrative of our artist's not very stirrin...
or chequered career, the July Revolution is, o'
course, duly celebrated by Mr. Gilchrist—Etts
having sojoucnedat the time in Paris, an quatrame
No.'4, Rue Michodiere. During the crisis of the
revolutionary outbreak of 1831 in the • French
capital, we are admitted for a moment into the
glorious galleries of the Louvre, where we observe
our artist tranquilly sketching in the midst of th 9,
din of civil battle—" once or twice cleaning his'

THE RIGHT HON. LORD PAN3WRE, &C., Ste.
Lou. lon, April 5, 1853.

MY LORD, - As the startling disclosures of Mr. Roebuck's
Committ,e will probably irmuce your 101%18144) to hasten
the conclusion of sour prrj,cte,l reforms in the constitu-
tion of the army, I am 0.,g tin emboldened to trouble ,you
with a few obs,rvat.ous relating to the construction of the
" tfa kcal Staff."

In the present temper of the Western nations we may
safely dismiss all apprehension of a precipitate peace. The
war will contiuue till great events have occurred ; and we
may, therefore, rejoice th your lordiihip's labours will not
be t uspended till the machinery of your wide department
is perfectly readjested.
In my last communication I took the liberty of urgieg
her Majesty's Government to follow up, as an indi•pensable
means of success, tha'appeal of your lordship to the gene-
rosity of the medical profession. by a simple act of justice
to that body—the elevation of several of the, most distin-
guishedamongst them to seats in the Privy Council, and
the formation, in this manner, of a National Sanitary Board
of great dignity and authority.
Such a proceeding, whilst forming agraceful act of cour-
tesy to the medical profession, would call into existence an
agency fitted to confer immense benefits on the entire po-
pulation.
I also pointed out the great assistance to be derived from
such counsellars in remouldine.' the army medical depart-
ment, a measure now rendered immediately necessary by
evidence published in the face of Europe, and exposing not
only the apathy and incapac:ty of official persons, but the
fatal ineptitude of the existinc, system.
Your lordship's attention should be attracted to the fact,
so discreditable to the GoVernment, that no medical man
of pre-eminent abilities or of European reputation holds
a place either in the land or sea service of Great BLUME' ;
and that, consequently, no greater care is evinced for our
devoted and expensively-trained fighting men than was
formerly taken of our parish paupers.
The frightful calamities that have occurred at Scutari
and Balaklava., the fruit of inferior professional ability
conjoined with culpable negligence, would have had no
existence had the executive been instructed on the choice
of officers by such a competent body as " the Medical Com-
mittee of the Ps ivy Council." Such eminent men would
have exacted from the ruling powers a agree of deference
to their opinions equal it,) what is yielded to the Opinions
of the bar in the selection of judg-e and of the law officers
of the Crown. Parsimony and prejudice would not have
been permitted to alienate from the service of our gallant
troops, "the flower of the nation," the most ascompliehed
siedical artists.
I our confident your lordship will not misunderstand the
Motives of this free animadversion en the conduct of for-
mer Ministries. You are naturally anxious to remove
from the Government and the nation the stigma-which the
late failures of the military. medical staff have imprinted
upon us, and you wilt kindly permit me to occupy your
attention again with "a proposed new arrangement of the
Army Medical Staff." I suggested that the ruling board
or council of this branch of the military service should
consist exclusively of eminent physicians and surgeons,
presided over' by her Majesty's Secretary of State for War,
in whom the whole patronage of the department, modified
by the agency of the Me•ltcal C nuanittee of Privy Council,
and the examining "Courts" of the Medical Colleges,
should be vested.
The new board, thus restricted, could be safely intrusted
with the issue of regulations, the direction of promotion,
the distribution and division of duties, the collation of re-
cords, an,, the pea
odical publication of historical state-
ments, showing to prince and people the sanitary condition
of the army.
The want of unity in the old medical system was produc-
tive of great inconvenience. The Guards, the Ordnance,
and the Line were subject to different medic it authorities,
and effective co-oir,..ratian was consequently imeracticable.
The efficiency of the department requires that it be
i»oultied into one organ,free in its motions, ueembarraaseti
by the permanent attachment to particular regiments and
corps, of its members, who should be moveable from Jut'
to did; at the pleasure of the priacipm med ,
as orncer,
y
himself independent of all control but that of the General-
in-Chief.
The Parliamentary inquest has also thrownout
relief another fruitful pare it of iniechief, in th
upon the medical wan of duties not Strictly tece ihnnlicpaol Lai °ins
energies, which should, as in civil hospital, be exclusively
expended in investigating and watching, Cases,in prescrib-
tug and in operating, are now dis-ipss,eit in minor employ-
•
moots, in eomportn• moilicinem,fitialalia%
Lip
returns, con 7
structingstati-tical tal7les, and in calculations-7 functions that ought to be fulfilled by
officers, by an ancillary dedart•nent, which IBl3VOeuxlTannsixvie-•
onsly recommend your lordship to estabdsb.
The proposed simplification of the me:li -1 department
and the more rigid, definition of the dutie Suggest the
lubmtitution of general for legimental and 4rticular hos-
pitals. A single medical st ttf demands
al
system. Larger establishmentS into which le hospital
officers as well
18 privates are admissible, adapted in size and
situation to
each
the present districted aggrg ate of + .
treatment melons of the siA. The treats P=.t.y tegimental re-
of the patients wool(!
he more effectual, and excellent schools would be opened
for the surgical novitiates.
The duties of the me-lie-al staff being accurately limited,,
and the ancillary functions being impost d up
II a new de-
partment, a more perfect concurrence of exertion. would
'ensue, and a more stringent economy would be insured.
The care of the sick arid wounded;
hitherto undertaken
by a medley of authorities, would be thus di, ided into two
distinct provinces of duty. To prescribe and to operate
Would occupy the physicians and surgeons ;- whilst to pick

TITP SUN, LONDoN,_MONDAY EVENING, MAY 7. 1855,

up the wounded on the field, to transport them thence to
the hospital, to cleanse, clothe,
:and feed the patients, to
dispenie medicines and comfort 3, to preserve order and
peace ;in short, W meet all the requisitions of-the medical,
officers, would constitute the functions of. the ni3w co/obi:.
nation to be named "the Hospital Commissariat."
In order to make the proposed arrangement perfectly
clear, I will consider -it as applied to' -a division of the
army. . .

The method of the Romans, imperfectly copied by some
of the moderni, of regarding armies, as composed of large
integers, has many :advantages. over • the •-English .plau of
,loosely iointing such atoms . as ~ regimanti'-"intO teliiporify
brigades and division,. The Roman legion was,-.in•factra.
small army;_ complete'in all its members, perpetually exer-
cised-as one machine; As noarruissariat .and " meclicariat"
perfeet, -according to -give sciencee-Ofi the ago. So nicely.
:were Its.teveral parts aril-di-date& -together;LAhat it was as
well adapted for duty in the field as in garrison; for large
4‘ corps d'armee,"'ss for small detachtrients: . - . .. -
- If we suppose a brigade enlarged to, the diniensiOint•Of a
Roman Legion, or of late "Ring's German Legion,"
and consisting of 7,500 men of all arms; .it•would be ne-
cessary to provide au hospital capable of entertaining all
the probable casualties of such a forceduring a campaign
--,not less, consitering the augmented de,tructiveness of
the recently improved ordnance, than a thoUsand sick and
wounded.'
To relieve such a mass of patients would occupy one
physicias, one eurgeou-general, eight surgeons, and twenty
:assistant-surgeons, i f the. patients were accommodated in
~ne building, or in contiguous edifices; but if they were
dispersed, a larger number should be supplied at the dis-
cretion of the medical principal. • At Alma the want of
discipline and experience rendered a much larger propor-
tional staff unequal ti) its work. "
Besides the ordinary establishment, to meet the Coin-
missariat wants of such a force, the exigencies of the hos-
apital would fully occupy 'one medical commissary and too
ass'stants, six clerks, and ten dispensers.
To satisfy the subordinate -necessities of the "He

cadet," or Hospital Department, " company, or corps of
' orderlies," should be formed; consisting, for such a divi-
sion of the army as I have described, of not Jess
than two hundred men. These should be placid under
the absolute command of the hospital authorities, and
would supply ward-masters, cooks, ward-attendants, ser-
vants to the officers, ambulance drivers, and daily guards
for the protection and police of the establishment. Con-
stant exercise in their duties would teach them dexterity
and method, and the order and efficiency of the whole
machine would be thus insured. The segregation of these
men from the purely military service would produce colla-
teral benefits. Straggling, under pretence of assisting the
wounded, would be prevented. At Waterloo, in the lat-
ter part of the day, nearly ten thousand men had fallen
out of the ranks under this excuse. The conflicts of autho-
rity now frequently occurring between the medical staff
and the commanding officers of regiments would also
cease.
According to this scheme, every corps or enlarged bri-
gade would thus possess its hospital. When several of these
corps were united, the control of a general medical in-
tendant, and superior hospital commissary, would furnish
the additional intelligence and authority necessary to the
successful conduct of the combined machinery. From these
moveable hospitals, convalescent or incurable pWents
should be regularly drafted to permanent military hospi-
tals, th..t should be maintaine,l in our foreign garrisons,
and at any convenient points in the three kingdoms, and
placed in charge of medical men distinguished for their
scientific acquirements or services to the State.
In the case of small detachments occurring occasionally
in the colonies, or on outpost duties generally, the medica
care of the invalids could be accomplished by Assistant.
Surgeons, furnished with medicine-chests, and, of course,
all serious cases would be transferred to the general hos.
pital.

The concetitration and insulation of the army medical
service into one independent system, would afford occasion
for restoring to the army, the old office of " physician to
the Forces; the suppression of which arose from the per-
nicious error of supposing that the high therapeutic skill
of the physician in idioptiatie diseases is necessarily pos-
sessed by the surgeon. The habits of thought cultivated
iu the two divisions of the profession are entirely different,
and the excellence of one is no substitute for that of tbo
other.

The proposed mode of recasting the Army Medical
Staff, though implying a higher remuneration for each
official, would secure a more effective care of our soldiery
at 'a less expenditure of the public money. To secure
economy, it is not necessary to adopt the method of divided
responsibility, which bas been named "the system of check
and counter-check," and which, by producing a perfect
dead-lock in the entire mechanism of the army, has caused
such dire calamities, This scheme of documental evidence
is based on the theory that every einplOye of the British
Government, civil and military, except the gentlemen of
the Audit-office, is a knave. It ignores, all the nobler
elements of human nature, patriotism, professional honour,
zeal f.,r the serviee, and even common, honesty ; and rests
for safety on artifice and cunning. • ' •
True economy is 'realised by a speedy attainment of the
object in view. The Crimean expedition, impeded. and all
but ruined, by the pedantic rules of the Audit-office, ex-
hibits an amount of waste and loss, exceeding by many
times the value of all the peculatiuns perpetrated during
the laSt war..

Simple tabular statementa, and accurate records of ull
transactions, assisted by a little faith in the truth of men,
would be i.ufficient to prevent all delinquency and serious
embezzlement.

As an apology-for speaking with so much firmness, I can
only adduce the fact of haviro, had opportunities of in-
forming myself of the wants of the rank amt file under all
circumstances, and of witnessing in ooeration the merits
an l defects of all departments cf tae army—an institution
to which the nation is deeply indebted for its safety and
its glory.
* *

In conclusion, my lord, I beg to. say that I shall not
ce,ise to feel an interest in your lordship's arduous under-
taking, and, as an obscure unit in the social multitude,
seek opportunities of promoting the welfare of a noble
service to which I had once the honour to belong. I am,
my lord, most respectfully, your obedient se: vent,
I) U. EDWARDS.

DEATH OF SIR ROBERT PARRY

It is with feelings of the sincerest regret—feelings
which we are sure will be shared throughout the length
and breadth of the land by all who value the estimable
qualities of the gentleo,ao without fear and without re-
proach, the consistent politician, and the sincere •Chrie-
thin, that we hare to announce the death of Sir Robert
flurry which melancholy_ event took place on
Saturday night, at his town residence, 7, Bedford-square,
a'ter a short and painful illness. The deceased baronet
was the eldest son of the first baronet, Sir flue Inglis,
by Catherine, daughter f Harry Johnson, Esq., of
Milton Bryan, county of Bedford. He was born on the
12th of.Janusry, 178 G, aod was consequently in his 70th
year. In 1807 he married Mary, eldest daughter of J.
Seymour Briscoe, of Peuhill. Surrey, and succeeded his
father in the barnnetage August, 1820.
Sir Robert Harry Inglis first. entered Parliament
as member for Dundalk,.which borough he represented
until 1826. In that year he was returned for Ripon,
and continued. its representative until 1828, when the
!atl Sir Robert Peel, having changed his
.opinions on.
Catholic emanciPatiOn, accepted the Chiltern Hundreds
in order to, give, his. constituents of the University of
0 xford an opportunity of expressing their opinion upon
'his conduct. On that occasion the Conservatives of the
University, seeing the truly Protestant character which
Sir Robert H. Inglis had even then achieved for him-
sm'f, brought him forward to oppose their former repre-
sentative, and returned bum by a large majority. Never
since that date until his retirement from Parliament
through ill-health, -ab Out two years ago, was Sir Robert
Inglis's seat contested, for at Oxford, as everywhere
else, he reigned in the regard, the esteem, and the affec-
tions of all who knew him.

(From the Times of this day.)
The death of Sir Thrbert Hitrry Inglis, which it is our,
melancholy duty to announce toAay, is art event which
will scarcely surprise those who were acquainted with
the circumetances under which the last two years of his
life have been spent. It may be remembered even by
the general reader that, so far back as the time we have
named, Sir -Robert felt it his duty to resign his seat for
the University of Oxford, feeling Imnselt no longer phy-
sically equal to attendance upon his Parliamentary du-
ties. With him those duties were not discharged in a
careless or indifferent spirit. As long as be was equal
to his task he performed it in a manner which might
have put to shame many an aspiring senator young
enough to be his eon. Whatever may be the differteic
of opinion as to the political doctrines of which Sic
Robert Inglis was the embodiment rather than the repre-
sentative, there can be. no hesitation in saying that a more
conscientious man never entered the !walls of Parlia-
ment, or one who acted a more consistent or honourabl,
part. It is needless fur us to say that, from many of
his opinions we entirely disagreed, but we ever found
him an adversary with whom contention did not mean a
broil, nor argument ill-feeling br ill-blood. The expla•
nation of thia phenomenon—for so, we fear, it must be
called—was simply this—that Sir -Robert Inglis was es-
sentially a gentleman—prejudiced arid doginitie enough
at times, but still a gentleman, who respected others be-
cause he respected himself. There was in him a fund of
goodf
id
cygisvanfeieiesrrgiol:yt:Rlixl
academicief.
i.s:onibmgearl en,;iHr:srtleearereetisntaw,
differently
iivmlyciheiefe.h:rar,u
University
laet fistldteeinverieir,
dismd:stnl
aiesil
tslbyai.
easvh;Ooyseeotipfdo:nffpunnthtootiti
eeti
xetcn:
tufihpee
inf)leiorreil
f:dol
ttytti)yrmsarlahetuf
sotEetrhft
level
urged
oei
stating
eeef
old
odsUniversitylfidanger
r csEyoonpur
common
oasna
nir:i
theiroesyo .
sounded
it
sense be the unaccustomed stimulus of political discus-
sion. The disappearance of such aana,of front the scene
should, then, be a source of regret even to those who
were consistently opposed to him in politics, inasmuch
as in him a `crepresentative man" has disappeared from
among us who, in all probability, can never be replaced.
Destroy fifty "able politicians," and twice fifty able ad-
ininistrators, and it needs but five minutes' search to re-
place them ; but we much qnestion if there 'be any mail
in England who can take the place Sir Robert Inglis
filled as representativeqif the University of Oxford. He
belonged to Oxford as completely as the Bodleian.
Passing from public to more private 'considerationsy.t
Is but fair to his memory to atll that he was ant ert,.,
gant scholar, both
and, what is far more important, in
levebreyneoleut
privet.-
relation, an upright, charitable,
nni'e mory is for-
man. It will be long indeed before
rhitsiie eio,,,oher,
of
gotten either by his privwe
fr
entdisnionow fot rolling, down
the Legislature. We seem to see
to
his
owe
Li
in else and English literature,
to Westminster,. or sau.tteruigtu.
a genial static and cmirtors
for he deserved regr4.
will be regretted univer.sia
Ira
Y.' will be found a portrait eat
this year's Exhibition !
odoluo,,iy
characteristic of
hire
by
ll'ichin"nd'
whiewell to recall his features and ex-
the man, and will serve
I loved and respected Sir Robert
ihr
preisien to the many w
house, with the fresh 11, iwer atw Iris buttonhole,
word
fo, t, o
cornyl hl e
one.
vrli
'Flurry Inglis.

The directors of the Bulk of London have effected a
pureliaße of the ekten4ve and central premises called
the Hall of Commerce, in Threadneedle—treet, for their
thielevi h
L tmadnokninagn-hr4e.
Countl‘yiri Frith,auk late vice,habectn cilirnn of
eldetedlavice
chairman of the Bank of London.