The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-10 00:00:00

SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS.

EDINBURGH, Thursday.
there
nPc
eubl i
Nightingale
Health Didane pd arretamde
bnyt was
c o nTthr eb
ufitrest byria Mies 11F
l o
S. Jackson.
The paper in the outset referred to the report of the
Royal Commission on the sanitary state of the army in
India, which showed that unless the health of British troops
in India could be improved, and the enormous death-rate
reduced, this country would never be able to hold India with
a British army. The time had not yet arrived for the pres-
sure of the death-rate which that report disclosed to be fully
experienced, because the present large army was compara-
tively new to the country. But unless active measures be
taken by the Indian Government to give effect to the re-
commendations of the commission, it was unhappily certain
that the mortality would increase with the length of service,
and then will be felt the difficulty started by Sir Alexander
Tulloch—viz., of filling up the ranks of those prematurely
slain by preventible diseases from the recruiting depots at
home. In former times, when the Company's troops bore
but a small proportion to the resources (in men) of this
country, the death-rate was not so much felt. The small
army was swept away, and its place supplied, as often as
necessary, from the recruiting offices at home. But now
that a large proportion of the whole British army was sta-
tioned in India, the question whether we should hold or lose
India would depend very much on the steps taken by the
Indian Government. The paper then went on to notice
the death-rate of the troops serving in the country, which
was stated on undoubted authority to be not less than 69 per
1,000 per annum. We had been endeavouring to explain
away the obvious result of these figures by showing that the
average was not constant, that in certain years or groups of
years the death-rate was much greater than in others, that
the mortality in the years of excess was due to wars and
other causes, that peace, and not sanitary measures, was
therefore the remedy, and in short that the statement of a
death-rate averaging 69 per 1,000 per annum was not a
fair representation of the case. To this there was
the simple reply that during the present century there had
been an average loss from death atone of 69 men out of every
1,000 per annum ; and, while it matters not how the mor-
tality had been distributed, there was every reason to be-
lieve that if things go on as they have done in the present
century we shall go on losing our troops at the rate of 30,
50, 70, 90, or 100 and upwards per 1,000. The death-rate
above indicated was, in fact, understated, for it says nothing
of the invalids sent home from India who die at sea, or
within a short time of their arrival at home, nor of the loss
to the service by destroyed health, nor of the mutiny years.
Assuming the strength of the Indian army at 73,000 Bri-
tish troops, and taking the death-rate at present alone,
without the sickness and invaliding, such an army would
lose on an average of years an entire brigade of 5,037 men
per annum, It might lose some years half that number, but
in other years it would lose two such brigades. It was said
that the death-rate of the war years being the highest (not
from wounds), peace, and not the sanitary measures, was
the remedy. As well might it be said that the British army
having nearly perished before Sebastopol, not from wounds,
but from the want of every supply of civilised life, peace,
and not the supply of the wants of civilised life, was the
remedy. The Royal commissioners had shown that if the
death-rate were reduced to even 20 per 1,000 per annum,
i.e., double that of home stations, since these stations were
improved, to India would be saved a tax equal to £l,OOO
per diem ; and this represents the cost of replacing the men
cut off by excess of premature and preventible mortality.
In speaking of the cause of this high death-rate, Miss
Nightingale referred to the want of attention to climate
on the part of Britons, and to the ordinary system of diet-
ing British soldiers in India, which, she stated, was more
adapted to a cold climate than that of out-doer farm ser-
vants doing work in England. More than that, the
occasional dram at home was commuted by regulation in
India into a permission to drink two drams, i.e., six ounces
of raw spirits each day ; and be it remembered that, at the
same time the men had little or no work to do. The
craving for spirits induced by this regulation habit of tip-
pling leads to increase of drunkenness, so that with over-
eating, over-drinking, and total idleness, and vice springing
directly from these, the British soldier in India had small
chance indeed of coping with the climate so called. The re-
gulation allowance of raw spirits which a man might obtain
at the canteen was no less than 18} gallons per annum,
which, etas I,oliovod, %taw three timo■ tho rtyrintine per iadi
vidual which had raised Scotland, in the estimation of eco-
nomists, to the rank of being the most spirit-consuming na-
tion in Europe. Of late years malt liquor had been partly
substituted for spirits ; but up to the present time every man
if he thought fit, might draw his 181 gallons a year of
spirits besides what he got surreptitiously at the bazaar.
The diseases, however, from which soldiers mainly suffered
were miasmatic, such as foul-air and foul-water diseases,
fevers, dysenteries, &c. The writer then noticed the total
want of drainage and pure water in the Indian stations, and
mentioned, as regards the latter, that there was certainly
not a single barrack in India which was supplied, in our
sense of the term, at all. Water was to be had either from
tanks, into which all the filth on the neighbouring surface
was washed by the rains, or from shallow wells dug in un-
wholesome or doubtful soil. So simple a piece of mechanism
as a pump was unknown. The quantity of water was utterly
Insufficient for health, and as to quality the less said about
that the better. There was no reason to hope 1 hat any sta-
tion had what in this country would be called a pure water
supply; and at some, it was to be feared, that when men
drank water they drank cholera with it. The overcrowding
in barracks was next referred to, and the principle of build-
ing detached barracks ingood situations and well-ventilated
recommended. As to the climate, there was, the winter con-
sidered, not a shadow of proof that India was created to be
the grave of the British:race ; the evidence on the contrary,
was quite in the other direction, and showed that all the cli-
mate required was that men should adapt their social habits
and customs to it, as indeed they must do to the require-
ments of every other climate under heaven. That was a duty
which devolved on men themselves ; the construction of
drains and the finding of a supply of pure water pertained
to the Government. If these improvements, along with
improved apiculture, and agricultural drainage, were
effected, ,the normal death-rate of the British soldier would
be (say the commissioners) not 69 per 1,000, but 10 per
1,000. After alluding to the necessity of bringing Euro-
pean civilisation and appliances to bear upon the natives of
India, at the same time that the condition of the natives
was improved, Miss Nightingale concluded by remarking
that the whole question resolved itself into this—how to
create a Public Health Department for India ; how to bring
a higher civilization into India. What a work—what a
noble task for an Indian Government 1 That would, she
said, be creating India anew, For God places His own
power, His own life-giving laws, in the hands of man. He
permits man to create mankind by those laws, even as He
permits man to destroy mankind by neglect of those laws.
Dr. JACKSON next read a paper by the Rev, Dawson
Burns " On the influence of Alcoholic Liquors upon Health,
as illustrated by the experience of the British Army in
India."

Mr. EDWIN CHADWICK, C. 8., remarked that in one in-
stance it had been ascertained that whereas the death-rate
among the troops in the one station was 41 in 1,000, the
death•rate of the troops in the same place who had been put
upon temperance conditions was reduced to 14 in 1,000.
(Hear, hear.) There was no doubt that by similar ap-
pliances, combined with habits of prudence and sanitary
appliances, the reduction which Miss Nightingale had
alluded to of 10 in 1,000, or 15 in 1,000, might be expected
to prevail throughout the whole of India.
Dr. Nnusox HANCOCK. showed that the system of com-
pelling the men not to marry was one of the most prolific
sources of mortality.

Mr. 11.1wLirisoN-' .
ry C E said that if care were taken to
uhinch to.ain
erect barracks, and to have
tohbetmain thepian bestedun sites n
derbe ioterv:if they got the soldiers
better accommodation, andabolished the spirit rations, they
P India,n now nearly 80,000
strong,
pilnacseutchheaßproistiish army in
in
place mortality show-
ing about 60 or 70 per 1,000 it should of its
dnotexceed 20.
rin, M.P.
The remaining papers, by Mr,
Le
, and Mr.
GANGEE, referred to the subject a di
spection of markets. muse in cattle and in-
Mr. RAWLINSON quite agreed that this
dis-
eased meat had assumed a national importance, question of
to be taken up by Government. It had fallenle under and ought
duty to inspect many slaughterhouses in differentn his
England, and he found that the extent of the tradeparts of
in dis-
eased cattle was most appalling.
In the Sixth (Trade and International Law) Department
the first paper was contributed by the Liverpool Financialßeform Association, advocating an. increase of direct taxa.
tion and the repeal of Customs and
Excise duties. A paper
by Mr. George Smith was also read, condemning indirect
totation as "unequal, impolitic, extravagant, and sinfully
immoral, and extremely demoralising." The following letter
from Mr. Cobden was then read on behalf of the Liverpool
Association, which had requested that gentleman's attend •
ance at this congress :

" Midhurst, Oct. 3.

"Dear Sir,---shall not be in Edinburgh at the ap-
proaching meeting of the Social
ques-
tion as
not be in ray power to take
As
I
thg the comparative demerits of directpart in your discussion. respect-
I sa and indirect taxation.
demerits, because it is really little more than a ques-
evil ; but, adtaittin
'expenses of avernment,
in" ssit •lof raising a given sum of
t° the form which we shall tolerate a necessary
money for the e
no argument in the abstract why it should not be raised in
there can really be

that form which is the least costly and inconvenient to the
public. I say in the abstract, because I know all the
Nobodyad-
vantage
can deny that Customs s
g vena other
direct
indi-
rect
ivnanbtraingegiwnghicyhonthr eparadevtotcealyzfwae to
n absaturahicet
etpiroinn.ci
yE ix: cs eo
1 dl
eucttiieosn
an
th da
taxes are more
andos t 1
levy of taxation, and nobody who has examined the
subject can doubt that they obstruct commerce, impede
manufacturers, and check the production of wealth. If a
C
proof of this be required, compare the progress of a free port
like Hamburg with a Custom-bound place like Havre. As
to the difficulty of instituting direct for indirect taxation,
that is a tax for statesmen to accomplish. Once convince
the public of the soundness of your principles, and you will
soon have a Huskisson, Peel, and Gladstone ready to put
them into practice. The local legislation of our town-
councils has already shown the way. The municipal go-
vernments of our cities contrive to raise their funds by a
direct tax, instead of an octroi, which is considered an im-
possible achievement by the towns of the Continent. Now,
what are the taxes on tea, sugar, coffee, &c., levied at our
Custom-houses but so many octroi dues on a large scale?
How impossible it would be to put up barriers at the entrance
to Edinburgh or Manchester to collect the municipal rates
in the clumsy form of a duty on the daily supplies of those
cities; and lam as firmly convinced as of my existence
that if we could have for a few years that experience of all
the advantages which an abolition of import duties into
this kingdom would give us, it would be as impossible to
replace the Custom-houses, as a substitute for the collector
of direct taxes, as it would now be to levy octroi dues at the
suburbs of our large towns instead of the direct rates which
are collected from house to house for municipal purposes.
Of course you will be met by politicians of all parties with
the assertion that your plan is impracticable, which means
only that it cannot at present be adopted with advantage by
either of the existing political parties ; but I repeat, if you
can beat your opponents in the field of abstract argument,
you will, sooner or later, find statesmen who will be proud
to give a legislative triumph to your principles. It is only
a question of time.—Believe me to be yours faithfully,
" C. E. Macqueen, Esq." " R.. COBDEN.

Mr. HAUOMON contended that it was not the mode of
raising the taxes that injured the working men, but the
badness of trade, that prevented him paying the taxes.
Mr. BARRACKSON, of Liverpool, though not opposed to
direct taxation, thought those who proposed the abolition of
indirect taxation should inform them how the £12,000,000
thus obtained was to be raised in the other way.
Mr. H. FAWCETT spoke at considerable length in favour
of indirect taxation, and criticized the principles and opera-
tions of the Liverpool Financial Reform Association. In-
justice, he fully admitted, was connected, and necessarily
connected, with indirect taxation ; but he could also show
that injustice was connected, and necessarily connected,
with direct taxation, and no one had ever succeeded in point-
ing out how a large revenue could be raised without pro-
ducing great injustice and being accompanied with a great
number of evils to the community. Protection was, he
considered, abolished, but he believed that they could have
perfect free trade with indirect taxation, and when they
brought forward arguments against protection, they must
not suppose that they were bringing forward arguments
against indirect taxation. It was well known that direct
taxes could not be raised from certain classes with certainty
and precision, and he believed, that if any system of taxa-
tion tended to make a nation immoral it was the Income-
tax—for it was known that incorrect returns were often
given in, so that parties might be relieved from some Por •
tion of the burden. (Hear, hear.) In such a temptation to
dishonesty as this there was a constant inducement to sap the
morality of the country. (Hear, hear.) Then,the incomd-tax
system was a most unfair cne— and if all the revenue was to
be raised in this way, then the inequality would be increased
immensely—but with indirect taxation the inequality was
spread over different classes of the community,
and there
was some chance that inequality in one direction might be
compensated by inequality in another. (Hear, hear.) He
certainly could not understand the arguments of the mem-
bers of the Liverpool Association, who said that the great
objection to indirect taxation was that the working man was
too heavily taxed. Did they mean to propose that the
working classes should escape altoge. her under direct taxa-
tion ? He did not think that such a thing would be fair. He
knew that that was a favourite doctrine to propagate
from election hustings, but he thought it was a most 'tu-
moral one (loud applause), and people who hsd studied the
question ought not to come forward and pander to the pre-
judice of the poorer classes in that way. He thought there
was a class more heavily taxed than the working man,n' and
that was the clerks who had their salary of £lOO or £lOO
a-year. (Hear, hear.) He complained that neither the re-
presentatives of the association nor Mr. Cobden in his letter
had suggested any practical mode of raising the revenue of
the country in the manner of which they seemed to approve;
and if they were not able to do so, then the
'fleeting, as
practical men, ought not in the least degree to believe in
the practicability or the feasibility of the scheme- (Hear
hear.) He considered that the present mode of raising the
revenue was as just and equitable as any mode
be had ever
seen propounded. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. NOBLE replied to Mr. Fawcett, and denied that the
Liverpool Association pandered to the poorer classes.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL for IRELAND gave it as his
opinion Unit tno queotivn woo entirely one of a choice be-
tween two evils, and that a judicious proportionment of
both modes was the fairest arrangement that could be made.
Mr. DUNCAN M'LAREN thought the argument of the
Liverpool Association that the working classes were unduly
burdened by indirect taxation was capable of proof, and he
proceeded to show that the taxes on tea, sugar, and other
necessaries of life were paid in a very much larger pro-
portion by the poor classes than by those who were in
receipt of largo incomes.
-

Mr. C. lIARRISON proposed as a resolution,--"That the
present mode of raising the revenue of the Etitish empire
is as just as any that has yet been devised ;" but after a
considerable amount t,f general discussion, the motion was
withdrawn.

epithets
The CHAIRMAN said he hoped, if this subject again
came up for consideration, it would be treated in a more
readt em p etrhaat et manner
H e than
had a
di t
never
rbeena
ridn one ofa the papers n
against an opposite system as he had heard in that paper.
so
omy
Mr. D. W. HENDERSON, Leith, read a statistical paper
on the effects of free trade in corn and navigation in cheap-
ening the food of the people ; after which
Mr. DELAHANTY read a paper on the currency laws of
the United Kingdom, in which he advocated an assimilation
of the laws of Ireland and Scotland to those of England.
wileve the ralprgesenentltesmyesntem f paperhaovinges cyperuersrseendtheir satisfaction
in Scotland, the
department adjourned.