The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-18 00:00:00

THE NIGHTINGALE FUND.

A meeting was held at the Town-hall, Manchester,
yesterday morning, to determine upon the steps to be
taken for promoting the Nightingale Fund. 111 r. Jas.
Watts, the Mayor, presided, and was supported by the
Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., Lord Stanley, M.P.,
Mr. Monckton Milnes, M.P., Mr. James Heywood,
M.P., Mr. James Kershaw, M.P., Mr. Mark Philips,
'ate member for Manchester, Sir Elkanah Armitage, Sir
John Potter, Mr. Thomas Bazley, Mr. J. A. Turner,
Mr. W. Entwistle. Mr. Oliver Heywood, and other
leading gentlemen of the town and neighbourhood. A
considerable number of ladies were present.
The MAYOR very briefly opened the business, and
Mr. J. A. TURNER moved the first resolution :
" That the noble exertions of Miss Nightingale and
her associates in the hospitals of the East, and the
invaluable services rendered by them to the sick and
wounded of the British forces, demand the grateful re-

cognition of all classes, and, in the opinion of this
meeting, it is desirable to perpetuate in a substantial
manner the memory of Miss Nightingale's signal devo-
tion, and thereby to record the gratitude of the British
nation." _ _

The Right Hon. SIDNEY HERBERT, M.P., who was re-
ceived with much cheering, then addressed the meeting.
He said,—Mr. Mayor, the two gentlemen who have pre-
ceeded me have spoken of the degree of experience they
have had in addressing meetings in this hall. I have
had no such experience, and must ask you, therefore, to
bestow upon me that indulgence which is well required
by any gentleman whose lot it is for the first time to ad-
dress a public meeting in a place so important as Manches-
ter. I have come down on this occasion with two gentle-
men, members of the central committee, not so much to ad-
dress you, as to be here to give any information that may
be required, or to auswerany questions that may be asked
by those who are anxious for information as to the nature of
the proceedings of the committee. The committee has
been formed with a studious attention to this point—that

it should represent, as far as it is possible, all classes,
all professions, all creeds, and all political opinions ; and
we appeal, therefore, to the names upon the committee
as a guarantee that nothing sectarian of any kind is in-
tended—(hear)—in the plans which we have to submit.
Now, there has been, I believe, upon one or two points,
some misconception as to the intentions of the central
committee, and I am glad to have the opportunity of re-
moving any erroneous impression as far as it is in my
power. It has been said, in the first place, that this
movement has been premature. Well, I think I can
show to this meeting that we had no choice as to time.
Tho feeling, with regard to Miss Nightingale has been
universal in this country. (Hear.) It has been very
strong ; it is of that kind, in fact, which is not easily
repressed ; and in the summer, when the reports came
home of the wonderful success she bad achieved, coin-

pared with the great difficulties she had had to encounter,
there broke out in different parts of the country a feeling
for an emphatic and instantaneous expression of public
gratitude to her. (Hear.) Isolated portions of the com-
munity were organising committees, and preparing to
make gifts to her of different kinds, but inappropriate,
because, when service is given, you destroy the very
merit of the gift if you attempt to reward it by some
tangible compensation. (Hear, hear.) What is it, to
a person of affluent circumstances, to give a pecuniary
reward for services that are clearly beyond all such re•
ward, or to give ornaments, suitable very often, per-
haps, for ladies, but inapplicable to one who devotes
her life to the peculiar objects in which Miss Nightin-
gale has become so distinguished I We, therefore,
felt that it was wise to lose no time in giving an
appropriate direction to this generous feeling which
animated the country from one end to the other.
And how is this movement to be viewed in an-
other respect ? Do you think that, to Miss Nightin-
gale, it is not a cheering thing in the midst of her labours
and in the midst of the dangerous illness which she has
undergone—an illness contracted in the performance of
those labours—to see this mark of affection and grati-
tude to her on the part of the English nation ? In other
countries the public recognition of public services is ex-
clusively in the hands of the Government; but we in
England do not intrust to the hands of Government the
same powers that other nations do, The Government
in other countries is the representation of the country,
and the individual is merged in the Government ; but
here, on the contrary, we take pride in our system of
self-government, and that all the expressions of our feel-
ing are spontaneous, and that the nation offers, through
its individual component parts, the expression of its gra-
titude. (Cheers.) In other countries Miss Nightingale
might be rewarded by honours and distinctions offered
by the Sovereign, but here it is for the people of Eng-
land themselves to reward her services. Well, those
services are to be rewarded ; but how ? Miss Nightin-
gale has devoted many years of her life—for the work in
which she is engaged is not new to her- —to the study of
hospital treatment. There is, perhaps, no one so con-
versant, not only with English hospitals, but with hos-
pitals all over Europe—ay, and even out of Europe—as
she is. She has resided fur weeks upon weeks within
their walls, herself actively taking part in their duties,
and she is, therefore, thoroughly conversant with the
whole system. Well, the great object, the great hope of
her life has been to have some day the means of found-
iug an institution which should lay the axe to the root
of the very great evil by which our hospital system is
contaminated. You have here in Manchester, I believe,
a very admirable hospital ; and I have no doubt that you
find, even here, with the great means at your disposal,
with the perfect organisation you possess, that the great
difficulty you have is to get proper nursing attendance
for them. I know that in some of the very best Lon-
don hospitals it seems almost hopeless to supply this
want. You get in the hospitals of England the most
skilful and eminent surgeons and physicians—the highest
kind of skilled labour ; and that skilled labour is often
wasted because it is employed in doing duties which
ought to be performed by skilful trained nurses. I my-
self have seen a good deal of the interior management of
a county hospital, and there I know that the class from
which you have to choose nurses is a class which would
he better employed as domestic servants, foe they know
no more about nursing in hospital than about conic sec-
tions. They enter the hospital entirely ignorant, and
they learn their duties—how ? By their experience in
the hospital, and at the expense of the patients neces-
sarily. Well, now let me point out what my reason is
for saying that if there is oae person in England—l care
not which sex or what profession be chosen for compa-
rison—if there is one person in England to whom we
ought to intrust with full confidence the conduct of such
a reform of this kind, it is Miss Nightingale. Just see
what she has done in the East. Gentlemen have spoken
of her self-devotion. Her self-devotion has been great,
hut not greater than those of the other ladies who ac-
companied her ; and, mind you, when we talk of a tes-
timonial to Miss Nightingale, it is to the honour not of
Miss Nightingale only, but to the honour of all those
ladies—all those persons, of whatever class—who have
accompanied her, and rendered her their assistance.
(Cheers.) You had ladies going out, you had hospital
nurses going out; you had persons of different creeds—
Roman Catholics among them, who consented, much
to their honour, to put themselves strictly under the
guidance and under the command of Miss Nightingale,
a Protestant—(hear)—and you had Presbyterians,
members of the Church of England, and Nonconfor-
mists among them ; and I think they have set us an
example that we should do well to follow at home.
(Cheers.) They did not show their Christianity by
quarrelling among themselves as to their different paths
to Heaven ; but they forgot those differences in the
common object which they had of following the com-
mands of the blessed Redeemer, and assisting those who
are suffering. Well now, recollect in the commence-
ment of this war, when much that is deplorable took
place through the inexperience of almost every one in
the duties they had to perform after a long peace, you
had to supply several assistances to the army from with-
out ; but in almost every case you had the means of do-
ing it from some analogous profession and employment
at home. You wanted an Army Works Corps ; well,
you had the whole railway staff to choose from, and a
large band of navigators was immediately sent out.
You wanted to make a railway , your civil engineers
instantly supplied you with the persons to meet that
requirement. But when you wanted nurses for the hos-
pitals in the East you had no analogous profession from
which to select. In England, to our disgrace be it said,
we have not got any profession from which we could se-
lect persons suitable for nurses. Therefore, Miss Night-
ingale had to do this—to command a band of strangers
to her, strangers also to one another, and strangers to
their duty, and holding different creeds—and she had to
amalgamate all that mass together and make it work in
perfect harmony ; and then she had this further difficulty
—she was introducing an innovation into a military hos-
pital. Now, I need not say, that perhaps of all institu-
tions, military institutions are those which, from the habit
of long obedience to command, are the most likely to re-
sent any interference with established usage. They look
naturally upon the introduction of a new system as a
reproach upon the old system—as an innovation--and
upon the person who introduces it almost as an enemy,
almost as a spy. Well, all these prejudices Miss Night-
ingale had to overcome by a nice tact but by great firm-
ness ; and in no instance—with many on the watch, no
doubt, to point out and to cry out at the slightest failure
—in no instance has there been any accusation brought
against her which can show that her mission has not
been attended with complete success. These prejudices are
overcome ; all now admit the immense services she has
I rendered ; and, in the lust accounts I have seen of the

hospitals in the East, it has been asserted by no mean
authority that there is no London hospital, under the
difficulties that have to be encountered ha the East, that
could for one moment compare with the hospitals of
Scutari. Well, now that for once the Government has got
ahead of us, our business is to overtake them, and' see if
we cannot bring the English hospitals up to the high
level that the army hospitals have attained in the East ;
and the first thing to be done is to have the means of
establishing—of creating—a profession of nurses. I be-
lieve some doubts have been expressed as to the mode in
which this shall be done. Miss Nightingale, as I have
said before, is thoroughly mistress of her art ; and if you
want the thing well done, trust me that you cannot do
better than put it into her hands. Don't shackle and
fetter her by yourselves making :minute regulations,
which her experience may show to be impolitic or per-
, haps impracticable. You must trust her with all the
details and arrangement, and for this reason, that she is
more competent than anybody else. (Hear.) You have
got, to use the slang term of the day, "the right woman in
the right place"—(cheers)-- and, having got her,trust her.
And trust her—why? Trust her for your own interest, be-
cause she is the one who will carry out this reform the
best. Trust her for another reason—because the whole
grace of your compliment to her consists in the confi-
dence the people of England have to place in her, hav-
ing seen what her talent, her integrity, her self-devotion
can accomplish. (Cheers.) Well, then, supposing, as
I do for I find on this point but one feeling—
that she should be the one person to decide the details
of how this institution should be conducted then

-
people say, " This is all vague and indefinite ; there is
no plan." In the first place, let me say that the thing
is proved not to be impracticable, by the existence of
two institutions in London, though very small and
ineffective from want of strength, to send nurses all
over the country. There is one, founded by Mrs.
Fry, in London, from which nurses are sent out to

any places that apply for them ; and therefore I say the
thing is practicable, Lecause it has been done. What,
then, is the diffidhlty to be encountered by Miss Night-
ingale ? Why, it has been said, " You cannot have an
institution to train nurses without hospitals to train
them in." That is true ; but there are hospitals in plenty
throughout England, and there is no difficulty in finding
a practising school, as it were, in which the nurses are
to be trained. Is it to be confined to London ? Well,
I say for my part I hope the nature and amount of this
subscription will be such that the institution shall be put
on such a footing that Miss Nightingale may be enabled
to make it ramify throughout the whole country. Why
are we not to send nurses up from the country to the
central institution, to be trained and returned to us ca-
pable of undertaking the most difficult hospital duties ?
or why should Miss Nightingale not send to us, on ap-
plication, nurses capable of conducting wards in our pro-
vincial hospitals, and capable, on emergency, of taking
the whole superintendence of such an institutioa ? I see
no limit to which it cannot be carried, if we get money

enough. (Hear.) lam afraid I have been trespassing
on your time, but I wished to point out, first of all, the
nature of the difficulties Miss Nightingale has had to en•
counter. She is distinguished, in common with others,
by her self-devotion ; but distinguished above all others
in that power of command which genius possesses, in the
influence she can exercise over others, and by the extra-

ordinary powers of organisation and administration
which she has displayed. These are the peculiarities of
Miss Nightingale which point her out as the person to
whom this great reform of our hospital system at home
should be intrusted. With regard to herself, I can add
little to the expression of gratitude which is in the heart
and in the mouth of every one, and of that feeling of—
as I really may call it—affectionate attachment to
Miss Nightingale, for all she has done for this
country. But some have objected, " If she has done
so much, why saddle her with more ?" They do not
know Miss,Nightingale who utter that opinion. She is
one to whom life is earnest, and life is real ; she looks
for her reward in this country, in having a fresh field for
her labour; and the means of extending the good she
has already begun. Depend upon it, you cannot pay
her a compliment dearer to her heart than in giving her
more work to do. (Cheers.) She wants the means of
continuing the work she has begun, and I look upon
this meeting as most important, because I know the po-
sition Manchester occupies in England, and the influence
Manchester has acquired through that restless activity
of mind which has placed it so high in the intellectual
scale of the country ; and I know how much this meeting
may'do to set an 'example that will spread. It was
therefore that I arid some friends of mine thought if our
duty to attend this meeting, in order that the stateineets
we might make, and the questions we might answer, if
put, might have the effect of making it understood ; and
I trust the example of this meeting will be followed
throughout the country, and that the testimonial to
Miss Nightingale shall be one to snake her usefulness
felt all over England, and at the same time be worthy of
the occasion which has called it forth—worthy of the
lady in whose honour we are met—and worthy, I meet
also say, of the gratitude of a great nation to whom she
has rendered immortal services. (Loud cheers.)
Lord Seetzerzy, M.P., who was received with cheering,
said—When one of the first authors of this project re-
quested use to give it by public speech or otherwise such
aid as was in my power, I accepted the offer very gladly,
because it seemed to me to involve the fulfilment of two
duties—one appealing to the intellect, the other to the
feelings ; one the duty of gratitude and recognition
for public service rendered ; the other, that of aiding,
according to our means, an important and promising
social movement. It can be shown, I think, that
the Nightingale Fund combines both these object's.
Of the service rendered by Miss Nightingale to our
army in the field it is quite too late to speak. There is
no part of England, no city or county, scarcely a con-
siderable village, where some cottage household has not
been comforted amid its mourning for the loss of one
who had fallen in war by the assurance that his last mo-
ments were watched, and his worst suffering soothed by
that care, at once tender and skilful, which no man, and
few women, could have shown. But it is not merely in-
dividuals who have been thus helped. The State also
has received benefit, and that to a degree which we
hardly appreciate, for where a danger has been warded
off its magnithde is seldom realised. The present war—
and if the rumour which has just reached me be true, I
hope I may say the past war—l do not refer to any
purpose that can provoke controversy or contradiction
—has been commenced and carried on under new con-
ditions of society. In all past wars waged abroad little
was known, at least to the masses, respecting the every-
day details of life before the enemy. Men who stayed
at home read of battles won or towns taken, skilful ma-
noeuvres of generals, daring acts of personal courage
performed by soldiers ; but never since man began to
live and fight on earth (two events nearly contempora-
neous) has the entire existence of an army, its daily do-
mestic life, been sketched for the satisfaction of those
who stayed behind in England. The newspaper corre-
spondence from the Crimea, with its benefits and its
abuses, is a feature of war singularly characteristic of
our time, and impossible in any other. What was the
effect of these disclosures ? They dispelled a good many
illusions, they stripped war of much of its romance, and
showed beneath a splendid exterior scenes painful and
horrible. They told the masses of this country—the
class from which soldiers are taken—fairly what they
had to expect; and thus enabled them, before deciding
to nerve, to make an intelligent choice, and not a
blind one. Well, then, under these circumstances, it
was no slight service to the State as such, no slight
aid given to the country in the crisis of its struggle,
that the recruit hero in England should know and
feel that, wherever else apathy, or ignorance, or
carelessness might prevail, there was one condition
of his military career, and that the most trying of all,
in which his sufferings would not be overlooked, and his
wants would be efficiently cared for. Bet more than this,
and without reference to the special emergencies of the
time, I believe most of those who have thought on social
subjects will incline to confirm the last words of that
good man, Talfourd, to the effect that the disunion of
classes is the worst evil of modern society. Now, what
makes that disunion ? Allowing for external causes, I
say still, in the main, it Is individual selfishness. Each
class is apt to give too little and expect too much. The
• rich think themselves distrusted, the poor neglected.
• I One often claims confidence which has not been earned;
the other sometimes asks aid which cannot be given.
And in this condition of things those are benefactors to
the community by example and teaching who, by any
act of real sacrifice—not the mere giving of superfluous
wealth or equally superfluous leisure, but the giving of
themselves, their labour, their health, perhaps their life
—prove practically that they hold the faith of universal
human brotherhood—that they hold that faith in action
as well as speculation, on week days as well as Sundays,
outside the church as well as within it. Such efforts,
whatever direction they take, admonish the prosperous,
encourage the afflicted, humanise and harmonise all.
These, then, are the claims of Miss Nightingale. She and
those who went forth with her have relieved a vast mass
of suffering, saved many lives, made many deaths easy,
aided the State, and by an example of personal heroism
Now, true
raised the moral tone of the community.
heroism is not so plentiful that we can afford to let it pass
unrecognised—if not for the honour of those who show
it, yet very much for our own. And with the except ion of
Howard, the prison reformer, I know no person besides
Miss Nightingale who within the last hundred years, in
this island, or perhaps in Europe, has voluntarily encoun-
tered dangers so imminent, and undertaken offices so re-
pulsive, working for a large and worthy object, iu
foreman ure
spirit of duty towards God and compassion .
(Applause.) But there is another point of view in which
Miss Nightingale's expedition stands out from the com-
mon courses of human action. (Applause.) It is not easy
anywhere, especially in England, to set about doing
what no one has done before. Many persons will un-
dergo considerable risks, even that of death itself, when
they know that they are engaged in a cause which, be-
sides approving itself to their consciences, commands
sympathy and approval—when they know that their
motives are appreciated and their conduct applauded.
But in this case custom was to be violated, precedent
broke through, the surprise, sometimes the censure, of
the world to be braved. And, don't underrate that ob-
stacle. We hardly know the strength of those social ties
that bind us until the moment when we attempt to break
them. There is a pressure which custoraiand convention
exercise upon the members of society, which modifies
conduct and which seems often to leave to the weaker
among us scarcely any share in forming their own cha-
racters and careers. Now mark what, by breaking
through customs and prejudices, Miss Nightingale has
effected for her sex. (Hear.) She has opened to them
a new profession—a new sphere of usefulness. I don't
suppose that, in undertaking her mission, she thought
much of the effect which it might have on the social po-
sition of women. Yet probably none of those who have
made that question their special study has done half so
much as she towards its settlement. A claim for more
extended freedom of action, based en proved public use-
fulness in the highest sense of the word, with the whole
nation to look on and bear wham, is one which must he

list ened to, and cannot be easily refused. (Applause.) t
this point I may notice some objections which may ha v e
been ce- may be urged against our proposition. Y
may be told that, though Miss Nightingale deserves all
honour, the promoters of this fund are only seekini to
acquire popularity at her expense—to share her
triumph without having shared her labours. The f. Lets
refute that charge. We claim no credit, for we nierit
none. We are simply giving utterance to a sentiment
which we did not originate, which we do not profess ex-
clusively to represent, and which we find already diffused
through the length and breadth of the land. On the
monument which we desire to raise no name will be _in-
scribed save one. Again, suspicions have been uttered,
though without one particle of proof, that the desig
submitted to you had in it something of a sectarian or
supers titious character. One gentleman has said, "Were
the fact so, I for one would wash my hands of it, and
advise alt whoml could reach to do the same." But
the only organisation we propose or desire to establish
is one of ptire, general, unsectarian benevolence—a sen-
timent whici), I rather imagine, belongs to no particular
era or opinion, but is just as old and as widely spread
as the human race itself. Lastly, and in that plea there
is more weight, I have heard it said that, before apply-
ing for money in a city like Manchester, we ought to
have been prepared with a plan more definite and de-
tailed than that laid before you. My answer is, much
must be left undecided, if free play is to be given to the
judgment and experience of Miss Nightingale. It is not
rules, not forms, not paper cheeks or guarantees that
make an enterprise prosper ; it is the living, unfettered
human energy. You ought to know that in Manches-
ter, if others don't ; and I believe you do know it.
Without a rare original talent this work could not be
done at all, and with such a talent the best thing you
can do is to let it work out its own ends in its own way.
We promise to leave Miss Nightingale free and unham-
pered ; and we believeithat is the best guarantee for
efficiency we can give. "But why not wait till
Miss Nightingale herself come home ?" I will ten
you why. We do not fear that Miss Nightingale,
will be forgotten, even in the hurry and bustle o f
modern affairs ; yet it seems more expedient and morns
suitable to the temper of the public that the ac -
knowledgment of her service should not be deferral I
until that service itself is no longer new. Also, .i
life like Miss Nightingale's is valuable. No year of it
should be lost to mankind. Better that she should find;
the materials of her future work ready to her hand on re-
turning than have to wait inactive, though willing to
labour, for the slow process of their raising. And now,.
turning from the personal part of the question, a word as
to the project which, though her friends, Miss Nightingale
has put forth to the people of England. She wishes to
establish here a superior class of trained hospital curses.
That the thing is possible no one doubts. On the conti-
nent it has existed for more than 1,000 years. We hear
of it in France as early as the 7th century ; we hear of it
again in the time of the crusades, when soldiers, return-
ing from war in Palestine, filled Europe with wounds
and disease ; and in Flanders, towards the end of last,
century, an association of this kind called forth the ad-
miration of the Protestant pl.ilanthropist, Howard. (Ape
plause.) But it is not only in Roman Catholic countries
that such institutions have existed. At Kaisersworth,,
near Dusseldorf, on the Rhine, a similar association has
been set up during the last a 0 years, under Protestant
management, which now includes about 190 nurses, either
employed or in training. These are instances of success
actually achieved ; and, if you want proof that some-
thing of the kind is needed in England, remember that,
not many years ago, Sir E. Parry, the Arctic diScoverer
(whom we have all heard of), seeing the faults of the
existing system of hospital nursing, endeavoured to re-
medy its defects at the Naval Hospital, Hasler, by a
public appeal for nurses of a higher class. That appeal_
was not answered. Prejudice and habit were too strong..
The attempt fell to the ground, and I believe it would.
fail now—l at least should despair—were there not
enlisted in the cause talents and energy such as few
men or women possess, and were there not, at the sa me
time, a degree of enthusiasm roused by the exertion. of
those talents such as rarely exists on any subject of
social and peaceable interest. It is that combination
which renders the enterprise hopeful and success more
than probable. One further word and I have done. /-
suppose no one has reflected seriously on the social
tendencies of the age, without seeing that to provide for
women fitting employment of the higher sort is one of
its problems—not the least important, and not the most,
easy to solve. It is idle to say that a woman's whole
sphere of duty lies at home. Many have no homes ;
many who have are not required to give to them—cannot
employ in them—all the energy which they possess.
For such what active pursuit does the world supply
The bustling life of men is unsuited for them—and happy
it is so. Mere study and contemplation cannot suffice
for any one. The temperament which makes author. s
and artists is rare. To visit the poor is well ; but visits
of mere friendship and sympathy cannot form a largos
part in the life of any one. And as the form which re-
ligion in the present day assumes is eminently that of
benevolence, and as we begin to recognise that the best
way—some would say the only way—of serving God is
by helping man, it is natural to expect that many in all
ranks, and especially those who in their private relations
are solitary, cheerless—it may be afflicted—should find
the greatest satisfaction to conscience and the most
suitable remedy `for their own distress in alleviating
human suffering, in its simplest and severest forms. Pat
this in their power, and you will set them free from the
most painful of all sensations which can afflict an active
mind and a sensitive temperament—the pain of compul-
sory idleness, of duty undischarged, faculties consciously
unemployed, opportunities of good passing by uniin-
prove]. In the hope of this deliverance I commend
this project to your patronage—asking you, by one and
the same act, to honour merit, to lessen suffering, and
to give to female energy and charity free scope in a new
channel. (The noble lord resumed his seat amid applause.)
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Mr. ENTWISLE moved the second resolution, to the
effect that the only worthy mode of acknowledging Miss
Nightingale's services was the establishment of such an
institution as had been indicated.

Mr. 13Azt.EY briefly seconded the resolution.

Mr. MONCKTON MILNES, M.P., said if had been told
that when he knew Miss Nightingale in the obscurity
of private life that the time would come when before
such a meeting as this, and in such a place as this, he
should hear her name mentioned and her praises re-echoed,
be should have very much doubted the prophecy. The
main characteristics of her temperament and her dis-
poeition were such as might rather lead to an absolute
avoidance of all publicity, a disregard, perhaps singular,
of public opinion, regarded merely as public opinion.
and a profound belief that all great works were best ac-
complished in the privacy and in the conscience of the
individual man. But it was one of the most mysterious
dispensations of Providence that the great heroes and
heroines of the world— the men and women around
whom the praise of men clustered the most fully—the
men and women who were held up to our children an
examples, and regarded with piety and delight by man-
kind, were often those who were drawn out of private
life by some mysterious process of divine circumstance of
which they themselves were the least likely to be con-
scious. It was thus that Miss Nightingale bad been
drawn from her privacy into the dusty highway of public
fame, and, being there, she was the last person, and she
would, in the justice of her mind and the clearness of
her intellect, necessarily be the last person who would
wish to avoid the new conditions of that publicity, and
attempt to combine the advantages of notoriety with
the secresy of private station. If Miss Nightingale was
a public personage, as a public personage she was ready
to stand. She was ready that you should know every-
thing about her, and investigate to the utmost, as the
public had a right to do, all about her before she re-
ceived your good will and acquired your fullest confi-
dence. It was for this that he and other friends of Miss
Nightingale had come there, and because they were
ready to speak upon every point that might be necessary
for explanation or the removal of any suspicion or mis-
apprehension as to her position. Their object was to
tell the meeting simply what she was and what she bad
done ; but it was true that, being a woman who had
been drawn by a singular circumstance into the sphere
of public notoriety, it did become them to be somewhat
delicate in investigating the operations of her mind or
the peculiarities of her intentions. They could only say
that she was a person of the most devout and pious
mind ; that her family, on the side of her father and
mother, bad been non-Dissenters for generations, of the
highest respectability, and held in the greatest esteem ;
and, so far as be could learn, she eminently belonged
to that church of which the terms of communion were
rather good deeds than good words, and whose condi-
tions of fellowship were rather in definite acts than
definite doctrine. (Loud cheers.) She was not held
up to notice here, however, because she had merely
left a comfortable home and gone to a situation desti-
tute of all the comforts of life, or because she had
abandoned the pleasant Hadition of her high station
in this country, and gone to a place where she had
to work with the meanest aid to serve with the low-
est,--things which women in ally station of life were
often ready to undertake, and of which we as English-
men had a right to be proud,—but it was because with
that spirit of devotion and benevolence she combined in
the most remarkable degree the power of command,
the power of organisation with the common sense which
was ever necessary in the most trying circumstances and
on the most exciting occasions. (Hear.) It 'was 'for
this reason that, if they believed this work to be a good
work and one in which they could co-operate, they
should place her at the head of an establishment where
she could best give her country the benefit of such ser-
vices as it was in her power to render. The hon. gen-
tleman went on to show that no time should be lost in
promoting this object, so that the means might be ready
to Miss Nightingale's hand immediately on her return,
and expressed a hope that the report just telegraphed of
peace might be true, so that she might return to this
country. (Cheers.)
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Mr. M. PHILIPS, formerly one of the members for
Manchester, moved a committee to carry out the ob-
jects of the meeting, expressing a high sense of Miss
Nightingale's services in mitigating the sufferings and
miseries incidental to war. He believed the war to be
a just and necessary one. They had determined, re-
gradless of cost, not to stand by and see the weak op-
and it Was a true English feel-
pressed by the strong,
ing ; and he bad no sympathy with those who ap-
peared much for our enemies rather than for
- to feel so
the sufferings- of our own brave warriors. (Loud and
repeated cheering.)
Mr. BRANDT, judge of the County Court, seconded
the motion, and it was adopted unanimously.
Mr. HERON, the town-clerk, then read a long list of
subscribers of 10 guineas, which includes the names of
the Mayor, Mr. Houldsworth, Mr. S. Fletcher, Mr.
Kershaw, M.P., Mr. Callender, Mr. Bazley, Mr.
NVray, Sir J. Potter, Mr. Souchay, Mr. J. A. Turner.
Sir B. Heywood, Mr. 0. Heywood, Mr. Jas. Heywood,
m.P., and other gentlemen.
The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the
Mayor for presiding.