The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-10 00:00:00

~~

rouse ourselves from the apathy which has
crept upon us with regard to this work, and do
our utmost for its accomplishment. Let us
try and banish the utilitarian view of the
matter which is so apt to take possession of our
minds, and look upon this question, as, indeed,
it is, as a matter of principle. For, as the letter
to the cardinal already quoted justly says, "No
proposal could be more welcome than that of
raising a memorial to the martyr of the
Church's liberty at a time when it is too evi-
dent how openly this prerogative of her divine
constitution is bearing the brunt of a war of
hypocrisy and parricide, waged by a faction
who, amidst feigned professions of recognising
so essential an attrib ate of the Church, and
of her august Visible Head, are contesting
at every step any free exercise of her juris-
diction, her mission or her teaching, and ques-
tioning the rights of her patrimony."
Let us give, then, freely of our alms and
prayers, of our thoughts and time, to the ful-
filment of this double object. Let us strive
to atone to our beloved Holy Father for the
insults heaped upon him from without by in-
cres sed zeal in carrying out his lightest wish;
so that once more a sanctuary may be raised
worthy of the saint whose name it will bear,
worthy of the people for the liberties of whose
Church he suffered—above all, worthy, as far
as human temples can be, of the reception of
Him who has promised to be with His Church
" all days, even unto the end of the world."
We will conclude in the words of our vener-
able Archbishop preached in the Church of
St. Carlo in Rome, " It is, therefore, a season-
able and excellent purpose to rebuild in Rome
the Church of St. Thomas the Martyr. We
cannot gather up his dust from the soil of
England, nor restore his tomb in the glories
of Becket's crown at Canterbury; but we may
give back to him his sanctuary in the Holy
City. Of old, pilgrims wore deep paths in the
lanes of Southern England to visit Becket's
shrine ; now they will find him where he came
for shelter, by the side of the Vicar of Christ.
The ruin of the great Revolution which burst
upon the opening of this century, destroyed
his church. We owe him a reparation. And
we, English, who are his sons, and are of one
faith, will not be backward. We owe it to him
for the outrages and sacrileges of the so-called
Reformation, and for all the dishonour done
to him and to the Church beloved even to the
death. . . . . It is well in these days,

when on every side the world rings with voices
clamouring for the rights of man, for the
rights of freedom, of liberty in every form,—
of speech, of action, of revolution, to raise a
witness to the rights of God. St. Thomas died
for these rights. The witness passes to his
crown, but the cause can never pass away.
Principles are eternal, and the liberties of the
Church, though always violated, are imperish-
able. Übi Spiritus Domini, ibi libertas.'
And the voice of the Holy Ghost through the
Church redeems the world from the bondage
and abuse of human wills. ' Simon may die,
but Peter lives for ever.'"

Will ME ARMY MEDICAL SERVICE IS

UNPOPULAR.

Army medical officers have certainly received
every encouragement to perform their duties
zealously and efficiently in any future campaign.
They can scarcely have failed to observe that in the
vote of thanks proposed in Parliament to the army
of Abyssinia there was one department conspicuous
by its absence. Whilst thanks were handsomely ac-
corded to many officers, who were individually men-
tioned, no notice whatever was taken of the head
of the Medical Department, who, besides being
senior in rank and service to other and more for-
tunate individuals, had highly distinguished himself
on previous occasions, and was well known to be /4
man of great capacity and varied experience.
Nothing could have been more unjust, or better
calculated to disgust the members of the Depart-
ment. The omission, under the circumstances,
amounts to an implied censure. We have been told
that it was by inadvertence only, as if that mended
the matter. It is this systematic inadvertence of
which medical officers and we complain. There
was certainly no excuse for it on the present occasion,
as the services of the Department had been warmlY
acknowledged by Sir R. Napier, and were particularly
adverted to by her Majesty in the despatch forwarded
by Sir Stafford Northcote. We simply express a
well-known fact when we say that its members con-
tributed in a very prominent degree to the success
of the undertaking. Before a soldier had set his
foot in the country, and when it was the fashion
for even well-informed people to prophesy all sorts
of evils, there were several medical o fficers, as we
happen to know, who had made themselves thoroughly
acquainted with the class of diseases incidental to the
climate, and ascertained the salubrious character of
the highlands as compared with the littoralof the Red
Sea. The medical occurrences which actually ensued
were shadowed forth and provided against. The
organisation at Bombay for the equipment of
regimental and field hospitals, and other matters,
was alone sufficient to test the administrative caps-
cities of those engaged in it. A medical officer
accompanied Colonel Merewether's reconnoitring
party, studied their climate and topography, and
ascertained, as far as practicable, the natural pro-
ducts and water-supply, along the line of route.
The hospital ships were provided and equipped
in this country, and sufficient praise has certainly
not been bestowed upon them, for they are
allowed to have done excellent service. When
the troops first landed, and before anything like
a field hospital could be organised, the sick
of the force were received on board these
vessels, and some of the troops were indebted to
them for supplies of clothing and other articles
before commencing their march towards Magdala.
It was allowed, we believe, that they were fitted 11P
as well as any ships could have been for such a ser-
vice. The medical officers shared all the labours
and ran all the risks of the campaign. It was a
medical officer who carried Captain Roberts off the
field, and subsequently amputated his arm. It was
owing to their admirable sanitary arrangements
and foresight that the health and efficiency of
the force were preserved ; and, relatively to
other officers, a larger number of mall'
cal men, moreover, died in Abyssinia. Sc
one would venture to deny the truth of all that
we have said, and at least of all who were present
during the campaign ; yet the labours of the me"
dical service have been entirely ignored, and the
name of the officer on whom the responsibility of
all the medical and sanitary arrangements devolved
was omitted in the vote of thanks accorded by Pa"
liament to the Abyssinian army. Had those ar" •

rangeruents broken down there might have been
no Abyssinian army to return, instead of a vigoroill
and healthy fDrce, flushed with victory and e%pec.
taut of its rewards.-7he Lancet.