The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-12-05 00:00:00

told that no time

We may bi

inopportune for a change o:

Ministry than whil

we are in the midst of war, that our sole object

should be to show our enemies ou

manimity

that, therefore, all questions respecting the conduct
of the Ministry should be left until the triumphs
of the field are crowned with a glorious peace.
This, however, is but specious reasoning, designed
to shelter from public indignation those who are
most deserving of it. The unanimous feeling of
the public is, that the war should be prosecuted
with vigour, and nothing spared in order to wring
from the grasp of Russian ambition those material

guarantees for the peace of Europe which may be
deemed necessary. In demanding
Ministry, we give no advantage to the enemy, we
betray no weakness, nor leave him the slightest
ground upon which to found a hope of success
through our want of unity. The movement would
have an effect directly the contrary. It would
speak trumpet-tongued to the EMPEROR of RUSSIA,
that the people of England are united in their de-
termination to conquer, and that even in the midst
of the contest they demand a change of rulers—
not to gratify the prejudices of party politics, but
because they believe the present Ministers do not
sufficiently represent the spirit and energy which
animate all the rest of the kingdom, and possess
the same unalterable resolution to prosecute the
war until the determination is the result of victory
and not of concession.

a change of

The opinion is every day becoming stronger,
that the obstinacy with which the EMPEROR of

RUSSIA persevered in his rash intentions, was
mainly induced by the fact of the Earl of ABER-
DEEN being at the head of the English Cabinet ;
still further strengthened by the adhesion of Sir
JAMES GRAHAM and Sir CHARLES WOOD, who

marked their accession to office by the most viol

abuse of the EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH ; and no
way weakened by the mild and temporising tone
with which Lord JOHN RUSSELL replied to the
treacherous overtures received through Sir HA-
MILTON SEYMOUR. The CZAR may thank the
present Ministers for the humiliating position in
which he is already placed ; and we may also thank
them not only for being involved in a costly war,
but for the heavy losses incurred through the
evident want of sincerity with which it has been
conducted. What better evidence, then, can we
give to the EMPEROR OF RUSSIA, that, having
drawn the sword, we have no intention of sheath-
ing it until our object is fully attained, than a na-
tional demand for a Ministry who shall carry out
the popular will to the fullest extent. So long as
the EARL OF ABERDEEN shall remain Prime
Minister, and the DUKE OF NEWCASTLE Minister
of War, so long will the EMPEROR NICHOLAS
deem his cause not without some gleam of hope ;
but a change of Ministry might operate with more
magical effect to restore him to reason than even
the unexpected defeat of his troops at the battle of
Inkerman.

THE MEDICAL RELIEF COMMITTEE
AND DR. DUNCAN.

THOSE who have read, from time to time, the
proceedings of the Select Vestry, must be familiar
with the fact that an unfortunate difference has
existed between the Medical Relief Committee of
that body and Dr. DUNCAN, the medical officer of
the General Board of Health, with reference to the
course pursued duping the recent visitation of the
cholera in Liverpool. It appears that Dr. DUNCAN,
whose labours have been indefatigable, presented a
report to the General Board of Health, in which
he complained that the measures which he pointed
out to the Committee were not adopted by them ;
from which, we suppose, the inference is to be
drawn, that a portion at least of the mortality which
ensued may be attributed to this neglect. In
answer to this statement, the Medical Relief Com-
mittee have addressed a letter to the General
Board of Health, which has just been published,
and, consequently, an appeal made to public opinion
on the subject. Had the question at issue been
solely a matter of opinion, we might have hesitated
to do more than point attention to the respective
statements ; but they involve matters of fact which
concern the character of the Local Board, and
possess, therefore, a corresponding degree of
interest.

In the letter referred to, the Medical Relief
Committee point out the particular charges made
against them by Dr. DuNclw, but commence by
denying their obligation to be bound by the
directions of that gentleman, unless, by the advice
of their own officers, they see fit to coincide with his

And they further assert that the measures
approved by the General Board of Health, in 1853,
have been unceasingly carried out in 1854 ; and
daily reports from the Medical and Relieving
Officers of the sick under treatment, as well as of
nuisances requiring the attention of Dr. DUNCAN,
regularly forwarded to him. The reply to the
report of that gentleman then reiterates the various
recommendations which he complained of as not
being adopted, and proceeds to deal with them
seriatim.

views

To his charge against them of not providing
local hospitals, they reply that it was done as far
as practicable ; and they further submit an opinion,
signed by their own Medical Officers, that the large
Hospital at the Workhouse was sufficient for the
purpose ; and the short interval occupied in the
removal of patients by no means an objection, but
in many cases an advantage, as the van which was
provided enabled them to be conveyed in a recum-
bent posture, without jolting, and gave the patients
the benefit of purer air, and better nursing.

To the next charge of Dr. DUNCAN, that more
assistance was not afforded to Messrs. KELLY and
NEWTON, the medical officers of the cholera dis-
tricts, the committee reply, by stating that those
gentlemen were supplied with what assistance
they needed, and themselves wrote to say they
were not in want of any further assistance.
The third charge of Dr. DUNCAN, was the non-
appointment of house-to-house visitors whieh he
had recommended. To this the committee reply,
that it was done in two instances pointed out by
way of trial ; that one of them was afterwards
transferred from the district, "on account of its
comparatively healthy state," to another district ;
that in every case where these visitors were re-
quired by the medical officers they were appointed ;
and they append a table, showing the number of
streets visited, and of the number of cases of
diarrhcea reported by the visitors.
The fourth charge is their refusal to appoint a
medical man to attend day and night at the Cheap-
side Dispensary, and this they state was not done,
because it appeared uncalled for by the returns of
the medical officers, and also of the house-to-house
visitors, who were medical practitioners, and well
capable of judging of the necessity of such an
appointment.

The Committee then give reports from all the