New-York daily tribune., 1854-09-02
CHOLERA IN TIE BRITISH CAMP.
Corespon enee Of The London Daily Nsws-
MoyAsrIR, Friday, July %, 1854

gusrd of ur army When came to d ~na Mill |
found that the infantry of the light diy ,on hsi struck
thcir camp on the hight commanding the place and
proceedeG TO Monastir, turkish village, about four
T. lies from DewpA, on the Prarady road. | reached
the camp al sunset, and found it established the
sides end Fummits Of a wooded hill The various
regiments not ranged up ia their enea npments
to form oydre de 6ata,e but their encampments
aye located the plots Of open ground and the clear
ngs Of the wood. They NC, Ia fact, health quarters
and from the details sial give you OF what saw
and learnt in the it will be evident that such
quarters were necessary, If not Indispensable.
general gloom prevailed, and one which even dis
cipliIe could not check, nor subordinstiOn baDsh.
The baud a. usual at that hour, were playing lively
MARCHES and the woods of Monastir echoed the
tunes Of the mother lssnd IL the western seas. Bat
In place ofokes aEd plays, and merrineni the music
sounded unst1rbtd; and perhaps UNDECIDED; the
men were grave and serous, and II was PLAIN that
that fatal preOccupatOn lad set In which accompa-
MES the outbreak Of dlstemper, prepares its way,
and aids il in its deadly work Ii struck that the
best thing that could happen to troops in this state
Of health aud mind would be tLe immediate
tering upon the real business of the campaign.
march across the country; definite object in view
something worthy of emulation, to be slrven for an1
obtained change Of scene Of life and OF privatons,
accidents and events, and the fecing the enemy,
would restore that healthy state Of mind which kept
our soldiers strong and well in the first few months
Of the expedition, and which has only ceased since
they have abandoned all hope of being rescued from
state of idleness which wears them out, and which
they ieeI Ofgrace. TO those
who suffer but TO those who iniict u.
When the army LETT Scutari for Varna and when il
became known that spots for en,ampmen; mad beer
selected the banks Of the Dewna lake, Of tle
physicians of Pera, men who know the country,
told me that the military authorities had pitched
almost on the worst locality that could be found
in this part Of Bulgaria. / was informed that
the exhaCtlons from the Dewna lake and its marshy
meadows are pregnant with disease, and that low
fever and dy ysentery always 10 be found in the
-flxgc and hpfv Of he
country. thought it my duty at the time to report
to you this opinion, as coming from men CON-
petent TO judge, whose hopes and wishes were
all for the good Of our troops aud the success of
our arms. i know that both Lord de Rehcliife and
Lord Raglan were informed of the danger to which
the troops were exposed in the enCampments which
had been selected for them But 1t would appear
that it is rule in this war that no opinion shall be
listened TO and no advice taken. Experience is to
be bought, no matter at what price; and in the
prest Mt instance the commanders OF the army be-
iieyed in the unhealthiness Of the Dewna district
only when the plague had broken out and the men
under their charge were dying around them.
The disease which has broken out among troops
is cholera in its most malignant form. Ii has attack
ed all the regiments, but chiefly those who were more
exposed 10 the currents of air that swept along and
carried I'd the misrs from the Dewn6 lake. In the
Rife brigade few only occurred, and.the nth
Regiment was spared for several days; nor did the
germs Of disease declare themselves until after their
dslocation from Dewna TO MoDastlr. The 33d suf-
=,
too had serious losses, but the regiments which
were most exposed TO the poisonO1s breath of the
lake, are the 23d Welsh Fusers and the 7tn.
They were the first to have the disease and lost the
greatest lumber of men. The first case occurred on
the 22d inst in the Twenty third, when two
attacked with cholera, and died within seven hours
after the first symptoms had shown Themselves.
Those symptoms were almost identical IN all cases
there WAS the pale face, the up-turned eyes, the
whitish wrinkled hands, with craInped fingers, aud
the crampy disposition of the body generally which
those ho have the malignant forms of cholera
know so WELL and against which they also know
medical aid is OF little or no ayal. great
many Of the patients were in state OF hopeless coll
lapse from first to last some where quite blue and
the only description which applies to some of them
is that they were "living corpses.' An alarming
number of of darrhea the precursor OF cholera
came also under the hands OF the regnenta surgeons
and of such patients good many recovered after
proper treatment. But of all OF cholera and
collapse, il not too much TO say that not single
patient Vas saved u spite of the unremtting care Of
The medical staff of the division They died almost
under the doctors haads-some after four, after
seven ard some after nine hours of suffering. The
longest illness Of this sort one of thirteen hours.
From the 2ed TO the Goth instant, the 7h Fusliers
lost IL men; the 23d Welsh Fusillers lost Il; the
23d lost @; the S5th had IL deaths; the nth,
/; the 10Th, 3: and the Rife Brigade lost men.
II is certain that the exhaaons from the Dewna Lake
not the only cause OF this malignant outbreak,
but that they were one of the chief causes, Is now
established beyond the possibility of doubt. There
have been some fresh of cholera since the dyi-
sion moved TO Manastir; bot in almost every instance
can he proved that the men 80 affected were suffer-
ING al Dewna, and that the germs OF disease which
had entered the system wanted nothing but time TO
manifest their fatal presence But even these cases
were less malignant at Monastr, and present, at the
time | write, some hope of the recovery OF the pa
titu;s | affirm again that the troops should never
have been quartered Dewna and that their removal
10 a healthier locality hiss also removed one OF the
chic, causes of the disiemper.
Another cause remains as yet unremoved and al
most untouched II may sound strange and it may
anpear incredible TO people at home but still it is
fact that the troops out here in Bulgaria are stary
ing | am fully aware that such a statement VIII
appear monstrous 20 those who rec0llect the state
uents and very correct ones, too OF the liberal pro-
vision made for the necessities and comforts OF the
soldiers. The people Of England have read, and re-
ioiced in reading, that the Oriental expedition had
been provided FOR with on almost Raternal care
by the icountry; that care had been IaAeni
not only that the ratiOns Of the soldiers were good
and plentiful but that the smaller necessities and
even the luxuries of life should accoInpan- them on
their march, and be reiaed to them at cost price by
the commits arat. Rice, coffee, tea and sugar, ale
and porter were to be sent in the rear OF the army
our soldiers in Turkey were TO have all the creature
comforts TO which they had been accustomed in Eng.
land at prices considerably lower than the average OF
English prices, and the nation to fight and bleed
for which tbey were sent out, marked Its gratitude
beforehand by making a liberal provision for the
wants and comforts of its defenders. IL Is well
known fact that stores for the use OF tne
army were bought at me public expense and sent
out 10 Turkey but ii is not less fact that the troops
have had little benefit, ii any, from those stores,
that they were late at GalIpoh, Irregular
at Scutar wanting at Narna, and utterly 90,
sent from the day the troops left for Aladdin and
Dewna. The Comlnissariat was unwilling or unable,
or both 10 send stores TO the distance twenty miles
from the depdts, and yet the nation had wlled it that
those stores should follow the army on Us mircn
across whole provinces and most assurediy the gen
tlemen of the commssariat are appointed and PAID,
not for any special merits of their own, but simply
for the purpose of forwarding and distributing those
stores. Tic Jight Division. which has been out