The Life of Florence Nightingale, vol. 2 of 2Cook, Edward Tyas, Sir
History
The Life of Florence Nightingale, vol. 2 of 2
Cook, Edward Tyas, Sir
Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1910
[11] Indian officers (and especially Colonel Young) supplied her with
sketches, some of which were touched up by her cousin, Miss Hilary
Bonham Carter.
She made full use of the opening which the niggardliness of the Treasury
gave her. She hurried the printers, and had a large number of her
"Observations" struck off for private use. "I have looked once more,"
wrote Lord Stanley (Nov. 21), "through your Remarks, and like them
better the oftener I read them. The style alone (apart from the
authority which your name carries with it) will ensure their being
studied by many who know nothing of the subject. They will admirably
relieve the dryness of our official Report. I hope every Indian and
English newspaper will reprint them, in extracts at least. They must be
circulated with our Report, separately from the too voluminous mass of
evidence which we can't help appending. You have added one more to your
many and invaluable services in the cause." "Miss Nightingale's Paper,"
wrote Dr. Farr to Dr. Sutherland (Dec. 1), "is a masterpiece, in her
best style; and will rile the enemy very considerable--all for his good,
poor creature."[12] But it was not only among the Commissioners that she
circulated her Paper. She sent it confidentially to many of her
influential friends. "The picture is terrible," wrote Sir John McNeill
(Aug. 9), "but it is all true. There is no one statement from beginning
to end that I feel disposed to question, and there are many which my own
observation and experience enable me to confirm." A copy went to John
Stuart Mill, who was much pleased with the "Observations," and was
certain that "the publication of them would do vast good." Miss
Nightingale had a copy bound for the Queen, and sent it--as also a copy
of her Paper on Sidney Herbert--through Sir James Clark, who marked
passages for the Queen to read. Her Majesty, he found from conversation,
had not confined her reading to those passages. The Queen in return sent
a copy of her Collection of Prince Albert's Speeches. "The Queen," wrote
Miss Nightingale to M. Mohl (Feb. 14, 1863), "has sent me her book with
such a touching inscription. She always reminds me of the Greek chorus
with her hands clasped above her head wailing out her irrepressible
despair."[13] Miss Nightingale sent her "Observations" also to Sir John
Lawrence, who studied them closely, and corresponded with her on the
subject. Another copy went to Sir Charles Trevelyan.[14] "Having," he
wrote (Oct. 31, 1862), "undertaken the duties of Financial Member of the
Council of India, I may now be able to give some help in carrying the
recommendations of your Commission into practical effect. You must not
expect from me as much as Sidney Herbert did, for my power will not be
the same. The Governor-General and the local Governors will alone be in
that position. But I shall do _what I can_. Perhaps you will send me a
copy of your Abstract of the Evidence, and direct my attention to the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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