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
hasten to supply them with invitations to, and means for, good of all
kinds: remembering that the soldier is of all men the man whose life is
made for him by the necessities of his Service. We may not hope to make
'saints' of all, but we can make men of them instead of brutes. If you
knew these things as I do, you would forgive me for asking you, if my
poor name may still be that of the soldiers' ever faithful servant, to
support Miss Robinson's work in making men of them at Portsmouth, the
place of all others of temptation to be brutes."
[56] See Vol. I. p. 279.
VII
Even the multifarious interest described in preceding pages and chapters
do not tell the whole tale of Miss Nightingale's labours during this
time. It was not only the British soldiers at home and in India whom she
took under her protection; nor only the War Office and the India Office
with which she had some connection. She was open to any human appeal for
help, and her acquaintance with Sir George Grey led her, through a
friendly Minister at the Colonial Office, to make an attempt for the
protection of the aboriginal races in the British Dominions. She had met
Sir George Grey in 1859 and 1860, and he had talked to her about the
gradual disappearance of those races when brought into touch with
civilization. This was a subject which appealed strongly to Miss
Nightingale. Her mission in life was to be a "saviour" of men. It shamed
her to think that her country in colonizing so large a part of the world
should so often come into contact with inferior races only to destroy
them. In the course of conversation with Sir George Grey, the question
was raised whether the disappearance of the aboriginal races was in any
degree due to the effect of European school usages and school education.
Miss Nightingale determined to investigate the matter. She drew up
schedules of inquiry, and the Duke of Newcastle (then Colonial
Secretary) officially circulated them to Colonial Schools and Colonial
Hospitals (1860). As each return came in during following years, it was
forwarded from the Colonial Office to Miss Nightingale. Her inquiries
were far more searching and detailed, I notice on looking through the
papers, than were the answers. There were not many passionate
statisticians in those days among the schoolmasters or doctors attached
to native schools or hospitals in distant colonies, and the results of
Miss Nightingale's researches in this obscure field were somewhat
disappointing. She summarized the information in a Paper which she
contributed to the Social Science Congress at Edinburgh in 1863, and
which she printed as a pamphlet.[57] The Duke of Newcastle sent the
pamphlet to colonial governors and other officials, and invited their
remarks. To the Congress in 1864 Miss Nightingale contributed a further
Paper (also printed as a pamphlet[58]), embodying the substance of some
of the later information thus obtained. The documents which she received
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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