who in the judgment of all Europe had contributed eminently to the advancement of their art, to institute the fullest inquiry into the reasons of their being superseded on this occasion by an individual_not connected with the army at all. They could not but feel hurt at being passed over in this manner. The noble lord had dwelt much on the letter he had read; now that letter had been produced either as a specimen of the general conduct of the army practitioners, or as an exception to it. If the latter, it all came to nothing; but if it were exhibited in the former view, the noble lord ought in fairness to have given, and he now called upon him to give, the name of the writer, that it might be disavowed, and that a whole body of respectable men might not suffer in character for the act of an individual. The true question was, whether there was any such superiority in the gentleman appointed, as to justify the putting him above all medical officers at the end of a protracted and arduous war, in the course of which they had rendered the greatest services to their country. He wished to ask the noble lord, if, since the Report in fa endeavouring to promote his views? The House bad, he admitted, a right to decide whether the establishment ought or not to be kept in existence; but he deprecated its making itself a party in the contest on the pretensions of professional adversaries. He wished those he addressed, to visit the institution-to examine it in every part, and on the decision they might then come to, as to its value, he would cheerfully risk its fate. But he had only to entreat that they would at the same time recollect the magnitude of the privation, and the extent of the calamity it was instituted to alleviate. The whole expense would not exceed 1,500l. a year, and if it restored even a few veterans to that degree of vision, that they would be less a burden to themselves, and be enabled to spend the evening of their days with a greater degree of comfort, he could not believe the House would withhold this valuable relief from the poor disabled soldier or sailor when purchased on such easy terms [Hear, hear]. He said again, that he was willing to stake the existence of the hospital on a personal inspection of its visible and actual effects. Let gentlemen go there and judge of it by question-vour of sir William Adams, which he had ing the men themselves: let them ask them what was their state on entering it, and see their state previous to being discharged; but he could not consent to the production of the papers, as he thought they would not contribute to real information, or lead to useful discussion. It would indeed be obviously improper to make that House an arena for medical controversy, which would be much better carried on through the press, and more properly left to the judgment of the public. Sir J. Mackintosh remarked, that the noble lord had said the papers ought not to be laid before the House, as they would only make it acquainted with one side of the question. But the noble lord spoke on one side of the question; why then object to let the House be made acquainted with the other? The noble lord said, the merits of the parties opposed to each other on this occasion ought to be left to the discernment of the public. Right! He would agree to this, but the expense of the new establishment ought also to be left to be decided on by the discernment of the public. The House owed it to that justice due to the medical officers of the army, a body of men who had distinguished themselves as much as any other part of the service during the war; and mentioned as having been made in 1814, one of a different nature had not appeared? If he were not grossly misinformed, some of the greatest medical men in the world were decidedly adverse to the system of sir William Adams. To visit the establishment, as recommended by the noble lord, would be useless, unless those who did so had an opportunity of comparing the patients under the care of sir Wm. Adams, with the same number of similar cases under the care of the medical officers of the army. He did not mean absolutely to affirm, that he differed in opinion with the noble lord, that the gentleman in question was not properly selected, or that the course pursued was wrong or unjust, but he did say, that what was due to a large body of gentlemen, required that their opinions, stating the grounds on which they differed from that individual, should be laid before the House. The very circumstance of his treatment being made a secret had something suspicious in it, and was completely opposite to the uniform practice of enlightened men. [The hon. and learned gentleman was here interrupted by lord Palmerston, who declared he had not said a syllable of sir Wm. Adams's practice being kept secret, that practice being, on the contrary, made completely public]. | He should sit down expressing his decided opinion, that the House would not deal fairly, if they did not cause the papers to be produced. Mr. Hutchinson said, that the noble lord was entitled to great praise for his exertions to eradicate one of the most painful and afflicting of disorders. It had been his lot, from circumstances not necessary to detail to the House, to see many an example of the melancholy and grievous effects of ophthalmia, and from all he saw and knew on the subject, he thought it well worthy the attention of the noble lord to make every effort, and institute every experiment with a view to eradicate that disorder. Would to God that it were eradicated, but melancholy and convincing proofs to the contrary were too easily discovered! The hon. and learned gentleman who opened this debate had laid two grounds in support of his motion: first, that the disease was already eradicated; secondly, that the new institution was putting the country to an unnecessary expense. As to the first, no one would rejoice at such a consummation more than himself; but it was a truth not to be disguised, that cases of the existence of ophthalmia were of every day's occurrence, not only among the military, but in civil life-and it behoved the House to guard itself from being led astray by such a delusion. With respect to the expense, he thought 1,500l. a year, the estimated charge of the new establishment, very properly laid out, even on an experiment for the eradication of ophthalmia. The hon. and learned gentleman who had spoken last, had made a most invidious statement as to the implied superiority of sir W. Adams over the medical officers of the army. He was ready to acknowledge that they were a class of men who had performed distinguished services to the nation, and to whom it was very deeply indebted; but, on the other hand, he thought that if the noble lord (Palmerston) had discovered, or thought he had discovered, any thing attended with greater success in the mode of treatment observed by the gentleman he had mentioned (a gentleman the most celebrated as an oculist, and of whose astonishing success and wonderful cures every member who heard him must have known instances), he was fully justified in availing himself of his assistance. It appeared that previous to his employment at the head of the institu tion, patients had been placed under his care who had already been treated în vain by the army surgeons. He had produced many cases from these where a total cure, or material benefit, was effected by his practice; and this made a very strong case in his favour [Hear]. He wished sir W. Adams to have a fair and full trial, and if his practice should realise the hopes entertained in founding the institution, it would be more than an ample return for all the charge incurred. Such expense was indeed quite insignificant when put in competition with the object it was meant to accomplish. The noble lord, in his opinion, was right in refusing the papers. He was always ready to support any motion for inquiry upon proper grounds, but he could not consent to load the table of that House with voluminous documents containing ex parte statements, all indeed presenting the mere effusions of professional jealousy or private pique against the character and conduct of an individual. On the whole, he conceived that the grounds taken by his hon. friends near him did not bear them out in the remarks which they had offered on the motion which they pressed. Mr. Barham thought the noble lord fully justified in withholding his consent for the production of the papers, and that for two reasons; first, because they were not necessary to enable members to form an opinion on the merits of the new institution, as, if the hon. gentlemen who supported the motion had taken the trouble to make inquiries, they would have found that there were other documents easily obtained, which were fully sufficient for that purpose, without having recourse to any others; and, secondly, because the papers moved for were not fit to be produced, and would be of little use, unless the House were prepared to go into the whole of the contest. His hon. and learned friend, the mover, had been misinformed if he thought that the ophthalmia had totally disappeared in this country; for but two years ago thousands of our soldiers were labouring under it—and at this moment the country was paying pensions to 5,000 persons totally blind from its effects, the aggregate of those pensions amounting to 92,000l. The question was, would the good likely to be effected by the institu tion overbalance the expense of supporting it? To consider this by a reference to facts, what was the good done by it in the last thirteen months? He held in his hand the first annual medical report of the cases treated in the ophthalmic institution, York hospital, from which it appeared, that a number of soldiers who had been pronounced incurable by army medical officers, and therefore allowed pensions, were completely cured and restored to perfect vision under the skilful care of sir W. Adams. Such were the results of the establishment in the last year! The total expense of the hospital, independently of the charge of building and other items, which ought not properly to be in cluded, was not more than 3317. during the same space of time; so that making a calculation on the number cured last year, it appeared, the average expense of restoring a blind man to sight was only 41. 10s. [Hear]. The generosity of the country would not take away the pensions already granted; but if in future only two soldiers were to be restored to sight annually, this institution (putting all considerations of national gratitude and humanity to the defenders of her rights and liberties out of the question for the present) would actually effect a saving to the nation. The pension allowed a blind man was 20l. a year; taking the average value of this at twelve years purchase, as many of the pensioners were young men, two such pensions cost the country 4801.; so that if only two patients were saved from blindness every year at the hospital, that would effect an annual retrenchment to the public of above 100l. [Hear]. If the controversial papers between the two parties were laid on the table, probably the House would be less able to form a correct estimate of the merits of the institution than before. Unquestionably, so much heat, violence, and injustice, arising out of professional jealousy, had mixed itself with the subject under consideration, that if the House were to examine what had been written, they would be both grieved and surprised; and he did not wish to inflict on himself the disgusting task of disentangling the truth from such a weight of partiality and prejudice. Sir W. Adams had, in the outset, made a very fair proposition to the army surgeons: he had said " give me some of those patients whom you have given up as incurable, and let me try what I can do with them." This was rejected, and he was obliged to apply to the commander in chief. After encountering an infinity of trouble and opposition, his proposal was at length acceded to-several men were taken from the depot at Bognor, where they had been undergoing treatment by the medical officers without deriving any sort of benefit, and transferred to the care of sir W. Adams. Of these some had no eyes to admit of cure; but of the rest, a large proportion were either perfectly cured, or materially benefited, and were now walking about, and attending to their business [Hear]. He had himself performed the very useless duty (a laugh) of visiting the ophthalmic institution at York hospital; he had gone there with his noble friend behind (lord Ebrington) very recently, and he could assure the House, that never had he derived a more pure gratification from any spectacle. He had found fifty or sixty patients there; on asking them what their state was when they came to the hospital, he was informed by some of them that they could scarcely distinguish light from darkness, and by most of them that they had been led up by a guide. And to his inquiries respecting their then state of vision, they replied, that they could walk without a guide, or work at their trades, or read [Hear]. "How long," continued Mr. Barham, "had you been afflicted with disorders in the eyes?" The answer was "eight, nine, nay, eighteen years." “Had you undergone medical treatment before?" "Oh yes" [Hear]. He therefore besought gentlemen who doubted of the utility of the hospital, to go and judge of its effects with their own eyes. Something had been said by one hon. and learned gentleman about secresy in sir W. Adams's practice. He did not know what could have given rise to such an opinion, because, in point of fact, from first to last, that gentleman had offered to disclose all his discoveries and improvements to the profession at large; discoveries and improvements, he must insist, he had made; for if the army surgeons had possessed as much skill, why, he asked, had they not cured those pensioners who were now recovering under the care of sir W. Adams? He should not trouble the House any farther except to observe, that he thought the noble lord (Palmerston) deserved the greatest credit for resisting the cabal raised by a body of men against a meritorious individual. Lord Ebrington said, he wished to take that opportunity of declaring what came within his own knowledge and observation concerning the institution under the superintendence of sir W. Adams. He should not do justice to his own feelings did he not express in his place his decided conviction of its merits. The gentleman at the head of it he had not known, indeed he had never seen, till within the last few days. He thought the noble lord (Palmerston) also entitled to praise for the laudable perseverance he had displayed, in supporting so humane and well-conducted an establishment, in opposition to the prejudices that were endeavoured to be excited against it. In consequence of a report of the cases treated in the institution having been put into his hands, he had resolved on convincing himself of its effects by ocular evidence; and never had any sight afforded him greater pleasure and satisfaction. He saw a variety of patients, some totally blind, many incapable of distinguishing light from darkness when they had been admitted, and having nearly all been led up-advancing in different degrees to a recovery-enabled by sir W. Adams's treatment to walk about alone, to perceive objects distinctly, or even to read very sinall print [Hear]. Under these circumstances, though he should be the last person there to resist putting the House in possession of useful information, or to screen any ministerial abuse; he could not vote for the production of the reports of the medical board (of whom he wished to speak with respect) because he did not think the House would gain much knowledge by examining the opinions of men, who, it was known, had opposed the commencement and progress of the ophthalmic institution throughout. Lord Castlereagh thought the hon. and learned gentleman who brought forward this motion, sought to lead the House of Commons out of its peculiar province, which was the exertion of a due vigilance on the expenditure of public money into an interference with the executive in the exercise of one of its prerogatives, namely, the appointment of officers in a military department. He might as well propose at once, that the House should take the control of all military appointments. But he (lord C.) thought the good sense of the House would hardly allow them to adopt such a principle. But it was obvious, from the sentiments of gentlemen on the opposite side of the House, that this was a question not very generally thought fit for discussion. Two hon. and learned gentlemen were strenuous for the production of documents, and disposed to resist the establishment in question, while two other gentlemen, usually in the habit of voting with them, were of a different opinion, and highly approved the institution, and bore testimony to its utility. He had no doubt, therefore, that the House would see the propriety of supporting his noble friend. Mr. J. P. Grant said, he had merely proposed investigation upon a subject on which he could obtain no authentic information by any other mode. The institution was mentioned amongst other incidental charges in the army estimates, stated altogether at a sum of 9,000l. He, therefore, felt it necessary to inquire what part of this charge was appropriated to the ophthalmic institution. He disclaimed any motive of partiality for or against sir W. Adams, or in favour of the gentleman at the head of the military medical board, Dr. M'Gregor, whom he now understood to be his countryman; but he thought the noble lord should have named the author of the letter he had produced, and sincerely hoped, whoever was the author, that he should no longer be attached to his Majesty's service, of which, whoever he was, he had proved himself wholly unworthy. The motion was negatived without any call for a division. CEYLON.] Sir W. De Crespigny said, that in rising to bring forward his motion on the war in Ceylon, he was aware the House did not wish to enter into a long discussion; but he hoped a feeling of humanity would procure him their attention for a few moments. He wished the question had been taken up by the other side of the House; but as it had not, he felt it his duty to institute an inquiry into it. The affairs of Ceylon were not, he feared, well known in this country, but it was well known that the late king of Candy was of a most cruel and sanguinary disposition, and that his severity was such as to cause his subjects to revolt against him. His first minister having deserted, his family was murdered by order of this tyrant. This induced the minister to apply to the British governor of Ceylon, and after some delay he was allowed the assistance of the British forces, who, assisted by the Candians, succeeded in dethroning the king. On this occasion a treaty was signed by the British authorities on the one hand, and the chief officers and ministers of Candy on the other, by which the latter were vested with the civil government of the country. This treaty, however, had been violated, and the conduct of the British authorities, in appointing a particular class of persons, detested by the Candians, to fill civil offices, disgusted them so much as to cause them to revolt against our government in that island, and the consequence had been a protracted, sanguinary, and expensive war. The British army, in their several marches, obliged the natives to carry their baggage, and to hold flambeaux before their palanquins and horses. The disgust excited by this conduct was such as to induce the governor to desist from it, but it was too late, the blow was struck, and it would be difficult to describe the scene of misery and wretchedness which followed. He wished to ask one question of the hon. member opposite, relative to the minister of whom he had already spoken, and who he understood had been beheaded. If this was true, he wished to know whether he had been previously tried by a court of justice or a court martial? It was the duty of parliament to see that the law was duly administered in all countries under our protection. He concluded by moving, for a "Copy of Proclamation by his Excellency General Robert Brownrigg in Council, given at Columbo, 11th January, 1815; also, Proclamation and Treaty in the Palace of Candy, March 2nd, 1815, between his Excellency General Robert Brownrigg on the one part, and the Adigars, Dessaves, and other principal Chiefs of the Candian Provinces, on behalf of the inhabitants." the Candians were left to themselves, we should have some chance of retaining possession of the sea coast; but we could never expect to keep quiet possession of Candia. We might do so for a few weeks or for a few months, but when the sickly season set in, it would be found impossible. This war had cost England immense sums of money, and a great number of lives: so great was the mortality, that one regiment had lost 400 men. This surely was sufficient to call for the investigation of parliament. The motion was agreed to. HOUSE OF COMMONS. PENRYN BRIBERY BILL.] On the mo tion for going into a committee on this bill, Mr. Barham opposed the Speaker's leaving the chair, on the ground that the House was proceeding without any principle being settled. It was a contradiction in terms to say that a principle could not be defined. In the case of Grampound it was clear, but here no facts had been established; and if the House went into the committee, it would run the risk of exposing itself to a decision which it might at some future time have great reason to regret. Sir C. Hawkins, member for Penryn, in a tone of voice quite inaudible in the gallery, continued for some time to read speech, till he was called to order by Mr. Bankes, who stated that the course which the hon. baronet was pursuing, was contrary to the orders of the House. The utmost extent to which the House carried their indulgence, was to allow members to refresh their memories occasionally by a recurrence to notes. Mr. Goulburn did not mean to oppose the motion, but the hon. baronet would find, on the production of the papers, that his information was not exactly correct on this subject. In answer to the question which had been put to him, he could assure the hon. baronet, that the adigar, or Mr. Manning urged, that no parlia minister, about whom he inquired so soli-mentary ground had been laid for the bill: citously, was, according to the last accounts from Ceylon, enjoying a perfectly sound state of health [a laugh]. The mistake arose, he supposed, from the similarity of this minister's name to that of another officer, who had revolted, and who having been taken in arms, was tried and sentenced to be executed. Mr. Forbes was sorry to see the motion treated with so little attention. Ceylon had for a considerable time been a scene of warfare and destruction, and it was surely worth the attention of the House to inquire into the cause of this war. If no resolution of the committee or special report was before the House; and the hon. mover had not condescended to give any reason for the measure he had introduced. Sir C. Burrell said, that the House having allowed the Bill to proceed thus. far, were in justice bound to hear evidence in support of it. If the witnesses did not prove corrupt practices, then the bill would fall to the ground; but if they substantiated these corrupt practices, there would be good ground for extending the franchise. Mr. Denison said, the committee did |
