Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/403

 CAKE OF THE SICK AND WOUNDED. 359 could impart what he wished in a ' private letter;' chap. and a letter, though ostensibly ' private,' which L__ came from the 'War Office,' under the hand of its chief, was scarce likely to encounter resist- ance from any official personages to whom the writer might send it. Most happily this gifted Minister had formed and through a strong beliei m the advantages our military state. hospitals would gain by accepting womanly aid ; and proceeding to act on this faith, he not only despatched to the East some chosen bands of ladies, and of salaried female attendants accus- tomed to hospital duties, but also requested that they might have quarters and rations assigned to them ; and, moreover, whilst requesting the Principal Medical Officer at Scutari to point out to these new auxiliaries how best they could make themselves useful, Mr Sidney Herbert en- joined him to receive with attention and defer- ence the counsels of the Lady-in-Chief.(-^) That direction was one of great moment, and well calculated to govern the fate of a newly ventured experiment. Thus it was, that under the sanction of a Government acceding to the counsels of one of its most alert and sagacious members, there went out angel women from England, resolved to con- front that whole world of horror and misery that can be gathered into a military hospital from camp or battle-field ; and their plea, when they asked to be trusted with this painful, this lieart- rending mission, was simply the natural aptitude of their sex for ministering to those who lie