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1871-1874. DOVER—ALDERSHOT
Ordered to
Dover—Garrisons—Short service— "Golden Rules"—Administrative duties—Lady
de Ros—Alas! Alas!—M. Henry Dunant—Aldershot.
THE official Report of
the mission performed had to be sent in, that done, orders directed me
to take over duty in the Southeastern District, of which Dover is
Headquarters. A few weeks elapsed, when I received an order of readiness
for India. For the first and only time in my career I had to plead
inability to proceed; long-continued semi-starvation in Paris had so
lowered physical strength that reluctantly I was forced to plead the
circumstance. The authorities were pleased thereon to consider that
episode equivalent to a tour of foreign service; my name was placed at
the bottom of the roster, and so the next three years were spent at the
favourite station of England.
All that time the quiet
routine of duty was more of an agreeable occupation than arduous or
unpleasant work. Among some of the resident families acts of civility
towards myself and family were numerous; intercourse with staff and
regiments most pleasant, so that recollections of place and people
remain agreeable.
Military positions and
Departmental establishments connected with the ancient town itself had
to be visited from time to time; so also had several throughout the
"district," including Shorn cliffe camp, whence had proceeded in the
early years of the century the force destined for Spain, under command
of Sir John Moore; Canterbury, with its associations connected with St.
Augustine; Maidstone, provincial capital of England's garden; Brighton,
etc.
Gradually was the system
of short service in the ranks of the Army taking the place of that to
which most officers of considerable standing had been accustomed.
Complications and friction occurred in such a stage of transition among
departments concerned in giving the change effect. In the ranks
themselves all was not propitious; the old class of non-commissioned
officers gave place to young and inexperienced, whose authority, even
when rightly exerted, was not always tacitly accepted by the youthful
and unbroken elements concerned. Moral influence such as emanated in
many instances from old and experienced sergeants had all but died out;
trivial shortcomings on the part of young lads were magnified into
"crimes"; more than ordinary difficulty experienced by officers in
keeping things smooth, yet "going."
In matters of
administrative routine difference of views between officers concerned
seemed inevitable; a satisfactory phase of official life, however, was
that in the few instances in which such divergence occurred it was
limited to official relations. Previous experience induced me to
formulate certain principles in accordance with which correspondence
submitted for decision should be dealt with; to them I endeavoured to
adhere. Another point taught by experience was that, in directing
particular administrative ends to be attained, to leave to officers
concerned the details of means by which instructions were to be carried
into effect; in that way responsibility attached to the executive, while
at the same time it left to them freedom of action.
As a matter of history
relating to an important episode, and some personages connected
therewith, it is worth while to refer to the account of the famous ball
in Brussels on June i, 1815, related to me by Lady de Ros, daughter of
the Duke of Richmond, and who was present on the occasion in question.
How, while dancing and conviviality proceeded, sounds of waggons and
other heavy conveyances, guns and tumbrils among them, broke upon the
ears of the gay throng; how small groups of the higher officers entered
into grave and subdued talk; how, without exciting notice, singly they
slipped away; how in the early hours of morning of the i6th, "the Duke"
himself took his departure; how, as the remaining guests left the room,
the turmoil in the streets of the Belgian capital resounded with the
bray of bugles, trumpets, and military movements; 2 and how, before the
day was over, several of those who had so left were brought back
wounded, some dead, from Quatre Bras.
[Subsequently, taking
advantage of the sixty-one days' leave to which officers are entitled, I
visited the house, now a convent, which stands on the site of the
ball-room just mentioned-40-42, Rue de la Blanchisserie.]
It was while at Dover
that one of those sad bereavements befel my dear wife and myself which
leave their after-impress upon memory and affection. The taste for sea
life had been early developed in my second son. As far as possible it
was discouraged, but that having failed, he was permitted to carry his
wishes into effect. Alas! alas! the result was very grievous. The ship
in which he was proceeding was ultimately "declared missing" at Lloyd's;
the dear, affectionate boy was never heard of. It is too painful to
write even this brief notice.
A short visit by M. Henry
Dunant gave me the opportunity of hearing from his own lips the story of
the Red Cross convention, of which he has the distinction of being
Founder. To his experiences gained among the thousands of wounded left
on the field in and near Solferino without necessary help from the
Austrians or Allies between whom that most sanguinary battle was
fought,' and afterwards in extemporized ambulances for reception of
those for whom provision could be made, M. Dunant assigned his resolve
to institute, if possible, an Association whereby to mitigate in some
measure at least the horrors of war such as he then witnessed. Of
medical officers and their work as seen by him on that occasion he
expressed himself in this way: "Certes, si tuer les hommes est un titre
de gloire, les guerir, et cela, souvent au peril de sa vie, mrite bien
l'estime et la reconnaissance." But in numbers they were altogether
insufficient for the task required of them, supplemented as they soon
were by volunteers, not only from the countries immediately concerned,
but from others, including Belgium, Switzerland, and even Canada.
Bearing these matters in mind, he asked himself the question, "Is it not
possible to found through all the nations of Europe societies the object
of which shall be aid to the wounded in times of war; that care the most
prompt possible, not by mere mercenaries, but by persons devoted by high
principles to so high a vocation." His appeal, formulated in a most
touching narrative of what he had seen in Lombardy, produced the effect
desired by him; the subject he had at heart was earnestly taken up by
all classes of persons, from crowned heads to peasants, and soon he had
the reward of seeing organizations according to his own model in active
operation. It was while he was occupied in observing the working of
volunteer ambulances in Paris that I had the pleasure of being
introduced to M. Dunant.
At long last came the
"gazette" of my promotion, and almost simultaneously an order to take up
at Aldershot the duties pertaining to my new rank.' The chief event
during my short stay at that important military camp was the annual
review and exercise of the troops composing it. For some time previous
the old system of regimental hospitals and medical officers was in
gradual process of abolition, and now that destructive policy had been
so far matured as to be experimentally acted upon in the present
manoeuvres. My own duty was limited to carrying into execution orders
received. But sympathies were altogether on the side of soldiers and
their officers, who raised their voices against it. By what was now
called the system of unification the fact became unpleasantly apparent
that thenceforward the sick soldier, together with his wife and child,
must depend in times of illness upon the aid of strangers, instead of,
as heretofore, obtaining the help of those who personally knew them, and
whose self-interest, even in the absence of higher motive, enhanced the
care and attention shown towards them. |
