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VI.
LORD NAPIER’S TESTIMONY.
Lord Napier, who held a diplomatic position under Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, in Constantinople, during the Crimean War, gives the following testimony to the worth of the Sisters of Mercy:
“During the distress of the Crimean war the Ambassador called me in one morning and said: ‘Go down to the port; you will find a ship there loaded with Jewish exiles, Russian subjects from the Crimea. It is your duty to disembark them. The Turks will give you a house in which they may be placed. I turn them over entirely to you.’ I went down to the shore and received about 200 persons, the most miserable objects that could be witnessed, most of them old men, women and children, sunk in the lowest depths of indigence and despair. I placed them in the cold, ruinous lodging allocated to them by the Ottoman authorities. I went back to the Ambassador and said: ‘Your Excellency, those people are cold and I have no fuel or blankets; they are hungry, and I have no food; they are very dirty, and I have no soap; their hair is in an undesirable condition and I have no combs. What am I to do with these people?’ ‘Do?’ said the Ambassador; ‘get a couple of Sisters of Mercy; they will put all to rights in a moment.’ I went, saw the Mother Superior and explained the case. I asked for two Sisters. They were at once sent. They were ladies of refinement and intellect. I was a stranger and a Protestant, and I invoked their assistance for the benefit of Jews. Yet these two women made up their bundles and followed me through the rain without a look, a whisper or a sign of hesitation. From that moment my fugitives were saved. No one saw the labors of those Sisters for months but myself, and they never endeavored to make a single convert.”
CONFEDERATE LEADERS OF THE CIVIL WAR.
BRAGG SMITH PEMBERTON HAMPTON EARLY FITZ-HUGH LEE PICKETT “JOE” JOHNSTON A. S. JOHNSTON LONGSTREET STUART GORDON
In his speeches in after times Lord Napier repeatedly referred to the singular zeal and devotedness constantly shown by the Sisters to the sick of every denomination. On one occasion, in Edinburgh, he remarked that the Sisters faithfully kept their promise not to interfere with the religion of non-Catholics, but, continued his Lordship, “they made at least one convert; they converted me, if not to believe in the Catholic faith, at least to believe in the Sisters of Mercy.”
The few months spent at Balaklava by the devoted Sisters witnessed a repetition of the deeds of heroism which had achieved such happy results at Scutari and Koulali. The cholera and a malignant type of fever had broken out in those days in the camp. By night as well as by day the Sisters were called to help the patients, yet their strength seemed never to fail in their work of charity. Besides the soldiers, there were sick civilians, Maltese, Germans, Greeks, Italians, Americans and even negroes, and to all they endeavored to give some attention.
The medical orders reveal the constant nature of the nursing required at their hands. At one time the doctor “requests that a Sister would sit up with his Dutch patient in No. 9 ward to-night.” Again, “Sisters to sit up with the Maltese and the Arab.” “Kind attendance on Jones every night would be necessary until a notification to the contrary be given.” “Keep the stump moist; a little champagne and water to be given during the night.” “Elliot is to be watched all night; powder every half hour; wine in small dose if necessary.” The very confidence placed by the physicians in their careful treatment added to their toil. As the deputy purveyor-in-chief reported to the Government in December, 1855: “The medical officer can safely consign his most critical case to their hands; stimulants or opiates ordered every five minutes will be faithfully administered, though the five minutes’ labor were repeated uninterruptedly for a week.”