(1) Col. Lefroy to be instructed by Lord P. to draw up scheme and estimate for Army Medical School, appendix to his own Military Education.—I won.
(2) Netley Hospital plans to be privately reported on by[331] Sutherland and me to Lord P.—I won.
(3) Commissariat to be put on same footing as Indian.—I lost.
(4) Camp at Aldershot to “do for” themselves—kill cattle, bake bread, build, drain, shoe-make, tailor, &c.—Lord P. will consider: quite agrees; means “will do nothing.”
(5) Sir J. Hall not to be made Director-General while Lord P. in office.—I won.
(6) Colonel Tulloch to be knighted.—I lost (unless I can make Col. T. accept an agreement, which I shan't).[242]
(7) About Statistics, Lord P. said (i.) the strength of these regiments averaged only 200, (ii.) denied the mortality, (iii.) said that statistics prove anything.—And I, a soldier, must not know better than my Chief.
(8) Lord P. contradicted everything—so that I retain the most sanguine expectations of success.
A good three hours' work! But many months were to elapse before Lord Panmure's promise to appoint a Commission was fulfilled. It will be convenient, however, to anticipate the course of events in one respect, and to finish here the story of the personnel of the Commission. Lord Panmure at once wrote to Mr. Herbert, asking him to accept the Chairmanship: “I wrote to Panmure,” he sent word to Miss Nightingale from Wilton (Nov. 25), “as agreed between us, as suaviter as I could as to the modo, but in re trying to name the Commission and define the Instructions. I hope I shall hear to-morrow from him, and I will let you know how the land lies the moment I get any sign from him. Supposing that he yields, it will be a task of great labour and difficulty, but one well worth undertaking with a fair prospect of attaining an immense good, even if we do not get all we want. If he stands out, we must hold another Council for which I will run up.” The text of Mr. Herbert's letter to Lord Panmure has been printed elsewhere.[243] On the matter of personnel, he suggested General Storks and Colonel Lefroy; two army doctors, one of whom he insisted should be Dr. Alexander; two civil doctors, one of whom should be Sir James Clark; a sanitary authority, Dr. Sutherland; and, lastly, a good examining lawyer. The Commission, as ultimately appointed, consisted of Mr. Herbert (Chairman), Mr. Augustus Stafford, M.P., General Storks, Dr. A. Smith, Dr. T. Alexander, Sir T. Phillips, Sir J. Ranald Martin, Sir James Clark, and Dr. J. Sutherland, with Dr. Graham Balfour as Secretary. If the reader will compare the ten names resulting from Miss Nightingale's bargaining with Lord Panmure, it will be seen that there were four changes. She lost one friend, Colonel Lefroy, but gained another, Mr. Stafford. She gained Dr. Alexander in place of Dr. McLachlan, and Sir James Clark in place of Dr. Brown. Dr. Farr was struck off in favour of Mr. Herbert's “good examining lawyer,” Sir T. Phillips. He was the one dark horse; and, before the Commission sat, Miss Nightingale was asked to meet him. “We propose an irregular mess,” wrote Mrs. Herbert to her (May 12, '57), “as Sidney thinks Sir T. Phillips wants cramming.” There was on the Commission only one upholder of the old régime, Dr. Andrew Smith.
Had the facts recited in this chapter been known at the time, Miss Nightingale's opponents might have found some warrant for a suggestion that she had packed the Commission. But she and Mr. Herbert packed it only in the public interest. In discussions about women's rights it is sometimes said that women need no other opportunities for influence than such as have always been within their reach. Miss Nightingale, who was in favour of Female Suffrage, would hardly have gained more influence by the possession of a vote. But then very few women, and not many men, have the opportunities, the industry, the mental grasp, and the strength of will which in combination were the secret of “the Nightingale power.”