United Kingdom5·73Bermuda10·11
Gibraltar6·03Ceylon12·38
Malta8·18India14·78
Egypt[131]23·78

A striking proof of the excellent sanitary condition of the city was afforded in 1885, when the greater part of Spain was visited by a severe attack of cholera, which gradually spread southwards; and early in August several cases suddenly occurred both in Gibraltar and in the neighbouring town of Linea. Bearing in mind the crowded population, the matter was very serious, and certain additional precautions were at once taken in order as far as possible to mitigate the severity of the attack. One difficulty which has always existed more or less is that of good drinking water. The chief supply is obtained from rain water, collected from the surface of the rock during the wet season, and stored in large reservoirs above the town. A considerable quantity is also pumped up from shallow wells on the north front, but although available for flushing, washing, &c., it is brackish and unfit for drinking. As a consequence of this scarcity, there always has been a considerable trade in water brought from Spain in barrels and sold in the streets; but as on analysis it was found to be very impure, its introduction on the appearance of cholera was stopped. Fortunately, my predecessor, Lord Napier of Magdala, with a view to the possible requirements of a state of siege, had commenced in 1882 the erection of works for distilling sea water in large quantities; and, as they were just completed, they were put into operation, and for some weeks about 8,000 gallons a day were distilled and sold to all comers at the rate of six gallons for a penny. A medical authority, speaking not long since, said that 'cholera is an exclusively water-carried disease, and all European countries may be rendered impervious to its attacks by close attention to the purity of water.' That, I may say, was the view of my medical advisers at Gibraltar at the time, and I attribute our escape from a severe attack very much to this supply of pure water to the inhabitants.

Another precaution taken was the establishment of a camp just outside the fortress for the inhabitants of the houses attacked. Indian experience has proved that it is very advantageous to regiments when visited by cholera to move them out of their barracks and place them under canvas on fresh ground. The cases at Gibraltar nearly all occurred among the poorer inhabitants living in very crowded dwellings; and the families attacked being at once sent to the camp and supplied with pure water, the disease was immediately checked. Their houses were temporarily closed, the drains disinfected, cisterns emptied, and rags and rubbish burnt; and in the course of a few days they returned home, and the cholera, so far as they were concerned, was at an end.

The epidemic at Gibraltar lasted for about two months, and great misery resulted amongst the poorer classes, owing to the city being placed in quarantine by the other ports of Europe. As a consequence very few vessels called, and large numbers of the inhabitants were out of employment. So great was the poverty that public soup kitchens were established, and for some time about 2,000 persons a day received free rations of soup and bread. In the meantime the disease was raging at Linea and other neighbouring towns, and, considerable alarm being felt, I was constantly urged to establish a cordon of troops across the neutral ground, and to prevent all communication from the outside. But although the precise causes of cholera may be somewhat obscure, it appeared to me that, as the chief supplies of food came from Spain, had a cordon been established, prices would have risen at once, and the misery already existing would have been considerably increased. All Indian experience proves that such arrangements are useless. In fact, a line of sentries cannot stop the march of a disease; and therefore, advised by experienced medical officers who had served in the East, I refused to close the communications with Spain.

The actual cases of cholera at Gibraltar and at Linea respectively in the autumn of 1885 were as follows:

Population,
Approximate 		Number of cases of
cholera 		Number of deaths
Gibraltar 24,000 32 24
Linea 12,000 429 206[132]

So that whilst in Gibraltar one person in 750 was attacked, in Linea it was one in 28. These facts speak for themselves, and prove that adequate sanitary measures and precautions will to a great extent serve to prevent the spread of epidemic disease.

Before leaving this subject, I would mention that at the end of 1885 a numerous committee of distinguished members of the medical profession, including amongst others, Sir William Jenner, Sir William Gull, and Sir Joseph Fayrer, conducted an inquiry into the subject of Asiatic cholera, and at the end of their report they state as follows: 'The Committee feel that they ought not to separate without expressing their conviction that sanitary measures in their true sense, and sanitary measures alone, are the only trustworthy means to prevent outbreaks of the disease, and to restrain its spread and mitigate its severity when it is prevalent. Experience in Europe and in the East has shown that sanitary cordons and quarantine restrictions (under whatsoever form) are not only useless as means for arresting the progress of cholera, but positively injurious; and this not merely because of the many unavoidable hardships which their enforcement involves, but also because they tend to create alarm during periods of epidemics of the disease and to divert public attention at other times from the necessity which constantly exists for the prosecution of sanitary measures of assured value—measures which, moreover, tend to mitigate the incidence of all forms of disease.'

The story of my 'Recollections' now draws to a close. Whatever vicissitudes or occasional hardships I may have experienced during my long service in various parts of the world, I was in great measure free from them during the period of my government of Gibraltar. There were, of course, numerous duties, and sometimes anxieties, connected with its administration, but these were rendered comparatively easy by the warm support of all classes which was so heartily given during the four years of my residence amongst them. They are a loyal people, and were most grateful for any efforts of mine to promote their welfare. The conduct of the troops in garrison throughout was excellent, and a friendly spirit prevailed at all times between the civil and military population. I left Gibraltar with much regret, feeling deeply the kindness shown to my family and myself by the inhabitants who came to bid us farewell on our embarkation for England in November 1886.

I hope that the narrative which I have given of the campaigns in which I bore a small part, and the views which I have expressed on military and political matters, may be of some interest to the public generally. It will always be a gratification to me that throughout my career I have been so closely associated with the officers and men of the Royal Artillery, a corps in which members of my family have served in uninterrupted succession from 1762 down to the present day.