The terrible malady falls heavily upon young children: in Vaccination is their defence. Consider, then, what a painful responsibility will rest upon us, if, in the face of almost unanimous medical testimony, we leave them to perish, and communicate a dreadful contagion throughout the country. These children have no discretion of their own; and it is a profanation of liberty and self-government to say that any man has a right to set up his own sordid and brutal prejudices against such medical opinion, and expose his child to disease and death.
Words, ferocious words; but how do they bear examination? Why should disbelief in vaccination be stigmatised as sordid and brutal prejudice? Why should parliamentary affection for children surpass parental affection? The argument, if valid, would equally apply to any matter in which the conviction of a minority was at variance with that of a majority; and if in such circumstances the minority is bound to submission, where is the substance answering to civil and religious liberty? If the clear scientific persuasion of the smallest minority concerning such a matter as vaccination is to be subjected to vulgar medical dictation by the brute force of the majority, what form of tyranny may not be justified?
The Bill [continued Mr. Lowe] which I wish to pass into law is very simple. All that it enacts is that Poor Law Boards may appoint persons to prosecute those whom the medical officers report ought to be prosecuted.
And the bill was passed without division. Mr. Duncombe and Mr. Coningham protested, but neither had mastered the question so as to offer effective opposition. Mr. Coningham observed that figures might be made to prove anything; and as concerned the unanimous opinion of medical men, they had to bear in mind the saying, “There is nothing like leather.” If smallpox had fallen off, there were extensive sanitary improvements to account for the fall; and, for his part, he placed his trust much more in better conditions of life for the people than in a prescription like vaccination.
The Act obtained did not fulfil the expectations of its promoters. Mr. Lowe’s bitter regret for thousands of lives lost in consequence of his concession to Mr. Duncombe proved to be wasted emotion. Guardians did not exercise their powers as inquisitors and persecutors with adequate energy. Sir Morton Peto, in the House of Commons, on 14th March, 1864, asked—
Whether the registration of Vaccination is not a total failure, alike for statistical purposes and for the prosecution of offenders under the Compulsory Act; and whether it is the intention of the Government to amend the law this session.
To which Mr. Lowe made answer—
It is quite true that the system of registration under the Act is very bad, but it would cost a great deal of money to improve it. Moreover, even when improved, it would not make the measures for compulsion effectual to any extent. The great difficulty of working compulsion is not so much due to defective legislation as to the reluctance to prosecute poor people for disobedience to the law, the neglect of which is countenanced by too many who ought to know better. I am sorry, therefore, I cannot hold out any hope of improving the system.
The medical officers of the Poor Law Board were, however, intent upon coercive legislation; and Mr. H. A. Bruce, more pliant than Mr. Lowe, introduced a bill of their contriving in 1866, which he assured the House of Commons “involved no new principle, and merely consolidated provisions dispersed over six Acts of Parliament, with a few amendments.” On going into committee on the bill, 11th April, 1866, he delivered an elaborate defence of vaccination, prepared for him by the astute promoters of the measure, starting in this fashion—
At the close of last century Dr. Jenner achieved his immortal discovery by which, perhaps, more misery has been prevented through the alleviation of pain and the preservation of life than by any other discovery that has ever been made.