Sir Charles Adderley opposed the appointment of the Committee. Accepting Mr. Forster’s statement as valid, he demanded—
What is there to inquire about? Inquiry that is superfluous may be mischievous. Nothing can be more dangerous than to affect doubtfulness concerning legislation as to which there is not only no doubt, but a call for more rigorous administration.
Apparently the Government were of the same mind as Sir Charles, and the Committee was conceded in fulfilment of an inadvertent pledge. Mr. Forster assured the House—
The Government do not propose this Committee with the slightest doubt about the principle of Vaccination, or the necessity of Compulsory Vaccination; and I need not say we have no intention of relaxing the operation of the law during the deliberations of the Committee.
The Committee was nominated as follows on 16th February—
Dr. Brewer, Colchester.
Mr. Jacob Bright, Manchester.
Mr. John Candlish, Sunderland.
Mr. R. M. Carter, Leeds.
Mr. Stephen Cave, Shoreham.
Sir Smith Child, West Staffordshire.
Sir Dominic Corrigan, Dublin.
Mr. W. E. Forster, Bradford.
Mr. J. T. Hibbert, Oldham.
Mr. J. M. Holt, North-East Lancashire.
Lord Robert Montagu, Huntingdonshire.
Mr. P. H. Muntz, Birmingham.
Dr. Lyon Playfair, Edinburgh University.
Mr. W. H. Smith, Westminster.
Mr. P. A. Taylor, Leicester.
The first witness examined was Mr. Candlish, himself a member of the Committee and promoter of the inquiry. Whilst professing a limited faith in vaccination, and willing to exercise a degree of pressure sufficient to overcome mere apathy, Mr. Candlish was strongly opposed to the compulsion of parents who seriously objected to vaccination, and especially to their persecution by repeated penalties and imprisonment.
Dr. W. J. Collins, the next witness, opened the entire question of vaccination, and by a variety of experience showed that the vaccine disease neither superseded nor mitigated smallpox, whilst it was frequently a severe ailment and the means of exciting and conveying other diseases.
Dr. C. T. Pearce followed suit. The purpose of the Committee (limited to the consideration of the compulsory law) was apparently forgotten, and Dr. Pearce delivered a comprehensive discourse, in which the history, claims, failure, fallacies, and disasters of vaccination were freely displayed; and in the cross-examination which followed made good the positions he had assumed.