CARE OF THE SICK AND WOUNDED. 369 prevent official measures at Scutari from being chap. made to harmonise with the will of the Lady- L_ in- Chief. The exception was one, it is true, that con- stituted a baneful drawback to the advantage our rulers derived from having now found the right track. For ' distance ' caused the inter- change of letters between London and Scutari to occupy a great length of time, and an official obstructor at Scutari might maintain his inert- ness four weeks ; whilst first, the needed com- plaint was travelling westward, and then the wholesome words of propulsion, obtained at last from London, were coming out to the East.(2^) But apparently the officials at Scu- tari were not on the whole slow to learn that — under some dispensation at that time dimly apparent — ' the Lady in charge of the nurses ' had laid her firm hand on a lever which, against all objectors, and even against sheer inertness, was enforcing good hospital management. And not by the Government only was she now sustained. Her devotion to an enterprise so painful, so arduous as that of going out to the rescue of our sick and wounded troops had ensured her, as may well be supposed, the enthusiastic applause of her countrymen ; and their favour — expressed with great power by the dominant journal — became a part of her strength ; for such of the men in autliority as were of a time-serving nature, made haste to obey the new power supported by opinion at home ; whilst others, more free from worldliness, VOL. vn. 2 A
