ABSTRACT
It will be recollected, that we published a detailed account in the Albion of this day week of the affecting circumstances under which the wife of a private of the 53d Regiment was separated from her husband and left behind in Liverpool, destitute and almost hopeless, after the sailing of the detachment in the ship Nith. We rejoice on this occasion to state that the publication of the case excited a sympathy, and was followed by a liberality on the part of the public, which, whilst it reflects the highest credit on the parties who voluntarily came forward, and thus threw the shield of their protection over the unfortunate woman, has, for the time, dried up her tears, ministered to her necessities and those of her infant child, and cheered her with the certain promise of a speedy departure for Calcutta. We mentioned that Inspector Bibby found her on the quay, agitated by all the harassing feelings which must sway the mind of a fond wife and affectionate parent at taking the last sad glance of the vessel which bore from her sight the man to whom her youthful heart had been solemnly pledged at the altar; and that he, like a good Samaritan, had taken her to his home and shared with her every domestic comfort his house could afford. In days like the present, when there is but too great an inclination on the part of the public to charge the constabulary force with indifference, if not heartlessness, it must be gratifying to find one of that fine body doing a Christian act worthy the imitation of men in the most exalted rank; and while paying this well-merited compliment to the Inspector, we are bound to pay a similar one to his wife, Mrs. Bibby, who has, from the first, been unceasing in her exertions to allay the apprehensions and elevate the hopes of her desponding guest. On perusing the details in our columns, details which we were glad to see copied into nearly all the London papers, and finding them to have been substantially correct in every respect, a number of gentlemen of the town took up the subject with promptitude and spirit, and opened a subscription with the double purpose of supporting her comfortably whilst here and sending her to the place of her husband’s destination. The Mayor, too, on this occasion, rendered essential service; for, finding that the colonel of the regiment (Colonel Fawcett) had arrived in Liverpool with the last detachment on Tuesday, and that that detachment was about to sail in the Thomas Abertha [Arbothnot], for Calcutta, on the following day, his worship, at the suggestion of Mr. North, wrote a letter to that gallant gentleman, at the Waterloo Hotel, politely commending her to his attention, briefly detailing the particulars of her melancholy case, and hoping she might be permitted to proceed in the Thomas Abertha. Mr. Pilcher and Inspector Bibby waited upon the Colonel about the same time, and urged her claims to his favourable consideration; and, shortly after, the Colonel complied with the request, and we were favoured with a visit from Colonel Faulkner, commandant of the district, who announced to us the result of his brother Colonel’s determination, and assured us that her distressing case had received the promptest attention on the part of the military authorities. He said she was to have gone out, in the first instance, as a supernumerary; that the sole cause of her disappointment had arisen from her unavoidable delay in Dublin, but that, as there was a vacancy on board the Thomas Abertha her passage was secure. All now seemed propitious. Her husband had only sailed a few days. There was a chance that she might reach Calcutta as soon as he, and thus put an end to the distressing thoughts by which his mind must of necessity be swayed at recollecting the penniless condition in which he left her in Liverpool. But alas! She was again doomed to suffer a disappointment for, on going on board the vessel, the surgeon examined the child, and declared that it was labouring under the small pox, and that it was impossible, under the circumstance she could proceed. Upon being sent onshore, Inspector Bibby took her to the North Dispensary where Mr. Arnett, the house-surgeon, along with three other medical gentlemen re-examined the child, declared the eruption on the skin was merely the result of teething, and signed a certificate to this effect: She was then taken on board the vessel a second time; but notwithstanding the production of the certificate, the surgeon adhered to his original opinion as to the nature of the disease, and said that, as he was responsible for the lives of the detachment, she must remain behind. She was then sent on shore, and all hope of ever reaching her husband seemed at this moment to have vanished from her mind. The district adjutant (Cowley), however, promised that, if his superior officers might consent, she might sail from Chatham with the detachment of another regiment in about three weeks. To this arrangement the originators of the subscription have some strong and very obvious objections, and are anxious that she should proceed in a Liverpool vessel commanded by some respectable captain; and we are happy to say that their wishes are likely to be carried into effect, as three offers have already been made to carry her out gratuitously; one by Potter Brothers, another by Captain Bissett, of the ship Duke, and a third by Captain Pinder, who commands one of Messrs. Brocklebank and Co.’s vessels.―Abridged from the Liverpool Albion.
