• THE ANGLQ-RUSSIAN HOSPITAL.
[To Tar EDITOR OF TER " SPECTATOR."]
SIE.,'"rAt this moment when Russia is bearing the chief burden of the Allied campaigns, many of us are anxious to give to the Russian people some practical proof of the reality of British sympathy. Professor Bernard Pares, who has spent the recent months with a Russian Army which played the chief part in the Galician fighting, writes as follows :— "I am indeed glad to hear that it is proposed to send out an Anglo-Russian Hospital to the Russian Army. For every reason I think that the idea could not have been better timed. The Army which has had most a the hard knocks happens to be the one to which I was attached, and if by any chance you go to that Army I know by experience with what warmth help from England will be received. It will hearten the Russian Armies to see the British Hospital in their midst more than anything else that could be done, I feel strongly that we should do all we can, when Germany's power is so impressive, to convince our Allies that our co-operation is not only whole-hearted but effective. With the roads of Eastern Europe and with the conditions of retreat, a very large number of the wounded, and of course especially of the heavily wounded, must be lost unless the means of early medical attention are very complete. And these are just the men who have most claim on us. I never find any grumbling among the Russian soldiers, and their gratitude whenever one is able to help them is much more than repayment. ' If you will picture military units, which in some cases have had to lose three-quarters of their men several times over through no other cause than superiority of the enemy's technical equipment, and which nevertheless have not lost an atom of their instinct of moral superiority over the enemy, you will realize what a big work of humanity and friendship will be done in the Russian Army by the organization which you arc arranging to take out."
A special Committee has been formed under the auspices of the Anglo-Russian Committee in London. It is proposed to equip a complete hospital unit for service on the Russian front. The details of this proposal will be published shortly.
The Committee appeal confidently to the British people in the hope that it will contribute to this noble purpose. Sub- scriptions should be sent to the Anglo-Russian Hospital Fund, Messrs. Baring Brothers, 8 Bishopsgate, London.—We are, Sir, &o., ()Roman, President.
WEARDALE, }—. Vice-Presidents. W. MATHER, CHEYLESIKORE, Chairman of Committee. L. S. JAMESON, Vice-Chairman.
[We feel sure that this appeal will not be made in vain. No doubt the Russian people are rich enough and patriotic enough to give all the care needed by the wounded even in their immense armies. It is, however, greatly to be desired that we should mark in this special way our sympathy with Russia and our understanding of the enormous sacrifices which she has been called upon to make. The British Field Hospital will be a visible proof that we know and that we care, and that we long to help.—En. Spectator.]
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