Part 5

ART. 5. The committees and sections of the different countries shall reassemble in international congresses, in order to communicate the result of their experience, and to concert together on the measures to be taken in the interests of the work.

ART. 6. In the month of January every year, the national committees shall present a report of their labors during the past year, adding to it such communications as they may consider useful to be brought to the knowledge of the committees of other countries. The exchange of these communications and reports shall be managed through the medium of the Geneva committee, to whom they shall be addressed.

SPECIAL PROVISIONS IN CASE OF WAR.

ART. 7. In case of war, the committees of the belligerent nations shall furnish the necessary aid to their respective armies, and, in particular, shall provide for the formation and organization of corps of volunteer nurses.

They shall solicit the support of the committees belonging to neutral nations.

ART. 8. The volunteer nurses shall bind themselves to serve during a limited time, and not in any way to meddle in the operations of the war.

They shall be employed, according to their wish, in field service or in that of the hospitals. Females will necessarily be assigned to the latter.

ART. 9. The volunteer nurses shall wear a uniform in all countries, or an identical distinctive badge. Their person shall be sacred, and military chiefs shall afford them protection.

At the commencement of a campaign, the soldiers of both armies shall be informed of the existence of these corps, and of their exclusively benevolent character.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE CONFERENCE.

The International Conference, desirous to give aid to the wounded soldiers in all cases where the military medical service shall be inadequate, has adopted the following resolutions:

ARTICLE 1. There shall be in every country a committee whose duty it will be to co-operate in time of war by all the means in its power, with the sanitary service of the army.

This committee shall organize itself in the manner which may appear to it as the most useful and expedient.

ART. 2. Sections, unlimited in number, shall be formed, in order to second the committee, to which the general direction will belong.

ART. 3. Every committee shall place itself in communication with the government of its own country, in order that its offers of assistance, in case of need, may be accepted.

ART. 4. In time of peace the committees and sections shall be occupied with the means to make themselves really useful in time of war, especially in preparing material aid of every kind, and in endeavoring to train and instruct volunteer nurses.

ART. 5. In the event of war, the committees of the belligerent nations shall furnish relief to their respective armies in proportion to their resources; in particular, they shall organize and place the volunteer nurses on an active footing, and, in conjunction with the military authority, they shall arrange places for the reception of the wounded.

They shall solicit the assistance of the committees belonging to neutral nations.

ART. 6. On the demand, or with the concurrence, of the military authority, the committees shall send volunteer nurses to the field of battle. They shall there place them under the direction of the military chiefs.

ART. 7. The volunteer nurses employed with armies shall be provided, by their respective committees, with everything necessary for their maintenance.

ART. 8. They shall wear, in all countries, a white band around the arm with a Red Cross upon it, as a distinctive and uniform badge.

ART. 9. The committees and sections of the different countries shall meet in International Conference, in order to communicate to each other the results of their experience, and to decide on the measures to be adopted for the advancement of the work.

ART. 10. The exchange of communications between the committees of the different nations shall be made provisionally through the medium of the Committee of Geneva.

Independently of the above resolutions, the Conference expressed the following wishes:

A. That the governments should grant protection to the national committees which may be formed, and should, as far as possible, facilitate the accomplishment of their task.

B. That, in time of war, neutrality should be proclaimed by the belligerent nations for the field and stationary hospitals, and that it may also be accorded, in the most complete manner, to all officials employed in sanitary work, to volunteer nurses, to the inhabitants of the country who shall assist the wounded, and to the wounded themselves.

That an incidental distinctive sign be adopted for the medical corps of all armies, or, at least, for all persons attached to this service in the same army.

That an identical flag be also adopted for the field and stationary hospitals of all armies.

The innovation which is most striking, in reading these documents, is the pre-existence of the committees for war, and their creation and maintenance in times of peace.

If those societies which have hitherto labored had only conformed to this arrangement, they would have been spared much trouble, and would have been able to give to their resources a more judicious direction. If each of them had been enlightened by the experience of its predecessors; if each had known before hand that which it would have to do in such and such an emergency; if it had anticipated obstacles in order to remove them; and if it had been provided with money and material, it would have been able to render much greater services, and would not, to the same extent, have been a victim either to its inexperience or to its precipitation. The preliminary study of ways and means would have left traces of something more systematic and would have prevented much waste and many false calculations. Voluntary action will be so much more efficacious when it shall have preorganized. At a meeting of the different German relief committees held at Berlin, on the tenth of July, 1864, Baron Tinti, of Vienna, strongly insisted on this truth, and the Committee of Schwerin did the same in its report of 1865. When our generosity shall be less ignorant, it will know where and in what way it can be useful; we shall economize our means; we shall multiply our gifts by the good employment that we shall make of them, and by the direction that will be given to the public desire. _Bis dat, qui cito dat._ He who gives opportunely gives twice.

THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS TREATY.

CONVENTION OF GENEVA.

_For the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies at the Field, August 22, 1864._

The sovereigns of the following countries, to wit: Baden, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Portugal, France, Prussia, Saxony, Würtemberg, and the Federal Council of Switzerland, animated by a common desire of mitigating, as far as in their power, the evils inseparable from war, of suppressing needless severities and of ameliorating the condition of soldiers wounded on fields of battle, having concluded to determine a treaty for this purpose, these plenipotentiaries, after the due interchange of their powers, found to be in good and proper form, have agreed upon the following articles, to wit:

ARTICLE 1. Ambulances (field hospitals) and military hospitals shall be acknowledged to be neutral, and as such shall be protected and respected by belligerents, so long as any sick or wounded may be therein. Such neutrality shall cease, if the ambulances or hospitals should be held by a military force.

ART. 2. Persons employed in hospitals and ambulances, comprising the staff for superintendence, medical service, administration, transport of wounded, as well as chaplains, shall participate in the benefit of neutrality whilst so employed, and so long as there remain any to bring in or to succor.

ART. 3. The persons designated in the preceding article may, even after occupation by the enemy, continue to fulfill their duties in the hospital or ambulance which they may have, or may withdraw in order to regain the corps to which they belong. Under such circumstances, when the persons shall cease from their functions, they shall be delivered by the occupying army to the outposts of the enemy. They shall have specially the right of sending a representative to the headquarters of their respective armies.

ART. 4. As the equipment of military hospitals remains subject to the laws of war, persons attached to such hospitals cannot, on withdrawing, carry away any articles but such as are their private property. Under the same circumstances an ambulance shall, on the contrary, retain its equipment.

ART. 5. Inhabitants of the country who may bring help to the wounded shall be respected and shall remain free. The generals of the belligerent powers shall make it their care to inform the inhabitants of the appeal addressed to their humanity, and of the neutrality which will be the consequence of it. Any wounded man entertained and taken care of in a house shall be considered as a protection thereto. Any inhabitant who shall have entertained wounded men in his house shall be exempted from the quartering of troops, as well as from a part of the contributions of war which may be imposed.

ART. 6. Wounded or sick soldiers shall be entertained and taken care of, to whatever nation they may belong. Commanders-in-chief shall have the power to deliver immediately to the outposts of the enemy, soldiers who have been wounded in an engagement, when circumstances permit this to be done, and with the consent of both parties. Those who are recognized after they are healed as incapable of serving, shall be sent back to their country. The others may also be sent back on the condition of not again bearing arms during the continuance of the war. Evacuations, together with the persons under whose directions they take place, shall be protected by an absolute neutrality.

ART. 7. A distinctive and uniform flag shall be adopted for hospitals, ambulances, and evacuations. It must on every occasion be accompanied by the national flag. An arm badge (brassard) shall also be allowed for individuals neutralized, but the delivery thereof shall be left to military authority. The flag and arm badge shall bear a red cross on a white ground.

ART. 8. The details of execution of the present convention shall be regulated by the commanders-in-chief of belligerent armies, according to the instructions of their respective governments, and in conformity with the general principles laid down in this convention.

ART. 9. The high contracting powers have agreed to communicate the present convention to those governments which have not found it convenient to send plenipotentiaries to the International Convention at Geneva, with an invitation to accede thereto; the protocol is, for that purpose, left open.

ART. 10. The present convention shall be ratified and the ratification shall be exchanged at Berne, in four months, or sooner, if possible.

In witness thereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms.

Done at Geneva, the twenty-third day of August, 1864.

GOVERNMENTS ADOPTING THE TREATY.

List in chronological order of the governments which have adopted the articles of the Convention of Geneva, of the twenty-second of August, 1864:

France September 22, 1864. Switzerland October 1, 1864. Belgium October 14, 1864. Netherlands November 29, 1864. Italy December 4, 1864. Sweden and Norway December 13, 1864. Denmark December 15, 1864. Spain December 15, 1864. Baden December 16, 1864. Greece January 17, 1865. Great Britain February 18, 1865. Mecklenburg-Schwerin March 9, 1865. Prussia June 22, 1865. Turkey July 5, 1865. Würtemberg June 2, 1866. Hesse Darmstadt June 22, 1866. Bavaria June 30, 1866. Austria July 21, 1866. Portugal August 9, 1866. Saxony October 25, 1866. Russia May 22, 1867. Pontifical States May 9, 1868. Roumania November 30, 1874. Persia December 5, 1874. San Salvador December 30, 1874. Montenegro November 29, 1875. Servia March 24, 1876. Bolivia October 16, 1879. Chili November 15, 1879. Argentine Republic November 25, 1879. Peru April 22, 1880. United States March 1, 1882. Bulgaria March 1, 1884. Japan June 5, 1886. Luxemburg October 5, 1888. Hungary ---- Congo Free State December 27, 1888. Venezuela 1894. Siam June 29, 1895. South African Republic September 30, 1896. Honduras May 16, 1898. Nicaragua May 16, 1898.

The following public address, written in 1881, is inserted because of its historical character, showing as it does, quite as well as anything that could now be written, the general apathy in America concerning the treaty, and the many obstacles that had to be overcome by years of struggle and weary waiting:

ADDRESS BY CLARA BARTON.

_To the President, Congress, and People of the United States:_

A brief statement of how I became acquainted with the Red Cross may serve to explain at once its principles and methods, as well as the present attitude of our government in regard to it.

The practical beneficence of the sanitary and Christian commissions of the United States attracted the attention of the civilized world. I had borne some part in the operations of field hospitals in actual service in the battles of the Civil War, and some public notice had been taken of that work. But, broken in health, I was directed by my physicians to go to Europe prepared to remain three years.

In September, 1869, I arrived at Geneva, Switzerland. In October I was visited by the president and members of the "International Committee for the relief of the wounded in war." They wished to learn if possible why the United States had declined to sign the treaty. Our position was incomprehensible to them. If the treaty had originated with a monarchial government they could see some ground for hesitancy. But it originated in a Republic older than our own. To what did America object, and how could these objections be overcome? They had twice formally presented it to the government at Washington, once in 1864, through our Minister Plenipotentiary at Berne, who was present at the convention; again in 1868, through Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows, the great head of war relief in America. They had failed in both instances. No satisfactory nor adequate reason had ever been given by the nation for the course pursued. They had thought the people of America, with their grand sanitary record, would be the first to appreciate and accept it. I listened in silent wonder to all this recital, and when I did reply it was to say that I had never in America heard of the Convention of Geneva nor of the treaty, and was sure that as a country America did not know she had declined; that she would be the last to withhold recognition of a humane movement; that it had doubtless been referred to and declined by some one department of the government, or some one official, and had never been submitted to the people; and as its literature was in languages foreign to our English-speaking population, it had no way of reaching us.

You will naturally infer that I examined it. I became all the time more deeply impressed with the wisdom of its principles, the good practical sense of its details, and its extreme usefulness in practice. Humane intelligence had devised its provisions and peculiarly adapted it to win popular favor. The absurdity of our own position in relation to it was simply marvelous. As I counted up its roll of twenty-two nations--not a civilized people in the world but ourselves missing, and saw Greece, Spain, and Turkey there, I began to fear that in the eyes of the "rest of mankind" we could not be far from barbarians. This reflection did not furnish a stimulating food for national pride. I grew more and more ashamed. But the winter wore on as winters do with invalids abroad. The summer found me at Berne in quest of strength among its mountain views and baths.

On the fifteenth of July, 1870, France declared war against Prussia. Within three days a band of agents from the "International Committee of Geneva," headed by Dr. Louis Appia (one of the prime movers of the convention), equipped for work and _en route_ for the seat of war, stood at the door of my villa inviting me to go with them and take such part as I had taken in our own war. I had not strength to trust for that, and declined with thanks, promising to follow in my own time and way, and I did follow within a week. No shot had then been fired--no man had fallen--yet this organized, powerful commission was on its way, with its skilled agents, ready to receive, direct and dispense the charities and accumulations which the generous sympathies of twenty-two nations, if applied to, might place at its disposal. These men had treaty power to go directly on to any field, and work unmolested in full co-operation with the military and commanders-in-chief; their supplies held sacred and their efforts recognized and seconded in every direction by either belligerent army. Not a man could lie uncared for nor unfed. I thought of the Peninsula in McClellan's campaign--of Pittsburg Landing, Cedar Mountain and second Bull Run, Antietam, Old Fredericksburg with its acres of snow-covered and gun-covered _glacee_, and its fourth-day flag of truce; of its dead, and starving wounded, frozen to the ground, and our commissions and their supplies in Washington, with no effective organization to go beyond; of the Petersburg mine, with its four thousand dead and wounded and no flag of truce, the wounded broiling in a July sun--died and rotted where they fell. I remembered our prisons, crowded with starving men whom all the powers and pities of the world could not reach even with a bit of bread. I thought of the widows' weeds still fresh and dark through all the land, north and south, from the pine to the palm; the shadows on the hearths and hearts over all my country. Sore, broken hearts, ruined, desolate homes! Was this people to decline a humanity in war? Was this a country to reject a treaty for the help of wounded soldiers? Were these the women and men to stand aloof and consider? I believed if these people knew that the last cloud of war had forever passed from their horizon, the tender, painful, deathless memories of what had been would bring them in with a force no power could resist. They needed only to know.

As I journeyed on and saw the work of these Red Cross societies in the field, accomplishing in four months under their systematic organization what we failed to accomplish in four years without it--no mistakes, no needless suffering, no starving, no lack of care, no waste, no confusion, but order, plenty, cleanliness and comfort wherever that little flag made its way--a whole continent marshaled under the banner of the Red Cross--as I saw all this, and joined and worked in it, you will not wonder that I said to myself "If I live to return to my country I will try to make my people understand the Red Cross and that treaty." But I did more than resolve, I promised other nations I would do it, and other reasons pressed me to remember my promise. The Franco-Prussian war and the war of the commune were both enormous in the extent of their operations and in the suffering of individuals. This great modern international impulse of charity went out everywhere to meet and alleviate its miseries. The small, poor countries gave of their poverty and the rich nations poured out abundantly of their vast resources. The contributions of those under the Red Cross went quietly, promptly through international responsible channels, were thoughtfully and carefully distributed through well-known agents, returns, accurate to a franc, were made and duly published to the credit of the contributing nations, and _the object aimed at was accomplished_.

America, filled with German and French people, with people humane and universal in their instincts of citizenship and brotherhood, freighted ships with supplies and contributions in money prodigal and vast. They arrived in Europe, but they were not under the treaty regulations. No sign of the Red Cross authorized any one to receive and distribute them. The poor baffled agents, honest, well meaning and indefatigable, did all that individuals without system or organization could do. But for the most part the magnificent charity of America was misapplied and went as unsystematized charity always tends to go, to ruin and to utter waste. _The object aimed at was not accomplished._

At the end of the report of the international organization of the Red Cross occurs something like this: "It is said that the United States of America also contributed something for the sick and wounded, but what, or how much, or to whom, or when or where, it is impossible to tell."