Chapter II: Part 2

This leads the American Red Cross to perceive the great wisdom, foresight and breadth of the resolution adopted by the convention of 1863, which provides that "Committees shall organize in the manner which shall seem most useful and convenient to themselves;" also in their article on the organization of societies in these pages occurs the following: "To be efficient, societies must have government recognition, must bear the stamp of their national individuality, and be constructed according to the spirit, habits, and needs of the country they represent. This is essential to success."

As no work can retain its vitality without constant action, so in a country like ours, with a people of so active a temperament, an essential element in endearing to them a work, is to keep constantly before them its usefulness. With this view the question of meeting the want heretofore felt on all occasions of public calamity, of sufficient extent to be deemed of national importance, has received attention at the hands of this association. For this purpose the necessary steps have been inaugurated to organize auxiliary societies, prepared to co-operate with the central association in all plans for prompt relief; whilst the volunteers who shall render personal aid will be expected to hold themselves in the same readiness as in the case of an international call.

It must, however, be distinctly understood that these additional functions for local purposes shall in no manner impair the international obligation of the association; but on the contrary it is believed will render them more effective in time of need.

It may appear singular that a movement so humane in its purposes, so wise and well considered in its regulations, so universal in its application, and every way so unexceptional, should have been so long in finding its way to the knowledge and consideration of the people of the United States. This fact appears to have been the result of circumstances rather than intention. While eminently a reading people, we are almost exclusively confined to the English language. The literature of the Red Cross is entirely in other languages, largely French, and thus has failed to meet the eye of the reading public.

It will be observed that the first convention was called during our war; no delegates were especially sent by the United States, but our Minister Plenipotentiary to Switzerland, acting as delegate, sent a copy of the doings of the convention to our government for recognition. In the midst of civil war as we were at the time the subject was very naturally and properly declined.

It was again most fittingly presented in 1866 through Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows, and by this eminent gentleman and philanthropist a Society of the Red Cross was actually formed; but for some cause it failed, and the convention was not recognized. The International Committee became in a manner discouraged in its efforts with the United States, but finally it was decided to present it again through Miss Clara Barton, and accordingly the following letter was addressed to President Hayes during the first year of his administration:

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR
THE RELIEF OF WOUNDED SOLDIERS,

GENEVA, _August 19, 1877_.

_To the President of the United States, at Washington_:

MR. PRESIDENT: The International Committee of the Red Cross desires
most earnestly that the United States should be associated with them
in their work, and they take the liberty of addressing themselves to
you, with the hope that you will second their efforts. In order that
the functions of the National Society of the Red Cross be faithfully
performed, it is indispensable that it should have the sympathy and
protection of the government.

It would be irrational to establish an association upon the
principles of the Convention of Geneva, without the association
having the assurance that the army of its own country, of which it
should be an auxiliary, would be guided, should the case occur, by
the same principles. It would consequently be useless for us to
appeal to the people of the country, inasmuch as the United States,
as a government, has made no declaration of adhering officially to
the principles laid down by the convention of the twenty-second
August, 1864.

Such is then, Mr. President, the principal object of the present
request. We do not doubt but this will meet with a favorable
reception from you, for the United States is in advance of Europe
upon the subject of war, and the celebrated "Instructions of the
American Army" are a monument which does honor to the United States.

You are aware, Mr. President, that the Government of the United
States was officially represented at the Convention of Geneva, in
1864, by two delegates, and this mark of approbation given to the
work which was being accomplished was then considered by every one
as a precursor of a legal ratification. Until the present time,
however, this confirmation has not taken place, and we think that
this formality, which would have no other bearing than to express
publicly the acquiescence of the United States in those humanitarian
principles now admitted by all civilized people, has only been
retarded because the occasion has not offered itself. We flatter
ourselves with the hope that, appealing directly to your generous
sentiments, will determine you to take the necessary measures to put
an end to a situation so much to be regretted. We only wait such
good news, Mr. President, in order to urge the founding of an
American Society of the Red Cross.

We have already an able and devoted assistant in Miss Clara Barton,
to whom we confide the care of handing to you this present request.

It would be very desirable that the projected asseveration should be
under your distinguished patronage, and we hope that you will not
refuse us this favor.

Receive, Mr. President, the assurance of our highest consideration.

For the International Committee:
G. MOYNIER, _President_.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON.

Will the Secy
of State please
hear Miss Barton
on the subject
herein referred
to
J.A. Garfield

March 30, 1881.]

This letter was sent to Miss Barton, who, having labored with committees of the Red Cross during the Franco-Prussian war, thus becoming familiar with its methods, was very naturally selected as the bearer of the letter, and the exponent of the cause. Moreover, foreign nations had secured her promise to present it to the government on her return to her country and endeavor to make its principles understood among the people.

Accordingly the letter was presented by Miss Barton to President Hayes and by him referred to his Secretary of State, but as no action was taken, and no promise of any action given, it was not deemed advisable to proceed to the organization of societies formed with special reference to acting under the regulations of a governmental treaty having no present existence, and no guaranty of any in the future.

Thus it remained until the incoming of the administration of President Garfield when a copy of the letter of Mr. Moynier was presented by Miss Barton to President Garfield, very cordially received by him, and endorsed to Secretary Blaine; from whom after full consideration of the subject the following letter was received:

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, _May 20, 1881_.

MISS CLARA BARTON, _American Representative of the Red Cross, etc.,
Washington_:

DEAR MADAM: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the
letter addressed by Mr. Moynier, President of the Red Cross
International Convention, to the President of the United States,
bearing the date of the nineteenth August, 1877, and referred by
President Garfield on the thirtieth March, 1881, to this
department.

It appears, from a careful perusal of the letter, that Mr. Moynier
is anxious that the Government of the United States should join with
other governments of the world in this International Convention.

Will you be pleased to say to Mr. Moynier, in reply to his letter,
that the President of the United States, and the officers of this
government, are in full sympathy with any wise measures tending
toward the amelioration of the suffering incident to warfare. The
constitution of the United States has, however, lodged the entire
war-making power in the Congress of the United States; and, as the
participation of the United States in an International Convention of
this character is consequent upon and auxiliary to the war-making
power of the nation, legislation by Congress is needful to
accomplish the humane end that your society has in view. It gives
me, however, great pleasure to state that I shall be happy to give
any measures which you may propose careful attention and
consideration, and should the President, as I doubt not he will,
approve of the matter, the administration will recommend to Congress
the adoption of the international treaty which you desire.

I am, madam, with very great respect, your obedient servant,
JAMES G. BLAINE.

On the twenty-fifth of June the following letter from Mr. Moynier, president of the International Committee of Geneva, in reply to the preceding letter of Secretary Blaine, was received by Miss Barton, and duly presented at the State department:

GENEVA, _June 13, 1881_.

To the Honorable Secretary of State, JAMES G. BLAINE, _Washington_:

SIR: Miss Clara Barton has just communicated to me the letter which
she has had the honor to receive from you, bearing date of May 20,
1881, and I hasten to express to you how much satisfaction I have
experienced from it. I do not doubt now, thanks to your favorable
consideration and that of President Garfield, that the United States
may soon be counted among the number of signers of the Geneva
Convention, since you have been kind enough to allow me to hope that
the proposition for it will be made to Congress by the
administration.

I thank you, as well as President Garfield, for having been willing
to take into serious consideration the wish contained in my letter
of August 19, 1877, assuredly a very natural wish, since it tended
to unite your country with a work of humanity and civilization for
which it is one of the best qualified.

Since my letter of 1877 was written, several new governmental
adhesions have been given to the Geneva Convention, and I think that
these precedents will be much more encouraging to the United States
from the fact that they have been given by America. It was under the
influence of events of the recent war of the Pacific that Bolivia
signed the treaty the 16th of October, 1879, Chili on the 15th of
November, 1879, Argentine Republic on the 25th of November, 1879,
and Peru on the 22d of April, 1881. This argument in favor of the
adhesion of your country is the only one I can add to my request,
and to the printed documents that Miss Barton has placed in your
hands, to aid your judgment and that of Congress.

I now await with full confidence the final result of your
sympathetic efforts, and I beg you to accept, sir, the assurance of
my high consideration.

G. MOYNIER, _President_.

The very cordial and frank expressions of sympathy contained in Secretary Blaine's letter gave assurance of the acceptance of the terms of the treaty by the government at no distant day, and warranted the formation of societies. Accordingly a meeting was held in Washington, D.C., May 21, 1881, which resulted in the formation of an association to be known as the American [National] Association of the Red Cross. A constitution was adopted, a copy of which follows:

CONSTITUTION.

_Name, Location._

ARTICLE 1. This Association shall be known as the American Association of the Red Cross, with its office located at Washington, D.C., and shall consist of the subscribers hereunto, and such other persons as shall hereafter be elected to membership; and it shall constitute a Central National Association with power to organize state and territorial associations auxiliary to itself.

_Objects of Association._

ART. 2. The objects of the National Association are,

_First_, To secure the adoption by the Government of the United States of the Treaty of August 22, 1864.

_Second_, To obtain recognition by the Government of the United States, and to hold itself in readiness for communicating therewith at all times, to the end that its purposes may be more widely and effectually carried out.

_Third_, To organize a system of national relief and apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by war, pestilence, famine and other calamities.

_Fourth_, To collect and diffuse information touching the progress of mercy, the organization of national relief, the advancement of sanitary science and hospital service, and their application.

_Fifth_, To co-operate with all other national societies, for the furtherance of the articles herein set forth, in such ways as are provided by the regulations governing such co-operation.

_Duties._

ART. 3. This association shall hold itself in readiness in the event of war or any calamity great enough to be considered national, to inaugurate such practical measures, in mitigation of the suffering and for the protection and relief of sick and wounded, as may be consistent with the objects of the association as indicated in Article 2.

_Officers._

ART. 4. The officers of this association shall consist of a president; first vice-president; other vice-presidents, not to exceed one from each State, Territory, and the District of Columbia; a secretary; treasurer; an executive board; a board for consultation, which shall consist of the following officers of the United States Government, viz: The President and his cabinet: General of the Army; Surgeon General; Adjutant General, and Judge Advocate General, and such other officers as may hereafter be deemed necessary.

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF THE RED CROSS.

ORIGINAL INCORPORATION.

The undersigned, all of whom are citizens of the United States of America, and a majority of whom are citizens of the District of Columbia, desirous of forming an association for benevolent and charitable purposes to co-operate with the Comité International de Secours aux Militaires Blessés of Geneva, Switzerland, do, in pursuance of sections 545, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550 and 551 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to the District of Columbia, make, sign and acknowledge these:

ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION.

1.

The name of this association shall be the American Association of the Red Cross.

2.

The term of its existence shall be for twenty (20) years.

3.

The objects of this association shall be:

1st. To secure by the United States the adoption of the treaty of August 22, 1864, between Italy, Baden, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Portugal, France, Prussia, Saxony, Wurtemberg, and the Federal Council of Switzerland.

2d. To obtain recognition by the Government of the United States, and to hold itself in readiness for communicating therewith at all times, to the end that its purposes may be more wisely and effectually carried out.

3d. To organize a system of national relief and apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by war, pestilence, famine and other calamities.

4th. To collect and diffuse information touching the progress of mercy, the organization of national relief, the advancement of sanitary science, and their application.

5th. To co-operate with all other similar national societies for the furtherance of the articles herein set forth, in such ways as are provided by the regulations governing such co-operation.

4.

The number of this association, to be styled the "Executive Board," for the first year of its existence, shall be eleven (11).

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals at the city of Washington this first day of July, A.D. 1881.

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE.

_The proceedings of this Conference and what led up to it we learn
chiefly from the historical report of the Conference by Mr.
Gustav Moynier and Dr. Louis Appia, of the International
Committee of the Red Cross. It was the work of this Conference
that laid the foundation for the Treaty of Geneva, adopted in the
following year._

In the year 1864, Europe was covered, as if by enchantment, with a network of committees for the relief of wounded soldiers; and this phenomenon would have led the least discerning persons to suspect that this special work was entering on a new phase. Several of these committees had already begun to exercise their functions in the Schleswig-Holstein war, yet all unanimously proclaimed that they would constitute themselves as permanent institutions, and, in a great measure, they seemed to obey one watch-word. All, in fact, declared in their charter of establishment, that they would conform to the resolutions of the Geneva Conference.

What, then, was this conference, whose magic wand had, so to speak, electrified all nations? It seems too important an historical fact to be passed over in silence, because we feel certain that an inquiry into its nature, and how it arose, will prove highly interesting.

1. It originated with the Société Genevoise d'utilité publique, which had undertaken to contribute toward the progress of philanthropy. At its sitting of the ninth of February, 1863, it discussed the question, in accordance with the proposition of one of its members, M. Henri Dunant, whether means might not be found to form, during a time of peace and tranquillity, relief societies, whose aim should be to help the wounded in time of war by means of volunteers, zealous, devoted and well qualified for such work.

Although it had no very clear idea of what should be done, in order to obtain the result which seemed desirable, the society took the matter under its patronage, and entrusted the examination of it to a special commission, with full power to act.

The course to be pursued was long debated in this little committee, the members of which finally agreed to submit the question to more competent judges. It was, in fact, necessary, before encouraging the formation of societies of volunteers, to know whether any need for them had been felt, and whether they would not be regarded with a jealous eye by the administrative or military authorities. It was also necessary to determine what should be the nature of their action under various social and political forms of government. In order not to venture recklessly on a road bristling with obstacles, it was therefore evident that they ought to take as guides experienced men, versed in the practice of war, and belonging to different nationalities. An International Conference appeared to be indispensable to the work, as a basis or starting point. If, after this ordeal, the first idea, upon which the most divergent opinions were even then professed, should be recognized as impracticable, its partisans would at least possess the consolation of having done their best. We shall have, said one of them, the approval of our consciences, and the feeling that we have done that which it is right men should do who love their neighbor. If, on the contrary, the thing were pronounced to be good, useful and acceptable, what encouragement such a decision would afford them to launch out upon their course! What moral force they who should first put themselves in the breach would receive! It was not a time to hesitate. The circular convoking the meeting was issued on the first of September, 1863.

Nothing was neglected that could give the greatest publicity to this appeal. It was brought specially to the notice of the International Statistical Congress, sitting at Berlin, in the month of September, 1863, which expressed an opinion entirely favorable to the project.

At length the day fixed for the opening of the Conference arrived. On the morning of the twenty-sixth of October, in the rooms of the Athenæum at Geneva, might be seen an assembly composed of eighteen official delegates, representing fourteen governments, six delegates of different associations, seven unaccredited visitors, with five members of the Geneva Committee. It was sufficient to glance over the list of the thirty-six members of the Conference, to understand that the expectation of its promoters was attained, and even surpassed, and that their initiative had already found its reward in the meeting of such a body. It was impossible that a deliberation among men so eminently qualified should not throw the fullest light on the question submitted to them. The committee tells us that the eagerness with which the invitation was responded to soon justified the propriety of the step it had taken. It became convinced that, in drawing public attention to the insufficiency of the official sanitary service, it had touched a sensitive chord, and had responded to a universal wish. It was also convinced that it was not pursuing a chimerical object. If, for a moment, it had feared that its project would only attract mere dreamers and Utopians, it was reassured on seeing that it had to deal with men in earnest, with medical and military magnates. It also received much encouragement from persons who were prevented from taking part in the debates, but who testified to the lively interest they took in them.

It was then, with the most happy auspices that General Dufour opened the Conference, which lasted four days, under the presidency of M. Moynier, president of the Genevoise Society of Public Utility, and the vice-presidency of His Highness Prince Henry XIII., of Reuss, the delegate of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Every one seemed animated by the best motives, and desirous not to lose so good an opportunity to open a new arena for the cause of charity. It was interesting to witness the general unanimity, as new as it was spontaneous, on a question of humanity instantaneously developed into one of philanthropic urgency. Dr. Landa, delegate of the Spanish Government, well expressed the sentiment of the assembly when he exclaimed, "Oh, that we may be so happy as to discover the basis which shall render the the useful institution we aspire to found durable and effectual!" The magnitude of the result which may be obtained, and the tears which may be wiped away, demand that we should devote all our efforts to attain it; and if this work be realized, it will be an event which all friends of humanity will be able to hail with the greatest joy. We feel, said the president of the Conference, that a great duty is imposed upon us, and we shall not rest until we have found means to lessen for our fellow-creatures the privations, the sufferings and the evils of all kinds which are the inevitable consequences of an armed contest.

So much good-will was not superfluous, in order to accomplish the arduous task of the Conference. For what, indeed, was it laboring? For nothing less than to reconcile two opposites--charity and war. The propriety of voluntary aid being admitted, it was necessary to leave it sufficiently free, in order that zeal might not be cooled by unreasonable conditions; yet, at the same time, to subject it to a certain discipline, so that it might have access to the army without being an encumbrance to it. Here was the real problem to be solved. Here was a link to be established between the civil and the military, which, though opposed, are not necessarily incompatible, and should be encouraged to live fraternally side by side. The experience of modern wars seemed to justify this inquiry, for it was averred that here the administration of voluntary offerings had been defective. Besides, the question presented itself in a new character, owing to the fact that a staff of volunteers occupied an important place in it. If this view of the case was to take precedence of all others, nothing less than a complete revolution was intended, and its importance being acknowledged, it would have been wrong to engage in it otherwise than earnestly. It was for discussion to reveal the opinion that was entertained of it.

Independently of all that was difficult in the very nature of the subject with which the conference was to occupy itself, it met with another obstacle, in the consideration which it was obliged to give to the different forms of government under which civilized nations dwell.

It is certain that a relief committee would be bound to modify its conduct, and its hands would be more or less free, according to the political or social circle in which it would have its existence. For example, where individual initiative is highly developed, as in Switzerland and America, there will be found liberty for the efforts of free societies which would not be tolerated to the same degree in France or Austria. The consequence of this situation was, that, called to draw up a code of military philanthropy for the use of all nations, the Conference could only advocate general principles, so that its decisions might be everywhere acceptable.

Here it took its stand, and following the advice of its president, it left to each society the duty of regulating minute details as it might judge expedient. It wisely confined its ambition to the construction of a solid foundation for the monument which it wished to erect, and which was perhaps destined to become one of the glories of our century.

Let us now give heed to the voice of the Conference, and let us cast our eyes over the resolutions, placed side by side with the _propositions_ presented by the Geneva Committee, under the title of _Projet de Concordat_. It is evident, indeed, from a comparison of these two documents that the first ideas were true, since they have only been slightly modified. The authors of this project, however, offer it as the eminently perfectible fruit of their first meditations, and as a basis which they deemed it right to furnish to the Conference, in order to guide it in its labors.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ARTICLE 1. There shall be, in each of the contracting countries, a
national committee, whose duty shall consist in remedying, by all
the means in its power, the inadequacy of the official sanitary
service of the armies in active service.

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

ART. 2. Sections, unlimited in number, shall be founded, in order to
second the national committee. These shall be necessarily
subordinate to the committee, to which alone shall belong the
supreme direction.

ART. 3. Every national committee shall place itself in communication
with the government of its own country, and shall ascertain that its
efforts of service will be accepted in case of war.

ART. 4. In time of peace, the committees and their sections shall
occupy themselves with improvements to be introduced in the military
sanitary service, in the establishment of ambulances and hospitals,
in the means of transports for the wounded, etc., and in pursuing
the realization of these objects.

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."

In the autumn of 1873, I returned to America more broken in health than when I left in 1869. Then followed years of suffering in which I forgot how to walk, but I remembered my resolve and my promise. After almost five years I was able to go to Washington with a letter from Monsieur Moynier, president of the International Committee of Geneva, to the President of the United States, asking once more that our government accede to the articles of the convention. Having been made the official bearer of this letter, I presented it in 1877 to President Hayes, who received it kindly, referring it to his Secretary of State, Mr. Evarts, who in his turn referred it to his assistant secretary as the person who would know all about it, examine and report for decision. I then saw how it was made to depend not alone upon one department, but one man, who had been the assistant secretary of state in 1864 and also in 1868, when the treaty had been on the two previous occasions presented to our government. It was a settled thing. There was nothing to hope for from that administration. The matter had been officially referred and would be decided accordingly. It would be declined because it had been declined. If I pressed it to a decision, it would only weigh it down with a third refusal. I waited. My next thought was to refer it to Congress. That step would be irregular, and discourteous to the administration. I did not like to take it, still I attempted it, but could not get it considered, for it promised neither political influence, patronage, nor votes.

The next year I returned to Washington to try Congress again. I published a little pamphlet of two leaves addressed to the members and senators, to be laid upon their desks in the hope they would take the trouble to read so little as that, and be by so much the better prepared to consider and act upon a bill if I could get one before them. My strength failed before I could get that bill presented, and I went home again in midwinter. There then remained but a portion of the term of that administration, and I determined, if possible, to outlive it, hoping another would be more responsive. Meanwhile I wrote, talked, and did whatever I could to spread the idea among the people, and March, 1881, when the administration of President Garfield came in, I went again to Washington. The subject was very cordially received by the President and carefully referred by him to Secretary Blaine, who considered it himself, conferred fully with me, and finally laid it before the President and the cabinet. Perhaps the most satisfactory account of that transaction will be found in the letter of Mr. Blaine addressed to me, (see page 41), which gives the assurance that President Garfield would recommend the adoption of the treaty in his message to Congress.

What were the provisions of that treaty which had been so conspicuously and persistently neglected and apparently rejected by this whole government, whose people are as humane as any people in the world, and as ready to adopt plain and common sense provisions against evils sure to come upon themselves and those whom they hold most dear? It was merely the proposed adoption of a treaty by this government with other nations for the purpose of ameliorating the conditions incident to warfare, humanizing its regulations, softening its barbarities, and so far as possible, lessening the sufferings of the wounded and sick who fall by it. This treaty consists of a code of ten articles, formed and adopted by the International Convention of Geneva, Switzerland, held August 22, 1864, which convention was composed of delegates, two or more from each of the civilized nations of the world, and was called at the instance of the members of the Society of Public Utility of Switzerland.