Chapter III: Part 3

The sittings of the convention occupied four days, and resulted, as before stated, in a code of ten articles, to be taken by the delegates there present, back to the governments of their respective countries for ratification. Four months were allowed for consideration and decision by the governments, and all acceding within that time were held as having signed at the convention. At the close of this period, it was found that twelve nations had endorsed the terms of the treaty and signed its articles. The protocol was left open for such as should follow. The articles of this treaty provide, as its first and most important feature, for the entire and strict neutrality of all material and supplies contributed by any nation for the use of the sick and wounded in war; also that persons engaged in the distribution of them, shall not be subject to capture; that all hospitals, general or field, shall be neutral, respected and protected by all belligerents; that all persons comprising the medical service, surgeons, chaplains, superintendents, shall be neutral, continuing their work after the occupation of a field or post the same as before, and when no longer needed be free to retire; that they may send a representative to their own headquarters if needful; that field hospitals shall retain their own equipments; that inhabitants of a country who entertain and care for the wounded of either side, in their houses, shall be protected; that the generals of an army shall so inform the people; that commanders-in-chief shall have the power to deliver immediately to the outposts of the enemy soldiers who have been wounded in an engagement, both parties consenting to the same; that the wounded, incapable of serving, shall be returned when healed; that all transports of wounded and all evacuations of posts or towns shall be protected by absolute neutrality. That the sick and wounded shall be entertained regardless of nationality; and that commanders-in-chief shall act in accordance with the instructions of their respective governments, and in conformity to the treaty. In order that all may understand, and no mistake be possible, it also provides that one uniform international flag shall mark all hospitals, all posts of sick and wounded, and one uniform badge or sign shall mark all hospital material, and be worn by all persons properly engaged in the hospital service of any nation included within the treaty; that this international flag and sign shall be a red cross on a white ground, and that the nations within the compact shall not cease their endeavors until every other nation capable of making war shall have signed this treaty, and thus acceded to the general principles of humanity in warfare recognized by other peoples.

Thirty-one governments have already signed this treaty, thirty-one nations are in this humane compact. The United States of America is not in it, and the work to which your attention is called, and which has occupied me for the last several years, is to induce her to place herself there.

This is what the Red Cross means, not an order of knighthood, not a commandery, not a secret society, not a society at all by itself, but the powerful, peaceful sign and the reducing to practical usefulness of one of the broadest and most needed humanities the world has ever known.

These articles, it will be observed, constitute at once a treaty governing our relations with foreign nations, and additional articles of war governing the conduct of our military forces in the field. As a treaty under the constitution, the President and Senate are competent to deal with them; as additional articles of war, Congress must sanction and adopt them before they can become effective and binding upon the government and the people. For this reason I have appealed to Congress as well as to the Executive Department.

On the breaking up of the original convention at Geneva, the practical work of organizing its principles into form and making them understood and adopted by the people, devolved upon seven men, mainly those who had been instrumental in calling it. These men were peculiarly fitted for this work by special training, enlarged views, and a comprehensive charity, no less than by practical insight, knowledge of the facts and needs of the situation, and a brave trust in the humane instincts of human nature. They are known to-day the world over as "The International Committee of Geneva for the relief of the sick and wounded in war." This committee is international, and is the one medium through which all nations within the treaty transact business and carry on correspondence.

The first act of each nation subsequent to the treaty has been to establish a central society of its own, which of course is national, and which has general charge and direction of the work of its own country. Under these comes the establishment of local societies. It will be perceived that their system, aside from its international feature, is very nearly what our own war relief societies would have been had they retained permanent organizations. Indeed, it is believed that we furnished for their admirable system some very valuable ideas. The success of the Red Cross associations consists in their making their societies permanent, holding their organizations firm and intact, guarding their supplies, saving their property from waste, destruction and pillage, and making the persons in charge of the gifts of the people as strictly responsible for straightforward conduct and honest returns, as they would be for the personal property of an individual, a business firm, or a bank.

In attempting to present to the people of this country the plan of the Red Cross societies, it is proper to explain that originally and as operating in other countries they recognize only the miseries arising from war. Their humanities, although immense, are confined to this war centre. The treaty does not cover more than this, but the resolutions for the establishment of societies under the treaty, permit them to organize in accordance with the spirit and needs of their nationalities. By our geographical position and isolation we are far less liable to the disturbances of war than the nations of Europe, which are so frequently called upon that they do well to keep in readiness for the exigencies of war alone. But no country is more liable than our own to great overmastering calamities, various, widespread and terrible. Seldom a year passes that the nation from sea to sea is not, by the shock of some sudden, unforeseen disaster, brought to utter consternation, and stands shivering like a ship in a gale, powerless, horrified, and despairing. Plagues, cholera, fires, flood, famine, all bear upon us with terrible force. Like war these events are entirely out of the common course of woes and necessities. Like death they are sure to come in some form and at some time, and like it no mortal knows where, how or when.

What have we in readiness to meet these emergencies save the good heart of our people and their impulsive, generous gifts? Certainly no organized system for collection, reception nor distribution; no agents, nurses nor material, and, worst of all, no funds; nowhere any resources in _reserve_ for use in such an hour of peril and national woe; every movement crude, confused and unsystematized, every thing as unprepared as if we had never known a calamity before and had no reason to expect one again.

Meanwhile the suffering victims wait! True, in the shock we bestow most generously, lavishly even. Men "on Change" plunge their hands into their pockets and throw their gold to strangers, who may have neither preparation nor fitness for the work they undertake, and often no guaranty for honesty. Women, in the terror and excitement of the moment and in their eagerness to aid, beg in the streets and rush into fairs, working day and night, to the neglect of other duties in the present, and at the peril of all health in the future--often an enormous outlay for very meagre returns. Thus our gifts fall far short of their best, being hastily bestowed, irresponsibly received and wastefully applied. We should not, even if to some degree we might, depend upon our ordinary charitable and church societies to meet these great catastrophes; they are always overtaxed. Our communities abound in charitable societies, but each has its specific object to which its resources are and must be applied; consequently they cannot be relied upon for prompt and abundant aid in a great and sudden emergency. This must necessarily be the case with all societies which organize to work for a specific charity. And this is as it should be; it is enough that they do constantly bestow.

Charity bears an open palm, to give is her mission. But I have never classed these Red Cross societies with charities, I have rather considered them as a wise national provision which seeks to garner and store up something against an hour of sudden need. In all our land we have not one organization of this nature and which acts upon the system of conserved resources. Our people have been more wise and thoughtful in the establishment of means for preventing and arresting the destruction of property than the destruction of human life and the lessening of consequent suffering. They have provided and maintain at an immense cost, in the aggregate, a system of fire departments with their expensive buildings and apparatus, with their fine horses and strong men kept constantly in readiness to dash to the rescue at the first dread clang of the fire bell. Still, while the electric current may flash upon us at any moment its ill tidings of some great human distress, we have no means of relief in readiness such as these Red Cross societies would furnish.

I beg you will not feel that in the presentation of this plan of action I seek to add to the labors of the people. On the contrary, I am striving to lessen them by making previous, calm preparation do away with the strain and confusion of unexpected necessities and haste. I am providing not weariness, but rest.

And, again, I would not be understood as suggesting the raising of more moneys for charitable purposes; rather I am trying to save the people's means, to economize their charities, to make their gifts do more by the prevention of needless waste and extravagance. If I thought that the formation of these societies would add a burden to our people I would be the last to advocate it. I would not, however, yield the fact of the treaty. For patriotism, for national honor, I would stand by that at all cost. My first and greatest endeavor has been to wipe from the scroll of my country's fame the stain of imputed lack of common humanity, to take her out of the roll of barbarism. I said that in 1869 there were twenty-two nations in the compact. There are now thirty-one, for since that date have been added Roumania, Persia, San Salvador, Montenegro, Servia, Bolivia, Chili, Argentine Republic and Peru. If the United States of America is fortunate and diligent she may, perhaps, come to stand No. 32 in the roll of civilization and humanity. If not, she will remain where she at present stands, among the barbarians and the heathen.

In considering this condition of things it seemed desirable to so extend the original design of the Red Cross societies operating in other lands as to include not only suffering by war, but by pestilence, famine, fires or floods--in short, any unlooked-for calamity so great as to place it beyond the means of ordinary local charity, and which by public opinion would be pronounced a national calamity; but that this addition should in no way impair the original functions of the society, and that for their own well being they should be held firm by the distinguishing feature of the international constitution, which provides that local societies shall not act except upon orders from the National Association, which is charged with the duty of being so fully informed upon all such subjects, both at home and abroad, as to constitute it the most competent judge of the magnitude and gravity of any catastrophe.

During all these years no societies under the true banner of the Red Cross of Geneva were or could be organized, for the government had not yet ratified the treaty and no department of the government had then intimated that it ever would be ratified. It could not be a responsible or quite an honest movement on my part to proceed to the formation of societies to act under and in conformity to a treaty of special character so long as our government recognized no such treaty and I could get no assurance that it ever would or indeed could recognize it.

But this delay in the formation of societies, however embarrassing, was in no manner able to interfere with the general plan, or the working details for its operations, which had been arranged and decided upon before the presentation of the subject to the government in 1877, and published in pamphlet form in 1878, making it to cover, as it now does, the entire field of national relief for great national woes and calamities in time of peace, no less than in war. The wise provisions, careful preparations and thorough system which had been found so efficient in the permanent societies of the Red Cross in other countries, could not fail, I thought, to constitute both a useful and powerful system of relief in any class of disasters. I therefore ventured so far upon the generous spirit of their original resolutions in the plan of our societies as, mechanically speaking, to attach to this vast motor power the extra and hitherto dead weight of our great national calamities, in order that the same force should apply to all and serve to lighten I hoped, so far as possible, not only the woes of those directly called to suffer, but the burdens on the hearts and hands of those called to sympathize with their sufferings.

The time allowed for the practical test of this experiment has been short. Scarcely three months in which to organize and act, but the brave societies of the Red Cross of western New York, at this moment standing so nobly among their flame-stricken neighbors of Michigan--so generously responding to their calls for help, are quite sufficient I believe to show what the action and results of this combined system will be when recognized and inaugurated.

It may be said that this treaty jeopardizes our traditional policy, which jealously guards against entangling alliances abroad; that as we are exempt by our geographical position from occasions for war this treaty must bring us not benefits but only burdens from other people's calamities and wars--calamities and wars which we do not create and of which we may properly reap the incidental advantages. But this treaty binds none to bear burdens, but only to refrain from cruelties; it binds not to give but to allow others to give wisely and to work humanely if they will, while all shall guarantee to them undisturbed activity in deeds of charity. There is then in the Red Cross no "entangling alliance" that any but a barbarian at war can feel as a restraint. This inculcated wariness of foreign influences, wonderfully freshened by the conduct of foreign rulers and writers during the rebellion and deepened by the crimes and the craft directed primarily at Mexico and ultimately at us, made the people of America in 1864 and 1868 devoutly thankful for the friendly and stormy sea that rolled between them and the European states. And it is not perhaps altogether strange that American statesmen, inspired by such a public opinion, should then have been but little inclined to look with favor upon any new international obligations however specious in appearance or humane in fact. But the award of Geneva surely opened the way for the Red Cross of Geneva. Time and success have made plain the nation's path. The postal treaty since made among all nations and entered into heartily by this has proved salutary to all. It has removed every valid state reason for opposition to the harmless, humane and peaceful provisions of the treaty of the Red Cross.

But in the midst of the rugged facts of war come sentimental objections and objectors. For, deplore it as we may, war _is the great fact_ of all history and its most pitiable feature is not after all so much the great numbers slain, wounded and captured in battle, as their cruel after treatment as wounded and prisoners, no adequate provision being made for their necessities, no humane care even permitted, except at the risk of death or imprisonment as spies, of those moved by wise pity or a simple religious zeal.

Among these hard facts appears a conscientious theorist and asks, Is not war a great sin and wrong? Ought we to provide for it, to make it easy, to lessen its horrors, to mitigate its sufferings? Shall we not in this way encourage rulers and peoples to engage in war for slight and fancied grievances?

We provide for the victims of the great wrong and sin of intemperance. These are for the most part voluntary victims, each in a measure the arbiter of his own fate. The soldier has generally no part, no voice, in creating the war in which he fights. He simply obeys as he must his superiors and the laws of his country. Yes, it is a great wrong and sin, and for that reason I would provide not only for, but against it.

But here comes the speculative theorist! Isn't it encouraging a bad principle; wouldn't it be better to do away with all war? Wouldn't peace societies be better? Oh, yes, my friend, as much better as the millennium would be better than this, but it is not here. Hard facts are here; war is here; war is the outgrowth, indicator and relic of barbarism. Civilization alone will do away with it, and scarcely a quarter of the earth is yet civilized, and that quarter not beyond the possibilities of war. It is a long step yet to permanent peace. We cannot cross a stream until we reach it. The sober truth is, we are called to deal with facts, not theories; we must practice if we would teach. And be assured, my friends, there is not a peace society on the face of the earth to-day, nor ever will be, so potent, so effectual against war as the Red Cross of Geneva.

The sooner the world learns that the halo of glory which surrounds a field of battle and its tortured, thirsting, starving, pain-racked, dying victims exists only in imagination; that it is all sentiment, delusion, falsehood, given for effect; that soldiers do not die painless deaths; that the sum of all human agony finds its equivalent on the battlefield, in the hospital, by the weary wayside and in the prison; that, deck it as you will, it is agony; the sooner and more thoroughly the people of the earth are brought to realize and appreciate these facts, the more slow and considerate they will be about rushing into hasty and needless wars, and the less popular war will become.

Death by the bullet painless! What did this nation do during eighty agonizing and memorable days but to watch the effects of one bullet wound? Was it painless? Painless either to the victim or the nation? Though canopied by a fortitude, patience, faith and courage scarce exceeded in the annals of history, still was it agony. And when in his delirious dreams the dying President murmured, "The great heart of the nation will not let the soldier die," I prayed God to hasten the time when every wounded soldier would be sustained by this sweet assurance; that in the combined sympathies, wisdom, enlightenment and power of the nations, he should indeed feel that the great heart of the people would not let the soldier die.

Friends, was it accident, or was it providence which made it one of the last acts of James A. Garfield in health to pledge himself to urge upon the representatives of his people in Congress assembled, this great national step for the relief and care of wounded men? Living or dying it was his act and his wish, and no member in that honored, considerate and humane body but will feel himself in some manner holden to see it carried out.

ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

The president of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton, in November, 1881, laid before President Arthur the matter of the Treaty of Geneva, and the unfulfilled desire of President Garfield that the United States should give its adhesion to that international compact. To this President Arthur gave a cordial and favorable response, and made good his words by the following paragraph in his first annual message, sent to the forty-seventh Congress:

At its last extra session the Senate called for the text of the
Geneva Convention for the relief of the wounded in war. I trust that
this action foreshadows such interest in the subject as will result
in the adhesion of the United States to that humane and commendable
engagement.

This part of the message was immediately taken up in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, consisting of the following named gentlemen, to wit: William Windom, Minnesota; George F. Edmunds, Vermont; John T. Miller, California; Thomas W. Ferry, Michigan; Elbridge G. Lapham, New York; John W. Johnston, Virginia; J.T. Morgan, Alabama; George H. Pendleton, Ohio; Benjamin H. Hill, Georgia.

During the consideration of the subject an invitation was extended to the president of the American Association, its counsel and other associate members to meet the above named Senate Committee at the capitol, for conference, and for an explanation of such points as still remained obscure, to aid their deliberations, and to facilitate investigations.

On the seventeenth of May, 1881, Hon. Omar D. Conger submitted to the United States Senate the following resolution, which was considered by unanimous consent and agreed to:

_Resolved_, That the Secretary of State be requested to furnish to
the Senate copies (translations) of Articles of Convention signed at
Geneva, Switzerland, August 22, 1864, touching the treatment of
those wounded in war, together with the forms of ratification
employed by the several governments, parties thereto.

On the twelfth of December, 1881, in response to the above resolution, President Arthur addressed to the Senate a message transmitting a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers, touching the Geneva convention for the relief of the wounded in war, which message, report and accompanying papers were as follows:

(Senate Ex. Doc. No. 6, 47th Congress, 1st Session.)

Message from the President of the United States, transmitting in
response to Senate resolution of May 17th, 1881, a report of the
Secretary of State, with accompanying papers, touching the Geneva
convention for the relief of the wounded in war.

December 12, 1881.--Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations and
ordered to be printed.

_To Senate of the United States:_

I transmit herewith, in response to the resolution of the Senate of the seventeenth of May last, a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers, touching the Geneva convention for the relief of the wounded in war.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR,

EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, _December 12, 1881_.

_To the President:_

The Secretary of State, to whom was addressed a resolution of the Senate, dated the seventeenth of May, 1881, requesting him "to furnish to the Senate copies (translations) of Articles of Convention signed at Geneva, Switzerland, August 22, 1864, touching the treatment of those wounded in war, together with the forms of ratification employed by the several governments, parties thereto," has the honor to lay before the President the papers called for by the resolution.

In view of the reference made, in the annual message of the President, to the Geneva convention, the Secretary of State deems it unnecessary now to enlarge upon the advisability of the adhesion of the United States to an international compact at once so humane in its character and so universal in its application as to commend itself to the adoption of nearly all the civilized powers.

JAMES G. BLAINE.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, _December 10, 1881_.

THE "ADDITIONAL ARTICLES" CONCERNING THE RED CROSS FOR THE NAVY.

The governments of North Germany, Austria, Baden, Bavaria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and Würtemberg, desiring to extend to armies on the sea the advantages of the convention concluded at Geneva the twenty-second of August, 1864, for the amelioration of the condition of wounded soldiers in armies in the field, and to further particularize some of the stipulations of the said convention, proposed and signed the following additional articles:

Additional Articles to the Convention of Geneva of the twenty-second August, 1864, signed at Geneva the twentieth of October, 1868.

ARTICLE I. The persons designated in Article II. of the convention
shall, after the occupation by the enemy, continue to fulfill their
duties, according to their wants, to the sick and wounded in the
ambulance or the hospital which they serve. When they request to
withdraw, the commander of the occupying troops shall fix the time
of departure, which he shall only be allowed to delay for a short
time in case of military necessity.

ART. II. Arrangements will have to be made by the belligerent powers
to ensure to the neutralized person, fallen into the hands of the
army of the enemy, the entire enjoyment of his salary.

ART. III. Under the conditions provided for in Articles I. and IV.
of the convention, the name "ambulance" applies to field hospitals
and other temporary establishments, which follow the troops on the
field of battle to receive the sick and wounded.

ART. IV. In conformity with the spirit of Article V. of the
convention, and to the reservations contained in the protocol of
1864, it is explained that for the appointment of the charges
relative to the quartering of troops and of the contributions of
war, account only shall be taken in an equitable manner of the
charitable zeal displayed by the inhabitants.

ART. V. In addition to Article VI. of the convention, it is
stipulated that, with the reservation of officers whose detention
might be important to the fate of arms, and within the limits fixed
by the second paragraph of that article, the wounded fallen into the
hands of the enemy shall be sent back to their country, after they
are cured, or sooner if possible, on condition, nevertheless, of not
again bearing arms during the continuance of the war.

ART. VI. The boats which, at their own risk and peril, during and
after an engagement pick up the shipwrecked or wounded, or which,
having picked them up, convey them on board a neutral, or hospital
ship, shall enjoy, until the accomplishment of their mission, the
character of neutrality, as far as the circumstances of the
engagement and the position of the ships engaged will permit.

The appreciation of these circumstances is entrusted to the humanity
of all the combatants. The wrecked and wounded thus picked up and
saved must not serve again during the continuance of the war.

ART. VII. The religious, medical and hospital staff of any captured
vessel are declared neutral, and, on leaving the ship, may remove
the articles and surgical instruments which are their private
property.

ART. VIII. The staff designated in the preceding article must
continue to fulfill their functions in the captured ship, assisting
in the removal of wounded made by the victorious party; they will
then be at liberty to return to their country, in conformity with
the second paragraph of the first additional article.

The stipulations of the second additional article are applicable to
the pay and allowance of the staff.

ART. IX. The military hospital ships remain under martial law in all
that concerns their stores; they become the property of the captor,
but the latter must not divert them from their special appropriation
during the continuance of the war.

The vessels not equipped for fighting, which during peace the
government shall have officially declared to be intended to serve as
floating hospital ships, shall, however, enjoy during the war
complete neutrality, both as regards stores, and also as regards
their staff, provided their equipment is exclusively appropriated to
the special service on which they are employed.

ART. X. Any merchantman, to whatever nation she may belong, charged
exclusively with removal of sick and wounded, is protected by
neutrality, but the mere fact, noted on the ship's books, of the
vessel having been visited by an enemy's cruiser, renders the sick
and wounded incapable of serving during the continuance of the war.
The cruiser shall even have the right of putting on board an officer
in order to accompany the convoy, and thus verify the good faith of
the operation.

If the merchant ship also carries a cargo, her neutrality will still
protect it, provided that such cargo is not of a nature to be
confiscated by the belligerents.

The belligerents retain the right to interdict neutralized vessels
from all communication, and from any course which they may deem
prejudicial to the secrecy of their operations. In urgent cases,
special conventions may be entered into between commanders-in-chief,
in order to neutralize temporarily and in a special manner the
vessels intended for the removal of the sick and wounded.

ART. XI. Wounded or sick sailors and soldiers, when embarked, to
whatever nation they may belong, shall be protected and taken care
of by their captors.

Their return to their own country is subject to the provisions of
Article VI. of the convention, and of the additional Article V.

ART. XII. The distinctive flag to be used with the national flag, in
order to indicate any vessel or boat which may claim the benefits of
neutrality, in virtue of the principles of this convention, is a
white flag with a red cross. The belligerents may exercise in this
respect any mode of verification which they may deem necessary.

Military hospital ships shall be distinguished by being painted
white outside, with green strake.

ART. XIII. The hospital ships which are equipped at the expense of
the aid societies, recognized by the governments signing this
convention, and which are furnished with a commission emanating
from the sovereign, who shall have given express authority for their
being fitted out, and with a certificate from the proper naval
authority that they have been placed under his control during their
fitting out and on their final departure, and that they were then
appropriated solely to the purpose of their mission, shall be
considered neutral, as well as the whole of their staff. They shall
be recognized and protected by the belligerents.

They shall make themselves known by hoisting, together with their
national flag, the white flag with a red cross. The distinctive mark
of their staff, while performing their duties, shall be an armlet of
the same colors.

The outer painting of these hospital ships shall be white, with red
strake.

These ships shall bear aid and assistance to the wounded and wrecked
belligerents, without distinction of nationality.

They must take care not to interfere in any way with the movements
of the combatants. During and after the battle they must do their
duty at their own risk and peril.

The belligerents shall have the right of controlling and visiting
them; they will be at liberty to refuse their assistance, to order
them to depart, and to detain them if the exigencies of the case
require such a step.

The wounded and wrecked picked up by these ships cannot be reclaimed
by either of the combatants, and they will be required not to serve
during the continuance of the war.

ART. XIV. In naval wars any strong presumption that either
belligerent takes advantage of the benefits of neutrality, with any
other view than the interest of the sick and wounded, gives to the
other belligerent, until proof to the contrary, the right of
suspending the Convention Treaty, as regards such belligerent.

Should this presumption become a certainty, notice may be given to
such belligerent that the convention is suspended with regard to him
during the whole continuance of the war.

ART. XV. The present act shall be drawn up in a single original
copy, which shall be deposited in the archives of the Swiss
Confederation.

An authentic copy of this act shall be delivered, with an invitation
to adhere to it, to each of the signatory powers of the convention
of the twenty-second of August, 1864, as well as to those that have
successively acceded to it.

In faith whereof, the undersigned commissaries have drawn up the
present project of additional articles and have affixed thereunto
the seals of their arms:

Von Roeder,
F. Löffler,
Köhler,
Dr. Mundy,
Steiner,
Dr. Dompierre,
Visschers,
J.B.G. Galiffe,
D. Felice Baroffio,
Paalo Cottrau,
H.A. Van Karnebeck,
Westenberg,
F.N. Staaff,
G.H. Dufour,
G. Moynier,
A. Coupvent des Bois,
H. de Préval,
John Saville Lumley,
H.R. Yelverton,
Dr. S. Lehmann,
Husny,
Dr. C. Hahn,
Dr. Fichte.

[_International Bulletin, January, 1882._]

THE GENEVA CONVENTION IN THE UNITED STATES.

The friends of the Red Cross are not ignorant that the list of States which have signed the Geneva Convention presents a grave and lamentable lack. One of the most civilized nations of the world, and consequently one of the best prepared to subscribe to the principles of this treaty, that is to say, the United States of America, does not appear there. Their absence is so much the more surprising because the proceedings of the Geneva Convention have only been, in some respects, the partial reproduction of the celebrated "Instructions of the American Army," edited by the late Dr. Lieber, and adopted by President Lincoln (April 24, 1863), and put in practice by the armies of the North during the war of secession. More than this, it is remembered that the Government at Washington had been represented at the Diplomatic Conference of Geneva in 1864 by two delegates at the debates relative to the Geneva Convention, but without being furnished with sufficient power to sign it. [Protocol of the session of August 9, 1864.] These were Messrs. George J. Fogg, United States Minister at Berne, and Charles S.P. Bowles, European Agent of the American Sanitary Commission.

It was expected, then, that the adhesion of the United States would soon follow, but nothing came of it. Nevertheless, in the hope that this result would not be too long delayed, an aid society was formed at New York in 1866, when the civil war had come to an end, to gather in some way the heritage of the Sanitary Commission, which had just filled with much brilliancy, and during several years, the rôle of a veritable Red Cross Society.

One might have thought that the Berlin Conference in 1869 would be a determining circumstance which would induce the United States to enter into the European concert.

The invitation to assist at the Conference at Berlin in 1869 was addressed to the Government of the United States, which declined it with thanks, as not having taken part in the Convention of Geneva. The society of which we have just spoken was in like manner invited, but it also was not represented.

This double absence called out a proposition from M. Hepke, privy counsellor of the legation, a proposition, supported by the signatures of thirty-eight other delegates present, and adopted unanimously by the members of the Conference.

The text of it was as follows:

"The Conference having arrived at the end of their labors, express a lively regret at having been deprived of the precious assistance of the delegates from the United States of North America, convinced that the great and noble nation which, one of the first in the world, has rendered eminent services to the great humanitarian work, will welcome with sympathy the results of their labors, the Conference desires that the protocols of these sessions shall be addressed by their President to the Government of the United States of North America, and to the different aid committees which exist in that country."

That step unfortunately remained without results. The society which had its seat at New York, comprehending that its existence would be unnatural and its position false so long as the government refused to sign the convention, finished by dissolving towards the end of 1872.

Since then, the International Committee, which would not despair of success, made upon its part several new attempts, which invariably met with absolute non-attention. Happily the history of the Red Cross was there to prove that the most tenacious resistance is not indefinite, and that sooner or later the sentiments of the most recalcitrant governments are modified under the control of circumstances. How many we have seen who at first believed their adhesion useless, or even dangerous, and who have been led to repentance on the occurrence of wars in which their armies were to be, or had been, engaged, because they comprehended at that moment only to what point their fears were chimerical or their indifference injurious to those depending upon them for protection.

In the United States time has done its work as elsewhere, though peace has long reigned there. The change of sentiment which has been produced in regard to the Red Cross has revealed itself recently on the sixth of December, 1881, in the message of President Arthur at the opening of the fourth session of the Forty-seventh Congress. We read there the following paragraph:

"At its last extra session the Senate demanded the text of the Geneva Convention for aiding the wounded in time of war. I hope that this fact proves the interest which the Senate feels in this question, and that there will result from it, the adhesion of the United States to this humane and commendable treaty."

It seems, then, that we touch the port; the matter is seriously considered, and it will be with lively satisfaction that we shall register the result which has been so long the end of our desires.

We will not terminate these retrospective considerations, without telling what we know of the causes which have recently led to decisive steps in the question.

It is, above all, to a woman that this result is owing, and the name of that woman is not unknown to our readers. We spoke to them several years ago of Miss Clara Barton, one of the heroines of the American war, where she reproduced the charitable exploits of Miss Nightingale; she was honored at the conclusion of the war with a national recompense.[A]

[A] This statement is not exact; indeed, it does some injustice as well to Miss Barton as to the American Congress, and was doubtless derived from misstatements promulgated in the United States, the result of a general misunderstanding of the facts, and an error, of course, unknown to a foreign writer.

Precisely what the Thirty-seventh Congress did was to pass the following joint resolution of both houses, and in accordance with the same to pay over to Miss Barton the sum mentioned in it for the uses and purposes therein set forth:

March 10, 1866.

_A resolution providing for expenses incurred in searching for missing soldiers of the Army of the United States, and for further prosecution of the same._

_Whereas_, Miss Clara Barton has, during the late war of the rebellion, expended from her own resources large sums of money in endeavoring to discover missing soldiers of the armies of the United States, and in communicating intelligence to their relatives; therefore,

_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That the sum of fifteen thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to reimburse Miss Clara Barton for the amount so expended by her, and to aid in the further prosecution of the search for missing soldiers, and the printing necessary to the furtherance of the said object shall hereafter be done by the Public Printer.

Approved March 10, 1866.

[14 Vol. U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 350.]

This, therefore, was not recompense for services; it was reimbursement for money expended; it was money expended by a private citizen for public uses, and this, mainly, after the close of the war. The government recognized its value to the people, and refunded the money, and that without solicitation on Miss Barton's part.

This work was a fitting, even necessary, result of her four years' voluntary and unpaid services on the field, not as an ordinary nurse, but as a sort of independent sanitary commission, whom the government, the soldiers, and the people came at last to implicitly trust, for they never found their trust betrayed nor themselves disappointed by any want of discretion, sagacity, or energy on her part. It cannot be set forth here, it can only be alluded to most briefly. In its details it must form a chapter in the story of a life singularly original, successful, and beneficent.

--[Report of the American (National) Association of the Red Cross of 1883.]

Then, being in Europe at the time of the French and German war, she again flew to the battlefield. Returning at last to her own country with enfeebled health, she determined to give what strength remained to her to the service of the Red Cross, and took for her task to plead its cause with the influential men of the American government. Quitting her home at Dansville, she passed long months at Washington to carry conviction to the minds of the President, of his ministers, of members of Congress, writing for the journals, publishing pamphlets to spread the ideas the triumph of which she had at heart. She had need of much perseverance and energy to avoid renouncing her plan, for she waited long before finding a favorable opportunity. It was not until the accession of President Garfield that she could catch a glimpse of success. She then found in the Chief Magistrate of the nation a man who warmly espoused her cause, and in the Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine, an auxiliary as zealous as he was devoted. We have seen by the quotation which we have borrowed from the last Presidential message that Mr. Arthur shares the sentiments and ideas of his predecessor on the subject of the Geneva Convention, and it is hardly probable that he will encounter upon this point opposition from Congress.

The name of Miss Barton will probably not figure in the official documents which will be the fruit of her labors, but here, where we have entire liberty to render homage to her devotion, we are happy to be able to proclaim her imperishable title to the gratitude of the Red Cross.

To the name of Miss Barton we should join that of M. Edouard Seve, who, after having rendered important service to the Red Cross in South America, where he represented Belgium to Chili, has continued to use his activity in favor of the same cause in the United States since he has been called to the position of consul-general at Philadelphia. His efforts have certainly contributed to render the Government at Washington favorable to the Geneva Convention.

The preceding article was already printed when we received from the indefatigable Miss Barton a new pamphlet upon the Red Cross and the Geneva Convention. This little work is destined to initiate the Americans into the origin and history of the work, with which they are as yet but imperfectly acquainted, and for which it is the aspiration of the author to awaken their interest; in particular, we find there the confirmation of the steps of which we have spoken above, and especially the text of the two letters addressed by the International Committee, one on the ninth of August, 1877, to President Hayes, the other on the thirteenth of June, to Secretary of State Blaine.

The pamphlet which we have announced has been published by the American National Society of the Red Cross, with which we have not yet had occasion to make our readers acquainted. This society, recently established at the suggestion of Miss Barton, and of which she has been made president, is only waiting for the official adhesion of the United States to the Geneva Convention to put itself in relation with the societies of other countries. We will wait until then to speak of it and to give the details of its organization.

ACCESSION OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE TREATY OF GENEVA AND TO THE ADDITIONAL ARTICLES.

On the first day of March, 1882, the President, by his signature, gave the accession of the United States to the Treaty of Geneva of August 22, 1864, and also to that of October 20, 1868, and transmitted to the Senate the following message, declaration, and proposed adoption of the same:

_Message from the President of the United States, transmitting an
accession of the United States to the Convention concluded at
Geneva on the twenty-second August, 1864, between various powers,
for the amelioration of the wounded of armies in the field, and
to the additional articles thereto, signed at Geneva on the
twentieth October, 1868._

March 3, 1882.--Read; accession read the first time referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations, and, together with the message,
ordered to be printed in confidence, for the use of the Senate.

March 16, 1882.--Ratified and injunction of secrecy removed
therefrom.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

I transmit to the Senate for its action thereon, the accession of
the United States to the convention concluded at Geneva on the
twenty-second August, 1864, between various powers, for the
amelioration of the wounded of armies in the field, and to the
additional articles thereto, signed at Geneva on the twentieth of
October, 1868.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR.
WASHINGTON, _March 3, 1882_.

_Whereas_, on the twenty-second day of August, 1864, a convention
was concluded at Geneva, in Switzerland, between the Grand Duchy of
Baden and the Swiss Confederation, the Kingdom of Belgium, the
Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Empire, the
Grand Duchy of Hesse, the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of the
Netherlands; the Kingdom of Portugal, the Kingdom of Prussia, and
the Kingdom of Würtemberg, for the amelioration of the wounded in
armies in the field, the tenor of which convention is as follows:

(See treaty and additional articles, already inserted.)

Now, therefore, the President of the United States of America, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, hereby declares that
the United States accede to the said convention of the twenty-second
August, 1864, and also accede to the said convention of October 20,
1868.

Done at Washington this first day of March in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two, and of the Independence
of the United States the one hundred and sixth.

(Seal.) CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

By the President.
FRED'K T. FRELINGHUYSEN,
_Secretary of State_.

The same day the president of the American Association sent by cablegram to President Moynier, of the International Committee at Geneva, the glad tidings that the United States had at last joined in the great humane work of the world by ratifying the treaties of the Red Cross; and on the twenty-fourth of the same month, President Moynier replied as follows:

COMITE INTERNATIONAL DE SECOURS
AUX MILITAIRES BLESSES,
GENEVA, _March 24, 1882_.

MISS CLARA BARTON, _President of the American Society of the Red
Cross, Washington_:

MADEMOISELLE: At last, on the seventeenth instant, I received your
glorious telegram. I delayed replying to it in order to communicate
its contents to my colleagues of the International Committee, so as
to be able to thank you in the name of all of us and to tell you of
the joy it gives us. You must feel happy too, and proud to have at
last attained your object, thanks to a perseverance and a zeal which
surmounted every obstacle.

Please, if opportunity offers, to be our interpreter to President
Arthur and present him our warmest congratulations.

I suppose your government will now notify the Swiss Federal Council
of its decision in the matter, and the latter will then inform the
other Powers which have signed the Red Cross Treaty.

Only after this formality shall have been complied with can we
occupy ourselves with fixing the official international status of
your American society. We have, however, already considered the
circular which we intend to address to all the societies of the Red
Cross, and with regard thereto we have found that it will be
necessary for us as a preliminary measure to be furnished with a
document certifying that the American society has attained the
second of its objects, _i.e._, that it has been (officially)
recognized by the American Government.

It is important that we be able to certify that your government is
prepared to accept your services in case of war; that it will
readily enter into co-operation with you, and will encourage the
centralization under your direction of all the voluntary aid. We
have no doubt that you will readily obtain from the competent
authorities an official declaration to that effect, and we believe
that this matter will be merely a formality, _but we attach the
greatest importance to the fact in order to cover our
responsibility, especially in view of the pretensions of rival
societies which might claim to be acknowledged by us_.

It is your society alone and none other that we will recognize,
because it inspires us with confidence, and _we would be placed in a
false position if you failed to obtain for it a privileged position
by a formal recognition by the government_.

We hope that you will appreciate the motives of caution which guide
us in this matter, and that you may soon enable us to act in the
premises.

Wishing to testify to you its gratitude for the services you have
already rendered to the Red Cross, the committee decided to offer to
you one of the medals which a German engraver caused to be struck
off in 1870 in honor of the Red Cross. It will be sent to you in a
few days. It is of very small intrinsic value indeed, but, such as
it is, we have no other means of recompensing the most meritorious
of our assistants. Please to regard it only as a simple memorial,
and as a proof of the esteem and gratitude we feel for you.

Accept, mademoiselle, the assurance of my most distinguished
sentiments.

G. MOYNIER, _President_.

SOME RED CROSS DECORATIONS PRESENTED TO CLARA BARTON.

_The Iron Cross of Merit presented by Emperor William I.
and Empress Augusta, in recognition of services in the
Franco-German War of 1870-71. The German Medal of
Honor presented by the Comité International in
recognition of services in securing the adhesion
of the United States to the treaty of the Red Cross.
The Servian Red Cross presented by Queen Natali of
Servia._]

CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORIC TREE.

_Showing the development of the Red Cross during the
first twenty-five years of its existence. The city of
Geneva, its origin. The central branch represents the
work of the Comité International. The right branch the
formation of the national societies or committees. The
left branch the date of adhesion to the treaty by the
various nations._]

The requirements contained in the foregoing letter, in regard to the recognition of the American Association of the Red Cross, were fully and generously complied with by the various branches of the Government of the United States, and the documents conveying the official recognition were transmitted by the Honorable Secretary of State to the American consul at Geneva, with instructions to deliver them to the International Committee.

The following is the proclamation by President Arthur announcing to the people the adoption by the United States of the Treaty of Geneva, and the Additional Articles concerning the Navy:

By the President of the United States of America:

A PROCLAMATION.

_Whereas_, on the twenty-second day of August, 1864, a convention
was concluded at Geneva, in Switzerland, between the Grand Duchy of
Baden and the Swiss Confederation, the Kingdom of Belgium, the
Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Empire, the
Grand Duchy of Hesse, the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Kingdom of Prussia, and
the Kingdom of Würtemberg, for the amelioration of the wounded in
armies in the field, the tenor of which convention is hereinafter
subjoined:

_And whereas_, the several contracting parties to the said
convention exchanged the ratification thereof at Geneva on the
twenty-second day of June, 1865;

_And whereas_, the several states hereinafter named have adhered to
the said convention in virtue of Article IX. thereof, to wit:

Sweden, December 13, 1864; Greece, January 5-17, 1865; Great
Britain, February 18, 1865; Mecklenburg-Schwerin, March 9, 1865;
Turkey, July 5, 1865; Würtemberg, June 22, 1866; Hesse, June 2,
1866; Bavaria, June 30, 1866; Austria, July 21, 1866; Persia,
December 5, 1874; Salvador, December 30, 1874; Montenegro, November
17-29, 1875; Servia, March 24, 1876; Bolivia, October 16, 1879;
Chili, November 15, 1879; Argentine Republic, November 25, 1879;
Peru, April 22, 1880.

_And whereas_, the Swiss Confederation, in virtue of the said
Article IX. of said convention, has invited the United States of
America to accede thereto;