CLARA BARTON. From a por trail taken about i8j§. THE RED CROSS IN PEACE AND WAR By Clara Barton AMERICAN HISTORICAL PRESS 1906 SOCIAL WELFARE LIBRARY Copyright, 1898, by Clara Barton ,^t«>C.« NATIONAL R£0 c^oj. '^■'SH'NGTON, D.C.U-S-^ Si] From the President of the United States In his Message to Congress December 6, 1898. It is a pleasure for nie to mention in terms of cordial appreciation the timely anil useful work of the American National Red Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and, later, under the able and experienced leadership of the president of the society. Miss Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front in Cuba. Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusiastic co-operation of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its interna- tional organization, thus justifying the confidence and support which it has received at the hands of the American people. To the mem- bers and officers and all who aided them in their philanthropic work, the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public is due and freely accorded. In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obliga- tions to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us and His safe guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and ofifers humble prayers for the continuance of His favors. Z^jz^j^^^,,..^':^°-rfL..^ ILLUSTI^ATIONS. PAOB. Clara Barton, from a portrait taken about 1875 Frontispiece. The International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, Switzerland . . opp. 16 Clara Barton, taken about 1885 opp. 17 The First Red Cross Warehouse, Washington, D. C 21 National Red Cross Headquarters in Washington, from 1892 to 1897 22 Some of the First Members of the American National Red Cross 43 A Group of American National Red Cross Members 44 A Group of American National Red Cross Members 55 Suburban Headquarters, American National Red Cross 56 Some Red Cross Decorations Presented to Clara Barton 83 Chronological Historic Tree 84 Clara Barton, taken about 1884 1 1 3 "Josh V. Throop" "4 Camp Perry I43 Red Cross Headquarters 144 Johnstown, Pa., before the Flood of 1889 15S Red Cross Hotel, Locust Street, Johnstown, Pa 156 Red Cross Furniture Room, Johnstown, Pa 163 Typical Scene after the Flood at Johnstown, Pa., May 30, 1889 164 In Memoriam '74 T)phus Fever Patients in the Russian Famine, 1891-92 181 Count Lyoff Tolstoi 182 Women Cutting Potatoes for Planting— Sea Island Relief, S, C. , February, 1894, 199 A Windfall for St. Helena 200 Testimonial from Russian Workmen for American Help and Sympathy in the Famine of 1892 217 A Russian Peasant Village 218 (3) 4 Till- Ri:i) CROSS. PAGE Receiving Room for Clothing, S. C. Island Relief, 1S93-94 ......... 235 South Carolina Sea Island Relief 236 The Island District from Savannah to Beaufort 251 Sick with the Fauiiue Fever 253 Hunger-Stricken 254 Mi.ss Barton's Room 271 In tlie Old Schloss of Baden 272 Red Cross Headquarters, Constantinople 281 View from Red Cross Headquarters, Constantinople 282 Turkish Cemetery 282 Chief of the Dersin Kourds and His Three Sub-Chiefs 291 Chief of the Dersin Kourds : 292 Decoration of the Royal Order of Melusine 300 Tower of Christ, Constantinople 301 W. W. Peet, Esq 302 Rev. Henry O. Dwight, D. D 302 Rev. Joseph K. Greene, D. D 302 Rev. George Washburn , D. D 302 Signature of the Sultan 303 Turkish Dispatches 306, 307 Map of the Country traversed by the Red Cro.ss Expeditions carrying American Relief to the Victims of the Armenian Massacres in 1896 309 Interior of Gregorian Church at Oorfa 308 American College Buildings, Aintab ' 311 American and Armenian Quarters, Harpoot .... 311 Marash 312 Red Cross Caravan 312 A Bit of Palou 318 Rev. C. F. Gates, D. D., Harpoot 321 Miss Caroline E. Bush, Harpoot 321 First Expedition Embarking on Ferryboat, Euphrates River • 321 A Turkish Teskere or Passport 322 Diarbeker, Vilayet of Diarbeker 331 Ruins of an Old Gateway at Farkin 332 ILI.USTRATIONS. 5 PAGE Some Methods of Work 340 Salenilik 341 Pera Bridge, Constantinople 341 Turkish Coffee House 342 Hamalls — Showing Manner of Carrying Heavy Burdens 342 Red Cross Expeditions Passing through the Valley of Catch Beard 348 A Turkish Procession in Arabkir 349 Judge Alexander W. Terrell, United States Minister to Constantinople during the Anneiiian Troubles 351 Armenian and Turkish Decorations 352 Group of Arnieuian Teachers and Pupils, Harpoot American Missionary College 357 Clara Barton, taken in 1897 358 A Part of the American National Red Cross Fleet in the Spanish-American War of 1898 371 Officers of the Executive Connnittee American National Red Cross 372 Admiral William T. Sampson 381 Governor-General's Palace, Havana / 382 Entrance to Harbor of "Havana — Punta Park 391 John D. Long, Secretary of Navy 392 On San Juan Hill, Santiago 407 Spanish Guerillas • 409 A Mounted Advance, Reconnoitring 410 United States Steamship " Oregon " 413 "Almirante Oquendo," after the Engagement 419 United States Warships before the Entrance to Santiago Harbor 421 " Marie Teresa " after the Engagement 424 Chickamauga Camp 427 Camp Thomas, Headquarters American National Red Cross 428 Fortifications of Manila 440 Red Cross Dining Room for Convalescents, Fort McPhersoii, Ga 445 Dining Tent Attached to Red Cross Kitchen, at Camp Hobson, Ga 446 Panorama of Manila 451 In the Trenches before Santiago 453 A Soldier Funeral 463 6 THlv RKI) CROSS. PAOB McCalla Camp— Karly Morning Attack 454 A Typical Cuban Camp 464 A Cuban " Block House," Garrisoned 481 A View of PXstern Cuba 4*2 A Part of the Red Cross Corps 499 " I Am with the Wounded." — Clara Barton's Cable Message from Havana . . 500 Wreck of the Battleship " Maine," Havana Harbor 517 The Prado — Principal Street in Havana 518 Havana Harlx)r 535 Captain C. D. Sigsbee 536 Street in Cavite 539 Citizens of Jaruco Presenting a Memorial for the Victims of the " Maine " . . 553 Little Convalescents in Hospital 554 Location of Shore Batteries, Santiago 556 July Fifth in Rifle Pits 558 Scenes on the " State of Texas " and in Siboney 570 The Physicians and Nurses of the Orphanage and Clinic in Havana 571 A Cuban Thatch Hut 581 A Battery of Cuban Artillery 582 A Group of Red Cross Sisters 591 Diploma of Gratitude for Miss Clara Barton from ilie l\c(l Cross of Spain . . 592 View of Santiago de Cuba from the Harbor 675 View of Morro Castlf, Santia;;o de Cuba 676 The Burning of Siboney 597 Annie E. Wheeler 609 The Youngest Red Cross Nurse 610 Scenes in Siboney 627 Scenes in Santiago 628 Refugees from Santiago 636 Santiago Refugees at El Caney 639 Establishing Headquarters Ashore 640 Starving in the Plaza 64>.» Los Fosos . . , 648 Bringing in the Wounded , 657 Clearing for a Cross Road 658 Contents. FAOB To THE PKOFI.E 13 Introduction 17 The Red Cross. General History 23 Organization and Methods of Work . , 27 Occupation in Times of Peace 29 Services in Time of War 30 Neutral Countries in Time of Peace 34 International Correspondence. ]\I. Moynier's First I.etter 36 American Association of the Red Cross. Constitution and Original In- corporation 46-47 First International Conference 48 The Treaty of the Red Cross 57 Governments Adopting the Treaty 58 Address by Clara Barton 60 Action of the United States Government 72 The " Additional Articles " Concerning the Navy 74 International Bulletin, Extract from 77 Accession of the United States to the Treaty and " Additional Articles " . 80 Proclamation of President Arthur 85 International Bulletin. Concerning Adhesion of the United States ... 87 International Committee. Letter Acknowledging Notice of Adhesion by United States 90 International Committee. Fiftieth Circular Announcing Adoption of Treaty by United States 91 Significance of " Red Cross " in its Relation to Philanthropy. Address by Clara Barton 97 (7) Tlili RED CROSS. VAGB MicHiOAN Forest Fires '°7 Mississii'i'i AND Ohio RivKR Floods m Mississippi AND Louisiana Cyclonk '12 Ohio River Flood ^'5 Down the Mississippi '-' "The Little Six" I3<^ Texas Famine • 13^ The Mount Vkrnon Cyclone H5 Yellow Fever Epidemic in Florida -147 The MacCleuuy Nurses I5' The Johnstown Flood i 5j Arrival at Johnstown 158 Appointment of Committees 160 The Work of Relief 161 Farewell to Miss Barton 169 " The Dread Conemaugh " 170 In Menioriam 174 The RUS.SIAN Famine 175 Count Tolstoi on the Character of the Peasants 176 Beginning of American Relief 177 Appreciation of American Sympathy 1 80 Dr. Hubbell's Report 184 CONTENTS. 9 PAOE. The Reincorporation of the American National Red Cross 94 Sea Islands Hurricane 197 Coast of South Carolina 197 Admiral Beardslee's Description of the Hurricane 203 Relief Work South of Broad River 211 Report by John McDonald 211 Hiltonhead District Clothing Department. Report by Mrs. MacDonald . 220 Medical Department. Report by Dr. E. W. Egan 222-228 Relief Methods in Field. Dr. Hubbell's Report 232 On the Charleston Group. Report by H. L,. Bailey 244 The Clothing Department. Mrs. Gardner's Report 252 The Sewing Circles 257 A Christmas Carol 261 Mrs. Reed's Report 263 Leaving the Field • • 268 Letter to Charleston Nezvs and Courier 268 Circular to Clergymen and Committees 273 Armenia 275 Distance and Difficulties of Travel and Transportation 305 Funds 307 Committees 310 To the Press of the United States 313 To Contributors 313 To the Government at Washington 314 To Our Legation in Constantinople • . . . . 314 To the Ambassadors of other Nations 315 Commendatory 315 " Marmora." Poem by Clara Barton 319 Report of Financial Secretary 324 10 IHli KlUJ CKObiS. PAGE. Gencrnl Field Ajienl's Report 334 Medical Reix.rt 35° The Spanish-Amkrican War 360 Home Cani{)s and American Waters 361 The Central Cuban Relief Committee, Appointment of 362 The Red Cross Requested to Administer Relief in Cuba 365 Taking Command of the " State of Texas " 368 Relief Work at Tampa and Key West 368 Feeding Spanish Prisoners of War 369 Correspondence with Admiral Sampson 370 Appointment of the Executive Committee of the Red Cross and the Relief Committee of New York 375 Communication from Secretary of State Acknowledging Official Status of the American National Red Cross 377 The Modus Vivendi with Spain 384-394 Services of the Red Cross accepted by the Government 395 Appointment of Red Cross Field Agents for the Camps 395 Camp Alger, Washington, D. C 397 Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park 408 Jacksonville and Miami, Florida 414 Fort McPherson, Atlanta, Ga 420 Camp Hobson, Lithia, Ga 422 St. Paul Red Cross 425 Montauk Point, Long Island 426 Pacific Coast 431 The Red Cross of California 433 The Red Cross of Oregon 441 The Red Cross, Seattle, Wash 452 Porto Rico 460 Report of Horace F. Barnes 460 CONTENTS II PAGE. Shipments by United States Transports 470 Relief Committee of New York, Report by 473 Women's Auxiliaries of the Red Cross 491 "Women who went to the Field." Poem by Clara Barton 509 Cuba and the Cuban Campaign 514 Havana 520 Iwos Fosos 521 The Orphanage 522 Destruction of the "Maine" 524 Jaruca 527 Matanzas 531 Senator Redfield Proctor's Speech in United States Senate 534 Artemisa 540 Sagua La Grande 542 Cienfuegos 544 Back to Havana 545 Leaving Havana . . ■ 549 On Board the " State of Texas" 550 Tampa 552 Arrival at Santiago 555 Siboney 557 Hospital Work at Siboney 560 Relief Work at the Front 566 Entering the Harbor of Santiago 576 Unloading the " State of Texas" 577 Feeding the Refugees 577 Relief Work in Santiago 578 Departure of the " State of Texas " 580 12 THI-: Ri:i) cR(xss. PAGE. Thf TraiisjKirt " Clinton " at tho Disposition t)f tlie Red Cross 583 Leaving Santiajjo for Havana 584 Departure from Havana 585 Reports. Report of Dr. A. Monae Lesser 587 Report of rinancial Secretary, Mr. C. H. H. Cottrell 600 The Schooner " Mary E. Morse." Distribution of Ice 624 lyctter of Santiago Committee 637 Medical Report by E. W. Egau, M. D 642 Clothing Department. Report by Miss Annie M. Fowler 656 The Red Cross of Other Nations 662 To the Congress of the United States. Address by Clara Barton 666 To the Committees on The Red Cross 674 To the Auxiliaries of the Red Cross and the Nurses Who Went to the War 677 Unwritten Thanks 680 A Word of Explanation 680 Conclusion 681 Notes 683 TO THE PEOPLE. ]NJ recounting the experience of the Red Cross in the Cuban campaign, I have endeavored to tell the story of the events as they succeeded each other, recording simply the facts connected with the work of the War Relief, and refraining from criticism of men and methods. There were un- pleasant incidents to relate, and unfortunate con- ditions to describe, but I have neither said nor written that any particular person, or persons, were to blame. It is not my duty, nor is it within my power, to analyze and criticise all the intricate workings of a government and its armies in the field. The conditions that existed during the campaign and the suffer- ing that had to be endured, were by no means peculiar to the Spanish- American War. Suffering, sickness, confusion, and death — these are inseparable from every armed conflict. They have always existed under such circumstances; they arc a part of war itself, against which no human foresight can wholly provide. Every civilized government is financially able to provide for its armies, but the great and seemingly insuperable difficulty is, to always have what is wanted at the place where it is most needed. It is a i)art of the strategy of war, that an enemy seeks battle at a time and place when his opponent is least prepared for it. Occasionally, too. an attacking commander is deceived. Where he expects only slight re- sistance, he encounters an overwhelming force and a battle of unfore- 14 KKD CROSS. seen proportions, witli unexpected casualties, occurs. This is the universal testimony of nations. If it were not so, all needs could be provided for and every move planned at the outset. It was for these reasons that a body of gentlemen, now known as tlu- International Connnittee of Geneva, aided by National Associations in each country, planned, urged and finally succeeded in securing the adoption of the Treaty of the Red Cross. For these reasons the Treaty of Geneva and the National Committees of the Red Cross exist to-day. It is through the National Committees of the Red Cross in each treaty nation, that the people seek to assist the government in times of great emergency, in war or other calamity. It is only by favoring the organization of this Auxiliary Relief in times of peace, encouraging its development to the highest state of ef^ficiency, preparing to utilize not onlv all the ordinary resources, but also the generous support of the people, through the Red Cross, that a government may hope to avoid much of the needless suffering, sickness and death in war. In carrying out its mission, to assist in the prevention and relief of suffering, the Red Cross has neither the desire nor the intention to be censorious, and is actuated neither by political opinion nor motives of interference. It is but the outward and practical expression of that universal sympathy that goes out from the millions of homes and lire- sides, from the great heart of the nation, to humanity in distress, to the soldier on the march, in the bivouac and on the field of battle. Through all the past years, during which the Red Cross has sought recognition, protection and co-operation, it was but for one purpose — to be ready. Our only regret is that, during the late war, we were not able to render greater service. Even the little that was accomplished, could not have been done without the ever ready assistance of the President and the Secretary of War. Before us now lie the problems of the future, and the question is: How shall we meet them? As friends of humanity, while there is still a possibility of war or calamity, it behooves us to prepare. In America TO THE PUBLIC. 15 perh^jx!, we are apt to undervalue careful preparation and depend too much upon our impulses. Certainly in no other country have the people so often risen from a state of unreadiness and accomplished such wonderful results — at such a great sacrifice. The first American war since the adoption of the Treaty of Geneva, has brought the Red Cross home to the people; they have come to understand its meaning and desire to become a permanent part of it. Now that the appropriate time has come, it is the purpose of the Red Cross, relying upon the active sympathy of the government and the generous support of the people, to continue its work of preparation, until in its councils and in its ranks the whole country shall be represented, standing together, ready for any great emergency, inspired by the love of humanity and the world-wide motto of the Red Cross : " In time of peace and prosperity, prepare for war and calamity." Ai)^cc/ra^7Bay?''^^x c/?^^ Copyright, 1898, by Clara Barton ^;5:igo^ THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITl^EH OF THE RED CROSS, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND. Dr. Appia died, succeeded by M. E. Jouard Naville. Recent additions to the Committee are, N. Adolphc Moynier and M. Paul des Guulles, Secretary to the President. CLARA BARTON. Taken about 1885. INTRODUCTION, -O be called to tell in a few brief weeks the whole story of the Red Cross from its origin to the present time seems a labor scarcely less than to have lived it. It is a task that, however unworthily it may now be per- formed, is, in itself, not unworthy the genius of George Eliot or Macaulay. It is a story illustrating the rapid rise of the humane sentiment in the latter half of the nineteenth century. On its European side, it tells of the first timid and cautious pntting forth of the sentiment of humanity in war, amid the rattling swords and guns of Solferino, its deaths and wounds and its subsequent awful silence. It tells of its later fertilization on the red fields of Gravelotte and Sedan beneath my own personal observation. It was from such surroundings as these that the Red Cross has become the means by which philanthropy has been grafted onto the wild and savage stem of war. From the first filaments spun in the heart of a solitan,' traveler have been drawn onward stronger and larger strands, until now more than forty of the principal nations of the earth are bound together by bonds of the highest international law, that must make war in the future less barbarous than it has been in the past. It gives hope that " the very torrent, tempest and whirlwind " of war itself may some day at last, far off, perhaps, give way to the sunny and pleasant days of perpetual and universal f>eace. When a 2 (IJ, i8 INTRODUCTION. proposition for an absolute and common disarmament of nations, made by the strongest of the rulers of EuroiX', will not be met by cynical sneers and suggestions of Machiavelian cratl. On its American side it is a story of such immense success on the part of the American National Red Cross in some of its greatest and most difficult fields of labor, that no finaiicial report of them has ever been made, because the story would have been altogether incredible. The universal opinion of ordinary business people would have been that these results could not have been obtained on the means stated, and therefore something nuist be wrong or hidden, and to save ourselves from painful suspicion, it was decided, rightly or wrongly, that the story nnist remain substantially untold till its work in other fields had prepared the public mind to accept the literal truth. But the time has come at last when the facts may properly be set forth without fear that they will be discredited or undervalued. It will relate some of the experiences, the labors, the successes and triumphs of the American National Red Cross in times of peace, by which it had prepared itself to enter upon the Cuban contest as its first independent work in time of war. The Red Cross has done its part in that contest in the same spirit in which it has heretofore done all the work which has been com- mitted to its care. It has done it unobtrusively, faithfully and successfully. It may not altogether have escaped censure in the rather wild cyclone of criticism that has swept over the country, but we remember not so much the faultfinding that may have occasionally been poured out upon the Red Cross, as the blessings and benedictions from all sides for work well and nobl}'^ done that have fallen even upon its humblest ministers and assistants INTRODUCTION. -v It has been truthfully said that " so great has been the pressure to share the difficulties and dangers of this service with only transpor- tation and subsistence for pay, that the Red Cross could on these terms have had as many volunteers as there were enlisted men, if their services could have been utilized and made important." Indeed, it seems to have become the milder romance of war, and is gradually winning its way into the very heart of the pomp and cir- cumstance of " glorious " war itself. The Red Cross has therefore come to be so loved and trusted, its principles and insignia have been so deeply set into the substance of international law and the life of many great nations, that people everywhere are beginning to ask with enthusiasm about its origin and history; about the principles on which it acts. They ask for some statement of its experiences, its hardships and its perils, and for some account of those who have been most prominent in its operations. It is partially to answer these and many similar inquiries that this book has been prepared. It is in part a compilation and revision of various statements necessarily incomplete and unsatisfactory', made from time to time to meet emergencies. In part it has been wholly rewritten. A great portion of the story of the Red Cross has been told in other languages than English, because it was of work done by other than English people. Much of this literature has never been trans- lated or placed within the reach of the English-speaking public. Although the gradual growth of the idea of something like humanity in war, stimulated by the ignorant and insane horrors of India and the Crimea, and soothed and instructed by the sensible and practical work of Florence Nightingale, had slowly but surely led up to the conditions which made such a movement possible, it was not until the remarkable campaign of Napoleon III. in Northern Italy again so INTRODUCTION. woke the slumbering sympathies of the world tliat auy definite steps revealed themselves. In compiling this book I have been compelled to make use of much of the material contained in a previous history written by myself in 1883, which in turn was based upon the records and the literature of the International Committee, and the official correspondence con- nected with the treaty. /(PXCCO^CL TSoyP'X^'Z^ -• 'ruT;Z^'^^'^^ W.KKHOVSH, WASH.NOTOK, D. C. The Red Cross, CHAPTER I. "N June 24, 1859, occurred the memorable battle of Sol- ferino, in which the French and Sardinians were arrayed against the Austrians. The battle raged over a wide reach of country and continued for sixteen hours; at the end of which sixteen thousand French and Sardinian sol- diers and twenty thousand Austrians lay dead or were wounded and disabled on that field. The old and ever-recurring fact reappeared: the medical staff was wholly inadequate to the immense task suddenly cast upon them. For days after the battle the dead in part remained unburied, and the wounded where they fell, or crawled away as they could for shelter and help. A Swiss gentleman, Henri Dunant by name, was then traveling near that battlefield, and was deeply impressed by the scenes there presented to him. He joined in the work of relief, but the inadequacy of preparation and the consequent suffering of the wounded haunted him afterwards and impelled him to write a book entitled '* A Souvenir of Solferino," in which he strongly advocated more humane and extensive appliances of aid to wounded soldiers. He lectured about them before the "Society of Public Utility" of Genev^a. M. Gustav Moynier, a gentleman of independent fortune, was then presi- dent of that society. Dr. Louis Appia, a philanthropic physician, and Adolph Ador, a counsellor of repute in Geneva, became interested in his views. They drew the attention of Dufour, the general of the Swiss army, to the subject, and enlisted his hearty co-operation. A meeting of this society was called to consider "a proposition relative to the formation of permanent societies for the relief of wounded .sol- diers." This meeting took place on the ninth of February, 1863. The tnatter was laid fully before the society. It was heartily received and acted upon and a committee was appointed with M. Moynier at its head (23) 24 THE RED CROSS. to examine into methods by which the desired results might be obtained. So fully did this committee realize its responsibility and the magni- tude, grandeur and lalxjr of the undertaking, that the first steps were made even with timidity. But overcoming all obstacles, it decided upon a plan which seemed possible, and announced for the twenty- sixth of the following October a reunion to which were invited from many countries men sympathizing with its views or able to assist in its discussions. This international conference was held at the appointed time, and continued its sessions four days. At this meeting it was decided to call an international convention to be held at Geneva during the autumn of the following year (1864). At this convention was brought out the Geneva Treaty, and a permanent international com- mittee with headquarters at Geneva was formed, and the fundamental plan of the national permanent relief societies adopted. One of the first objects necessary and desired by the International Committee for the successful prosecution of its work was the co-operation by some of the more important states of Europe in a treaty which should recognize the neutrality of the hospitals established, of the sick and wounded, and of all persons and effects connected with the relief service; also the adoption of a uniform protective sign or badge. It inquired with care into the disposition of the several governments, and was met with active sympathy and moral support. It first secured the co-operation of the Swiss Federal Council and the Emperor of France. It shortly after procured the signatures of ten other governments, which were given at its room in the city hall of Geneva, August 22, 1864, and was called the Convention pf Geneva. Its sign or badge was also agreed upon, namely, a red cross on a white ground, which was to be worn on the arm by all persons acting with or in the service of the committees enrolled under the convention. The treat}'- provides for the neutrality of all sanitary supplies, ambulances, surgeons, nurses, attendants, and sick or wounded men, and their safe conduct when they bear the sign of the organization, viz: the Red Cross. Although the convention which originated the organization was necessarily international, the relief societies themselves are entirely national and independent; each one governing itself and making its own laws, according to the genius of its nationality and needs. It was necessary for recognition and safety, and for carrying out the general provisions of the treaty, that a uniform badge should be agreed upon. The Red Cross was chosen out of compliment to the THE RED CROSS. 25 Swiss republic, where the first convention was held, and in which the central committee has its headquarters. The Swiss colors being a white cross on a red ground, the badge chosen was these colors reversed. There are no " members of the Red Cross," but only members of societies whose sign it is. There is no ' ' Order of the Red Cross. ' ' The relief societies use, each according to its convenience, whatever methods seem best suited to prepare in times of peace for the necessities of sanitary service in times of war. They gather and store gifts of money and supplies; arrange hospitals, ambulances, methods of transportation of wounded men, bureaus of information, correspondence, etc. All that the most ingenious philanthropy could devise and execute has been attempted in this direction. In the Franco- Prussian war this was abundantly tested. That Prussia acknowledged its beneficence is proven by the fact that the emperor affixed the Red Cross to the Iron Cross of Merit. The number of governments adhering to the treaty was shortly after increased to twenty-two and at the present date there are forty-two. The German-Austria war of 1866, though not fully developing the advantages of this international law, was yet the means of discovering its imperfections. Consequently, in 1867 the relief societies of Paris considered it necessary that the treaty should be revised, modified and completed. Requests were issued for modification. The International Committee transmitted them to the various governments, and in [868 a second diplomatic conference was convened at Geneva at which were voted additional articles, improving the treaty by completing its design and extending its beneficial action to maritime warfare. During the war of 1866 no decisive trial of the new principles involved in the treaty could be made, for Austria at that time had not adopted it. But in 1870-71 it was otherwise. The belligerents, both France and Germany, had accepted the treaty. Thus it became possible to show to the world the immense service and beneficent results which the treaty, through the relief societies, might accomplish. The dullest apprehension can partially appreciate the responsibility incurred by relief societies in time of war. The thoughtful mind will readily perceive that these responsibilities involve constant vigilance and effort during periods of peace. It is wise statesmanship wliich suggests that in time of peace we must prepare for war, and it is no less a wise benevolence that makes preparation in the hour of peace for assuaging the ills that are sure to accompany war. We do not wait till battles are upon us to provide efficient soldiery and munitions of war. 2(, THE RKD CROSS. Everything that foresii;lit and caution can devise to insure success is made ready and kept ready against the time of need. It is equally necessary to hold ourselves in readiness for effective service in the mitigation of evils consequent upon war, if humane work is to be undertaken for that purpose. Permanent armies are organized, drilled and supported for the actual service in war. It is no less incumbent if we would do efficient work in alleviating the sufferings caused by the barbarisms of war, that we should organize philanthropic efforts and be ready with what- ever is necessary, to be on the field at the sound of the first gun. An understanding of this truth led the conference of 1863 to embody in its articles as one of its first cardinal characteristics the following: " In time of peace the committee will occupy itself with means to render genuine assistance in time of war." The International Committee assumed that there should be a relief association in every country which endorsed the treaty, and so generally was the idea accepted that at the end of the year 1864, when only ten governments had been added to the convention, twenty-five committees had been formed, under each of which relief societies were organized. It was, however, only after the wars of 1864, 1866 and 1870 that the movement began really to be popular. These conflicts brought not only contestants, but neutral powers so to appreciate the horrors of war, that they were quite ready to acknowledge the beneficence and wi.sdom of the Geneva Treaty. Many who approved the humane idea and expressed a heart^' sympathy for the object to be obtained, had heretofore regarded it as Utopian, a thing desirable but not attainable, an amiable and fanatical illusion which would ever elude the practical grasp. Nevertheless, the work accomplished during the wars referred to won over not only such cavillers, but persons actually hostile to the movement, to regard it as a practical and most beneficent undertaking. The crowned heads of Europe were quick to perceive the benign uses of the associations, and bestowed upon the central committees of their countries money, credit and personal approbation. The families of sovereigns contributed their sympathy and material support. The list of princes and princesses who came forward with personal aid and assumed direction of the work, was by no means small, thus proving cor- rect the augury of the Conference of 1863, that " The governments would accord their high protection to the committees in their organization." From one of the bulletins of the International Committee we make the following hopeful extract : ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF WORK. 27 " The whole of Europe is marshaled under the banner of the Red Cross. To its powerful and peaceful sign the connnittee hopes to bring all the civilized nations of the earth. Wherever men fight and tear each other in pieces, wherever the glare and roar of war are heard, they aim to plant the white banner that bears the blessed sign of relief. Already they have carried it into Asia. Their ensign waves in Sil:>eria, on the Chinese frontier, and in Turkestan, and. through the African committee, in Algeria and Egypt. Oceanica has a committee at Batavia. Japan accepted the Treaty of Geneva in 1886, and on the breaking out of hostilities between Japan and China, the Minister of War issued a notif cation to the Japanese army, September 22, 1894, calling theit attention to the substance of the treaty." ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF WORK. One of the things considered indispensable, and therefore adopted as a resolution by the Conference of 1863, was the centralization of the work in each country separately by itself. While the treaty must be universally acknowledged and its badge accepted as a universal sign, it was equally essential that the societies of the different countries should be simply national and in no resj^ect international. It was therefore ordained by the conference that all local committees or organizations desirous of working with the Red Cross, should do so under the auspices of the Central Committee of theii own nation, which is recognized by its government and also recognized by the International Committee from which the sign of the Red Cross emanates. Singularly enough, the International Committee has had considerable difficulty in making this fully understood, and frequently has been obliged to suggest to local committees the necessity for their subordination to the Central or National Committee. Once in three months the International Committee publishes an official list of all central committees recognized by it as national. In this way it is able to exercise a certain control, and to repress entanglements and abuses which would become consequent on irresponsible or counterfeit organi- •/.ations. To recapitulate: the Commission of Geneva, of which M. Moynier is president, is the only International Committee. All other committees are simplj- national or subordinate to national committees. s8 Till- RICI) CROSS. The Conference of 1863 foresaw tluU national differences would prevent a universal coile of nianajieinent, and that to make the societies inter- national would destroy them, so far as efficiency was concerned. They therefore adopted a resolution that " Central committees should organize in such a manner as seemed the most useful and convenient to them- selves." Every committee being its own judge, has its own constitu- tion and laws. To be efficient, it must have the recognition of its own government, must bear the stamp of national individuality and be con- structed according to the spirit, habits and needs of the country it repre- sents. No hierarchy unites the national societies; they are indej^endent of each other, but they have each an individual responsibility to the treaty, under the ensign of which they work, and they labor in a com- mon cause. It is desirable that they should all be known by one name, namely, the Society of the Red Cross. The functions of the Interna- tional Connnittee, whose headquarters are at Geneva, were also deter- mined by the Conference of 1863. It is to serve provisionally as an intermediate agent between national committees, and to facilitate their connnunications with each other. It occupies itself with the general interests of the Red Cro.ss in correspondence, and the study of theo- retical and practical methods of amelioration and relief. The national connnittees are charged with the direction and respon- sibility for the work in their own countries. They must provide resources to be utilized in time of need, take active measures to secure adherents, establish local societies, and have ati efficient working force always in readiness for action, and in time of war to dispatch and dis- tribute safely and wisely all accumulations of material and supplies, nurses and assistants, to their proper destination, and, in short, what- ever may be gathered from the patriotism and philanthropy of the country. They must always remember that central committees without abundant sectional branches would be of little use. In most countries the co-operation of women has been eagerly sought. It is needless to .say it has been as eagerly given. In some countries the central committees are mixed, both sexes working together; in others, sub-committees are formed by women, and in others, such as the Grand Duchy of Baden, woman leads. As a last detail of organization, the Conference of 1863 recom- mended to the central committees \.o put themselves en I'appoj't with their respective governments, in order that their offers of service should be accepted when required. This makes it incumbent upon national societies to obtain and hold government recognition, by which they are REUEF SOCIETIES IN TIMES OV PEACE. 29 endowed with the inimunities and privileges of legally constituted bodies and with recognition from other nations in time of war, not otherwise possible to them. OCCUPATIONS OF RELIEF SOCIETIES IN TIMES OF PEACE. Organization, recognition and communication are by no means all that is necessary to insure the fulfillment of the objects of these asso- ciations. A thing most important to be borne in mind is that if money be necessary for war, it is also an indispensable agent in relief of the miseries occasioned by war. Self-devotion alone will not answer. The relief societies need funds and other resources to carry on their work. They not only require means for current expenses, but, most of all, for possible emergencies. To obtain and prudently conserve these resources is an important work. The Russian Society set a good example of activity in this direction. From the beginning of its organization in 1867 it systematically collected mone)' over the whole empire and neglected nothing that tended to success. It put boxes in churches, convents, armories, railroad depots, steamboats, in every place fre- quented by the public. Beside the collection of funds, the Confer- ence of 1863 recommended that peace periods should be occupied in gathering necessary material for service. In i868 there were in Geneva alone five depots where were accumulated one thousand two hundred and twenty-eight shirts, besides hosiery, bandages, lint, etc., for over one thousand wounded. There were also large collections in the provinces, and now, thirty years later, these accumulations have probably greatly increased. In other countries the supplies remaining after wars were gathered in depots and were added to abundantly. Thus, in 1868, the Berlin Committee was in possession of supplies worth over twenty-five thousand dollars. Especial care is taken to acquire familiarity with the use of all sanitary material, to eliminate as far as possible whatever may be prejudicial to sick or wounded men, to improve both sanitary system and all supplies to be used under it, to have everything of the very best, as surgical instruments, medicine chests, bandages, stretchers, wagons, tents and field hospitals. We would refer to the effort made in the national exhibitions of the various countries, where the societies of the Red Cross have displayed 30 THE RED CROSS. their practical iniprovemenls and inventions in competitive fields, taxing to the utmost human ingenuity and skill. Some countries have taken grand prizes. An exposition at The Hague was held in 1867 exclusively for the work of the Red Cross. Permanent museums have been established where all sorts of sanitary material for relief are exhibited, as may l)e seen in Stockholm, Carlsruhe, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Paris. The museum of Paris is the most important of all, and is international, other countries having participated in its foundation. Anotlicr method is the publication of works bearing upon this subject, some of which are scientific and very valuable. Not less important is the sanitary personnel. Of all aid, efficient nurses are the most difficult to obtain. There are numbers of men and women who have the will and devotion necessary to lead them into hospitals or to battlefields, but very few of them are capable of performing well the duties of nurses. Therefore, but a small portion of the volunteers are available. The relief societies soon found that women were by nature much better fitted for this duty than men can be, and to enable them to fulfill to the best advantage the mission for which they are so well adapted, it was decided to afford them the best possible professional instruction. For this purpose, during peace training schools were established fi-om which were graduated great numbers of women who are ready at a moment's notice to go upon the battlefield or into hospitals. The.-e professional nurses find no difficulty during times of peace in securing remunerative employment. Indeed, they are eagerly sought for by the conununity to take positions at the bedside of the sick, with the proviso that they are to be allowed to obey the pledge of their society at the first tocsin of war. There are schools for this purpose in England, Germany, Sweden, Holland, Russia and other European countries, and nothing has been neglected to make them thorough and to place them on a strong and solid basiS: SERVICES IN TIME OF WAR. Notwithstanding the readiness with which most persons will perceive the beneficent uses of relief societies in war, it may not be amiss to particularize some of the work accomplished by the societies of the Red Cross. Not to mention civil disturbances and lesser conflicts. SERVICES IN TIME OF WAR. 3i they participated in not less than five great wars in the first ten years, commencing with Schleswig-HoLstein, and ending with the Franco- German. Russia and Turkey have followed, with many others since that time, in all of which these societies have signally proved their power to ameliorate the horrors of war. The earlier of these, while affording great opportunity for the beneficent work of the societies, were also grand fields of instruction and discipline to the committee, enabling them to store 'up vast funds of practical knowledge which were to be of great service. The Sanitary Commission of the United States also served as an excellent example in many respects to the relief societies of Europe, and from it they took many valuable lessons. Thus in 1866 Eunjpe was much better prepared than ever before for the care of those who suffered from the barbarisms of war. She was now ready with seme degree of ability to oppose the arms of charity to the arms of violence, and make a kind of war on war itself. Still however there was a lack of ceutralizjation. The provincial committees worked separately, and consequently lost force. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, large amounts of money were gathered, and munificent supplies of material brought into store. The Austrian Committee alone collected 2,170,000 francs, and a great supply of all things needed in hospital ser\ice. The Central Committee was of great use in facilitating correspondence between the different peoples comprising the Austrian Empire, the bureau maintaining correspondence in eleven different languages. Italy was not backward in the performance of her duty. She used her abundant resources in the most effectual way. Not only were her provincial societies of relief united for common action, but they received external aid from France and Switzerland. Here was exhib- ited the first beautiful example of neutral powers interfering in the cause of charity in time of war — instead of joining in the work of destruction, lending their aid to repair its damages. The provincial committees banded together under the Central Committee of Milan. Four squads, comprising well-trained nurses and assistants, were organized and furnished with all necessary material to follow the military ambulances or field hospitals, whose wagons were placed at their disposal. Thus the committee not only reinforced the sauitar>' personnel of the army, but greatly increased its supplies. It provided entirely the sanitary material for the Tyrolese volunteers, and afforded relief to the navy, and when the war was over it remained among the wounded. 32 THE RED CROSS. In addition to the supplies this committee afforded, it expended in money not less than 199,064 francs. But after all it was Germany standing between the two armies which distinguished herself. Since the Conference of 1863 she had been acting on the rule of preparation, and now found herself in readi- ness for all emergencies. The Central Committee of Berlin was flooded with contributions from the provincial committees. In the eight provinces of Prussia 4,000,000 of thalers were collected, and the other states of Germany were not behind. So munificently did the people betJtow their aid, that large storehouses were provided in Berlin and in the provinces for its reception, and at the central depot in Berlin two hundred paid persons, besides a large number of volunteers, and nearly three hundred ladies and misses were employed in classifying, parcel- ing, packing up, and dispatching the goods. Special railroad trains carried material to the points of need. In one train were twenty-six cars laden with 1800 to 2000 cwt. of supplies. Never had private charity, however carefully directed, been able to accomplish sucii prodigies of benevolence. It was now that the beneficence of the Treat)' and the excellence of the organization were manifested. But the committee did not confine itself to sending supplies for the wounded to the seat of war. It established and provisioned refreshment stations for the trains, to which those unable to proceed on the trains to the great hospitals without danger to life, were admitted, nursed and cared for with the tenderest solicitude until they were sufficiently recovered to be removed, or death took them. At the station of Pardubitz from six hundred to eight hundred were cared for daily for two months, and lodging provided for three hundred at night. This example suffices to show the extraordinary results of well-organized plans and concerted action. During the war, the relief societies had also to contend with the terrible scourge of cholera. There can be no estimate of the misery assuaged and deaths prevented by the unselfish zeal and devotion of the wearers of the Red Cross. In the interval between the wars of 1866 and 1867, and that of 1870-71, the time had been improved by the societies existing under the Geneva Treat)-, in adding to their resources in every possible manner. Improvements were made in all articles of sanitary service; excellent treatises regarding the hygiene of the camp and hospital were widely circulated; the press had greatly interested itself in the promul- gation of infonnation regarding all matters of interest or instruction pertaining to sanitary effort, and almost universally lent its powerftd SERVICES IN TIME OF WAR. 33 influence to build up the societies. Ten new societies were formed during this time. In Germany the work of the Red Cross was so thoroughly organized, that at the first signal from Berlin, committees arrived as if by magic at all required points, forming a chain which extended over the whole country, and numbered over two thousand persons. This is more remarkable since Germany was a neutral power. Constant com- munication was kept up between these committees and the central bureau, and the most perfect order and discipline were maintained. Relief was sent from one or another of these stations as was needed. The state afforded free transport, and the voluntary contributions of the people kept up the supplies of sanitary material, so that there was never any lack or danger of failure. With the government transports, whether by land or water, there went always the agents of the Red Cross, protected by their badges and flag, to wait on the invoices, hasten their progress, see to their being kept in good order, and properly delivered at their destination. Depots of supplies were moved from place to place as exigencies demanded. The greatest care was taken to prevent disorder or confusion, and the best military circumspection and regularity prevailed. The great central depot at Berlin comprised seven sections, viz: Camp material; clothing; dressing, for wounds; surgical apparatus; medicines and disinfectants; food and tobacco; and hospital furnishings. Did space allow, it would be desirable to give statistics of the contributions in money and supplies to this service. Suffice it to say, the humanity of peoples is far beyond that of govern- ments. Governments appropriate immense sums to carry on destructive conflicts, but the work of relief societies the world over, and especially during the war of 1870-71, has shown that the philanthropy of the people equals their patriotism. The sums given to assuage the miseries of the Franco-Prussian war were simply fabulous. In 1863, fears were expressed that there would be difficulty in collecting needful funds and supplies to carry out the designs of the treaty. These misgivings proved groundless. After the war of 1870-71, notwithstanding nothing had been withheld in the way of relief, the societies settled their accounts with large balances in their treasuries. In France not nearly so much had been previously done to provide for the exigencies which fell upon them, but the committee worked with such vigor and so wrought upon the philanthropy of individuals, that active measures of relief were instantly taken. Gold and supplies poured into the hands of the committee at Paris. One month sufficed to organize and provide seventeen campaign ambulances or field hospitals, 31 THE RKD CROSS. which immediately joined the army and accompanied it through the first period of the war, or until the battle of Sedan. In Paris ambulances were stationed at the railroad depots to pick up the wounded, and a bureau of information was created for soldiers' families. When the siege of Paris was about to take place, the committee threw, with- out delay, a commission into Brussels charged with the direction and help of flying hospitals. Nine connnittees were established in the provinces, with power to act for the Central Committee and to invite the people to help. Meanwhile the committee in Paris did its utmost to mitigate the distress that reigned there, and to prepare for the result of the siege. History has recorded the sufferings, the horrors of misery that accompanied and followed that siege; but history can never relate what wretchedness was averted, what agonies were alleviated, what multitudes of lives were saved, by the presence and effort of the relief societies ! What the state of France must have been without the mer- ciful help of the Red Cross societies the imagination dare not picture. After the armistice was signed there were removed from Paris, under the auspices of the relief societies, ten thousand wounded men, who otherwise must have lingered in agony, or died from want of care; and there were brought back by them to French soil nine thousand men who had been cared for in German hospitals. HELP FROM NEUTRAL COUNTRIES. Neutral countries also during this war were read}' and bountiful with help; and those working under the treaty did most effectual service. England contributed 7,500,000 francs, besides large gifts of sanitary supplies; in one hundred and eighty-eight days' time she sent to the seat of war twelve thousand boxes of supplies through the agents of the Red Cross. To give an idea of the readiness and efficacy with which the com- mittees worked even in neutral countries, one instance will suffice. From Pont-a-Mousson a telegram was sent to London for two hundred and fifty iron beds for the wounded, and in forty-eight hours they arrived in answer to the request. England kept also at the seat of war agents to inform the committee at home of whatever was most needed in supplies. The neutral countries sent also surgeons, physicians and HELP FROM NEUTRAL COUNTRIES. 35 nurses, and in many other ways gave practical testimony to the benign efl&cacy of the G^jneva treaty. As will be seen by the foregoing pages, the objects and provisions of the Geneva convention and the societies acting under it, are designed for, and applicable to, the exigencies of war only. The close contact of the nations hitherto signing this treaty, renders them far more liable to the recurrence of war among them than our own, which by its geographical position and distance from neighboring nations, entertains a feeling of cecurity which justifies the hope that we may seldom, if ever again, have occasion to provide for the exigencies of war in our land. 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 recog- nition, 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 essen- tial 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 appli- cation, 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 circum- stances rather than intention. While eminently a reading people, we 36 ' THE RKD CROSS. are almost exclusively confined to the English language. The litera- ture 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 oui Minister Pleni|x>tentiary 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 Presidetit of the United States, at Washmgton: JIr. 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 }-ou, with the hope that you will second their eCForts. 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 auxiliarj', 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 govern- ment, 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 vvhicn was being accomplished was then considered by every one as a precursor of a legal ratification. Until the FIRST LETTER FROM M. GUSTAV MOYNIER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, URGING THE ADOI'TION OK THE TREATY OF GENEVA.. [Origiual autograph translation by Clara Barton.] ^ar /fu. M^(^Jim/^ia/d- xovy^^ a/}7cl y/uLA/_ ^oj^ yhi Zy-^'/j/ (y^ ac/clu?fc/)->o /nxATiJ^Socs to Vull tutf/i //vl iiofu fhcU: xmu Mnll. Sjeecnic^mijio- tll^f. J?? co-c/of /^a/ /At, ^(MieTHnts of 7nji JntiuniaA, o^oc/e/T/ of //Ll M^£c/ i^rc/it utfcu'/rt.— '"jIuMu yw>-^cn-;7fect^ cl'/s uicl/'s-Ztji^iiaXSL wcU~M-~ ^r70Tjufcl ncutj<^ Int. sxnjifiaJn'ir 0y)ioL'f3'rv^e/rem.ofyn£.acriMy?'7-)07ie7i(r, aJi /o es^a^i/'^A. O/ii ossoei'ciIZc/ti. a/io7t /Aa.^^tAjt^r.i/i£t^ af.yfu W07>a^cn7/urjrofoS')V!AjCL.M^i^auJ.-/nJ OstocyuJiint, /ra^tt^y ^fu ossuAOAiejL /j^cU yfu (2;b7iT>i of cl! OU/7Z CorjjtflT^y, of ur/^iffi. -U'fhauJel J^CL^ CUJtvf'MoA »/, unruJc/ Sc ocuc/jct^ ShcnjJd /frJ. 37 jk yC/f^Aff fey- US 'to a/:>-/3fcLJ 7o //u. ^^jjoAAt ^-^ emx/)i7y\r, ^lo dxefajyaZttm. of QdnAuimcj ofiA/e/o/'/Y ^ /%? ^VLOT>f/y'-?Xet^'u. olcwn Sif //te 'Soiii^cojfTcni.oj' /fte. JLS.^-of UucutJf' /96^. Of //u. Vit € t^tZ-Ajouju-/'. 2^-^ do 'iio^' cioxjJrL- 6rjUr /A/t tuiLL iJiuJb tJL. CULL cm odvoAieji or ocLmjf-u. /jJoo?i //ii sclot'^cJ.- of ^Ojo/r, a/71 a) //C SJuSA/raJJcL i L- TncUr Tftji.^CTM/tnni'it'nf oflfJu 9jbidIcL S/al[s^ coat ojY'/e'/Q^A/ AjUs^t^i Ret oUrffte. 6hijfi/rt^tt^ Ofi S^yjeva oil /'rC^, inr Icuo deJrooMlj ClotcL T^n ')najrf-< of Qii'>'>o^ fjQtr(/n.o(Ar of. o. ^^oceJ ooU^-. 4j>\ 7n/i CcmfcrtiiiaTiorx, hat mCti-faKtnx.JofoejL, amoL CU<. W/'nA InoJ: /"/f/ifcntnoM/xj, u/Aief'u Uwu/d hcuuf mo oiAjin' S^cuuuno mo/tx To Jirc/tAjLet izju-^'efxr, ifu oe.~ OlLUj) eji/) 1 ejL. of UU %t/!iilTcL S'Jo/Zs tnu Y/ros-e. /tu/}?7a/nt/ciic-( coiAr (XJCoU.' Scte/t ^^ood 'Jzecoi , d)7>t. ^^uticU/iiL' a)z ardjLO' CT-OA^ Yke. ^cnjU)icLof>o of dm Cl/)-7t.e/>icQjii. aJ/Mjt 3/7 cruJot "o-t. ZjC/nc/ji/y \rcnxjy cl/s/f'no-ujtiiJdTaoJTi^ty. CUncl a>^ koftJL YncxJ- XfcuL njiil ^a/'AjfuAjL cui YA/'j fc t'Otruy-. 1 'O^/nO C£A^ 3Q AI'T(m;ka1-H HNIXIKSKMKNT HY PRHSrOKNT GARFIELD. EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON /^^ ^, //#/. INTKRNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE. 41 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 havo 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 undei 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. 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 hav- ing no present existence, and no guaranty of any in the future. Thus it remained until the incoming of the administration of Pres- ident 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 consider- ation of the subject the following letter was received: Departmknt ov St.\tk, Washington. May 20, /SS/. Miss Clara Barton, A)ncrican Representative of the Red Cross, ete., Washing- ton: 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 .Augu.st, 1877, and referred by President Garfield on the thirtieth March, l88l, to thia department. 42 THE RKn CROSS. It npjK\irs, from a careful perusal of the letter, that Mr. Moynier is anxious thai llii- government of the United States should join with other goveruments of the world in this International Convention. Will you be jjleased 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, legisla- tion 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 I)e 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 adminis- tration 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, /881. 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 '^oubt 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 propo- sition for it will be made to Congress by the administration. I thank you, as well as President Garfield, for having been willing to lake 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 1S77 was written, several new governmental adhesions have been given to the Geneva Convention, and I think that these precede ats will be much more encouraging to the United States from the fact that they hr e been given by America. It was under the influence of events of the recent war of the Pacific that Bolivia signed the treaty the i6th of October, 1879, Chili on the 15th of November, 1879, Argentine Republic on the 25th of November, 1879, and Pern 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. IP^I^PI SOME OF THE FIRST MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS. A GROUP OF AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS MEMBERS. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE. 45 I now await with full confidence the final result of your sympathetic efforts, and I beg you to accept, sir, the assurance of uiy 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 war- ranted 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: 46 THK RED CROSS. CONSTITUTION. NamCy Location. Article i. Tliis Association shall be known as the American Association of the Reia, desirous of form- ing an association for benevolent and charitable i)urj)oses to co-oi)erate with tht Comity International de Secours aux Militaires Hless^s of Geneva, Swit/.crlainl, do, in pursuance of sections 545, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550 and 551 of the Revised SUitutes of the United States, relating to the District of Columbia, make, sign and acknowl- edge these: Articles ok Incorporation. I. The name of this association shall be the American Association of the Red 2. The term of its existence shall be for twenty (20) years. 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 regulation? governing such co-operation. 4. The number of this association, to be styled the " Executive Board," for tht 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 RED CROSS. THE FIRST INTHRNATIONAL CONFERENCE. Tht 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 ivas the U'ork of this Conference that laid the foundation for the Treaty of Geneva, adopted in the folloiving 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 plienomenon 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 Schles- wig-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. I. It originated with the Societe Genevoise d'utilite 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 com- mittee, 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 FIRST INTERNATIONAL COXI'I:ri<:NCK. 49 jealous eye bj^ 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 Inter- national Conference appeared to be indispensable to tire 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 acceptal^le, what encour- agement 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 Athenaeum 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 expecta- tion 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 insuffi- ciency 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 50 THE RED CROSS. 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 medi- cal 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 inter- esting to witness the general unanimity, as new as it was spontaneous, on a question of humanit}^ instantaneously developed into one of philan- thropic 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, w^as 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 FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. 51 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 com- plete 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 Switzer- land 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 wisel}^ 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 propo- sitions presented by the Geneva Committee, under the title of Projct de Concordat. It is evident, indeed, from a comparison of the.se two docu- ments 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. Generai. Provisions. Article i. There shall be, in each of the contracting countries, a national committee, whose duty shall consist in remedying, by all the means in its jx)wer, the inadequacy of the official sanitarj- 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. 52 THE RED CROSS. Art. 2. Sections, unlimited in number, shall be founded, in order to second the national cotnniittee. 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 l)e accepted in case of war. Art. 4. Ill time of peace, the committees and their sections shall occupy themselves with iinprovements to be introduced in the militar}' 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 communica- tions 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. Speciai. 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 char- acter. 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 i. 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 ser- vice 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. FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. 53 Art. 3. Every committee shall place itself in communication with the govern- ment of its ovpn 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, tlie committees of the belligerent nations shall furnish relief to their respective armies in proportion to their resources; in partic- ular, 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 recep- tion of the wounded. They shall solicil 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 tl:e 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 baad 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 advance- ment of the work. Art. 10. The exchange of communications between the commmitees of the different nations shall be made provisionally through the medium of the Com- mittee of Geneva. Independently of the above resolutions, the Conference expressed the follow- ing 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 di.stinctive 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 hospital.-; 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 ami maintenance in times of peace. If those societies which have hitherto labored had only conformed to this arrangement, they would have been spared nmch trouble, and would have been able to give to their resources a more judicious direction. If each of them had 54 THE RICH CROSS. been enlightened by the experience of its prcdecessuis ; if each had known before hand that wliich 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 nmch greater services, and would not, to the siime 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, Raron Tinti, of Vienna, strongly insisted on this truth, and the Committee of Schwerin did the same in its report of 1S65. 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. A GROUP OF AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS MEMBER& INTERNATIONA!. RED CRO.SS TREATY. 57 THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS TREATY. CONVKNTION OF GKNKVA. For Ihc Amelioration oj the Condttion of the Wounded in Arinits al the Field, August 22, 1864. The sovereigns of the followinj^ countries, to wit : Baden, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Portugal, France, Prussia, Saxony, Wiirtemberg, 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, havo agreed upon the following articles, to wit : Article i. 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, ami so long as there remain any to bring in or to succor. Art. 3. The persons designated in the preceding article may, even after occu- pation 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 func tions, they shall be delivered by the occupying army to the outpo.stsof 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 properly. 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 m.-ike 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 w(ninded 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 58 THE RED CROSS. iu an engagement, when circumstances permit this to be done, and with the cob- sent of lx)th 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 \ie protected by an absolute neutrality. Art. 7. A distinctive and uniform flag shall be adopted for hospitals, ambu- lances, 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 pleni- potentiaries to the International Convention at Geneva, with an invitation to accede thereto; the protocol is, for that purpose, left open. Art. id. 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 i, 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. GOVERNMENTS ADOPTING TREATY. 59 Mecklenburg-Schweriii March 9, 1865. Prussia June 22, 1865. Turkey July 5, 1865. Wiirtemberg 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. Rouraania 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 i, 1882. Bulgaria March i, 1884. Japan June 5, 1886. Luxemburg October 5, 1888. Hungarj'' .......... Congo Free State December 27, 1888. Venezuela 1894. Siam June 29, 1895. South African Republic September 30, 1896. Honduras May 16, 1898 Nicaragua May j6, 189^ 6o THR RKD CROSS. 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 Ujiiled 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 commis- sions 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 " Inter- national 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 ADDRESS. 61 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 w^ar 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 e7i 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 commis- sion 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 directl}'' on to any field, and work unmolested in full co-operation with the military and com- manders-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 62 THE RED CROSS. 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 woinided 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 organ- ization 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 enor- mous in the extent of their operations and in the suffering of individuals. This great modern international impulse of charity went out every- where 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. ADDRESS f^2 They arrived in Europe, but they were not under the treaty regula- tions. 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 ^873, 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 Com- mittee 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 assist- ant 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 secre- tary 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 pre- pared 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 64 THE RED CROSS. home again in midwinter. There tlien remained but a portion of the term ol" 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 satis- factory 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 reccommend the adoption of the treaty in his message to Congress. What were the provisions of that treaty which had been so con- spicuously 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 mem- bers of the Society of Public Utility of Switzerland. 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 impor- tant 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 ADDRESS. 65 be subject to capture; that all hospitals, general or field, shall be neu- tral, respected and protected by all belligerents; that all persons com- prising 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 inhal)'tants 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 neutralit5\ 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 govern- ments, and in conformity to the treaty. In order that all may under- stand, 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 66 THK RKD CROSS. trc.'ity under the constitution, the President and Senate are competent to deal with theni; as additional articles of war, Congress must sanction and adopt them before they can become effective and binding upon the govennnent and the people. For this reason I have appealed to Con- gress 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 Connnittee 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 ihey 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, guard- ing 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 treat}'^ does not cover more than this, but the resolu- tions 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 ADDRESS. 67 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 over- mastering 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. L,ike death they are sure to come in some form and at some time, ard 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 excite- ment 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 wastefuUy 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 communi- ties 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 68 Till- RKD CROSS. 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 uptin 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 constantl}' in readiness to dash to the rescue at the first dread clang of the fire bell. Still, w^hile the electric current may dash 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 lesson 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 com- mon 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 ADDRESS. 69 it beyond the means of ordinary local charity, and which by public opinion would be pronounced a national calamity; but that this addi- tion 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 distin- guishing feature of the international constitution, which provides that local societies shall not act except upon orders from the National Asso- ciation, 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 embarrass- ing, 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 efl&cient 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 — 70 THK RED CROSS. 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 rebel- lion 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 alto- gether 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 wdse 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 ADDRESS. 71 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 intem- perance. 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 sur- rounds a field of battle and its tortured, thirsting, starving, pain-racked, dying victims exists only in imagination; that it is all sentiment, delu- sion, falsehood, given for effect; that soldiers do not die painless deaths; that the sum of all human agony finds its equivalent on the battle- field, 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 \younded soldier would be sustained by 72 THE RKD CROSS. 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 ? lyiving 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 Treat)' of Geneva, and the unfulfilled desire of President Garfield that the United States should give its adhesion to that international com- pact. 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, Minne- sota; 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 t>ieir deliberations, and to facilitate investi- gations, ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 73 On the seventeenth of May, 18S1, Hon. Omar D. Conger submitted to the United States Senate the following resolution, which was consid- ered 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, 188 1, in response to the above resolu- tion. 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, ist 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 seven- teenth 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, 1S81. 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 Slates 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 /a, i88t. 74 THE RED CROSS. 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 Wiirtemberg, desiring to extend to armies on the sea the advantages of the convention con- cluded at Geneva the twenty-second of August, 1864, for the ameliora- tion of the condition of wounded soldiers in armies in the field, and to further particularize some of the stipulations of the said convention, proiK»sed 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 onl}- 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 tempo- rary 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 accom- plishment of their mission, the character of neutrality, as far as the circumstances of the engagement and the position of the ships engaged will permit. ADDITIONAL ARTICLES. 75 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 beat 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 stafT, 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 com- munication, 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 .'\rticle 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 belliger- ents 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 5 76 THK RKD CRO.SS. furnishetl with a coimnission ciiianatiiig from the sovereign, who shall have given express authority for tlieir heiiig fitleil out, and with a certificate from the proper naval authority that they have l)een 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 nationar 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 bellig- erents, without distinction of nationality. They nmst 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 tiie combatants, and they will be required not to serve during the con- tinuance 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 con- rary, 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, Westenberg, F. Loffler, F. N. StaaflF, Kohler, G. H. Dufour, Dr. Mundy, G. Moynier, Steiner, A. Coupvent des Bois, Dr. Dompierre, H. de Preval, Visschers, John Saville Lumley, J. B. G. Galiffe, H. R. Yelverton, D. Felice Baroffio, Dr. S. Lehmann, Paalo Cottrau, Husuy, Ji. A. Van Karnebeck, Dr. C. Hahn, Pr. Fichte. THE CONVENTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 77 {TnUrnational Bulletin, January, i88i.'\ THE GENEVA CONVENTION IN THE UNITED STATES. The friends of the Red Cross are not ignorant that the list of vStates 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 pre- pared 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 (.\pril 24, 1863), and put in practice by the armies of the North during the war of seces- sion. 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, 1S64.] 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 fol- low, 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 role of a veritable Red Cross Society. One might have thought that the Berlin Conference in 1869 would be a de- termining 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 hav- ing 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 ser\'ices to the great humani- tarian 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." 7S THE RED CROSS. That step unfortunately remained without results. The society which had itsseat at New York, comprehending that its existence would be unnatural and its position false so long as the gt)vernnlent refused to sign the convention, finished by dissolv- ing towards the end of 1S72. 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. * ♦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. H^hereas, 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 CONVENTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 79 Then, being in Europe at the time of the French and German war, she r.gain flew to the battlefield. Returning at last to her own country with entecbled 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 Wasliington 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 mucb perse- verance 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 messag; 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 oflBcial 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 imperish- able 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 efibrts have certain!}' contributed to render the Government at Washington favorable to the Geneva Convention. The preceding article was already printed when we received from the inde- fatigable Miss Barton a new pamphlet upon the Red Cross and the Geneva Con- vention. This little work is destined to initiate the Americans into the origin and histon,-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 especi- ally the text of the two letters addressed by the International Committee, one on 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 lo, 1866. [14 Vol. U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 350.] This, therefore, was not recompense for services; it was reimbur^jement 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 unpsid 8er\'iceson the field, not as an ordinary nurse, but as a sort of independent sanitary commission, whom the government, the soldiers, and the poeople 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 3] So THE RKD CROSS. the ninth of August, 1877, to President Hayes, the other on the thirteenth of June, to Secretary of Stale Blaine. The pamphlet which we have announced has been published by the American National Society of the Refncially) recognized by the American Government. It is imjwrtant 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 ive attach the greatest i>nportance to the fact in order to cover our responsibility, especially in view of Ihc 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 lue 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 soou enable us to act in the premises. Wishing to testify to you its gratitude for the services you have already ren- dered 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 1S70 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. 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 ofi&cial 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 announc- ing to the people the adoption by the United States of the Treaty of Geneva, and the Additional Articles concerning the Navy: Copyright, 1898, by Clara Barton. SOME RED CROSS DECORATIONS PRESENTED TO CLARA BARTON. The Iron Cross of Merit presented by Emperor William I. and Empress Augusta, in recogtiition of services in the Franco-German War of iSjo-ji. The Geneva Medal of Honor presented by the ComitS International in recog- nition 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. opyright, KS98, by Clara Barton. 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 ivork of the Coniite 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. A PROCI.AMATION. 85 By the President of the United States of America: A PROCLAMATION. Whereas, on the twenty-second day of August, 1864, a convention was con- cluded at Geneva, in Switzerland, between the Grand Duchy of Baden and the Swiss Confederation, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the King- dom of Spain, the French limpire, 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 Wiirtemberg, 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 iS, 1865; Mecklenburg-Schwerin, March 9, 1865; Turkey, July 5, 1865; Wiirtemberg, June 22, 1866; Hesse, June 2, 1866; Bavaria, June 30, 1866; Austria, July 21, 1866; Persia, Decembers, 1S74; Salvador, December 30, 1874; Montenegro, November 17-29, 1875; Servia, March 24, 1S76; 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; And whereas, on the twentieth October, 1868, the following additional articles were proposed and signed at Geneva, on behalf of Great Britain, Au.stria, Baden, Bavaria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, North Germany, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and Wiirtemberg, the tenor of which Additional Articles is hereinafter subjoined (see page 74); And whereas, the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, did, on the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two, declare that the United States accede to the said convention of the twenty-second of August, 1864, and also accede to the said con- vention of October 20, 1868 ; And whereas, on the ninth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two, the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation, in virtue of the final provision of a certain minute of the exchange of the ratifications of the said con- vention at Berne, December 22, 1864, did, by a formal declaration, accept the said adhesion of the United States of America, as well in the name of the Swiss Con- federation as in that of the other contracting states ; And whereas, furthermore, the Government of the Swiss Confederation has informed the Government of the United States that the exchange of the ratifica- tions of the aforesaid Additional Articles of the twentieth October, 1S6S, to which the United States of America have, in like manner, adhered as aforesaid, has not 86 THK RED CROSS. yet taken place between the contracting,' jiarties, and that these articles cannot be regarded as a treaty in full force and effect ; Now, therefore, l)e it known that I, Chester A. Arthur, President of the United suites of America, have caused the said Convention Treaty of August 22, 1864, to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof; reserving, however, the promulgation of the hereinbefore mentioned Additional Articles of October 20, 186S, notwithstanding the accession of the United States of America thereto, until the exchange of the ratifications thereof between the several contracting states shall have been effected, and the said Additional Articles shall have acquired full force and effect as an international treaty. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Ivord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and seventh. (L.S.) Chester A. Arthur. By the President. Fred'k T. Freunghuysen, Secretary of State. United States of America, Department of State, to all to ivhom these presents shall come, greeting: I certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the original on file in the Depart- ment of State. In testimony whereof I, John Davis, Acting Secretary of State of the United States, have hereunto subscribed my name and caused the seal of the Department of State to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this ninth day of August, A. D. 1882, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventh. (L.S.) John Davis. Thus was the American branch of the Red Cross welcomed into the fellowship of kindred associations in thirty-one other nations, the most prosperous and civilized on the globe, its position assured, and its future course made simple, direct and untroubled. The official bulletin of the International Committee also hailed the accession of the United States to the treaty, in an article of character- istic caution and of great significance. In that article, which is quoted in full hereafter, the distinction was carefully pointed out between that wliich had already been fully agreed to, and had become invested with all the force and solemnity of international treaties, and the proposed amendment which had been drawn up and considered with a view to ultimate adoption. This proposed amendment had received the sanction ADHESION OF THE UNITED STATES. 8? and signatures of the International Committee at Geneva, without ever having been formally adopted by any nation. The United States had, at the same moment adopted both, thus becoming the thirty- second nation to adhere to the treaty of August 22, 1864, and the first to adopt the proposed amendment of October 20, 1868. [fnteinaliona! BuUelin for April, /5&.] ADHESION OF THE UNITED STATP:s TO THE CONVENTION OF GENEVA. Referring to the article inserted in our preceding bulletin, p. 42, we are happy to be able to announce that the act of adhesion which we presented was signed at Washington the sixteenth of March, in pursuance of a vote by which the members of the Senate gave their approval with unanimity. Our readers will doubtless bt surprised, as we are, that after the long and systematic resistance of the Govern- ment of the United States against rallying to the Convention of Geneva, thert cannot be found in the American legislature a single representative of the opposi- tion. So complete a reversal of opinion cannot be explained, unless we admi( that the chief officers of the nation had cherished, up to the present time, preju- dices in regard to the Convention of Geneva — prejudices which vanished as soon as they fully comprehended what was expected of them, and recognized that there was nothing compromising in it to the political condition of their country. With the zeal of new converts, they have even gone beyond the mark, inas- much as they have voted their adhesion not only to the convention of the twenty- second of August, 1864, but also to the plan of Additional Articles of the twentieth of October, 1868, which was not the matter in question, since they had never had the force of law; we give this news only under every reserve, because we have received contradictory information on the subject. If this defect in form is found in the official document which will be sent to the Swiss Federal Council one could fear it might retard the so nmch desired conclusion of this important affair, but it need not be too much regretted, since it will enable us to understand the opinion of the great Transatlantic Republic upon maritime questions as they relate to the Red Cross. The action of the United States, mentioned in this article, was perhaps somewhat characteristic. It seemed to give itself to the move- ment of the Red Cross witli a gracious earnestness seldom seen in the cautious forms of diplomatic action, and it certainly was in very decided contrast with its former hesitancy. No doubt could now rest in any mind that the adhesion of the United States was, at last, hearty and sincere, and calculated to allay any distrust which its former isolation and declination of the treaty might have anj'where engendered. This action of the Government of the United States also rendered the position of the National Association exceptionally satisfactory, and 88 THE RKD CROSS. introduced it to the International Committee at Geneva and all the affiliated societies under circumstances calculated to promote in the greatest degree its usefulness and harmony, and to add to the gratifica- tion of all who personally have any part in the operations of the American Association. For all this it is indebted to the judicious and thoughtful care and exalted statesmanship of the President of the United States, his cabinet and advisers, and the members of the Forty-seventh Congress, who, without one breath of criticism, or one moment of delay, after they came to fully understand "the subject and comprehend its purposes and object, granted all that was then asked of them, in the adhesion to the treaties, in the recognition of the National Association, and the provisions for printing and disseminating a knowledge of its principles and practical work. Perhaps no act of this age or country has reflected more credit abroad upon those specially active in it, than this simple and beneficent measure. It must, in its great and humane principles, its far-reaching philanthropy, its innovations upon the long established and accepted customs and rules of barbaric cruelty, its wise practical charity, stand forever next to the immortal proclamation of freedom to the slaves that crowns the name of Abraham Lincoln. Special thanks are peculiarly due to those who have been its active, wise and unwavering friends, who have planned its course so truly, and set forth its purposes so clearly, that it will hereafter be misunder- stood only by those who are unwilling to learn, or who are actively hostile to its beneficent aims. Perhaps at the risk of seeming invidious — for we would by no means ignore, and have no less gratitude for the legion of generous helpers we cannot name — we might state that among those who have been foremost to aid and encourage us have been the Hon. Omar D. Conger, of Michigan, who, first in the House, and afterward in the Senate, has been conspicuous for persistent and courageous work ; also, Hon. William Windom, of Minnesota, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, who was first to investigate and take the matter up as a member of President Garfield's cabinet ; Senator E. P. Lapham, of New York, who has spared neither time nor thought, patience nor labor, in his legal investigations of the whole matter ; and probably no person has done more than he to throw light upon obscure parts and point out the true and proper course to be pursued in the accomplish- ment of the work, and the acceptance of the treaty. Senators Morgan, ADHESION OF THE UNITED STATES. 89 of Alabama; Edmunds, of Vermont ; Hawley, of Connecticut; Anthony, of Rhode Island ; Hoar, of Massachusetts, all accorded to it their willing interest and aid. Indeed, all sections and parties have seemed eager to help the Red Cross; a result that might, perhaps, have been anticipated, since it asks only an opportunity to faithfully work according to methods approved by thoughtful experience, and toward ends that all humane persons must approve. To the American newspaper press, and perhaps to the New York Herald more than to any other newspaper, through its international character, wonderful enterprise, and far-reaching circulation, the Red Cross is indebted for timely aid and noble furtherance of its objects and aims. It has been quick to discern their substantial character, and generous and full in commending them. Still, the same difficulty con- fronts us in regard to publications as persons — where all have been so willing it is difficult to distinguish. Not less than three hundred peri- odicals and papers have, within the last two years, laid upon our desk their graceful tribute of encouraging and fitly spoken words, and it has been given as an estimate of an experienced city editor, gathered through his exchanges, that over five hundred editorial notices were given of our little Red Cross book of last year, and these, invariably, so far as met our eyes, kindly approving and encouraging. The capacity of the Red Cross to carry on most wisely and well its benefi- cent work must in the future, as it has done in the past, depend largely upon the active and cordial co-operation of the newspaper press; and we do not doubt that it will continue to receive the same prompt and efficient assistance so long as it shall continue to deserve it. By the combined assistance of all these powerful friends of the Red Cross, the country has at last been rescued from the position in which it had been standing for the last seventeen years — a puzzling wonder to its admiring friends, a baffling enigma to all, treating its enemies subdued with romantic generosity, and its enemies taken captive in war with all the tenderness of friends, and yet, clinging, apparently with intense fierce- ness, to an unsocial isolation, to savage rules and regulations of war that only barbarians would ever wish to practice, pouring out its beneficence in astonishing prodigality, and in untold volume, variety and value upon strangers, and yet seemingly hesitating only when it was proposed by international law and system to use and not waste its magnificent voluntary offerings, but to entrust them all to responsible agents, trained in the very torrent and tempest of battle, to wisely 90 TIIH RKD CROSS. apply this generosity to tlie great and awful needs of war — agents held to lousiness rules, with calm accountability amid distraction and panic, trained to protect material, to give and take receipts, and at last to account faithfully for everything entrusted to them, like the officers of a well-regulated bank. The final adhesion of the United States to the treaty of the Red Cross has created a lively sense of satisfaction in all its affiliated societies wherever, throughout the world, its beneficent work is carried on ; particularly, by the International Committee of Geneva, has this wise and simple act of beneficence and common sense and common humanity been regarded with sentiments of gratitude and renewed hope. The American National Association has received the following expression of the sentiments of the noble and philanthropic president of the International Committee, written upon the receipt from the United States of the official documents of recognition : COMITE INTEK NATIONAL DE SECOURS Aux MiLiTAiREs Blesses, Geneva, September 6, 1882. Miss Clara Barton, Washington , D. C: Mademoiselle: I come to thank and congratulate you cordially upon your new success. I have read your letters of the i ith and 14th with the most lively interest, and I have also received, through the medium of the United States consul at Geneva, all the official documents which you have announced to me. The position of your society is now entirely [tout a fait) correct, and nothing more opposes itself; so that by a circular we can now make it known to the socie- ties of other countries. I am already occupied in the preparation of this document, but I am obliged to leave for Turin, where I go to attend the reunion of the Inter- national Institute of Law, and it will not be until my return, say about the twen- tieth of vSeptember, thit I can press the printing of the circular. In any case, it will be ready before the end of the month. Accept, mademoiselle, the assurance of my distinguished sentiments. G. MoYNiER, President. The circular alluded to in this letter of M. Moynier announces the adhesion of the United States to the great international compact of the Red Cross, and authenticates and opens the way for the voluntary action of the people and the government in international humanitarian action, through the medium of the American Association of the Red Cross, and is in the following terms: INTERNATIONAL CIRCULAR. 91 INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE. FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF THE RED CROSS. Fiftieth Circular to the Presidents and Mkmijers of the National Central Committers. Geneva, September 2, 1882. Gentlemen: When on the twenty-third of August, 1876, we announced to you by our thirty-fourth circular, that the American society for aid to the wounded had had only an ephemeral existence, and had finished by dissolution, we still entertained the hope of seeing it revive, and we asked the friends of the Red Cross to labor with us for its resuscitation. To-day we have the great satisfaction of being able to tell you that this appeal has been heard, and that the United States is again linked anew to the chain of our societies. Nevertheless it is not the old association which has returned to life. That which we present to you at this time has a special origin upon which we ought to give you some details. Its whole history is associated with a name already known to you, that of Miss Clara Barton. Without the energy and perseverance of this remarkable woman we should probably not for a long time have had the pleasure of seeing the Red Cross revived in the United States. We will not repeat here what we have said elsewhere of the clahns of Miss Barton to our gratitude, and we will confine ourselves to mentioning what she has done to reconstruct a Red Cross society in North America. After having prepared the ground by divers publications, she called together a great meeting at Washington on the twenty-first of May, 1881; then a second, on the ninth of June, at which the existence of the society was solemnly set forth. On the same day President Garfield nominated Miss Barton as president of this institution. The International Committee would have desired from that time to have given notice of the event to all the central committees, but certain scruples restrained it. Remembering that the first American society had been rendered powerless by the distinct refusal of the cabinet at Washington to adhere to the Geneva Conven- tion, it took precaution and declared it would wait, before recognizing the young society, until the government should have regularly signed the treaty of 1864. Miss Barton, understanding the special propriety of this requirement, redoubled her eCForts to attain this end, and we know that on the first of March she gained a complete victory upon this point. There remained another question with respect to which the International Committee did not feel itself sufficiently informed. Just how far was the Amer- ican Government disposed to accept the services of this .society? We have often said, and we repeat it, that a society which would be exposed, for the want of a previous understanding, to find itself forbidden access to its own army incase of war, would be at fault fundamentally, and would not be qualified to take its place in the International concert. Further upon this point Mi.ss Barton and the 92 THE RED CROSS. members of the American Central Committee, sought to enter into our views. They conferred with the competent authorities. The desired recognition was very difficult to obtain, for it was contrary to American customs and traditions. It was, nevertheless, accomplished after considerable discussion. On this point Miss Barton has stated to us that the s^overnment, in acquiescing in the decision which had been expressed, was entering upon a path altogether new, and that the official recognition of the Red Cross Society was for the latter a very exceptional honor. Certain documents resulted therefrom which have been communicated to us directly by the Secretary of State, at Washington, showing: 1st. That the American Association of the Red Cross has been legally con- stituted by ati Act of Congress. 2d. That President Arlhur has declared himself in full sympathy with the work, and very willingly has accepted the presidency of the Board of Consultation. 3d. That the principal meuibers of the cabinet have consented to become members of a board of trustees, empowered to receive subscriptions and to hold the funds for the society. 4th. Finally, that Congress unanimously, without discussion or opposition, has voted a sum of one thousand dollars, to be expended by the government in printed matter, designed to inform the people of the United States of the oi]f.,ani- zation of the Red Cross. The initiation of this last measure was not the wo k of the societ}' but of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate ; consequublic recognition .so nearly universal. None has ever adhered more '•losely to its one .single purpose of alleviating human .suffering. Has that any significance or any connection with philanthropy ? Let us see. An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of happiness. I suppose it is a philanthropic movement to try to reverse the process. Christianity, temperance and sanitary regulations in general are examples. Great evils die hard; and all that has yet been done is to keep them within as narrow limits as possible. Of these great evils, war is one. War is in its very nature cruel — the very embodiment of cruelty in its effects — not necessarily in the hearts of the combatants. Baron Macaulay thought it not a mitigation but an aggravation of the evil, that men of tender culture and humane feelings, with no ill will, should stand up and kill each other. But men do not go to war to save life. They might save life by keeping the peace and staying at home. They go solely with intent to inflict so much pain, loss and disaster on the enemy that he will yield to their terms. All their powers to hurt are focused upon him. In a moving army the elements of destruction, armed men and munitions of war, have the right of way; and the means of preserving and sustaining even their own lives are left to bring up the rear as they best can. Hence, when the shock and crash of battle is over, and troops are advancing or retreating and all roads are blocked, and the medical .staff trying to force its way through with supplies, prompt and adequate relief can scarcely ever reach the wounded. The darkness of night comes down upon them like a funeral pall, as they lie in their blood, tortured with thirst and traumatic fever. The memory of such scenes set a kindly Swiss gentleman to thinking of ways and means for alleviating their horrors. In time, and by efforts who.se history must be familiar to many of you, there resulted the Geneva Convention for the relief of the sick and wounded of armies. I shall not trace its hi.stor}', as it seems to be more to the present purpose to explain briefly what it proposed to do, and how it proceeded to do it. The convention found two prime evils to consider. First, the existence of war itself; second, the vast amount of needless cruelty it inflicted upon its victims. For the first of these, with the world full THE ADDRESS. 99 of standing armies, every boundary line of nations fixed and held by the sword, and the traditions of four thousand years behind its cus- toms, the framers of the convention, however earnest and devoted, could scarcely hope to find an immediate, if indeed, a perceptible miti- gation. Only time, prolonged effort, national economics, universal progress and the pressure of public opinion could ever hope to grapple with this monster evil of the ages. But the second — if it were not possible to dispense with the need- less cruelties heretofore inflicted upon the victims of war, thus relieving human misery to that extent, seemed to the framers of the convention a reasonable question to be considered. This is what it proposed to do. A few sentences will explain how it proceeded to do it. A convention was called at Geneva, Switzerland, for the fourth of August, 1864' to be composed of delegates accredited by the heads of the governments of the world, who should discuss the practices of war and ascertain to what extent the restraints of the established military code in its dealing with the sick and wounded of armies were needful for the benefit of the service; and to what extent they were needless, of benefit to no one, causing only suffering, of no strength to the ser- vice, and might be done away with; and to what extent war-making powers could agree to enter into a legal compact to that end. The consideration, discussion and concessions of two weeks produced a proposed agreement which took the form of a compound treaty, viz: A treaty of one government with many governments — the first ever made — a compact known as the Treaty of Geneva, for the relief of the sick and wounded in war. Its basis was neutrality. It made neutral all sick, wounded, or disabled soldiers at a field; all persons, as surgeons, nurses and attendants, who cared for them; all supplies of medicine or food for their use; all field and military hospitals with their equipments; all gifts from neutral nations for the use of the sick and wounded of any army; all houses near a battlefield that would receive and nurse wounded men: none of these should be subject to capture. It provided for the sending of wounded men to their homes, rather than to prison; that friend and foe should be nursed together and alike in all militar\^ hospitals; and, most of all, that the people who had always been forcibly restrained from approaching any field of action for purposes of relief, however needed (with the single exception of our Sanitary Commission, and that under great difficulties and often under protest) should not only be allowed this privilege, but should arm and equip themselves loo THE RED CROSS. with relief of all kinds, with the right to enter the lines for the helpless; thus relieving not alone the wounded and dying, but the armies of their care. It provided a universal sign by which all this relief, both of persons and material, should be designated and known. A Greek red cross on a field of white should tell any soldier of any country within the treaty that the wearer was his friend and could be trusted; and to any officer of any army that he was legitimately there and not subject to capture. Some forty nations are in that treaty, and from every military hospital in every one of these nations floats the same flag; and every active soldier in all their armies knows that he can neither capture nor harm the shelter beneath it, though it be but a little " A " tent in the enemy's lines, and every disabled man knows it is his rescue and his home. It may be interesting to know the formula of this compact. It recognizes one head, the International Committee of Geneva, Switzer- land, through which all communications are made. One national head in each country which receives such communications, transmitting them to its government. The ratifying power of the treaty is the Congress of Berne. The organization in each nation receives from its govern- ment its high moral sanction and recognition, but is in no way sup- ported or materially aided by it. The Red Cross means not national aid for the needs of the people, but the people' s aid for the needs of the 7iation. The awakening patriotism of the last few years should, I think, make this feature more readily apprehended. As the foreign nations furnish the only illustrations of the value and material aid of the Red Cross in war, let us glance at what it has accomplished. The first important war after the birth of the Treaty of Geneva, was between Germany, Italy and Austria. Austria had not, at that time, entered the treaty, and yet its objects were understood and its spirit found a responsive chord in the hearts of the people. Over $400,000, beside a great amount of material, were collected by that country, and made use of for the relief of the combatants. Italy was fairly well organized and rendered excellent service, furnishing much substantial assistance. Germany, which was in the vanguard of the treaty nations, was throughly organized and equipped. She was the first to demonstrate the true idea of the Red Cross — people's aid for national, for military, necessity. Great storehouses had been provided at central points, where vast supplies were collected. In an THE ADDRESS. loi incredibly short time, between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 were raised for relief purposes, and large numbers of volunteers came to help the already organized corps of workers. Great trains of supplies were sent to the front. The wounded enemy was tenderly cared for, and every- thing was accomplished so well and so systematically, that it proved the incalculable value of organized, authorized, civil aid. French and Swiss Red Cross workers also rendered great assistance, this being the first instance of neutrals taking an active part. In the Franco-Prussian War the German Red Cross performed even better service, it having learned many valuable lessons in the German- Austrian conflict, and through their efforts an infinite amount of good was accomplished and great suffering averted. Not only were the wounded and sick soldiers tenderly cared for, but the unprovided families of soldiers were also supplied. The French Red Cross at the breaking out of the war was poorly organized and penniless. Within one month, how- ever, hospitals had been established, ambulances and a large amount of field supplies were at the front, with a considerable relief force to care for the sick and wounded. The French Association, not including the branches in the provinces, spent over $2,000,000 and assisted 110,000 wounded. Many neutral Red Cross nations assisted in rendering aid and relief in this great war. England alone sent a million and a half dollars, besides twelve hundred cases of stores. Eighty-five thousand sick, wounded and famishing French soldiers entered Switzerland, and were cared for by the Central Committee at Berne. The International Committee at Geneva, in one instance, asked for and obtained 2500 seriously wounded French soldiers, supplied their wants, and sent them to their own country'. In the great Russo-Turkish War, the Red Cross of Russia, splen- didly equipped, with ample means and royal patronage, was, at the beginning of hostilities, greatly hampered by the jealousy of the mili- tary. The relief organizations were assigned places well in the rear; but ere many months had passed the military surgeons gladly accepted the Red Cross aid, and colossal work did it perform. Over $13,000,000 were raised, and all that was necessary .spent in supplying relief. The neutral Red Cross countries furnished valuable assistance in this war also. In the recent war between Japan and China, you undoubtedly read of the wonderful work performed by the Japanese Red Cross. This society followed the precedent of Germany, in tenderly caring for the wounded enemy, even though fighting against a nation not in the ii.j THE RED CROSS. treaty. Japan had a cruel, merciless enemy to fight, and yet her sol- diers were instructed to have respect even for a dead enemy. It is needless to give further illustrations; history records the won- derful achievements of this greatest of relief organizations, though it cannot record the untold suffering which has been averted by it. Is the Red Cross a humanitarian organization ? What is the sig- nificance of the Red Cross? I leave these two questions for you to answer. But war, although the most tragic, is not the only evil that assails humanity. War has occurred in the United States four times in one hundred and twenty years. Four times its men have armed and marched, and its women waited and wept. That is on an average of one war every thirty years. It is now a little over thirty years since the last hostile gun was fired; we fondly hope it may be many years before there is another. A machine, even a human machine, called into active service only once in thirty years is liable to get out of working order; hence to keep it in condition for use, no less than for the possible good it might do, the American Society of the Red Cross asked to have included in its charter the privilege of rendering such aid as it could in great public calamities, as fires, floods, cyclones, famines and pestilence. In a time of profound peace that has been the only possible field of activity. It is not for me to say whether that field has been success- fully cultivated, but a few of the facts wdll determine whether the innovation upon the treaty will commend itself to your judgment, as it has to those of the older societies of Europe. Naturally it required not only diplomacy but arguments to obtain a privilege never before ofi5cially considered in the unbroken customs of an international treaty. They must be submitted to a foreign con- gress. The same argument pertained fifteen years ago that pertains to-day, namely, that in all our vast territory, subject to incalculable disasters, with all our charitable, humane and benevolent associations, there was not one which had for its object and duty to hold itself in preparation and training to meet and relieve the woes of these over- mastering disasters. All Avould gladly aid, but there were none to lead. Everybody's business was nobody's business, and the stricken victims perished. We asked that under the Red Cross Constitution of the United States its national organization should be permitted to act in the capa- city of Red Cross relief agents, treating a national disaster like a field of battle, proceed to it at once with experienced help, equipped with THE ADDRESS. 103 all the needful supplies and means to commence relief, overlook and learn the needs of the field, make immediate statements of the true condition and wants to the people of the country, who, knowing the presence of the Red Cross there, could, if desirable, make it the medium of their contributions for relief either in money or material. To relieve the necessities in every way possible, keep the people at large in possession of reliable information, hold the field until relief has been given, and retire when all needed aid has been rendered. This privilege was graciously granted by the ratifying Congress at Berne, and is known as the ' ' American amendment ' ' of the Red Cross. Nations since that date, on becoming signatory to the treaty, have included that amendment in their charters. This is the principle upon which we have acted. The affording of relief to the victims of great disasters anywhere in the United States, is what the National Red Cross has proceeded to do, and it has confined itself strictly to its privileges, acting only in disasters so great as to be national. It never asks aid; never makes an appeal: it simply makes statements of the real condition of the sufferers, leaving the people free to exercise their own humanity through any medium they may prefer. In the thirteen years of relief work by the Red Cross in the United States, every dollar and every pound that has been received and distributed by it, has been the free-will offering of the people, given for humanity without solicitation, and dispensed without reward. It has received nothing from the government. No fund has been created for it. No contributions have been made except those to be distributed as relief at its fields. Its officers serve without pay. There is not, nor ever was, a salaried officer in it, and even its headquarters meets its own costs. Among the various appropriations made by Con- gress for relief of calamities in the past years, as in great river floods, not a dollar so appropriated has ever been applied through the Red Cross, although working on the same field. I name these facts, not by way of complaint, or even comment, but to correct popular errors of belief, which I know you would prefer to have corrected. True to its method, this is simply a statement of the real condition of things, and left to the choice of the people — the Red Cross itself is theirs, created for them, and it is peculiarly their privilege to deal with it as they will. The following list of calamities with the approximate value of material furnished, as well as money, will give you some appreciation of the services rendered in the cause of humanity by the American i,)4 Jill*: ki-:!) CROSS. National Reo several hundred thousand dollars for relief, to be applied through the War Department. The Red Cross agents must again repair to the field, its societies be again notified. But its president felt that if she were to be called every year to direct the relief work of the association in these inundations it was incumbent upon her to visit the scene in person, to see for herself what floods were like, to learn the necessities and be able to direct with the wisdom born of actual knowledge of the subject ; and accordingly, with ten hours' preparation, she joined Dr. Hubbell on his way and pro- ceeded to Pittsburg, the head of the Ohio River. There the societies were telegraphed that Cincinnati would be headquarters and that money and supplies should be sent there. This done, we proceeded to Cincinnati by rail. Any description of this city upon our entrance would fall so far short of the reality as to /ender it useless. The surging river had climbed up the bluffs like a devouring monster and possessed the town; large steamers could have plied along its business streets; ordinary avocations were abandoned. Bankers and merchants stood in its relief houses and fed the hungry populace, and men and women were out in boats passing baskets of food to pale, trembling hands stretched out to reach it from third story windows of the stately blocks and warehouses of that beautiful city. Sometimes the water soaked away the foundations and the structure fell with a crash and was lost in the floods below; in one instance seven lives went out with the falling building; and this was one city, and prob- ably the best protected and provided locality in a thousand miles of thickly populated country. "5 ii6 THK RKD CROSS. It had not been my intention to remain at the scene of disaster, but rather to see, investigate, establish an agency and return to national headquarters at Washington, which in the haste of departure had been left imperfectly cared for. But I might almost say, in mili- tary parlance, that I was "surprised and captured. " I had made no call beyond the Red Cross societies — expected no supplies from other sources — but scarcely had news of our arrival at Cincinnati found its way to the public press when telegrams of money and checks, from all sides and sources, commenced to come in, with letters announcing the sending of material. The express office and freight depots began filling up until within two weeks we were com- pelled to open large vSupply rooms, which were generously tendered to the use of the Red Cross. A description could no more do justice to our flood of supplies than to the flood of waters which had made them necessary — cases, barrels and bales of clothing, food, household sup- plies, new and old; all that intelligent awakened sympathy could suggest was there in such profusion that, so far from thinking of leaving it one must call all available help for its care and distribution. The government would supply the destitute people with food, tents and army blankets, and had placed its military boats upon the river to rescue the people and issue rations until the first great need should be supplied. The work of the Red Cross is supplemental and it sought for the special wants likely to be overlooked in this great general supply and the necessities oiitside the limits of governmental aid. The search was not difficult. The government provided neither fuel nor clothing. It was but little past midwinter. A cyclone struck the lower half of the river with the water at its greatest height and whole villages were swept away in a night. The inhabitants escaped in boats, naked and homeless. Hail fell to the depth of several inches and the entire country was encased in sleet and ice. The water had filled the coal mines so abundant in that vicinity until no fuel could be obtained. The people were more likely to freeze than starve and against this there was no provision. We quickly removed our headquarters from Cincinnati to Evans- ville, three hundred miles below and at the head of the recent scene of disaster. A new staunch steamer of four hundred tons burden was immediately chartered and laden to the water's edge with clothing and coal; good assistants, both men and women were taken on board; the Red Cross flag was hoisted and as night was setting in, after a THE OHIO RIVKR FLOODS. ii; day of intense cold — amid surging waters and crashing ice, the float- ing wrecks of towns and villages, great uprooted giants of the forest plunging madly to the sea, the suddenly unhoused people wandering about the river banks, or huddled in strange houses with fireless hearths — the clear-toned bell and shrill whistle of the "Josh V. Throop" announced to the generous inhabitants of a noble city that from the wharves of Evansville was putting out the first Red Cross relief boat that ever floated on American waters. The destroyed villages and hamlets lay thick on either bank, and the steamer wove its course diagonally from side to side calling the people to the boat, finding a committee to receive and distribute, and learning as nearly as possible the number of destitute persons, put off the requisite quantity of clothing and coal, and steamed away quickly and quietly leaving sometimes an astonished fcic^ sometimes a multi- tude to gaze after and wonder who she was, whence she came, what that strange flag meant, and most of all, to thank God with tears and prayers for what she brought. In this manner the Red Cross proceeded to Cairo, a distance of four hundred miles, where the Ohio joins the Mississippi River, which latter at that time had not risen and was exciting no apprehension. Returning, we revisited and resupplied the destitute points. The government boats running over the same track were genial and friendly with us, and faithful and efficient in their work. It should be said that, notwithstanding all the material we had shipped and distributed, so abundant had been the liberality of the people that on our return to Evansville we found our supply greater than at any previous time. At this moment, and most unexpectedly, commenced the great rise of the Mississippi River, and a second cry went out to the govern- ment and the people for instant help. The strongest levees were giving way under the sudden pressure, and even the inundation of the city of New Orleans was threatened. Again the government appro- priated money, and the War Department sent out its rescue and ration boats, and again the Red Cross prepared for its supplemental work. In an overflow of the Mississippi, owing to the level face of the country and the immense body of water, the valley is inundatcfl at times thirty miles in width, thus rendering it impossible to get animals to a place of safety. Great numbers drown and the remainder, in a prolonged overflow, have largely starved, the government having never included the domestic animals in its work of relief. This ii8 THE RED CROSS. seemed an omission of vital importance, both humanely and economi- cally considered, and the Red Cross prepared to go to the relief of the starving animals of the Mississippi valley. It would also supply clothing to the destitute people whom the government would feed. The navigation of the Mississippi River calls for its own style of boats and pilotage, the latter being both difficult and dangerous, especially with the changed channels and yawning crevasses of a flood. The steamer "Throop" was left at Evansville and the "Mattie Bell" chartered at St. Louis and laden with corn, oats, hay, meal and salt for cattle ; clothing and cooking utensils for the destitute people ; tea, coffee, rice, sugar and medicines for the sick: and as quickly as possible followed the government steamers leaving the same port with rations of meat and meal. These latter boats kindly burdened themselves with large quantities of our forage which our overladen boat could not contain. We soon found that our judgment in regard to the condition of the animals had been correct. Horses, mules, cows, sheep and pigs had been hastily gotten upon floating rafts and platforms of logs raised above the water, or had taken refuge, as many as could, on the narrow strips of land, known as broken levees, say eight to twelve feet in width, just peering above the water; and here they stood often crowded beyond the possibility of lying down, with no morsel of food save the wee green leaves and tips of the willow branches and gray moss which their pitying owners, largely poor negroes, could gather in skifl^s and bring to them. Day by day they stood and wasted, starved, and their bodies floated down the stream, food for the birds of prey hov- ering above. Week after week hour after hour the mighty river, pour- ing through its monster crevasses, spread wider and wider every hour. We left our steamer at times and were rowed out in little boats for miles alongside of the levees, and went among the cattle. Some waded out into the water to their backs to reach after the green scum which gathered and swam delusively upon the surface. Some, unable to stand, lay stretched at length with head and horns dabbling in the mud, fearlessly turning great pitiful eyes upon us as we approached. Others, reeling, followed us tamely about, as if beseeching us to feed them. I need not add that they were fed. Committees of both white and colored persons were formed and the requisite quantity of food for the animals and clothing for the people were left with these committees at every needy point. Our steamer was reladen, THE OHIO RIVER FLOODS. uy or our supplies replenished at each available port, and in this manner we passed to New Orleans, and returning, resupplied our connnittees. The necessity for a change of boat on the Ohio and Mississippi has been mentioned; that the "Throop" was discharged at Evansville and the Red Cross body passed over to St. Louis. Perhaps some reference to the journals of that date would best illustrate the necessity for these movements, as -.veil as the spirit of the people and of the times. l-'ioni an editorial in the Chicago Inter-Ocain of 2\larch 31, iJ<84, the following extract is taken: The day is not far distant— if it has not already come — when the American people will recognize the Red Cross as one of the wisest and best systems of phil- anthropic work ill modern times. Its mission is not accomplished when it has carried the generous offerings of the people to their brethren who have met with sudden calamity. It does not stop with the alleviation of bodily suffering and the clothing of the destitute — blessed as that work is, when wisely done, so as not to break down the manly spirit of self-help. The Red Cross has become a grand educator, embodying the best principles of social science, and that true spirit of charity which counts it a sacred privilege to serve one's fellowmea in time of trouble. The supplying of material wants — of food, raiment and shelter is only a small part of its ministry. In its work among suffering humanity, when fire or flood or pestilence has caused widespread desolation, the Red Cross seeks to carry to people's hearts that message which speaks of a universal brotherhood. It is all the time and everywhere sowing the seed of brotherly kindness and goo