INTERNATIONAL LAW AND PEACE CONFERENCE. 77 



the asperities of war, and among the milestones that mark this 

 advance toward a more humane usage the Red Cross Society holds 

 an honored place. Under its rules the sick and wounded were no 

 longer left to the irregular and capricious care of private benevo- 

 lence, but were made the subject of organized and systematic treat- 

 ment by a staff of skilled physicians and experienced nurses pro- 

 vided with hospital and ambulance facilities, and, thus equipped 

 and assured the protection of both combatants, they were able to 

 work effectively in their ministrations to the sick and dying. 



Vast as was this progress from the days when at the siege of 

 Acre the first real attention since the dark ages was given to the 

 wounded by the Order of Teutonic Knights, there was still one 

 serious imperfection that limited its sphere of usefulness — it did 

 not apply to warfare on the seas. An effort had indeed been made 

 in 1868 to extend the Red Cross rules to naval warfare, but it 

 failed, and the wounded in conflicts on the sea continued to be left 

 to the old provisions, which were necessarily inadequate and could 

 not be exercised under the joint protection of the combatants. 

 The virtue of the good Samaritan is a potent force, but to be fully 

 effective on the field of battle it must be exercised under a common 

 system established and maintained by the mutual consent of na- 

 tions. It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that because the 

 effort made in 1868 to extend these rules to sea warfare failed on 

 account of their non-ratification, they were not sustained by public 

 opinion. Many difficulties, especially those of a technical charac- 

 ter, stood in the way; but public opinion was ever growing in their 

 favor, and it eventually came to be regarded as an anomaly that 

 while the care of the sick and wounded in land warfare had been 

 regulated upon a common basis of international agreement, no 

 similar provision existed for the care of the victims of naval com- 

 bat. Without some such extension of the rules no adequate ex- 

 pression could be given to the growing humanity of the age. 



For these reasons it will be obvious that the next step necessary 

 in the further development of the Red Cross work consisted of its 

 extension to naval warfare. The Peace Conference subjected the 

 Convention of 1864 and the additional rules of 1868 to a careful 

 examination, considered at length the difficulties in the way, and 

 finally adopted a new series of rules providing for an organized 

 staff of physicians and nurses, with hospital ships and life-saving 

 appliances, which shall, without interfering with operations, be 

 henceforth employed in naval engagements and enjoy the protec- 

 tion of both combatants. 



The newly formulated rules, in conjunction with the previous 

 ones relating to land warfare, are the practical embodiment of the 



