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BED-CROSS SOCIETIES AND THE LAWS OF WAR. 



tral, and all the attendants are to be free from 

 molestation ; non-combatants bringing help to 

 wounded are not to be hindered, and houses 

 where wounded are must not be disturbed. The 

 permanently disabled are to be released and 

 allowed to return to their own country. In 

 1865 Great Britain, Turkey, Greece, and Meck- 

 lenburg-Schwerin accepted the conditions of 

 the convention ; in 1866 Austria, Bavaria, and 

 Saxony joined the other nations, Russia in 

 1867, and the Pontifical States in 1868. In 

 the latter year fifteen other articles, extending 

 the provisions of the convention to naval war- 

 fare, and enlarging the rights of the sanitary 

 personnel, sick, and wounded, as neutrals, were 

 added. The majority of the states, however, 

 refused to ratify these supplementary articles. 

 The badge by which the neutralized persons 

 and places were to be recognized, the Swiss 

 flag with the colors reversed, was stated in the 

 articles of the compact. It is a red cross on a 

 white ground. This symbol protects not only 

 the regular hospital service of the belligerent 

 armies, but volunteer nurses and surgeons. 

 Societies of the Red Cross were formed in the 

 different countries of Europe, and, in the tre- 

 mendous wars which followed the conclusion 

 of the humane compact, the governments found 

 in the volunteer corps which gathered at the 

 seat of war from the various countries of Eu- 

 rope an invaluable aid to their sanitary depart- 

 ments. The St. Petersburg declaration of No- 

 vember 16, 1868, was a corollary to the Geneva 

 Convention. It forbids the use of certain kinds 

 of explosive shot as unnecessarily deadly, on 

 the principle that the legitimate airn of warfare 

 is to cripple the military resources of the enemy 

 merely, and consequently weapons which de- 

 stroy life and maim, when slighter wounds 

 would be equally effective in disabling the 

 enemy, are inhumane and illegitimate. Fifteen 

 European states agreed to the proposition of 

 the Russian Government, including all the 

 great powers, besides Turkey and Persia. In 

 1874 Persia, Roumania, and San Salvador sub- 

 scribed to the Geneva Convention; Monte- 

 negro in 1875; Servia in 1876 ; the Argentine 

 Republic, Bolivia, and Chili in 1879 ; and Peru 

 in 1880. 



ORGANIZATION COMPLETED. An internation- 

 al organization was completed and cemented 

 at a conference of Red-Cross societies held at 

 Berlin in April, 1869. Measures were adopted 

 with regard to the establishment of national 

 societies in the different countries and their 

 relations to the military authorities, and to pro- 

 visions for the service in war-time, and the 

 technical preparation and equipment. The 

 international association embraced in its ob- 

 jects also the relief of the injured and suffer- 

 ing in calamities occurring in time of peace. 

 A quarterly bulletin, published at Geneva, was 

 established as the official organ of the associa- 

 tion. The central control of the organization 

 is vested in an international committee perma- 

 nently established at Geneva. The national 



societies and their branches, recognized by their 

 several governments, receive credentials from 

 this committee to the authorities of the bel- 

 ligerent states when they engage in the active 

 work of the association in time of war. The 

 International Committee consists of seven mem- 

 bers. The president, Gustave Moynier, has 

 held that office since the first organization of 

 the association in 1863. 



OBJECTS. The original object of the associa- 

 tion, the reform of the laws of war in the di- 

 rection of greater humanity, has been aban- 

 doned for the magnificent field of practical 

 work which was opened by the results of its 

 original efforts. The theoretical aims were 

 made the special task of an allied organization, 

 the Institut de Droit International, which was 

 founded by some of the men who gave the first 

 impulse to the movement. The Institut pub- 

 lished in 1880 a manual of the laws of war, 

 revised in accordance with the newly accepted 

 doctrines, which met with a favorable recep- 

 tion in some countries, notably in Russia, 

 France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The 

 eminent Bluntschli, lately deceased, besought 

 on behalf of the society the approval of Field- 

 Marshal Moltke for the new code, and received, 

 in the early part of 1881, a remarkable reply. 

 The great German strategist eulogized war as 

 " an element in the order of the world ordained 

 by God," in which the noblest virtues, courage, 

 self-abnegation, and faithfulness to duty are 

 developed, and without which "the w r orld 

 would stagnate and lose itself in materialism." 

 He declared that an international code of war 

 can have no sanction or authority to execute 

 it, and the only safeguards against the excesses 

 of soldiery are discipline and an adequate com- 

 missariat maintained on the part of the gov- 

 ernment, and the religious, moral education of 

 soldiers, and honor and sense of justice of com- 

 manders. The proposition that an invading 

 army should take only u in proportion to the 

 resources of the country " he declared impos- 

 sible to carry out. He expressed disagreement 

 with the declaration of St. Petersburg, believ- 

 ing that the more terrible the engines of de- 

 struction, and the sharper and shorter the con- 

 flict, the better for the nations engaged. The 

 position of the reformers on the mooted ques- 

 tion of the belligerent rights of irregular forces, 

 volunteer corps, and those who take up arms 

 "spontaneously" to defend their homes, the 

 German commander could not be expected to 

 accept after the relentless reprisals which were 

 taken upon these classes of combatants during 

 the French invasion. The Swiss, who have 

 from ancient times owed their independence 

 to their volunteer organizations, and the Nor- 

 wegians, who are proud of their Landstorm, 

 and hold the right of bearing arms to be the 

 guarantee of popular liberty, are specially de- 

 sirous to secure the recognition of volunteer 

 bodies. They agree that these forces should 

 be under the orders of the regular commanders, 

 and that they should wear some distinguishing 



