The Express.
London, England, 1864-09-01 00:00:00

MGR WAX= AT LONDON BEID6I.

THIS DAT Morning. 2h. law Afternoon. 2h. 261 n.
TO-nollow —lf ornton. 2h. 44m Aftonaeon. 2h. Um.

LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1.

Am International Conference to study how to
mitigate the horrors of war might appear to some
a mere utopian scheme of the humanitarians--a
subject only likely to result in eloquent disserta-
tions upon the goodness of universal benevolence
ready to sacrifice everything, even life, to minis-
ter a grain of comfort, and ease the pain of the
wounded soldier. But we think it will be felt by
all who will give themselves the trouble to con-
sider the resolutions framed by the Conference I
lately assembled at Geneva, that the objects
proposed are quite within the scope of
practical utility ; and assuredly they em-
brace a purpose as noble and benevolent as any in
the whole field of charity. The origin of this As-
sociation appears to be due to a Society at Geneva
formed to promote all objects of public utility,
and a committee of this Society having given in-
vitations to the principal Governments of Europe
to send delegates, there assembled a number
of military surgeons from the armies of Europe,
all of them eminent men of great military expe-
rience, with other scientific persons well qualified
to take part in discussion of the proposed points
for consideration. The details of operations by
committees and sections we must leave, but the
leading questions submitted were—whether it is
desirable and practicable to give relief to the
wounded in battles by volunteer services in addi-
tion to the means supplied by the regular
organization of armies ; and next, whether neu-
trality and full military protection shall be asked
from all nations in time of war for the wounded,
the surgeon', and all persons and things employed
for their succour. The organization proposed
does not embrace the whole round of hospital
wants, but refers chiefly to the wants on the field—
the various ambulances and stretchers for convey-
ing wounded and sick to central hospitals from
the field of battle or the encampment, and tem-
porary relief in the way of what are called medical
comforts. As we understand the motives of the
Association, it is especially laid down that
all volunteer aid of this kind should be
rendered as supplementary to that pro-
vided by the regular organization of the armies,
and by no moans so as to supplant the existing
system. It is not intended to relieve Govern-
ments of any of their burdens or responsibilities
justly enforced by the claims of the soldier ; this
would have been a decided mistake, because it
would certainly lead only to divided responsibi-
lity and the inevitable risk of even more calami-
tous breakdowns than have ever occurred to armies
in a protracted campaign. The volunteer nurses or
attendants in the field would be entirely under the
command of the military chief, and act in
co-operation with the regular hospital staff, The
proposal of universal neutrality, under a common
flag for all services, and a badgeifor all hos-
pital stalls, for these volunteers,' and for all
people engaged in assisting, and for the
wounded themselves, is, we fear, a difficulty. How-
ever desirable such a plan, it would be impossible
to admit the neutrality of all the wounded ; and
there are few commanding officers who would be
disposed to allow so many chances of spying, and
in many other ways interfering with the discipline
of troops, which would be inevitable in such a
plan. It is scarcely to be expected, also,
that an army already fully equipped, with
its hospital and transport corps properly
officered by men who have been entrusted with
highly important and responsible duties, would
take kindly to any bands of volunteers who might
be placed to work with them, and who might expect
to share, or perhaps to claim, all the honours. They
naturally believe in themselves and their men,
and are jealous of any interference. As Dr.
But: pita, of the French service, the deputy sent
by the Minister of War to the Conference, told
them, these volunteers would be treated as strangers
to the army, and their request; though politely
received, would be neglected and forgotten in the
numberless demands upon the military authorities.
This difficulty, however, might be much got rid of
in the nursing of men in the lare:e hospital; where
volunteers could always do good service in reliev-
ing a certain number of regular hospital orderlies
when the emergencies of the field might require
them. Volunteer nurses in hospitals, thanks for
ever to FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, have been the
salvation of many lives, not to speak of the ines-
timable blessings they brought to the soldier, whose
fate, left to the care of the military system,
would have been to languish of fever
and wounds, and die in a foreign land.
Whether the resolutions come to by the Conference
may be all of them cipable of being carried out
or not, the discussion has brought before us some
very significant points, to which we should do well
to take heed. The delegates sent by the different
Governments were very properly chosen chiefly
from the highest officials of the military medical
departments : those gentlemen were evidently op-
posed to the views of the Geneva Society ; they
pointed out the impracticability of mixing any
volunteer hospital corps with the regulars ; they
claimed for the soldier the honourable task of at-
tending his comrade, and stated that hospital corps
men required to be "militarized as much or more
" than any;' while as to affording means of carry-