The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-07 00:00:00

THE GREAT FRENCH EXHIBITION.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
PARIS, Wednesday, June 5.
I dare say you will not object to a digression.
Permit me in this letter to put aside the subject of
pictures, in order to make some notes on one or
two other matters that seem to require more im-
mediate attention.
And, first of all, let me speak of the Interna-
tional Society for the Succour of the Wounded in
Battle. Little is known of it in England, and its
exhibition here is so much out of the way that it
runs a good chance of being overlooked. England,
indeed, is peculiar in holding herself too much aloof
from the society, whose operations, however, excite
a very lively interest on the Continent, and will,
doubtless, awake similar interest in England when
they are properly known. It was founded at Ge-
neva, in 1862, by a Swiss gentleman, M. Dunant.
He was very much affected after the battle of Sol-
ferino through seeing the enormous amount of suf-
fering produced by want of the most ordinary care.
In Brescia alone there lay 32,000 wounded men.
What medical staff could attend to all these ?
The number of persons who die after a battle from
mere want of attention—from hunger and thirst,

from cold, from bleeding that might be pre
vented—is incredible ; and M. Dunant formed the
idea of an international society that would attend
to the wounded in battles—that would raise and
train a little army of volunteers, to hover about a
battle-field and to take care of the fallen. In the
year 1863 there was a conference at Geneva, at
which delegates from nearly every nation iu
Europe took part. The deliberation of this con-
ference led to two suggestions, one of which has
been deemed practicable, while the other has not yet
attained to that dignity. It was suggested on the
one hand that in war the sick and wounded, and
whatever is necessary for their treatment, including
all the stores and equipment and officers of a field
hospital, should be neutralised. It was suggested,
on the other hand, that every army in the field
should accept the attentions of a little army of
benevolent volunteers, who would set themselves
the task of relieving the wounded ; and that these
volunteers—properly accredited—should also be
treated as neutral. The chief Governments of
Europe decided that the first of these suggestions is
practicable, and the other not ; and their decision
was made manifest in the following year—namely,
186 i—when there assembled at Geneva a congress
of plenipotentiaries authorised on behalf of their
several countries to form a treaty which would
have the effect of neutralising all the wounded
in battle, and all the persons and appliances
necessary for their aid. This, which is known as
the Convention of Geneva, was signed on the 24th
of August, 1864, on behalf of all the European
Governments except three—England, Austria, and
Russia. England, however, signed it in the follow-
ing February, Austria did not sign it till after the
war with Prussia, and Russia is only now on the
point of signing it.
It is a great gain to have succeeded thus far ; but
more still remains to be done, and the International
Society are indefatigable in their efforts. They are
to have conferences here in the end of August, to
which all benevolent persons are invited, and at
which it is proposed to discuss a number of ques-
tions relating to the best methods of mitigating the
horrors of war. But the first and foremost object
of the society is to establish the principle of intro-
ducing the aid of volunteers in a campaign to suc-
cour the wounded. Nearly all the military autho-
rities see only the objections to this proposal—the
difficulties of furnishing them with rations, of keep-
ing them under military discipline, and of provid-
ing against the abuses to which the introduction of
such a loosely formed and comparatively irres-
ponsible body of men within the lines of an army
might lead. The supporters of the scheme, how-
ever, are enthusiastic and full of hope ; they de-
clare that the objections to it are only the objec-
tions of red tape, and they believe that very soon
all the Governments of Europe will be glad to come
round to their views and to accept their aid. In
the mean time they work in other directions. They
are themselves an international society, but they are
anxious to see national societies established in con-
cert with them. In most of the European countries
such national societies have been already started.
There is one in Prussia, for example, warmly sup-
ported by the Court. There is one in France also
similarly patronised. It is a private society composed
very largely of civilians, but care is taken to 'have
military men at the had of it ; and there is a branch
society of the same constitution in each of the mili-
tary districts into which France is divided. All these
national societies have their centre in the Interna-
tional Society, which in August next will bring
them together into conference, and now has brought
them together into an exhibition. It is an exhibition,
however, in which England takes no part, for in
England we have no special society whose business
it is to consider the wants of the wounded in battle.
Mr. Longmore, Deputy Inspector-General of the
Medical Staff, in a lecture which he delivered last
year before the United Service Institute, and
which is published in the transactions of that
body, strongly recommended the formation of
such a society in our country, and no doubt before
long we shall see it formed; but in the meantime,
although we spend in round numbers two dozen
millions a year to keep up our army and navy, our
people hold on the even tenour of their way as if
war will never come. Notwithstanding our prodi-
gious expenditure, the French and the Prussians
seem to think a good deal more than we do of the
probabilities of war and the miseries which attend
it. You should hear of the shame with which the
Prince of Prussia confesses that when his country
went to fight the Danes in 1864 the ambulance
waggons of the Prussian army were of the same
construction as those used in the wars with Napo-
leon. But we have a still more painful story to tell,
that when we went into the Crimean campaign we
had no ambulance waggons in store ; that we had
lost the pattern of them ; that the construction of
those used in the Peninsular war had gone out of
mind ; and that we had, beginning anew, to devise
vehicles, which, unhappily, turned out to be very
deficient. And if war were to break out to-mor-
row, we should find ourselves woefully backward
in all that relates to the tending of the sick and
wounded. Instantly we should hear of one set
of people beginning to collect lint, of another
set busy about other medical comforts,. and all
working together in a feeble, fragmentary way.
Why should we not anticipate the reality and pre-
pare for war ? We who spend our £24,000,000 in
the equipment of armies and navies may surely
, spend a few thousands and give some heed to the