The Sanitary Commission of the United States Army : a succinct narrative of its works and purposes / Sanitary Commission.
- United States Sanitary Commission
- Date:
- 1864
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Sanitary Commission of the United States Army : a succinct narrative of its works and purposes / Sanitary Commission. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
302/334 page 292
![upon this point. This treaty is not an isolated case, since examples may be found in the history of more remote times. In the ^ order of St. John of Jerusalem,^ there exist analogous souvenirs of the Sultan Saladin, and may we not reasonably expect that in this civilized age, the sovereigns of Europe would not willingly appear less humane and generous, than many centuries ago was a Saracen Sultan of the desert. An experienced surgeon of the Austrian army, said he would call at- tention to the fact that— Those persons who comprise the sanitary corps in the field, are mili- tary persons and bear arms, which they only lay aside during the execu- tion of their mission to the sick and wounded. They may be taken prisoners wherever they are found, since this is the right of war, and as injury is inflicted upon a hostile army by depriving it of its stores of sup- plies and provisions, so also it may be made to suffer if deprived of the whole or a part of its sanitary corps. Upon the field of battle, however, those places where they deposit their arms to take care of the wounded, should be considered by the enemy as sacred ; and to effect this, an inter- national flag of a particular color should be raised; and since this Confer- ence has proposed a white badge with a red cross to designate the voluntary nurses, let ail places where the wounded and their attendant surgeons are found be also indicated by a flag of this color. All nations have now adopted a flag for their ambulances, but each has a flag of a different color. It is white in Austria, red in France, yellow in Spain, in other countries it is black, and the soldiers composing the armies are only familiar with the color of their own ambulances. This difficulty would be remedied if a white flag with a red cross should float over the ambulances of all the armies of Europe. In his [Dr. Unger's] opinion, the enemy must retain the right to make prisoners of mililary surgeons \ but he must respect their persons, and the places of asylum and succor upon the field of battle, the ambulance, and the hospital in the rear, indicated by the national flag, shall be considered neutral. Dr. Mannoir said he could not appreciate the motive which induces Dr. Unger to suppose that the neutrality of sanitary corps cannot be ac- cepted. The history of war has never demonstrated that an army has been destroyed, or a sovereign compelled to make peace, because such army or sovereign had lost ils sanitary corps. The only result of the loss of the sanitary staft and supplies is, that the wounded cannot receive proper care. It is the soldier who suffers, and this is of no advantage to the hostile army, as no general has ever hesitated to engage in battle from such a motive. Moreover, Dr. Mannoir objected to what can only be con- sidered a mere hypothesis on the part of Dr. Unger, for unfortunately neither this Conference nor military surgeons possess the authority to de- cide this question, and M. Mannoir affirms, as his personal opinion, the entire innocence of the neutrality of the sanitary service. He would, there- fore, propose the following amendment ; Conference, before adjourning, unanimously recommends : That the several Stales of Europe co-operate in urging the neutrality of persons who compose the sanitaiy staff of armies in the field, including in this neutrality not only the stafi actually in service, but the corps of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21459460_0302.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
