visitation of floods, fires, or earthquakes, will always constitute a proper subject for their humanitarian endeavor; and the use or display of the insignia of the convention upon such occasions does not come within the prohibitory requirements which are embodied in articles 27 and 28 of the new convention.

It was the sense of the conference that the field of activity of these societies should be restricted to the second line of sanitary formations, and to the fixed hospitals established at the bases of supply, in which the sick and wounded are habitually collected for permanent treatment; but, as the control and supervision of their philanthropic activity is vested by the terms of the convention in the state which authorizes them, it was not deemed best to insert such a stipulation in the text of an international agreement.

The convention of 1864 was silent as to the status occupied by the sick and wounded who, by the vicissitudes of war, pass into the control and possession of the enemy. This defect, which is a very important one, is remedied in the new agreement by a clause providing that at the instant of capture the sick and wounded pass into a status of captivity, and thereby become entitled to the benefits accorded to prisoners of war by the generally accepted rules of international law. They also become entitled to the privileges and immunities which are expressly conferred upon prisoners by the terms of the Hague convention of 1899.

The requirements of the new undertaking, in respect to the consideration to which the sick and wounded are entitled, are clear and spec fic, and include within their scope not only the combatant members of the military establishment, but such noncombatants as habitually accompany the army in an official capacity. All these are required to be collected and cared for, without regard to nationality, and this duty is made equally incumbent upon both belligerents by clauses which charge the occupant of the battlefield with the duty of caring for the wounded who have fallen in battle, and require a retiring belligerent to make reasonable provision for the care and treatment of the wounded who are left behind. These clauses are very broadly stated, and are intended to apply not only to the case where a successful belligerent occupies the battlefield, but also to a case in which both of the opposing armies occupy new positions at some distance from the field in which the losses were incurred.

After each combat the occupant of the field is required to take the necessary measures for the protection of the wounded and the examination and identification of the dead. To that end all individual medals, or tokens, together with all letters, valuables, and personal belongings found upon the field or upon the bodies of those who have fallen in battle, are to be collected and transmitted to the lines of the enemy. The names of the sick and wounded who have fallen into the hands of the opposing belligerent, or who have been admitted into his hospitals for treatment, and who have recovered or have died, are also to be forwarded to the enemy's outposts with a view to their transmission to relatives and friends.

Authority is vested in the commanding generals of the opposing armies to enter into cartels for the immediate return of the wounded to their own lines at the close of the battle, and to repatriate the sick and wounded when they have so far recovered as to be able to undertake the homeward journey. They may also send them to a neutral state for treatment and internment, with the consent of the neutral government, but upon the condition that the internment shall continue until the close of the war.

The important question of convoys of the sick and wounded is made the subject of detailed regulation in the new convention. If a moving convoy is intercepted by a belligerent he is authorized, if such a course is dictated by military necessity, to take possession of the means of transportation in which the sick and wounded are being conveyed to their destination. In so doing, however, he charges himself with the care of the patients who are undergoing transportation, and must return the official sanitary and administrative personnel and matériel to their own lines with the least practicable delay. Ambulances and other vehicles, together with hospital trains and steamers, which have been especially fitted for the transportation of the sick and wounded, are to be returned to the army to which they belong, but while in the possession of the enemy are to be used exclusively for the accommodation of the sick and wounded. Means of transportation belonging to a belligerent, but not specially fitted for hospital uses, are subject to capture; and vehicles obtained by requisition, including ordinary railway trains and river boats, or commercial vessels temporarily utilized for the conveyance of the sick and wounded, together with the drivers, or other employees, necessary to their

management or use, are made subject to the operation of the laws of

war.

The appeal to the charity of the inhabitants of occupied territory in behalf of the sick and wounded which was embodied in the convention of 1864, but which was found to be so impracticable in its application as to require substantial amendment in the agreement of 1868, has been replaced by a provision, more completely in harmony with existing conditions, which authorizes commanding generals to appeal to the charitably disposed inhabitants of the theater of war to collect and care for the sick and wounded, and authorizes them to promise special protection and an immunity from the removable hardships of war to those whose favorable acceptance of the appeal is evidenced by efforts to ameliorate the lot and relieve the suffering of those who have been disabled by wounds or diseases.

It was also recognized that the methods which now prevail in the treatment of the sick and wounded no longer permit their isolation in scattered dwellings and outbuildings, which are difficult of access and in which sanitary conditions cannot be controlled. For that reason the collection of patients in tents and suitable hospital buildings, under the most advanced conditions in respect to sanitation and antiseptic treatment, was strongly favored by the conference.

The employment of the insignia of the convention was made the subject of careful and extended treatment; this with a view to prevent its abuse and restrict its use to the personnel and matériel to which its protection is intended to be accorded. The heraldic sign of the red cross upon a white ground was recognized and continued as the emblem and distinctive sign of the sanitary service of armies in the field. The use of the term "heraldic" in describing the insignia of the convention excludes the view that any religious association attaches to the distinctive emblem of the convention's philanthropic and humanitarian activity. Turkey was not represented in the conference, and it is worthy of note that the representatives of Japan, China, Persia, and Siam expressed a willingness on the part of their governments to accept the red cross as the official insignia of the convention.

The convention contains a provision that the emblem of the red cross shall be exclusively used, both in time of peace and war, to designate the personnel and matériel of the sanitary formations which it is

the purpose of the convention to protect. It also provides that, in the event of capture, the flag of the convention shall alone be displayed, so long as the sanitary formation which it protects remains under the control of the enemy. With a view to prevent the usurpation or abuse of its name or insignia, especially in the form of trade-marks or commercial labels, the signatory powers whose legislation in this regard is insufficient, agree to take, or to propose to their respective legislative bodies, such measures as are necessary to secure to the name and emblem of the convention a complete immunity from abuse. As considerable time will be required for the preparation and adoption of legislation of the kind above described, the convention contains a clause requiring the signatory powers at the end of five years from its date of signature to communicate the results of their efforts in this regard to the general council of the Swiss confederation.

The convention also contains an undertaking that the signatory governments shall take the necessary measures to instruct the personnel of their military establishments in the detailed application of its rules to the care and treatment of the sick and wounded who are made the subject of its several stipulations. They also agree to bring a knowledge of the scope and operation of the convention to the attention of their respective citizens or subjects. The propriety of this is obvious.

The suggestion that the rules governing the care and treatment of the sick and wounded in maritime warfare should be brought before the conference for discussion, with a view to their adaptation to the conditions of modern naval warfare, was informally discussed with the representatives of several of the great maritime powers. It was found that but two governments-the United States and Japanwere represented by naval delegates, and that none of the delegations felt justified, in view of their instructions, in entering upon the discussion of the application of the rules of the Geneva convention to maritime warfare, without further advices from their respective governments, and without the presence and assistance of naval representatives in any discussion which might arise. For that reason, and as the question is one which will probably be inscribed upon the programme of the second peace conference, further consideration of the subject was not insisted upon.

GEORGE B. DAVIS.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW1

In his letter asking me to make the opening address this morning, the secretary of the Society describes the topic as "The Second Hague Conference and the Development of International Law as a Science.'

There is certainly nothing small and narrow about this text for a discourse, while at first blush it would seem to be made up of two parts not particularly related. Any impression of that sort is dispelled, however, by a little reflection.

Conferences between states, indeed, are not only suggestive of the lines upon which international law as a science may be expected to develop, but are among the most efficient means to that end. It is an essential preliminary to wise law-making to inquire to whom the law is to apply, and by whom it is to be applied. There was a stage in the history of international law when both these questions could be easily answered. While Rome was practically mistress of the world under the Cæsars, they both determined what should be the relations to each other of the various political communities under the Roman rule, and, if occasion arose, made their edicts operative by the use of the necessary force. After the Cæsars, the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy exercised more or less completely the same prerogatives until, with the advent of the Reformation, the old order of things passed away and a period of lawlessness followed, during which international affairs seemed to be at the mercy of the strongest power concerned. It was succeeded by modern international law, so-called, of which Grotius is hailed as the father; for whose basis was taken the absolute independence and equality of states; and for whose rules the precepts of what is called the law of nature. These precepts were deemed to be founded in right reason and sound morals, were declared to be immutable, and were held to be instinctively recognized by all rational creatures and consequently to subject any offender against them to the just condemnation of mankind.

'An address delivered before the American Society of International Law, April 20, 1907.