It is necessary to lay stress on this programme since it differs greatly from the popular conception of the functions of the Red Cross in the battle area.  It was on the field of Solferino in 1859, that Henri Dunant went out before the fury had spent itself to tend the wounded.  It was here that he was fired with his great ambition to found a non-combatant service, which should recognise no enemies and be friends with every army.  His ambition was realised when in 1864 the Conference at Geneva chose the Swiss flag, reversed, as its emblem—­a red cross on a field of white—­and laid the foundations for those international understandings which have since formed for all combatants, except the Hun in this present warfare, the protective law for the sick and wounded.  The original purpose of the Red Cross still fills the imagination of the masses to the exclusion of all else that it is doing.  Directly the term “Red Cross” is mentioned the picture that forms in most men’s minds is of ambulances galloping through the thick of battle-smoke and of devoted stretcher-bearers who brave danger not to kill, but in order that they may save lives.

This war has changed all that.  To-day the Red Cross has to minister to not the wounded of armies only, but to the wounded of nations.  In a country like France, with trenches dug the entire length of her eastern frontier and vast territories from which the entire population has been evacuated, the wounds of her armies are small in comparison with the wounds, bodily and mental, of her civil population—­wounds which are the outcome of over three years of privation.  When the civil population of any country has lost its pluck, no matter how splendid the spirit of its soldiers, its armies become paralysed.  The civilians can commence peace negotiations behind the backs of their men in the trenches.  They can insist on peace by refusing to send them ammunition and supplies.  As a matter of fact the morale of the soldiers varies directly with the morale of the civilians for whom they fight.  Behind every soldier stand a woman and a group of children.  Their safety is his inspiration.  If they are neglected, his sacrifice is belittled.  If they beg that he should lay down his arms, his determination is weakened.  It is therefore a vital necessity, quite apart from the humanitarian aspect, that the wounds of the civilians of belligerent countries should be cared for.  If the civilians are allowed to become disheartened and cowardly, the heroic ideal of their fighting-men is jeopardised.  This fact has been recognised by the Red Cross Societies of all countries in the present war; a large part of their energies has been devoted to social and relief work of a civil nature.  Even in their purely military departments, the comfort of the troops claims quite as much attention as their medical treatment and hospitalisation.  As a matter of fact, the actual carrying of the wounded out of the trenches to the comparative safety of the dressing