CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE RELIEF OF THE MISERY OF BATTLE FIELDS; AUXILIARY TO THE "COMITÉ INTERNATIONALE DE SÉCOURS AUX MILITAIRES BLESSÉS,' AT GENEVA, SWITZERLAND. CONSTITUTION. ART. 1. This Association, organized pursuant to an official invitation of the Comité Internationale de Sécours aux Militaires Blessés, of Geneva, shall consist of and such other persons as may hereafter be elected to membership; and it shall constitute a Central National Committee, auxiliary to the Genevan International Committee. ART. 2. The objects of this Association are: first, to secure the adoption, by the Government of the United States, of 70104 the international compact, providing for the neutrality of all persons in attendance upon the sick and wounded of hospitals, battle fields, etc., already adopted by most civilized nations; secondly, to collect and diffuse information touching the progress of mercy and the advancement of sanitary science, in its application to armies; thirdly, to cooperate with all other national associations, and with the Central Geneva Committee, in such ways as it may approve or find convenient for the furtherance of humanity on battle fields throughout the world. ART. 3. This Association shall hold itself in readiness, in the event of a war upon its own soil, or its borders, to inaugurate such practical measures for the protection and relief of the sick and wounded of the opposing armies as may consist with the objects of the Association, as indicated in Art. 2. ART. 4. The members named in Art. 1 shall constitute a Board of Management. ART. 5. The Officers of the Board, and of the Association, shall be a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. ART. 6. It shall be the duty of the President to preside at all meetings of the Board of Management, and to conduct the foreign correspondence with the Central Committee at Geneva, and with our own Government. ART. 7. The Secretary shall keep the records and conduct the ordinary business correspondence, notify the meetings, and attend to any special duty assigned to him by the Board of Management. ART. 8. The meetings of the Board of Management shall be held quarterly, on the second Mondays of January, April, July, and October, and at such other times as the Board may appoint, and whenever the President may call the Board together. SKETCH OF THE INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR THR AMELIORATION OF SUFFERING AMONG THE SICK AND WOUNDED OF ARMIES IN THE FIELD. In November, 1863, Monsieur J. Henry Dunant published at Geneva, Switzerland, a narrative of his experience as an eye witness of the horrors subsequent to the deadly strife at Solferino, in 1859. Moved by a consideration of the painful inadequacy of all means of succour for the wounded and dying of that bloody field, he urged the formation, in each country of Europe, of a permanent society for the relief of the wounded in battle, acting in the interest of its own country, but in a spirit of universal humanity. He claimed that the person of a combatant, prostrated by a wound, to whatever nation he belonged, should always be considered sacred. Also, that the condition of neutrality, and consequent freedom from capture by the enemy, should attach to the persons of the sanitary corps of the several belligerent armies, and that on the occasion of great battles, the services of benevolent persons, inclined to devote themselves to the relief of the wounded, should be more generally accepted as the necessary complement of the labors of the overworked official administrative staff. M. Dunant suggested a uniform flag for the field and general hospitals of all civilized powers, and an identical AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE RELIEF OF THE MISERY OF BATTLE FIELDS; A CENTRAL NATIONAL COMMITTEE, Its Constitution, with a Sketch of the International WASHINGTON, D. C. GIBSON BROTHERS, PRINTERS. 1866. |