e and documents already published--especially
an interesting account which appeared in the _Neue Zuercher Zeitung_ of
October 18th, written by Dr. Schneeli, who had just been visiting the
hospitals and prisoners' camps in Germany--show that in that country
efforts are being made to reconcile the ideals of humanity with the
exigencies of war. They make it clear that there is no difference
between the care bestowed by the Germans on their own wounded and those
of the enemy, and that friendly relations exist between the prisoners
and their guards, who all share the same food.

I could wish that a similar inquiry might be made and published on the
camps where German prisoners are concentrated in France. In the meantime
accounts which reach me from individuals disclose a similar
situation,[18] and there is plenty of reliable evidence that in Germany
and France alike the wounded of both countries are living in terms of
friendship. There are even soldiers who refuse to have their wounds
dressed or receive their rations before their comrades the enemy have
received similar attention. And who knows if it is not perhaps in the
ranks of the contending armies that the feelings of national hatred are
least violent? For there one learns to appreciate the courage of one's
adversaries, since the same sufferings are common to all, and since
where all energy is directed towards action there is none left for
personal animosity. It is amongst those who are not actively engaged
that there is developed the harsh and implacable brand of hatred, of
which certain intellectuals provide terrible examples.

The moral situation of the military prisoner is therefore not so
overwhelming as might be imagined, and his lot, sad as it is, is less to
be pitied than that of another class of prisoners of whom I shall speak
later. The feeling of duty accomplished, the memory of the struggle,
glorifies his misfortune in his own eyes, and even in those of the
enemy. He is not totally abandoned to the foe; international conventions
protect him; the Red Cross watches over him, and it is possible to
discover where he is and to come to his assistance.

In this work the admirable _Agence internationale des prisonniers de
guerre_, most providentially established some two months after the
commencement of the war, has caused the name of Geneva to be known and
blessed in the most remote corners of France and Germany. It only needs,
like Providence itself, to gain the