pressing. The whole matter is an awful mess, and Lord Hartington is anxious to leave it in some way of settlement." On the following day a lucid and exhaustive Memorandum on the subject went in from her. [51] The history of this affair, which excited a prodigious interest in Parliament and the press, may be read by the curious in vol. xxxiii. of the Parliamentary Papers of 1863, and vol. xxxv. of those of 1864. Miss Nightingale's good offices were asked by the War Office to parry an attack by "Jacob Omnium," for whose part in the affair see _Essays on Social Subjects_, by Matthew John Higgins, 1875, pp. lvi.-lx. [52] It certainly was dull: see _Hansard_, March 3, 1864. [53] See below, p. 108. In July 1864 Miss Nightingale was engaged on a piece of work for the War Office which was closely associated with her Crimean experiences and with her European repute. It was in August of that year that the international congress was held which framed the famous Geneva Convention. The British delegates were Miss Nightingale's friend, Dr. Longmore, and Dr. Rutherford, and she drafted their Instructions. The principle of the Convention was the neutralization of the wounded under the Red Cross. Societies formed under the Red Cross were soon organized throughout Europe, and the movement led to a great development of volunteer-nursing in war time. Sometimes Miss Nightingale sent in suggestions on her own account. She was in close touch with soldiers and sailors, and a woman's sympathetic insight appears in this letter:--