At length the day fixed for the opening of the Conference arrived. On the morning of the twenty-sixth of October, in the rooms of the Athenæum at Geneva, might be seen an assembly composed of eighteen official delegates, representing fourteen governments, six delegates of different associations, seven unaccredited visitors, with five members of the Geneva Committee. It was sufficient to glance over the list of the thirty-six members of the Conference, to understand that the expectation of its promoters was attained, and even surpassed, and that their initiative had already found its reward in the meeting of such a body. It was impossible that a deliberation among men so eminently qualified should not throw the fullest light on the question submitted to them. The committee tells us that the eagerness with which the invitation was responded to soon justified the propriety of the step it had taken. It became convinced that, in drawing public attention to the insufficiency of the official sanitary service, it had touched a sensitive chord, and had responded to a universal wish. It was also convinced that it was not pursuing a chimerical object. If, for a moment, it had feared that its project would only attract mere dreamers and Utopians, it was reassured on seeing that it had to deal with men in earnest, with medical and military magnates. It also received much encouragement from persons who were prevented from taking part in the debates, but who testified to the lively interest they took in them. It was then, with the most happy auspices that General Dufour opened the Conference, which lasted four days, under the presidency of M. Moynier, president of the Genevoise Society of Public Utility, and the vice-presidency of His Highness Prince Henry XIII., of Reuss, the delegate of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Every one seemed animated by the best motives, and desirous not to lose so good an opportunity to open a new arena for the cause of charity. It was interesting to witness the general unanimity, as new as it was spontaneous, on a question of humanity instantaneously developed into one of philanthropic urgency. Dr. Landa, delegate of the Spanish Government, well expressed the sentiment of the assembly when he exclaimed, "Oh, that we may be so happy as to discover the basis which shall render the the useful institution we aspire to found durable and effectual!" The magnitude of the result which may be obtained, and the tears which may be wiped away, demand that we should devote all our efforts to attain it; and if this work be realized, it will be an event which all friends of humanity will be able to hail with the greatest joy. We feel, said the president of the Conference, that a great duty is imposed upon us, and we shall not rest until we have found means to lessen for our fellow-creatures the privations, the sufferings and the evils of all kinds which are the inevitable consequences of an armed contest.