(1) Jean-Charles Chenu, Observations (1864)

It is easy to see that I do not share the hopes that are founded upon the employment of volunteer nurses on the battlefield. The admission of a civil volunteer element would only cause disorders of more than one kind. What happened in America? The sanitary commissions invaded most of the services, they arrogated control to themselves, they made reports, they soon functioned like an independent power; they were better informed than the government itself; newspapers have published their correspondence whether it was true, exaggerated, or false, etc. Only America can permit itself such eccentricities.