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diff --git a/20335.txt b/20335.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a968951 --- /dev/null +++ b/20335.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1815 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Case of Edith Cavell, by James M. Beck + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Case of Edith Cavell + A Study of the Rights of Non-Combatants + +Author: James M. Beck + +Release Date: January 11, 2007 [EBook #20335] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CASE OF EDITH CAVELL *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Tamise Totterdell, Linda McKeown +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +THE +Case of Edith Cavell. + +A Study of the Rights +of Non-Combatants. + +BY + +JAMES M. BECK, + +_Former Assistant Attorney-General of the United States, +and Author of "The Evidence in the Case."_ + +(_Reprinted from "New York Times."_) + +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, +NEW YORK AND LONDON. + + + + + +THE CASE OF EDITH CAVELL. + +A Reply to Dr. Albert Zimmermann, Germany's +Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs. + +By JAMES M. BECK, + +_Former Assistant Attorney-General of the United States, and Author of +"The Dual Alliance v. The Triple Entente," and "The Evidence in the Case."_ + +_Mr. Beck, who is one of the leaders of the New York Bar, is the author +of the most widely read article written since the war began, entitled: +"The Dual Alliance v. The Triple Entente," which was subsequently +expanded into a book, called "The Evidence in the Case," pronounced by a +distinguished publicist to be "the classic of the war." After its +publication in THE NEW YORK TIMES this article was reprinted in nearly +every language of the civilized nations and over a million copies of it +were published._ + + + * * * * * * * + + +Those who have regarded the Supreme Court of Civilization--meaning +thereby the moral sentiment of the world--as a mere rhetorical phrase +or an idle illusion should take note how swiftly that court--sitting now +as one of criminal assize--has pronounced sentence upon the murderers of +Edith Cavell. The swift vengeance of the world's opinion has called to +the bar General Baron von Bissing, and in executing him with the +lightning of universal execration has forever degraded him. + +Baron von der Lancken may possibly escape general obloquy, for his part +in the crime was no greater than that of Pilate, who sought to wash his +hands of innocent blood; but von Bissing will enjoy "until the last +syllable of recorded time" the unenviable fame of Judge Jeffreys. He, +too, was an able Judge and probably believed that he was executing +justice, but because he did not execute it in mercy, but with a ferocity +that has made his name a synonym for judicial tyranny, the world has +condemned him to lasting infamy, and this notwithstanding the fact that +he was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Lord High Chancellor of +England, and a peer of the realm. All these titles are forgotten. Only +that of "Bloody Jeffreys" remains. + +Similarly, if his master shall be pleased to honor General Baron von +Bissing with the iron cross for his action in the case of Miss Cavell, +as the Kaiser honored the Captain of the submarine which destroyed the +Lusitania--and what order could be more appropriate in both cases than +the cross, which recalls how another innocent victim of judicial tyranny +was sacrificed?--then even the Order of the Iron Cross will not save von +Bissing from lasting obloquy. I do not question that he acted according +to his lights and shared with Dr. Albert Zimmermann great "surprise" +that the world should make such a sensation about the murder of one +woman. Trajan once said that the possession of absolute power had a +tendency to transform even the most humane man into a wild beast, and +Judge Black in his great argument in the case of _ex parte_ Milligan +recalled the fact that Robespierre in his early life resigned his +commission as Judge rather than pronounce the sentence of death, and +that Caligula passed as a very amiable young man before he assumed the +imperial purple. The story is as old as humanity that the appetite for +blood, or at least the habit of murder, "grows by what it feeds upon." + +The murder of Miss Cavell was one of exceptional brutality and +stupidity. It never occurred to her judges that her murder would add an +army corps to the forces of the Allies and that every English soldier +will fight more bravely because of her shining example. So little was +this appreciated either in Brussels or Berlin that the German Foreign +Office, in its official apology for the crime, issued over the signature +of Herr Doctor Albert Zimmermann, Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs, +expresses its surprise + + _that the shooting of an Englishwoman and the condemnation of + several women in Brussels for treason have caused a sensation._ + +What extraordinary moral naivete! How could they appreciate that after +the firing squad had done its work and the body of the woman had been +given hasty burial the victim's virtues would + + "plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against + The deep damnation of her taking off; + And pity, like a naked new-born babe, + Striding the blast, or Heaven's cherubim, horsed + Upon the sightless couriers of the air, + Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, + That tears shall drown the wind." + +This happened with incredible rapidity, and the Kaiser made haste to +respite the eight other intended victims--two of them being also +women--and the Berlin Foreign Office also issued to the world its +defense of its action. + +It began with an expression of "pity that Miss Cavell had to be +executed," but the sincerity of this pity can be measured by the fact +that concurrently with Dr. Zimmermann's official apology there came from +Berlin an "inspired" supplemental explanation, which sought to +depreciate the character and services of the dead nurse by stating "that +she earned a living by nursing, _charging fees within the means of the +wealthy only_." + +The world has an abundant refutation of this cruel and cowardly slur +upon the memory of a dead woman, for one who first hazarded her life and +then gave it freely to save the lives of others--for such was the charge +for which she died--is not a woman to restrict her gracious +ministrations of mercy for mercenary motives. + +The Kaiser has been swift to see the deadly injury to his cause of this +latest evidence of military tyranny. Not only has he respited Miss +Cavell's alleged accomplices--as if to say with Macbeth, "thou canst not +say I did it"--but it is said that he has summoned von Bissing and von +der Lancken to explain their actions in the matter, but as the Kaiser is +responsible for the invasion of Belgium and has hitherto condoned its +attendant horrors, he can no more absolve himself from some share of +responsibility than could Macbeth disavow his responsibility for the +deeds of his two hirelings. + +_The stain of this murder rests upon Prussian militarism and not upon +the German people_, for it should not be forgotten that possibly the +most chivalrous act which has happened since the beginning of the war, +was the erection by a German community, where a detention camp was +maintained, of a statue to the French and English soldiers who had died +in captivity, with the beautiful inscription: + + "To our Comrades, who here died for their dear Fatherland." + +What could be more chivalrous or present a greater contrast to the +assassination of Miss Cavell? + +We are advised by Dr. Zimmermann that Miss Cavell was given a fair trial +and was justly convicted, but as the proceedings of the trial were not +public and as Miss Cavell was denied knowledge in advance of the trial +of the nature of the charges against her, _and as we know little of the +circumstances of her alleged offense except the reports of her judges +and executioners_, the world will be somewhat incredulous as to whether +the trial was as just to the accused as Dr. Zimmermann would have us +believe. + +The difficulty with this assurance is that the German conception of what +is a fair trial differs from that which prevails in Anglo-Saxon +countries, just as the German word "Gerechtigkeit" does not convey the +same mental or moral conception as the English word "justice." +"Gerechtigkeit" means little more to the Teutonic mind than the exercise +of the power of the State, and claims no further sanction than its +authority. In England, France, and the United States the idea of justice +is that an individual has certain fundamental and inalienable rights +which even the State cannot override, and none of these fundamental +rights have been more highly valued in the evolution of English liberty +than the rights of a defendant who is charged with crime. Whether guilty +or not guilty, he cannot be arrested without a judicial warrant on proof +of probable cause; he may not be compelled to testify against himself; +he is entitled to a speedy trial and shall be informed in advance +thereof of the exact nature of the accusation; his trial shall be public +and open, and he shall be confronted with the witnesses against him and +have compulsory process for his own defense; in advance of trial he +shall have permission to select his own counsel, and shall have the +opportunity to confer freely with him. + +_Most of these fundamental rights were denied to Miss Cavell._ + +It is difficult to understand why, in view of the policy of terrorism, +which has prevailed in Belgium from the time that the invader first +crossed its frontier, the justice from the standpoint of military law +should be referred to in Herr Zimmermann's defense. In the official +textbook of the General Staff of the German Army the definite policy of +terrorizing a conquered country is proclaimed as a military theory. Its +leading axiom is that + + "a war conducted with energy cannot be directed merely against the + combatants of the enemy State and the positions they occupy, _but + it will and must in like manner seek to destroy the total + intellectual and material resources of the latter_. Humanitarian + claims, such as the protection of men and their goods, can only be + taken into consideration in so far as the nature and object of the + war permit. Consequently the argument of war permits every + belligerent State _to have recourse to all means which enable it to + obtain the object of the war_." + +Miss Cavell's fate only differs from that of hundreds of Belgium women +and children in that she had the pretense of a trial and presumably had +trespassed against military law, while other victims of the rape of +Belgium were ruthlessly killed in order to effect a speedy subjugation +of the territory. The question of the guilt or innocence of each +individual was a matter of no importance. Hostages were taken and not +for the alleged wrongs of others. + +Did not General von Buelow on August 22nd announce to the inhabitants of +Liege that + + "_it is with my consent that the General in command has burned down + the place [Andenne] and shot about 100 inhabitants._" + +It was the same chivalrous and humane General who posted a proclamation +at Namur on August 25th as follows: + + "Before 4 o'clock all Belgian and French soldiers are to be + delivered up as prisoners of war. Citizens who do not obey this + will be condemned to hard labor for life in Germany. At 4 o'clock a + rigorous inspection of all houses will be made. _Every soldier + found will be shot._ * * * _The streets will be held by German + guards, who will hold ten hostages for each street. These hostages + will be shot if there is any trouble in that street._ * * * A crime + against the German Army will compromise the existence of the whole + town of Namur _and every one in it_." + +Did not Field Marshal von der Goltz issue a proclamation in Brussels, on +October 5th, stating that, if any individual disturbed the telegraphic +or railway communications, all the inhabitants would be "_punished +without pity, the innocent suffering with the guilty_"? + +Individual guilt being thus a matter of minor importance, Dr. Zimmermann +had no occasion on the accepted theory of Prussian militarism to justify +the secret trial and midnight execution of Edith Cavell. Indeed, he +freely intimates that his Government will not spare women, no matter how +high and noble the motive may have been which inspires any infraction of +military law, and to this sweeping statement he makes but one exception, +namely, that women "in a delicate condition may not be executed." But +why the exception? If it be permitted to destroy one life for the +welfare of the military administration of Belgium, why stop at two? If +the innocent living are to be sacrificed, why spare the unborn? The +exception itself shows that the rigor of military law must have some +limitation, and that its iron rigor must be softened by a discretion +dictated by such considerations of chivalry and magnanimity as have +hitherto been observed by all civilized nations. If the victim of +yesterday had been an "expectant mother," Dr. Zimmermann suggests that +her judges and executioners would have spared her, but no such exception +can be found in the Prussian military code. "It is not so nominated in +the bond," and the Under Secretary's recognition of one exception, based +upon considerations of humanity and not the letter of the military code, +destroys the whole fabric of his case, _for it clearly shows that there +was a power of discretion which von Bissing could have exercised, if he +had so elected_. + +That her case had its claims not only to magnanimity, but even to +military justice, is shown by the haste with which, in the teeth of +every protest, the unfortunate woman was hurried to her end. Sentenced +at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, she was executed nine hours later. Of +what was General Baron von Bissing afraid? She was in his custody. Her +power to help her country--save by dying--was forever at an end. The hot +haste of her execution and the duplicity and secrecy which attended it +betray an unmistakable fear that if her life had been spared until the +world could have known of her death sentence, public opinion would have +prevented this cruel and cowardly deed. The labored apology of Dr. +Zimmermann and the swift action of the Kaiser in pardoning those who +were condemned with Miss Cavell indicate that the Prussian officials +have heard the beating of the wings of those avenging angels of history +who, like the Eumenides of classic mythology, are the avengers of the +innocent and the oppressed. + +"_Greatness_," wrote Aeschylus, "_is no defense from utter destruction +when a man insolently spurns the mighty altar of justice_." + +This is as true to-day as when it was written more than two thousand +years ago. It is but a classic echo of the old Hebraic moral axiom that +"the Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite." + +The most powerful and self-willed ruler of modern times learned this +lesson to his cost. Probably no two instances contributed so powerfully +to the ultimate downfall of Napoleon as his ruthless assassination under +the forms of military law of the Duke d'Enghien and the equally brutal +murder of the German bookseller, Palm. The one aroused the undying +enmity of Russia, and the blood that was shed in the moat of Vincennes +was washed out in the icy waters of the Beresina. The fate of the poor +German bookseller, whom Napoleon caused to be shot because his writing +menaced the security of French occupation, developed as no other event +the dormant spirit of German nationality, and the Nuremberg bookseller, +shot precisely as was Miss Cavell, was finally avenged when Bluecher gave +Napoleon the _coup de grace_ at Waterloo. No one more clearly felt the +invisible presence of his Nemesis than did Napoleon. All his life, and +even in his confinement at St. Helena, he was ceaselessly attempting to +justify to the moral conscience of the world his ruthless assassination +of the last Prince of the house of Conde. The terrible judgment of +history was never better expressed than by Lamartine in the following +language: + + "A cold curiosity carries the visitor to the battlefields of + Marengo, Austerlitz, Wagram, Leipsic, Waterloo; he wanders over + them with dry eyes, but one is shown at a corner of the wall near + the foundations of Vincennes, at the bottom of a ditch, a spot + covered with nettles and weeds. He says, 'There it is!' He utters a + cry and carries away with him undying pity for the victim and an + implacable resentment against the assassin. This resentment is + vengeance for the past and a lesson for the future. _Let the + ambitious, whether soldiers, tribunes, or kings, remember that if + they have hirelings to do their will, and flatterers to excuse + them while they reign, there yet comes afterward a human conscience + to judge them and pity to hate them. The murderer has but one hour; + the victim has eternity._" + +At the outbreak of the war Miss Cavell was living with her aged mother +in England. Constrained by a noble and imperious sense of duty, she +exchanged the security of her native country for her post of danger in +Brussels. "My duty is there," she said simply. + +She reached Brussels in August, 1914, and at once commenced her +humanitarian work. When the German army entered the gates of Brussels, +she called upon Governor von Luttwitz and placed her staff of nurses at +the services of the wounded under whatever flag they had fought. The +services which she and her staff of nurses rendered many a wounded and +dying German should have earned for her the generous consideration of +the invader. + +But early in these ministrations of mercy she was obliged by the noblest +of humanitarian motives to antagonize the German invaders. Governor von +Luttwitz demanded of her that all nurses should give formal +undertakings, when treating wounded French or Belgian soldiers, to act +as jailers to their patients, but Miss Cavell answered this unreasonable +demand by simply saying: "We are prepared to do all that we can to help +wounded soldiers to recover, but to be their jailers--never." + +On another occasion, when appealing to a German Brigadier-General on +behalf of some homeless women and children, the Prussian martinet--half +pedant and half poltroon--answered her with a quotation from Nietzsche +to the effect that "Pity is a waste of feeling--a moral parasite +injurious to the health." She early felt the cruel and iron will of the +invader, but, nothing daunted, she proceeded in the arduous work, +supervised the work of three hospitals, gave six lectures on nursing a +week and responded to many urgent appeals of individuals who were in +need of immediate relief. "Others she saved, herself she could not +save." + +When one of her associates, Miss Mary Boyle O'Reilly, who has recently +contributed a moving account of Miss Cavell's work, was expelled from +Belgium, she begged Miss Cavell to take the opportunity, while it +presented itself, to leave that land of horror, and Miss Cavell, with +characteristic bravery, replied smilingly: "Impossible, my friend, my +duty is here." + +It was undoubtedly in connection with this humanitarian work that she +violated the German military law by giving refuge to fugitive French and +Belgian soldiers until such time as they could escape across the +frontier to Holland. For this she suffered the penalty of death, and the +validity of this sentence, even under Prussian military law, I will +discuss later. It is enough to say that no instinct is so natural in +every man and woman, and especially in woman with the maternal instinct +characteristic of her sex, than to give a harbor of refuge to the +helpless. All nations have respected this instinctive feeling as one of +the redeeming traits of human nature and the history of war, at least in +modern times, can be searched in vain for any instance in which anyone, +especially a woman, has been condemned to death for yielding to the +humanitarian impulse of giving temporary refuge to a fugitive soldier. +Such an act is neither espionage nor treason, as those terms have been +ordinarily understood in civilized countries. + +It is true, as suggested by a few in America who sought to excuse the +Cavell crime, that Mrs. Surratt was tried, condemned and executed +because she had permitted the band of assassins, whose conspiracy +resulted in the assassination of Lincoln and the attempted murder of +Secretary Seward, to hold their meetings in her house; but the +difference between this conscious participation in the assassination of +the head of the State, in a period of civil war, and the humanitarian +aid which Miss Cavell gave to fugitive soldiers to save them from +capture is manifest. I am assuming that Miss Cavell did give such +protection to her compatriots, for all accessible information supports +this view, and if so, however commendable her motive and heroic her +conduct, she certainly was guilty of an infraction of military law, +which justified some punishment and possibly her forcible detention +during the period of the war. + +To regard her execution as an ordinary incident of war is an affront to +civilization, and as it is symptomatic of the Prussian occupation of +Belgium and not a sporadic incident, it acquires a significance which +justifies a full recital of this black chapter of Prussianism. It +illustrates the reign of terror which has existed in Belgium since the +German occupation. + +When the German Chancellor made his famous speech in the Reichstag on +August 4th, 1914, and admitted at the bar of the world the crime which +was then being initiated, he said: + + "The wrong--I speak openly--that we are committing we will endeavor + to make good as soon as our military goal has been reached." + +Within a few weeks the military goal was reached by the seizure of +practically all of Belgium and by the voluntary surrender of Brussels to +the invader, and since then, for a period of fourteen months, the +Belgian people have been subjected to a state of tyranny for which it +would be difficult to find a parallel, unless we turned to the history +of the Netherlands in the Sixteenth Century and recalled its occupation +by the Duke of Alva. It must be said in candor that the Prussian +occupation of Belgium has not yet caused as many victims as the "Bloody +Council" of the Duke of Alva, for the estimated number of +non-combatants, who have been shot in Belgium during the last fourteen +months, is only 6,000 as against the 18,000 whom it is estimated the +Duke of Alva mercilessly put to death. + +It may also be the fact that the present oppression of Belgium is marked +by some approach to the forms of law; but it may be doubted whether the +difference is not more in appearance than in reality, for the +administration of law in Belgium has been a mockery. Of this there can +be no more striking or detailed proof than the protest which was +presented to the German authorities on February 17th, 1915, by M. Leon +Theodor, the head of the Brussels bar. The truth of this formal +accusation may be fairly measured by the strong probability that the +brave leader of the Brussels bar would never have ventured to have made +the statements hereinafter referred to to the German Military Governor +unless he was reasonably sure of his facts. What he said on behalf of +the bar of Brussels was said in the shadow of possible death, and if he +had consciously or deliberately maligned the Prussian administration of +justice in this open and specific manner, he assuredly took his life +into his hands. This brave and noble document will forever remain one of +the gravest indictments of German misrule, and as it states, on the +authority of one who was in a position to know, the details of the +savage tyranny which masqueraded under the forms of law, it is appended, +with some condensation, to this article. + +After stating the fact "that everything about the German judicial +organisation in Belgium is contrary to the principles of law," and after +showing that Belgian civilians were punished for the violations of law +which had never been proclaimed and of which, therefore, they knew +nothing, the distinguished President of the Order of Advocates says: + + "_This absence of certainty is not only the negation of all the + principles of law; it weighs on the mind and on the conscience; it + bewilders one, it seems to be a permanent menace for all, and the + danger is all the more real, because these courts permit neither + public nor defensive procedure, nor do they permit the accused to + receive any communication regarding his case, nor is any right of + defense assured him._ + + "This is arbitrary injustice; the Judge left to himself, that is, + to his impressions, his prejudices, and his surroundings. This is + abandoning the accused in his distress, to grapple alone with his + all-powerful adversary. + + "This justice uncontrolled, and consequently without guarantee, + constitutes for us the most dangerous and oppressive of + illegalities. _We cannot conceive justice as a judicial or moral + possibility without free defense._ + + "Free defense, that is, light thrown on all the elements of the + suit; public sentiment being heard in the bosom of the judgment + hall, the right to say everything in the most respectful manner, + and also the courage to dare everything, these must be put at the + service of the unfortunate one, of justice and law. + + "It is one of the greatest conquests of our history. It is the + keystone of our individual liberty. + + "_What are your sources of information?_ + + "Besides the judges, the men of the Secret Service and the + denouncers (in French: 'delateurs'). + + "The Secret Service men in civilian clothes, not bearing any + insignia, mixing with the crowds in the street, in the cafes, on + the platforms of street cars, listen to the conversations carried + on around them, ready to grasp any secret, on the watch not only + for acts but for intentions. + + "These denouncers of our nation are ever multiplying. _What + confidence can be placed in their declarations, inspired by hate, + spite, or low cupidity?_ Such assistants can bring to the cause of + justice no useful collaboration. + + "If we add to this total absence of control and of defense, these + preventive arrests, the long detentions, the searches in the + private domiciles, _we shall have an almost complete idea of the + moral tortures to which our aspirations, our convictions, and our + liberties are subjected at the present time_. * * * + + "Will it be said that we are living under martial law: that we are + submitting to the hard necessities of war: that all should give way + before the superior interests of your armies? + + "_I can understand martial law for armies in the field. It is the + immediate reply to an aggression against the troops, repression + without words, the summary justice of the commander of the army + responsible for his soldiers._ + + "_But our armies are far away; we are no longer in the zone of + military operations. Nothing here menaces your troops, the + inhabitants are calm._ + + "The people have taken up work again. You have bidden them do it. + Each one devotes himself, Magistrates, Judges, officials of the + provinces and cities, the clergy, all are at their post, united in + one outburst of national interest and brotherhood. + + "However, this calm does not mean that they have forgotten. + + "The Belgian people lived happily in their corner of the earth, + confident in their dream of independence. They saw this dream + dispelled, they saw their country ruined and devastated, its + ancient hospitable soil has been sown with thousands of tombs where + our own sleep; the war has made tears flow which no hand can dry. + _No, the murdered soul of Belgium will never forget._ + + "But this nation has a profound respect for its duty. It will + always respect it. + + "Has not the hour come to consider as closed the period of invasion + and to substitute for the measures of exception the rules of + occupation as defined by international law and the treaty of The + Hague, which sets a limit to the occupying power and imposes + obligations on the country occupied? + + "Has not the hour arrived to restore the Court House to the + judiciary corps? The military occupation of the Court House is a + violation of the treaty of The Hague. + + "Among the moral forces does one exist that is superior to justice? + Justice dominates them all. _As ancient as humanity itself, eternal + as the need of man and nations to be and to feel protected, it is + the basis of all civilization._ The arts and sciences are its + tributaries. Religious creeds live and prosper in its shadow. Is it + not a religion in itself? + + "Belgium raised a magnificent temple to Justice in its capital. + + "This temple, which is our pride, has been converted into barracks + for the German soldiers. A small part of it, becoming smaller every + day, is reserved for the courts. The Magistrates and lawyers have + access to it by a small private staircase. + + "Sad as are the conditions under which they are called to + administer justice, the Judges have decided, nevertheless, to sit. + The Bar has co-operated with them. Accustomed to live in an + atmosphere of deference and of dignity, they do not recognize + themselves in this sort of guard-room, and, in fact, justice + surrounded with so little respect, is it still justice?" + +As this dignified and noble protest did not lead to any amelioration of +the harsh conditions, a month later the same brave jurist, M. Leon +Theodor, appeared in Brussels before the so-called "German Court of +Justice" and, in behalf of the entire Magistracy of Belgium, addressed +to the Prussian Military Judges the following poignantly pathetic and +nobly dignified address, which met with the same reception as the +preceding communication. + +The address reads as follows: + + "I present myself at the Bar, escorted by the Counsel of the Order, + surrounded by the sympathy and the confidence of all my colleagues + of Brussels, and I might add of all the Bars of the country. The + Bars of Liege, Ghent, Charleroi, Mons, Louvain, Antwerp have sent + to that of Brussels the expression of their professional solidarity + and have declared that they adhere to the resolutions taken by the + Counsel of the Order of Brussels. * * * + + "We are not annexed. We are not conquered. We are not even + vanquished. Our army is fighting. Our colors float alongside those + of France, England and Russia. The country subsists. She is simply + unfortunate. More than ever, then, we now owe ourselves to her body + and soul. To defend her rights is also to fight for her. + + "We are living hours now as tragic as any country has ever known. + All is destruction and ruin around us. Everywhere we see mourning. + Our army has lost half of its effective force. Its percentage in + dead and wounded will never be obtained by any of the belligerents. + There remains to us only a corner of ground over there by the sea. + The waters of the Yser flow through an immense plain peopled by the + dead. It is called the Belgian Cemetery. There sleep our children + by the thousands. There they are sleeping their last sleep. The + struggle goes on bitterly and without mercy. + + "Your sons, Mr. President, are at the front; mine as well. For + months we have been living in anxiety regarding the morrow. + + "Why these sacrifices, why this sorrow? _Belgium could have avoided + these disasters, saved her existence, her treasures, and the life + of her children, but she preferred her honor._" + +Not long after this second protest, M. Leon Theodor was arrested, +deported to Germany and if now living, is suffering imprisonment for the +offense of defending the oppressed civilian population from a system of +espionage, drumhead courts-martial and secret executions, which in their +malignity should excite the professional jealousy of Danton, Marat and +Robespierre. It was in this manner that the lofty promise of the German +Chancellor that his country would make good the wrong done to Belgium +has been kept. + +Such was the condition of affairs in Belgium when Edith Cavell was +arrested on August 5th, 1915. + +About the same time some thirty-five other prisoners were similarly +arrested by the military authorities, _two-thirds of whom were women_. + +The arrest was evidently a secret one for it is obvious that for a time +Miss Cavell's friends knew nothing of her whereabouts. Even the American +Legation, which had assumed the care of British citizens in Belgium, +apparently knew nothing of Miss Cavell's whereabouts until it learned +after a second inquiry the fact of her arrest and the place of her +imprisonment from the German Civil Governor of Belgium on September +12th, 1915. + +As Miss Cavell was a well-known personage in Brussels, it is altogether +unlikely that the fact of her arrest and imprisonment would have been +unknown to the American Legation in Brussels if the fact of her arrest +had been a matter of public information on August 5th or shortly +thereafter. In other words, if the arrest had been an open and notorious +one, it seems to me unlikely that the American Embassy would have been +wholly without information on the subject and when the friends of Miss +Cavell found an opportunity to send some information as to her +disappearance to the British Foreign Office, it seems unlikely that they +would not have given more specific details. + +Evidently some information had reached the Foreign Office as to Miss +Cavell's disappearance, for on August 26th Sir Edward Grey requested the +American Ambassador in London to ascertain through the American Legation +in Brussels whether it was true that Miss Cavell had been arrested, and +it seems clear from the diplomatic correspondence that the American +Legation at Brussels knew nothing of the matter until it received this +inquiry from the American Ambassador in London. The fact of her arrest +by the German military authorities must have been known, but the place +of her imprisonment and the nature of the charges against her were +apparently withheld. + +This feature of the case and the manner in which Mr. Brand Whitlock, the +American Minister, was prevented from rendering any effective aid to +Miss Cavell, presents one aspect of the tragedy which especially +concerns the honor and dignity of the United States and should receive +its swift and effectual recognition. + +Her secret trial and hurried execution was a studied affront to the +American Minister at Brussels, and therefore to the American nation. It +is true that in all he did to save her life he was acting in behalf of +and for the benefit of Great Britain, whose interests the United States +Government has taken over in Belgium; but this cannot affect the fact +that when Brand Whitlock intervened in behalf of the prisoner, sought to +secure her a fair trial, and prevent her execution, and especially when +he asked her life as a favor in return for the services our country had +rendered Germany and German subjects in the earlier days of the war, _he +spoke as an American and as the diplomatic representative of the United +States_. + +So secret was Miss Cavell's arrest and so sinister the methods whereby +her end was compassed, that the American Minister in Belgium was obliged +to write on August 31st to Baron von der Lancken, the German Civil +Governor of Belgium, and ask whether it was true that she was under +arrest. _To this the German Military Governor did not even deign to make +a reply, although it was clearly a matter of life and death._ + +The discourtesy of such silence to a great and friendly nation needs no +comment, and will simply serve to remind the American people that +Germany has never yet replied to another request of the United States +that Germany disavows the massacre of nearly 200 American men, women, +and children on the Lusitania. + +Not hearing from Baron von der Lancken, our Minister on September 10th +again wrote to him and again asked for a reply. He asked for the +opportunity "_to take up the defense of Miss Cavell with the least +possible delay_." To this, Baron Lancken deigned to reply by an ex parte +statement that Miss Cavell had admitted + + "having concealed in her house various English and French soldiers, + as well as Belgians of military age, all anxious to proceed to the + front. She also acknowledged having supplied these soldiers with + the funds necessary to proceed to the front and having facilitated + their departure from Belgium by finding guides to assist them in + clandestinely crossing the frontier." + +The Baron further answered that her defense had been intrusted to an +advocate by the name of Braun, "_who is already in touch with the proper +German authorities_," and added: + + "In view of the fact that the Department of the Governor General + _as a matter of principle_ does not allow accused persons to have + any interviews whatever, I much regret my inability to procure for + M. de Leval permission to visit Miss Cavell as long as she is in + solitary confinement." + +It will thus be seen and will hereafter appear more fully that in +advance of her trial Miss Cavell was kept in solitary confinement and +was denied any opportunity to confer with counsel in order to prepare +her defense. Her communication with the outside world was wholly cut +off, with the exception of a few letters, which she was permitted to +write under censorship to her assistants in the school for nurses, and +it is probable that in this way the fact of her imprisonment first +became known to her friends. + +The fact remains that the desire of the American Minister to have +counsel see her with a view to the selection of such counsel as Miss +Cavell might desire, was refused, and even the counsel whom the German +Military Court permitted to act, was denied any opportunity to see his +client until the trial. The counsel in question was a M. Braun, a +Belgian advocate of recognised standing, but for some reason, which does +not appear, he was unable or declined to act for Miss Cavell and he +secured for her defense another Belgian lawyer, whose name was Kirschen. +According to credible information, Kirschen was a German by birth, +although a naturalized Belgian subject and a member of the Brussels bar, +but it will hereafter appear that the steps which he took to keep the +American Legation--the one possible salvation for Miss Cavell--advised +as to the progress of events, were to say the least peculiar. + +Except for the explanations made by the German Civil Governor, we know +very little as to what defense, if any, Miss Cavell made. From one of +the inspired sources comes the statement that she freely admitted her +guilt, and from her last interview with the English clergyman it would +appear that she probably did admit some infraction of military law. But +from another German source we learn the following: + + "During the trial in the Senate Chamber the accused, almost without + exception, gave the impression of persons _cleverly simulating + naive innocence_. It was not a mere coincidence that two-thirds of + the accused were women. + + "The Englishwoman, Edith Cavell, who has already been executed, + declared that she had believed as an Englishwoman that she ought to + do her country service _by giving lodgings in her house to soldiers + and recruits who were in peril_. She naturally denied that she had + drawn other people into destruction by inducing them to harbor + refugees when her own institute was overtaxed." + +From this meagre information we can only infer that Miss Cavell did +admit that she had sheltered some soldiers and recruits who were in +peril, and while this undoubtedly constituted a grave infraction of +military law, yet it does not present in a locality far removed from the +actual war zone a case either of espionage or high treason, and is of +that class of offenses which have always been punished on the highest +considerations of humanity and chivalry and with great moderation. + +The difficulty is that the world is not yet fully informed what defense, +if any, Miss Cavell made, or whether an adequate opportunity was given +her to make any. The whole proceeding savours of the darkness of the +mediaeval Inquisition. + +We have already seen that even if Miss Cavell's counsel, M. Kirschen, +endeavored in good faith to make an adequate defense in her behalf, it +was impossible for him to see her in advance of the trial, and M. +Kirschen admitted this when he explained to the legal counsel of the +American Embassy that + + "lawyers defending prisoners before a German Military Court were + not allowed to see their clients before trial and were not + permitted to see any document of the prosecution." + +It is true that M. Kirschen so far defends the trial accorded to Miss +Cavell as to say + + "that the hearing of the trial of such cases is carried out very + carefully and that in his opinion, although it was not possible to + see the client before the trial, in fact the trial itself developed + itself so carefully and so slowly that it was generally possible to + have a fair knowledge of all the facts and to present a good + defense for the prisoner. This would especially be the case of Miss + Cavell, because the trial would be rather long, _as she was + prosecuted with 34 other prisoners_." + +This explanation of M. Kirschen is amazing to any lawyer who is familiar +with the defense of men who are charged with a crime. Here was a case +of life and death and the counsel for the defense intimates that he can +adequately defend the prisoner at the bar without being previously +advised as to the nature of the charges or obtaining an opportunity to +confer with his client before the testimony begins. + +Still more remarkable is his explanation that as his client was to be +tried with 34 others, the opportunity for a defense would be especially +ample. As the writer had the honor for some years to be a prosecuting +attorney for the United States Government and therefore has some +familiarity with the trial of criminal causes, his opinion may possibly +have some value in suggesting that the complexity of different issues +when tried together, and the difficulty of distinguishing between +various testimony, naturally increases with the simultaneous trial of a +large number of defendants. Where each defendant is tried separately, +the full force of the testimony for or against him can be weighed to +some advantage, but where such evidence is intermingled and confused by +the simultaneous trial of 34 separate issues, it is obvious, with the +fallibility of human memory, that the separate testimony against each +particular defendant cannot be fully weighed. + +The trial was apparently a secret one in the sense that it was a closed +and not an open Court. Otherwise how can we account for the poverty of +information as to what actually took place on the trial? The court sat +for two days in the trial of the 35 cases in question, and the American +Legation had been most anxious, in view of the nature of the case and +the urgency of the inquiries, to ascertain something about the trial. +The outside world apparently knew little or nothing of this wholesale +trial of non-combatants, most of them being women, until some days +thereafter, and the only intimation that the American Legation +previously had was a letter of "a few lines" from M. Kirschen, stating +that the trial would take place on October 7th. Notwithstanding the +assurance of M. Kirschen that he would keep the American Legation fully +advised and would even disclose to it in advance of the trial "the exact +charges that were brought against Miss Cavell and the facts concerning +her that would be disclosed at the trial," yet no further information +reached the American Legation from Miss Cavell's counsel, who for some +reason did not advise the American Legation that the trial had commenced +on the 7th and had been concluded on the 8th. The American Legation only +learned the fact of the trial from "an outsider," and it at once +proceeded to look for M. Kirschen. Unfortunately he could not be +located, and thereupon the counsel for the American Legation wrote him +on Sunday, October 10th, and asked him to send his report to the +Legation or to call on the following day. + +Having no word from M. Kirschen as late as October 11th (his last +communication with the American Legation being on October 3rd), the +counsel for the Legation twice called at his house and again failed to +find him in or to receive any message from him. It is clear that if M. +Kirschen had advised the American Legation as to the developments of the +trial on October 7th and 8th and had further advised the Legation +promptly as to the conclusion of the trial and its probable outcome, +there is a reasonable possibility that Miss Cavell's life might have +been saved; but for some reason, as to which M. Kirschen certainly owes +an explanation to the civilized world, he failed to keep his positive +promise to keep the American Legation fully advised, and in view of this +fact his assurance to the American Legation "that the Military Court of +Brussels was always perfectly fair, and that there was not the slightest +danger of any miscarriage of justice," must be taken with a very large +"grain of salt." + +The significant fact remains that the American Legation never heard that +the trial had taken place until the day after, and then only learned it +from "an outsider." Had the American Legation sent a representative to +the trial, the world would then have a much clearer knowledge upon which +to base its judgment; but when M. Deleval suggested his intention to +attend the trial, as a representative of the Legation, he was advised by +M. Kirschen that such an act "would cause great prejudice to the +prisoner because the German judges would resent it." + +What an indictment of the court! Even to see a representative of the +American Government at the trial, in the interests of fair play, would +prejudice the minds of the Judges against the unfortunate woman who was +being tried for a capital offense without any previous opportunity to +confer with counsel. There may be a satisfactory explanation for M. +Kirschen's conduct in the matter, but it has not yet appeared. It +should, however, be added, in fairness to him, that the anonymous +"outsider," from whom the American Legation got its only information as +to the developments of the trial, stated that Kirschen "made a very good +plea for Miss Cavell, using all arguments that could be brought in her +favor before the court." + +This does not give the lover of fair play a great deal of comfort, for +if the anonymous informant was not a lawyer, the value to be attached to +his or her estimate of Kirschen's plea must be regarded as doubtful. + +The same unknown informant told the American Legation that Miss Cavell +was prosecuted "for having helped English and French soldiers as well as +Belgian young men to cross the frontier and to go over to England." It +is stated on the same anonymous authority that Miss Cavell acknowledged +the assistance thus given and admitted that some of them had "thanked +her in writing when arriving in England." + +From the same source the world gets its only information as to the exact +law which Miss Cavell was accused of violating. Paragraph 58 of the +German Military Code inflicts a sentence of death upon + + "any person who, with the intention of helping the hostile power, + or of causing harm to the German or allied troops, is guilty of one + of the crimes of paragraph 90 of the German Penal Code," + +and the only pertinent section of paragraph 90, according to the same +informant, is the specific offence of + + "guiding soldiers to the enemy" (in German--"Dem Feinde + Mannschaften zufuehrt"). + +I affirm with confidence that under this law Miss Cavell was innocent, +and that the true meaning of the law was perverted in order to inflict +the death sentence upon her. + +I admit that a general and strained construction of the language above +quoted might be applicable to a defendant who gave refuge to hostile +soldiers in Brussels and thus enabled them to escape across the frontier +into Holland and thence into a belligerent country, but every penal law +must receive a construction that is favorable to the defendant and +agreeable to the dictates of humanity. Every civilized country construes +its penal laws in favour of the liberty of the subject, and no +punishment, especially one of death, is ever imposed unless the offence +charged comes indubitably within a rigid construction of the law. + +Keeping in mind this elementary principle, it is obvious that the +offense of guiding soldiers to the enemy refers to the physical act of +guiding a fugitive soldier back into his lines. A soldier becomes +detached from his lines. He finds shelter in a farm house. The farmer, +knowing the roads, secretly guides him back into his lines, and this +obviously is the offence which paragraph 90 had in mind, for the German +word "zufuehrt" refers to a personal guidance. + +Miss Cavell simply gave shelter to soldiers and in some way facilitated +their escape to Holland. Holland is a neutral country, and it was its +duty to intern any fugitive soldiers who might escape from any one of +the belligerent countries. The fact that these soldiers subsequently +reached England is a matter that could not increase or diminish the +essential nature of Miss Cavell's case. She enabled them to get to a +neutral country, and this was not a case of "guiding soldiers to the +enemy," for Holland was not an enemy of Germany. + +This fact must have impressed the Military Court, for according to the +same informant it did not at once agree upon either the verdict of +"Guilty" or the judgment of death, and it is stated that the Judges +would not have sentenced her to death if the fugitive soldiers, who had +crossed into Holland, had not subsequently arrived in England. But it +will astound any lawyer to learn that the subsequent escape of these +same prisoners from Holland to England could be reasonably regarded as a +guidance by Miss Cavell of these soldiers _to England_. In all +probability Miss Cavell had little or nothing to do with these soldiers +after they left Brussels, but even assuming that she provided the means +and gave the directions for their escape across the frontier between +Belgium and Holland, that was "the head and front of her offending," and +it does not come within the law under which she was sentenced to death. + +When she was asked by her Judges as to her reasons for sheltering these +fugitives, "she replied that she thought that if she had not done so +_they would have been shot by the Germans_ and that therefore she +thought she only did her duty to her country in saving their lives." + +This fairly states what she did, and perhaps this brave and frank reply +caused her death. She gave a temporary shelter to men who were in danger +of death, and, as previously stated, in so doing yielded to a +humanitarian impulse which all civilized nations have recognized as +worthy of the most lenient treatment. + +When, therefore, Herr Dr. Albert Zimmermann, speaking for the German +Foreign Office, expressed its "surprise" that Miss Cavell's execution +should "have caused a sensation," it is well to remind Dr. Zimmermann +that to offer a refuge to the fugitive is an impulse of humanity. It is +likely that these soldiers were her wounded patients; at all events, +they had found a refuge in her hospital. They claimed the protection of +her roof and she gave it to them. + +In the first act of Walkyrie--which is not overburdened with the +atmosphere of morality--even the black-hearted Hunding says to his +blood-enemy, + + "Heilig ist mein herd; + Heilig sei dir mein haus." + (Holy is my hearth! + Holy will be to them my house!) + +It must be remembered that all this did not take place in the zone of +actual warfare. A spy caught in the lines of armies is summarily dealt +with of necessity. But Brussels was miles away from the scene of actual +hostilities. Its civil courts were open and a civil administration ruled +its affairs of such reputed beneficence and efficiency as to evoke the +ungrudging admiration of a distinguished college professor who bears the +honored name of George B. McClellan. There was therefore no possible +excuse under international law for a court-martial, as this trial +plainly was. In the American civil war a similar military commission +once sought to hold a similar trial in Indianapolis over civilians +accused of treason, but the United States Supreme Court, in the case of +ex parte Milligan, sternly repudiated this form of military tyranny. + +In that case the Supreme Court said: + + "There are occasions when martial rule can be properly applied. If, + in foreign invasion or civil war, _the courts are actually closed_, + and it is impossible to administer criminal justice according to + law, then, _on the theatre of active military operations, where war + really prevails_, there is a necessity to furnish a substitute for + the civil authority, thus overthrown, to preserve the safety of the + army and society; * * * As necessity creates the rule, so it limits + its duration; for, if this government is continued _after_ the + courts are reinstated, it is a gross usurpation of power. Martial + rule can never exist where the courts are open, and in the proper + and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction. _It is also + confined to the locality of actual war._" + +All civilized countries, including Germany, have always recognized a +difference between high treason, punishable with death, and ordinary +treason. The German Strafgesetzbuch thus distinguishes between high +treason (hochverrat) and the lesser crime of landesverrat. High treason +consists in murdering or attempting to murder a sovereign or Prince of +Germany or an attempt by violence to overthrow the Imperial Government +or any State thereof. This alone is punishable with death. + +While this distinction of the German Civil Code may have no application +when military law is being enforced, yet it illustrates a distinction, +which all humane nations have recognized, between the treason which +seeks to overthrow a State by rebellion and lesser offenses against the +authority of a State. + +Assuming that Miss Cavell's offense could be regarded in any sense as +treasonable, it certainly constituted the lesser offense under the +distinction above quoted. + +The fact is that Miss Cavell was tried, condemned, and executed for her +sympathy with the cause of Belgium and her willingness to save her +compatriots from suffering and death. Military necessity--ever the +tyrant's plea--demanded a victim further to terrorize the subjugated +people. They chose Miss Cavell. + +Notwithstanding the request of the American Legation in its letter of +October 5th that it be advised not only as to the charges, but also as +to the sentence imposed upon Miss Cavell, and the express promise of M. +Kirschen to inform it of all developments, it was kept in ignorance of +the fact that sentence of death had been passed upon her. Minister +Whitlock only heard this on October 11th, and he at once addressed a +letter to Baron von der Lancken in which, after stating this fact, he +appealed "to the sentiment of generosity and humanity in the Governor +General in favor of Miss Cavell," with a view to commutation of the +death sentence, and at the same time addressed a similar letter to Baron +von Bissing, the Military Governor of Belgium, who did not deign to give +to the American Government even the cold courtesy of a reply. + +On the morning of October 11th our Minister heard--not from the German +authorities, but from unofficial sources--that the trial had been +completed on the preceding Saturday afternoon, and he at once +communicated with the Political Department of the German Military +Government, and was expressly assured + + "that no sentence had been pronounced and that there would probably + be a delay of a day or two before a decision was reached." + +The Director of the Political Department (Herr Conrad) gave a further + + "_positive assurance that the [American] Legation would be fully + informed as to the developments in the case._" + +Notwithstanding this direct promise and further "repeated inquiries in +the course of the day," no further word reached our Legation, and at +6.20 p.m. it again inquired as to Miss Cavell's fate, and the Director +of the Political Department again + + "_stated that sentence had not yet been pronounced_," + +and he specifically renewed his assurance. Two hours later our Minister +_from unofficial sources_ heard that all that had been told him by the +Political Department was untrue, and that the sentence had been passed +at 5 o'clock p.m.; _before his last conversation with the Director_, and +that the execution was to take place that night. + +Accordingly the Secretary of the American Legation proceeded at once to +Baron von der Lancken, and again asked as a favor to this Government +that clemency be extended. He brought with him a letter from the +American Minister, which reads as follows: + + "My dear Baron: + + "I am too ill to put my request before you in person, but once more + I appeal to the generosity of your heart. Stand by and save from + death this unfortunate woman. Have pity on her. Your devoted + servant, + "BRAND WHITLOCK." + +Accompanying this purely personal note were two substantially similar +communications, the one directed to Baron von Bissing and the other to +Baron von der Lancken. These communications run as follows: + + "I have just heard that Miss Cavell, a British subject, and + consequently under the protection of my Legation, was this morning + condemned to death by court-martial. + + "If my information is correct, the sentence in the present case is + more severe than all the others that have been passed in similar + cases which have been tried by the same Court, and, without going + into the reasons for such a drastic sentence, I feel that I have + the right to appeal to your Excellency's feelings of humanity and + generosity in Miss Cavell's favour, and to ask that the death + penalty passed on Miss Cavell may be commuted and that this + unfortunate woman shall not be executed. + + "Miss Cavell is the head of the Brussels Surgical Institute. She + has spent her life in alleviating the sufferings of others, and her + school has turned out many nurses who have watched at the bedside + of the sick all the world over, in Germany as in Belgium. At the + beginning of the war Miss Cavell bestowed her care as freely on the + German soldiers as on others. Even in default of all other reasons, + her career as a servant of humanity is such as to inspire the + greatest sympathy and to call for pardon. If the information in my + possession is correct, Miss Cavell, far from shielding herself, + has, with commendable straightforwardness, admitted the truth of + all the charges against her, and it is the very information which + she herself has furnished, and which she alone was in a position to + furnish, which has aggravated the severity of the sentence passed + on her. + + "It is then with confidence, and in the hope of its favourable + reception, that I have the honour to present to your Excellency my + request for pardon on Miss Cavell's behalf." + +This note was read aloud to Baron von der Lancken, the very official who +had refused to answer the first communication of the Legation with +reference to the matter, and he + + "expressed disbelief in the report that sentence had actually been + passed and manifested some surprise that we should give credence to + any report not emanating from official sources. He was quite + insistent in knowing the exact source of our information, but this + I did not feel at liberty to communicate to him." + +Baron von der Lancken proceeded to express his belief "that it was quite +improbable that sentence had been pronounced," and that in any event no +execution would follow. After some hesitation he telephoned to the +Presiding Judge of the Court-Martial and then reported that the +embassy's unofficial information was only too true. + +His attention was further called to the express promise of the German +Director of the Political Department to inform the American Legation of +the sentence, and he was asked to grant the American Government the +courtesy of a "delay in carrying out the sentence." + +To this appeal for mercy Baron von der Lancken replied that the Military +Governor (von Bissing) was the supreme authority and that he "had +discretionary power to accept or to refuse acceptance of an appeal for +clemency." He thereupon left the representative of the American Legation +and apparently called upon von Bissing, and after half an hour he +returned with the statement that not only would von Bissing decline to +revoke the sentence of death, but "that in view of the circumstances of +this case, he must decline to accept your plea for clemency or any +representation in regard to the matter." + +Thereupon Baron von der Lancken insisted that Mr. Brand Whitlock's +representative (Mr. Hugh Gibson, Secretary of the Legation) should take +back the formal appeal for clemency addressed both to him and to von +Bissing, and as both German officials had been fully advised as to the +nature of the plea, Mr. Gibson finally consented. Baron von der Lancken +assured Mr. Gibson that under the circumstances "even the Emperor +himself could not intervene," a statement that was very quickly refuted +when the Emperor--aroused by the world-wide condemnation of Miss +Cavell's execution--did commute the sentences imposed upon six of the +seven persons who were condemned to death with Miss Cavell. + +During the earnest conversation which took place in this last attempt to +save Miss Cavell's life, the American representative took occasion to +remind Baron von der Lancken's official associates--although it should +not have been necessary--of the great services rendered by the United +States, and especially by Mr. Brand Whitlock, in the earlier period of +the German occupation, and this was urged as a reason why as a matter of +courtesy to the United States Government some more courteous +consideration should be accorded to its request. At the outbreak of the +war, thousands of German residents in Belgium returned to their country +in such haste that they left their families behind them. Mr. Whitlock +gathered these women and children--numbering, it is said, over +10,000--and provided them with the necessaries of life, and ultimately +with safe transportation into Germany, and having thus placed this +inestimable service to thousands of German civilians in one scale, the +American representative simply asked, as "the only request" made by the +United States upon grounds of reciprocal generosity, that some clemency +should be given to Miss Cavell. The refusal to give this clemency or +even to accept in a formal way the plea for clemency, is one of the +blackest cases of ingratitude in the history of diplomacy. + +On October 22nd there was issued from Brussels a "semi-official" but +_anonymous_ statement, charging that in the reports of the Secretary of +the American Embassy, from which the above quoted statements are mainly +taken, "most of the important events are inaccurately reproduced." + +No specification of any inaccuracy is however made, except the general +denial "that the German authorities with empty promises put off the +American Minister" and also the equally general statement that no +promise was given to our embassy to advise it of developments in the +case. + +A vague, general, and _anonymous_ denial, issued by men who seek to wash +their hands of innocent blood, cannot avail against Mr. Gibson's clear, +specific, and circumstantial statement. The Secretary of our embassy +states that on October 11th "_repeated_" inquiries were made of Herr +Conrad, the official in charge of the Political Department of the German +Government in Belgium, _the last inquiry being at 6.20 p.m. by the +clock_ (an hour after the victim had been sentenced to death), and that +on each occasion assurance was given to the Legation that "sentence had +not been pronounced" and that he (Conrad) would not fail to inform us as +soon as there was any news. + +Does Herr Conrad deny this? + +The Brussels "semi-official" statement has the hardihood to state to the +world that the American Minister (Brand Whitlock) had admitted that "no +such promise or assurance was given," and it places the responsibility +upon M. Deleval, the Belgian legal counselor of the American Embassy. +But this impudent lie is speedily overthrown by the positive statement +of our Minister at Belgium to our Ambassador in London as follows: + + "From the date we first learned of Miss Cavell's imprisonment we + made frequent inquiries of the German authorities and reminded + them of their promise that we should be fully informed as to + developments. They were under no misapprehension as to our interest + in the matter." + +Will the American people or the people of any nation hesitate to accept +the clear, positive, and circumstantial statements of Minister Whitlock, +Secretary Gibson, and Counselor Deleval, at least two of whom are wholly +disinterested in the matter, as against the self-exculpatory, general, +and anonymous denials of a "semi-official" press bureau, especially when +it is recalled that from the beginning of the great war, the German +Foreign Office, with whom military honor is supposed to be almost a +religion, has stooped to the most shameful and barefaced mendacity? + +When the world recalls how Austrian Ambassadors in Paris, London, and +Petrograd made the most emphatic statements that the forthcoming +ultimatum to Serbia would be "pacific and conciliatory," and assured the +Russian Ambassador that he could therefore safely leave Vienna on his +vacation on the very eve of the ultimatum, and when the German +Ambassadors in the same capitals gave the most solemn and unequivocal +assurances that + + "the German Government had no knowledge of the text of the Austrian + note before it was handed in and had not exercised any influence on + its contents," + +and later admitted, when the lie had served its purpose by lulling the +world into a sense of false security, that it had been fully consulted +by its ally before the ultimatum was prepared and had given it carte +blanche to proceed, when these notable examples of Prussian +Machiavellism are recalled, little attention will be given to these +futile attempts to wash from the shield of German honor the blood of +Edith Cavell. + +One can to some extent understand the Berserker fury which caused von +Bissing to say in effect to this gentle-faced English nurse, "You are in +our way. You menace our security. You must die, as countless thousands +have already died, to secure the results of our seizure of Belgium"; but +can we understand or in any way palliate the attempt to hide the stains +of blood on that prison floor of Brussels with a cobweb of self-evident +falsehoods? + +These stains can never be washed out to the eye of imagination. + + "Let none these marks efface, + For they appeal from tyranny to God." + +In the last interview between our representative and Baron von der +Lancken, which took place a few hours before the execution, our +representative reminded these Prussian officials + + "of our untiring efforts on behalf of German subjects at the + outbreak of the war and during the siege of Antwerp. I pointed out + that, while our services had been gladly rendered and without any + thought of future favors, they should certainly entitle you to some + consideration for the only request of this sort you [the American + Minister] had made since the beginning of the war." + +Even our Minister's appeal to gratitude and to one of the most ordinary +and natural courtesies of diplomatic life proved unavailing, and at +midnight the Secretary of the American Legation and the Spanish +Minister, who was acting with him, left in despair. At 2 o'clock that +morning Miss Cavell was secretly executed. + +Even the ordinary courtesy accorded to the vilest criminal, of being +permitted before dying to have a clergyman of her own selection, was +denied her until a few hours before her death, for the legal counselor +of the American Legation on October 10th applied in behalf of this +country for permission for an English clergyman to see Miss Cavell, and +this, too, was refused, as her jailers preferred to assign her the +prison chaplains as well as her counsel. Even the final appeal of our +Minister for the surrender of her mutilated body was denied, on the +ground that only the Minister of War in Berlin could grant it. + +Apart from the brutality of the whole incident there is one circumstance +that makes it of peculiar interest to the American people and which +gives to it the character of rank ingratitude. Our representative, as +above stated, did advise the German officials that a little delay was +asked by our Legation _as a slight return for the innumerable acts of +kindness which our Legation had done for German soldiers and interned +prisoners in the earlier days of the war before the German invasion had +swept over the land_. The charge of ingratitude may rest soundly upon +far greater and broader grounds. + +This great nation had contributed in money and merchandise a sum +estimated at many millions for the relief of the people in Belgium. In +so doing it did to the German nation an inestimable service, for when +Germany conquered Belgium the duty and burden rested upon it to support +its population to the extent that it might become necessary. The burden +of supporting 8,000,000 civilians was no light one, especially as there +existed in Germany a scarcity of food. As bread tickets were then being +issued in Germany to its people, the supplies would have been +substantially less if a portion of its food products had been required +for the civilian population of Belgium, for obviously the German nation +could not permit a people, whom it had so ruthlessly trampled under +foot, to starve to death. Every dollar that was raised in America for +the Belgian people, therefore, operated to relieve Germany from a heavy +burden. + +Moreover, when the war broke out, Germany needed some friendly nation to +take over the care of its nationals in the hostile countries, and in +England, France, Belgium, and Russia the interests of German citizens +were assumed by the American Government as a courtesy to Germany, and no +one can question how faithfully in the last fourteen months Page in +London, Sharp in Paris, and Whitlock in Brussels have labored to +alleviate the inevitable suffering to German prisoners or interned +civilians. + +In view of these services, it surely was not much for the American +Minister to ask that a little delay should be granted to a woman whose +error, if any, had arisen from impulses of humanity and from +considerations of patriotism. To spare her life a little longer could +not have done the German cause any possible harm, for she was in their +custody and beyond the power of rendering any help to her compatriots. +To condemn any human being, even if he were the vilest criminal, at 5 +o'clock in the afternoon and execute him at 2 a.m., was an act of +barbarism for which no possible condemnation is adequate. + +Under these circumstances, it would be incredible, if the facts were not +beyond dispute, that the request of the United States for a little +delay was not only brutally refused, _but that our Legation was +deliberately misled and deceived until the death sentence had been +inflicted_. + +This makes the fate of Miss Cavell our affair as much as that of the +Lusitania. And yet we have the already familiar semi-official assurance +from Washington that while our officials "unofficially deplore the act, +officially they can do nothing." Concurrently we are told in the +President's Thanksgiving proclamation that we should be thankful because +we have "been able to assert our rights and the rights of mankind," and +that this "has been a year of special blessing for us," for, so the +proclamation adds, "we have prospered while other nations were at war." + +I venture to say in all reverence that the God of nations will be better +pleased on the coming Thanksgiving Day--which also should be one of +penitence and humiliation--if we do a little more _in fact_ and less in +words to safeguard the rights of humanity. Our initial blunder was in +turning away the Belgian Commissioners, when they first presented the +wrongs of their crucified nation, with icy phrases as to a mysterious +day of reckoning in the indefinite future. An act of justice now will be +worth a thousand future "accountings" after the long agony of the world +is over. "Now is the accepted time, this the day of salvation." + +_Let our nation begin with the case of Edith Cavell, and demand of +Germany the dismissal of the officers who flouted, deceived, and mocked +the representative of the United States. That concerns our honor as a +nation._ + +The final scene of the tragedy is best stated in the simple but +poignantly pathetic words of the Chaplain, who was permitted to see the +victim a few hours before her death: + + "On Monday evening, 11th October, I was admitted by special + passport from the German authorities to the prison of St. Gilles, + where Miss Edith Cavell had been confined for ten weeks. The final + sentence had been given early that afternoon. + + "To my astonishment and relief I found my friend perfectly calm and + resigned. But this could not lessen the tenderness and intensity of + feeling on either part during that last interview of almost an + hour. + + "Her first words to me were upon a matter concerning herself + personally, but the solemn asseveration which accompanied them was + made expressedly in the light of God and eternity. She then added + that she wished all her friends to know that she willingly gave her + life for her country, and said: 'I have no fear nor shrinking; I + have seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me.' + She further said: 'I thank God for this ten weeks' quiet before the + end.' 'Life has always been hurried and full of difficulty.' 'This + time of rest has been a great mercy.' 'They have all been very kind + to me here. But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God + and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have + no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.' + + "We partook of the Holy Communion together, and she received the + Gospel message of consolation with all her heart. At the close of + the little service I began to repeat the words 'Abide with me,' and + she joined softly in the end. + + "We sat quietly talking until it was time for me to go. She gave me + parting messages for relations and friends. She spoke of her soul's + needs at the moment, and she received the assurance of God's Word + as only the Christian can do. + + "Then I said 'Good-bye,' and she smiled and said, 'We shall meet + again.' + + "The German military chaplain was with her at the end and + afterwards gave her Christian burial. + + "He told me: 'She was brave and bright to the last. She professed + her Christian faith and that she was glad to die for her country.' + 'She died like a heroine.'" + +It would be interesting to compare these last hours of one of the +noblest women in English history to those of that rare and radiant Greek +maiden, whom the genius of Sophocles has glorified in his immortal +tragedy. The comparison is altogether in favour of the English heroine, +for while Antigone went to her death bravely, yet her final words were +those of bitter complaint and almost whining lamentation. Compare with +these words the Christlike simplicity of Miss Cavell's last message to +the world, and the difference between the noblest Paganism and the best +of Christianity is apparent. Truly the light of Calvary illumined her +dark cell! Standing "in view of God and eternity," she uttered the +deeply pregnant sentence that "patriotism is not enough." Her +executioners had illustrated this, for the ruthless killing of Edith +Cavell for military purposes was actuated by that perverted spirit of +patriotism which believes that any wrong is sanctified if it serves the +State. + +No one suggests that General von Bissing had any personal feeling +against Miss Cavell. Indeed his conduct would be the more tolerable if +it had been actuated by the spirit of anger. He killed her in cold blood +and to strengthen the German occupation in Belgium. News of the very +recent successes of the Allies in Flanders and in the Champagne +districts in the great offensive had reached Belgium and had caused a +perceptible ferment in that down-trodden people. It therefore seemed +necessary to show the iron hand again and to the Prussian ideal, as +already illustrated by official proclamations of Prussian Generals, it +was a matter of no consequence whose life was taken or whose right was +invaded. It served to terrorize the Belgian people--Such was its real +purpose. + +And you, women of America and of the World! Will you not honor the +memory of this martyr of your sex, who for all time will be mourned as +was the noblest Greek maiden, Antigone, who also gave her life that her +brother might have the rites of sepulture? Will you not carry on in her +name and for her memory those sacred ministrations of mercy which were +her lifework? + +_Make her cause--the cause of justice and mercy--your own!_ + + + * * * * * * * + + +_Printed in Great Britain._ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Case of Edith Cavell, by James M. Beck + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CASE OF EDITH CAVELL *** + +***** This file should be named 20335.txt or 20335.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/3/3/20335/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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