A Noble Woman Part 7

_The Scotsman._

'That Miss Cavell was guilty of an offence against martial law was not denied. But it was not a crime that implied any moral delinquency or transgression of the normal rules of human conduct.

On the contrary, it was prompted by the spirit of self-sacrifice and mercy that had guided her whole life, but of which not the tiniest measure was yielded to herself by the men who pursued her to the death. While it may be said that she acted imprudently, and that punishment, and even severe punishment, for her offence was to be looked for, she acted from motives and under circ.u.mstances that could only raise her in the eyes of all who are capable of appreciating generosity, courage, and kindness. No suspicion of espionage was attached to her conduct; no accusation of that nature was brought against her; and on being charged with what she had done, she made full and frank acknowledgement. This candour of confession was turned against her as one of the aggravations of her offence. It is made but too clear that the tribunal before which she was hurried thirsted for her blood and for the blood of all who were concerned in the escape of those prisoners from the tender mercies of the Brussels military authorities. Having already lain for several weeks in prison, Miss Cavell was brought before a court-martial, and after a two-days' trial was sentenced to death in the evening and led out to execution early next morning. There was a surrept.i.tiousness as well as a vindictiveness about the whole proceedings that cannot but amaze, as well as horrify and disgust.'

_The Irish Times._

'If any one in Ireland still fails to see the necessity for resisting to the utmost the extension of Prussian power in Europe, this should open his eyes. It will be equally admitted by every one but her executioners that her s.e.x, her kindness to German wounded, and her charitable intentions in committing the undoubted offence against the law imposed upon Belgium by the conquerors should have been regarded as good reasons for treating her with leniency. All these considerations were ignored by the German authorities. Their haste to accomplish the foul deed without possibility of interference is not out of keeping with the worst that we know of savage races. In utter contrast with their proceedings, there was reported yesterday the hearing in a North of England town of an appeal by a woman charged with attempted espionage against a sentence of six months' imprisonment. The woman was of German descent; she had sought information concerning a sh.e.l.l factory, and she admitted that she would have pa.s.sed it on to the Germans if possible. Her trial was fair and careful, and she had the fullest opportunity of securing legal advice at every stage. Her appeal was patiently heard. So it is with every case of the kind, whatever may be the nationality of the accused person. British justice has a name throughout the world. Henceforth, so will German justice, but the name will be of other significance.'

_The Nursing Mirror._

'The heroic and tragic death of Miss Edith Cavell has placed the martyr's crown on the head of this most courageous and patriotic woman, and has consecrated afresh the whole of the nursing profession for her sake in the eyes of the world. Never has the heart of the nation been more deeply stirred than by this crowning deed of infamy; never have the vials of its righteous indignation been poured forth in such a torrent of just anger. The whole of the civilized world has risen as one man to protest against this violation of all the laws of mercy and of judgement against this act by which Germany stands forth for all time alone, apart, leprous and unclean, among the people of the earth. Her words to the chaplain on the evening before her execution were those of quiet courage and resignation. Spoken in the stern solemnity of that prison cell, with the sincerity that comes from the nearness of the eternal dawn, these words carry a force and conviction they might otherwise lack to every one of her fellow workers round the world, and are driven home to each heart like a nail fastened in a sure place.... This day of national adversity is our day of opportunity. In it may we be all "brave in peril, constant in tribulation, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another."'

_The Lady's Pictorial._

'It is difficult to speak of the crime which has blotted the already foul page of Germany's infamy in constrained language. The whole civilized world stands aghast at the callous brutality and deceit of the German officials in Brussels who have done to death a n.o.ble Englishwoman; and words are impotent things in which to express the horror, the disgust, the fury, that this brave woman's murder has excited. Nor is it possible to deal in other than conventional phrases with her splendid self-sacrifice. She has died for her country, but she has also won the martyr's crown. Her love for her country was boundless. To serve it she ran a risk the gravity of which she fully recognized, and she freely admitted that in so doing she had offended against military laws. We all know--it is written for all time on the pages of history--how she paid the penalty. There is no need to retell the shameful story, to extol further her splendid heroism, to waste breath in execrating the savages whose name is now besmirched beyond all cleansing; whose blood-thirst has been slaked at the heart of a helpless woman. But it is worth while--it cannot be too often repeated--to cry aloud that Edith Cavell died that her countrywomen may live. Who dared to ask what is one woman among the tens of thousands of men who have perished for their country in view of all that this heroic nurse's slaughter means to England? Dying in her country's service, sacrificed to the savagery of the most treacherous, b.e.s.t.i.a.l, merciless enemy against which civilized peoples have ever had to fight, a victim to their l.u.s.t of hate, she has left to Englishwomen an example and a message which must surely stir them to follow her, if need be, to death.'

_The British Weekly._

'The Saxon name Edith, which is linked with the most ancient glories of English history, has acquired a new l.u.s.tre through the sufferings of Edith Cavell. In every church on Sunday preachers sounded the praise of the loving, gentle woman who was shot by the Germans in Brussels in the dark of a mid-October night a few hours before the fleet of Zeppelins started on their flight towards London. Her only crime was that she furthered the escape from Belgium of her countrymen and their Allies. The shield clasped for their sake in her delicate hand was like the buckler of Arthur in Spenser's poem, "All of diamond perfect pure and cleene," and coming ages will see that it was hewn out of the adamant rock.

Amid the panoply of the martyrs her diamond shield will burn.'

_The Catholic Times._

'Baron von Bissing, the German Governor-General of Belgium, recently addressing a meeting of German women in Brussels, said, "We must do our best to carry on here in Belgium a real German 'Kultur' work." He has just given the world a proof of what the Germans can do for the promotion of "Kultur" in Belgium. It is a proof which has brought home fully to civilized people the truth that when the Germans are called barbarians there is no exaggeration in the charge. The shooting of women is a relic of barbarism abhorrent to the general feeling of the present day. The execution of Miss Cavell brings into relief once more the main characteristic of German warfare. Laws, civilized customs, honourable traditions, must give way if they obstruct German domination. A mult.i.tude of Belgians, male and female, have been put to death with as much cruelty as was displayed towards Miss Cavell. It is needless to say that by revealing their true character during the War the Germans have been fighting most effectively against their own cause. The horror excited by their infamies is worth whole regiments of recruiting-sergeants. Not only in the countries at war with Germany, but amongst the populations of the neutral nations, it produces the firm belief that there could be no greater enemy of popular rights than Germany, and that the success of German "Kultur" work would blast civilization like a deadly blight.'

THE VOICE OF FRANCE

The French Senate 'bowed with respect and profound emotion before the memory of this heroic martyr to duty, who sacrificed her life in the cause of patriotism and of eternal right'; and the French press glowed with magnificent tributes to the memory of the brave Englishwoman. One of the most striking articles was that communicated to _L'Homme Enchaine_ by M. Clemenceau:

'It was necessary that Miss Cavell, symbolizing in her heroic death and her simplicity an incalculable ma.s.s of awful butchery, should rise from her tomb to show the Germans that every soul of living humanity revolts with disgust against a cause which can only defend itself by a most cowardly a.s.sa.s.sination.

'The profound truth is that she honoured her country in dying for that which is the finest in the human soul--the conscience of a grandeur of which the greater part of us dreams, and which only a few of the elect have a chance of realizing. This was the lot of Miss Cavell; driven to a wall by a detachment of riflemen, she was walking without a complaint, without a regret, being already no longer of this earth, when a physical faintness made her falter. To me it only makes her appear greater, since, combination of strength and weakness, she thus showed herself woman, purely woman, to the end. "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--"My G.o.d, My G.o.d, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"--said Another on His cross, in a moment of weakness and distress by which the splendour of His sacrifice was increased.

'Edith Cavell did not speak a word; she fell. Thereupon an officer, a representative gentleman of "Germany above everything," a delegate of the Emperor, and, through the Emperor, of "the old German G.o.d," carrying out his despicable task of butcher, calmly drew near, placed his revolver at the temple of his victim, pressed the trigger, and then, with his hand red with blood, signed to his "men," if such I may call them, that the work of Germania was done.

We shall not forget the name of Miss Cavell, but we do not know, we never shall know, the name of the other. He calls himself a German--that is enough. Every other German would have claimed the honour of carrying out the same task. Since the day of Joan of Arc, to whose memory I know that the British will one day wish to erect a statue, Great Britain has owed us this return. She has given it n.o.bly.

'Now the Eumenides are let loose--Miss Edith Cavell, murdered by a coward, will live among the men of all ages and of all countries with a life which, for a time of which one cannot foresee the end, will bring shame and torment on the people on whom her blood lies; and that the lesson may be lasting, I should like to see in Rome, Brussels, Nish, Paris, London, and Petrograd, as an indestructible memorial of a community of sentiment, a statue of this n.o.ble woman and of the German officer. It would be sufficient to take as a model the excellent drawing published by Abel Faivre in the _Echo de Paris_, in which that fine artist has indicated in a few strokes of sublime grandeur the n.o.bility of the blessed victim, and, without forcing anything, the features of the a.s.sa.s.sin.

'Those who come after us, and whose knowledge of the terrible realities of these days will only be derived from cold, dispa.s.sionate words, must have before their eyes an image recalling the living facts: Edith Cavell and a Boche without name, representative of a people which, feeling the weight of universal opprobrium, has not found one spark of conscience from which to utter one word of protest.'

_The Journal des Debats._

'Miss Cavell died like a heroine, like a true worthy daughter of England, the victim of those who would like to have killed her country, and who revenged themselves on a woman. The murder of Miss Cavell deserves to be avenged, and it will be, and in a manner more terrible than the Germans dream of. The soul of England and the soul of France are to-day united over the body of poor but glorious Miss Cavell in a most sacred oath.'

_Intransigeant._

'The German who cold-bloodedly, without even the excuse of the pa.s.sion of battle, judged, condemned, and executed Miss Cavell is a monster, a being who has placed himself voluntarily beyond the pale of human law. England, who has furnished us with so many causes for grat.i.tude since the beginning of the War, now offers for our admiration a loyal, strong, and simple heroine. This winter at the feast of Joan of Arc English officers brought flowers to her statue. The French will not forget the great example of Edith Cavell. She has entered the eternal light which shines on the foreheads of heroines and martyrs. For centuries to come little children will spell her name, and learn in the story of her life lessons of courage.'

DUTCH PROTESTS

The German reign of terror just over their own borders the Dutch may accept as a menace and a warning to themselves; but the a.s.sa.s.sination of Nurse Cavell aroused the most emphatic denunciations of the crime.

_The Amsterdam Telegraaf._

'Under the fatherly government of Bissing, the Belgians at present have cause to envy the Parisians of 1793 in the Reign of Terror.

Not a person is sure of his life, and certainly not an honest and brave person, for the German reign of terror seeks by frightful examples to make the whole of Belgium a nation of traitors and cowards. Love of country, which the Germans themselves claim to honour as the highest virtue, they punish in the enemy as the most frightful crime.

'In the last fortnight were p.r.o.nounced ten sentences of death and thirty-two of penal servitude for from ten to fifteen years. Among these death sentences were four women. We wrote once in this journal, "Holland is incapable of shuddering any more." We were wrong. The death penalty on a brave woman has caused the whole of this country to freeze with horror. Openly and unashamed Germany makes herself a nation of outlaws against whom in the future every possible measure of reprisal must be counted as warranted.'

_Nieuws Van Den Dag._

'What poor psychologists German officials and officers seem to be!

They started with the request to the Belgian Government for free pa.s.sage; they then overwhelmed the neutral press with one-sided reports regarding the _Lusitania_ case and the visits of Zeppelins to undefended towns; finally, incidents of this sort! Everywhere they betray a lack of the most elementary conception of psychology.'

XIV

AMERICA'S VERDICT

Apart from questions of common humanity, Americans are keenly interested in the tragical end of Edith Cavell because of the untiring services of the American Legation in Brussels, first to see that the accused had a fair trial, and, second, their desperate and heroic efforts to gain time in which to formulate a final appeal for clemency. The admiration of all true Americans must be excited by the account of the humane endeavours of their representatives, which lose not a jot because their appeals were made to a cold-blooded, ferocious tribunal that is a stranger to compa.s.sion, and does not subscribe to the ordinary decencies of civilized life and practice.

The following press comments indicate the unanimity of the note of detestation with which America views one of the greatest crimes of all time.

_New York Herald._

Under the heading 'Nana Sahib in Belgium' was foreshadowed the national abhorrence which will hold Germany to be the moral leper of civilization. Mr. Whitlock's report 'will cause a wave of horror to sweep over the world at the possibility of a nation which is capable of perpetrating such terrible deeds as a mere matter of military routine succeeding in this War and dominating Europe.

'For the consolation of those weaklings who object to the execution of Miss Cavell it is announced that the black act was done according to German military law, and therefore "legal." So the slayings in Louvain, Dinant, and other blood-soaked spots in Belgium were in accordance with military law, and therefore "legal." The sinking of the _Lusitania_ was therefore similarly "legal." The desolation of Armenia was in accordance with Turkish military law, and therefore "legal." The order of Herod, if re-enacted by the military authorities of Germany, would be in accordance with German military law, and therefore "legal." But the civilized world would denounce it just as it denounced the Belgian, _Lusitania_, and Armenian slaughters, and as it is denouncing the execution of Miss Cavell.'

_New York Times._

'In the great tribunal of civilization the Germans have done themselves immeasurable hurt by their savagery against those who opposed them. Putting the interests of State above the interests and rights of the individual, putting the ends Germany seeks to attain above all other things on earth, destroying the peace of the world, bringing on the bloodiest War in history, a War that has brought to their deaths millions of the people of Europe and threatens to impoverish great nations, all for the attainment of ends the world has denounced in themselves, and by means which too often have violated the foundation principles of humanity and justice, Germany has brought herself into a position where the world turns from her in horror, and dreads nothing so much as the success of her arms. Man's love of life, the chivalric sentiment of man for woman, tender consideration for the helplessness of age and of youth, all these she has maimed and bruised and defaced with her mailed fist, all these she has trampled under foot. The execution of Edith Cavell but carried out the spirit and purpose of the Imperial military policy.'

_The Sun._

'In spite of the manifestations of "frightfulness" with which the record is already crowded, we are not willing to believe that chivalry to women is dead in the German army. To the rank and file von Bissing can never be a hero. Doubtless his monstrous deed will be justified; nevertheless, it will sicken the soul of many an honest German officer. And the German women--for woman is true to her s.e.x the world over--will deplore the fate imposed upon one who was the victim of her sympathies. Never has there been a war in which women have not played such a part as this Englishwoman did.

'Indeed, to all Germans who have not been corrupted by Prussian militarism, the hurried, stealthy shooting of hapless Edith Cavell in the dead of night behind prison walls will always be a bitter memory. More than all the counts in the Bryce Report of atrocities in Belgium it will weigh in the scale of judgement, for it has struck the world with horror.'

_The Tribune._

'Alive, Miss Cavell was but an offender against German military rules; dead, dead after summary conviction, dead under circ.u.mstances that give the incident the character of a midnight a.s.sa.s.sination and the colour of an atrocity, she becomes to all men of English blood a martyr and an inspiration to new patriotic devotion.

'The thing is like the Zeppelin raids, it is like the Louvain slaughter, it is like the _Lusitania_ ma.s.sacre. The wrongs done to the women and children of a race do not terrify the men. They only serve to rouse the spirit, strengthen the arm, nerve the will.