The Case of Edith Cavell | Page 2

treason have caused a sensation.
What extraordinary moral na?vet��! 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