The Case of Edith Cavell | Page 7

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. L��on Th��odor, 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 Li��ge, 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. L��on Th��odor 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