The Case of Edith Cavell | Page 8

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