Ernest Protheroe

“ It will be peculiarly fitting for the statue to Edith Cavell, whose last words were that she was glad to die for her country, to be within sight of the column where stands the one-armed Nelson, whose last immortal signal, 'England expects every man to do his duty,' has ever been an inspiration not only to the Fleet, but to every true lover of his country. ”

“ The whole civilized world stands aghast at the callous brutality and deceit of the German officials in Brussels who have done to death a noble Englishwoman; and words are impotent things in which to express the horror, the disgust, the fury, that this brave woman's murder has excited. ”

“ Even in a British court of justice perfectly innocent people are overawed by their surroundings, causing them to be self-conscious, nervous, and distracted at a time when cool collectedness should be the first line of their defence. But Miss Cavell knew that she was arraigned before unjust judges, who lacked the virtues of charity, sincerity, humanity, and probity, without which the exercise of judgement is a mockery and a sham. ”

“ It is almost impossible to express how deeply the heart of the nation was stirred by the crowning deed of infamy signalized in the tyrannous execution of Edith Cavell; and all classes, from the highest to the lowest, were desirous of testifying their admiration of one whose devotion to duty and consecrated death will ever be an inspiration to our race. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There should be no necessity for executing a woman in war-time; and if it is said that crime is committed in passion, the murder of Miss Cavell is inexcusable even on that ground, because she was executed in cold blood.
'It is impossible for any British men who are of suitable age and physical fitness for the army to hold back, because it is certain that the measure meted out to Nurse Cavell would be gentleness itself compared to the treatment which would befall our womanhood if once the German invasion triumphed over our resistance. ”

“ Except for the gorgeous habiliments of the civic officials, Queen Alexandra's corps of nurses provided the only note of colour in the touch of red at the capes; for even the band of the First Life Guards was dressed in sober khaki instead of their usually resplendent uniforms.
Wounded soldiers, often in groups, were pathetically noticeable among the congregation, poor fellows who could testify above all others to the mercy and healing brought to the sick and the maimed by 'a noble type of good heroic womanhood.' Of the whole immense gathering the majority were women. ”

“ 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 sex 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Why now, when another woman has met the death to which she knowingly exposed herself, as did her comrades in battle?
'There are moments in the life of nations where consideration for the existence of the individual is a crime against all. Such [Pg 103] a moment was here. It was necessary once for all to put an end to the activity of our enemies, regardless of their motives; therefore the death penalty was executed so as to frighten off all those who, counting on preferential treatment for their sex, take part in undertakings punishable by death. ”

“ Liberty is glad; Humanity rejoices; and Pity exults.'
When the welter of blood and the ruinous dissipation of treasure is at an end, and we can appraise our tangible losses in life and money and endeavour to form some conception of the moral gains resulting from the conflict, amid the innumerable individual deeds that make us proud of those of our [Pg 170] race the heroism in life and death of Edith Cavell will shine forth like a precious jewel. ”

“ It is well to remember that 'of every tear that sorrowing mortals shed, some good is born, some gentler nature comes'; and in her death and the tears that we shed for it, the martyr leaves behind her an inestimable legacy that will yield rich dividends to humanize the souls of those who are left behind to admire and reverence the example of a noble woman. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Their standard of justice, of manliness, of chivalry, is altogether diverse from ours, and atrocities such as this done on Miss Cavell must simply confirm us in our determination that it is our standard [Pg 139] and not theirs which is going to prevail in the world of the future. As one outrage follows another the conviction grows the stronger that the world on the Prussian model would be an intolerable place, and that every man who loves freedom, mercy, and justice had better die than live to see it so. ”

“ No other nation in Europe, we believe, would have put a nurse to death in circumstances of this kind. They would have made some allowance for her woman's tender heart, even though she had been guilty of an offence, and therefore deserved some punishment. Nothing, probably, can now brand with fouler infamy the German name, stained as it is by all the damning items in its past record, from Louvain and the Lusitania down to the murder of an English nurse.'
The Standard. ”

“ It is difficult to say what inspiration a nation does not draw from such an example as hers, which lifts up even the meanest and most selfish heart to new heights of unselfish love and devotion. [Pg 141] "To weep would do her wrong." Her life and death are beautiful as those of the saints of old, and will move mankind like immortal music or song. ”

“ The pessimist, the croaker, the grumbler, the critic, work in a contrary direction. Our enemies, with their Hymns [Pg 118] of Hate and concentrated venom, endeavour to hurt us, and they forget that passions of that sort recoil on their instigators as poisonous gases roll back with the wind to those who sent them. We do not concentrate in a spirit of revenge or hatred, but in the stern resolve of an entire nation that we shall never stay our hands until our Empire is free from all fear of menace.
'Miss Cavell has set the world an example of how we should bear ourselves in a supreme crisis. ”

“ The thing that strikes Englishmen as most incredible in the case of Miss Cavell is the calculated indifference with which the inquiries of the American and Spanish Ministers were treated. If the excuse is suggested that in time of war severe and harsh measures have to be taken, our own experience is enough to show that it is possible to combine a regard for the rights of the accused and the respect for humane considerations with the effect of punishment of hostile offences of the most serious kind. ”

“ The one outstanding fact is the common belief that no military authorities in Europe, other than German, would have executed Miss Cavell for an offence actuated by purest motives of patriotism, and in which there was not the faintest suspicion of espionage. It may be remarked, too, that in America Judge Lynch never executed a woman. The attempt to draw a parallel case between Nurse Cavell and Russian women who have fought as soldiers is puerile in the extreme. In the case of the Russian, she is dressed in male uniform, and the German who shoots her in action does so in ignorance of her sex ”

“ The language of diplomacy is of a restrained and judicial character, even when dealing with questions that arouse in the lay mind a whole storm of feeling. But the letter of Sir Edward Grey of October 20, 1915, addressed to Mr. Page, the United States Ambassador in London, with studied calmness and marked dignity indicts the German authorities of an unwarrantable haste in carrying out the sentence that amounts to political murder. ”

“ We do not know whether the hide-bound brutality of the military authorities or the lying trickery of the civilians is the more repulsive. Both were determined that Miss Cavell should die, and they conspired together to shoot her before an appeal could be lodged. They have killed the English nurse, as Napoleon killed the Duc D'Enghien, and by killing her they have immeasurably deepened the [Pg 132] stain of infamy that degrades them in the eyes of the whole world. They could have done no deed better calculated to serve the British cause.' ”

“ Quiet and unassuming, yet determined and courageous, Nurse Cavell continued her good work, which was bound to have a marked effect on the future of the Belgian nursing profession. She herself declared that 'the spread of light and knowledge is bound to follow in years to come. The nurses will not only teach, as none others have the opportunity of doing, the laws of health and the prevention and healing of disease; they will show their countrywomen that education and position do not constitute a bar to an independent life ”

“ The enemy army violated their own treaty obligations, and had plundered, burnt, slaughtered, and ravished a helpless people in a manner that had not been conceivable in this twentieth century. Edith Cavell's contact with wounded soldiers had afforded her first-hand information concerning the brutal atrocities of which the invaders were guilty, and doubtless gave rise to a passionate desire to enable any wounded British compatriot, Belgian or French friend, to escape from the common peril. ”

“ The Tribune.
'Alive, Miss Cavell was but an offender against German military rules; dead, dead after summary conviction, dead under [Pg 164] circumstances that give the incident the character of a midnight assassination 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 massacre. The wrongs done to the women and children of a race do not terrify the men. ”

“ No criminal code in the world—least of all the laws of war—makes such a distinction; and the feminine sex has but one preference, according to legal usages, namely, that women in a delicate condition may not be executed. Otherwise men and women are equal before the law, and only the degree of guilt makes a difference in the sentence for the crime and its consequences. ”

“ In due course, as we most fully believe, the blood of all those who have perished to slake the brutal German thirst for dominion will be required at the hands of the guilty. On the other hand, the name of Edith Cavell is henceforth enshrined among the patriots and martyrs who have died nobly for the honour of the Empire. May her relatives and friends find comfort in that thought!'
The Daily Mail. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But [Pg 138] it has always aroused greater anger and contempt among men of right feeling than murder of any other kind, and those, we are sure, will be the feelings aroused throughout the world by the story of the murder of this noble woman, who, if she offended against the laws of her country's foes, could have been so easily rendered harmless by means far less severe. The vengeance of the strong upon the weak is the most abhorrent spectacle in the eyes of all right-minded people which can be exhibited. ”

“ There is not in Europe, outside Germany and her Allies, a man who can read it without the deepest emotions of pity and of shame. The victim was a lady who had devoted her life to the noblest and the most womanly work woman can do. ”

“ Von Bissing, too, evidently was warned by the Kaiser to moderate his bloodthirstiness, as evidenced by a promise of their lives to all British and French soldiers still hidden in Belgium if they surrendered without delay. Verily, it was speedily proved that Nurse Cavell had died that others might live—and it is not always the case that even the greatest sacrifices bear so speedy a fruit. ”

“ We have great [Pg 96] traditions, but a nation cannot exist by traditions alone. Thank God, we have living examples of all the qualities which have built up and sustained our Empire. Let us be worthy of them, and endure to the end.'
The Secretary for Foreign Affairs was asked whether, according to Article 10 of the Hague Convention of 1907 and the guarantee of the neutrality of Belgium, to which Prussia was a party, the late Miss Cavell was, according to such law as could be applied to her case, guilty of any military offence. ”