There is a lofty, snow-clad peak in the Canadian Rockies which is known
by the name of Mount Edith Cavell. It was named in the year 1915 to
enshrine the memory of a noble woman who laid down her life for the
love of humanity. She was an English patriot, but, as we shall see as
we go on with her story, she was much more than that.
Edith Cavell was a hospital nurse who was trained in London and went
to Belgium in 1900 to take charge of a training school for nurses in a
suburb of Brussels. She threw herself into her work with great devotion
and in a few years made it a real success. Then the war began and the
Germans marched into Brussels as victors; but Miss Cavell was allowed
to stay at her hospital.
The Germans seemed to know that she might be useful even to their own
men; and they were not mistaken. The course of events brought many
German wounded to Brussels and these men received the same care as the
Belgian wounded. All hurt or sick men were the same to Edith Cavell,
and her one aim was to get them well again.
After the retreat from Mons and from Namur, a number of French and
English soldiers were cut off from the main army and were left behind
in Belgium. These men hid themselves in the woods or in the ruins of
shattered towns, watching for an opportunity to escape either into
France or Holland. Some of them were captured by the Germans, and many
were shot at once without any form of trial. Others were taken care of
by the country people and many stories could be told, and probably will
be told in the future, of the adventures of these refugees in their own
land.
There were many Belgians, too, who had been left behind after the
earlier battles of the war, and these poor fugitives in their native
land had the same experiences. Some were taken and instantly shot;
others were dressed in civilian clothing and given work on the land,
and when the chance came were helped across the frontier into Holland.
Many were shot by the German guards as they made their last dash for
freedom across the barbed-wire fence which marked off Holland from
Belgium.
There was constant movement among the English, French, and Belgians to
get away. Many of them had been brought into touch with Miss Cavell
at one or other of her hospitals and they seem to have begged for her
help. She had means of helping them and she did not hesitate to use
them. She did not count the cost to herself. Here were men who, if
taken, would most probably be shot out of hand. What could a good
woman do but help them to escape? She would thereby break the German
military law, but she would be faithful to the higher law of kindness.
It was afterwards told against her by the Germans that she helped 130
men to leave Belgium. We do not know whether this number is correct,
but if it were halved the record would still be a proud one.
After a time the Germans began to be suspicious of Miss Cavell. Spies
were ordered to watch her. One of these men, it is said, went to ask
her to help him to leave the country; she listened to his story,
promised to help him, and then in accordance with his “duty” he
betrayed her to his higher officers. She was made a prisoner on the 5th
of August 1915.
In the military prison she was closely confined and no one was allowed
to see her. She was considered a most dangerous person, as indeed she
was when it was a question of mercy and pity before obedience to a
brutal law. The Germans tell that she made no effort to hide or excuse
the fact that she had helped men to escape from the country. She had
acted as she did, knowing full well that she was breaking the rule of
the Germans. It was said that she fully expected to be caught some day
and to suffer punishment, but that she thought it would take the form
of imprisonment for a time.
There was living in Brussels at this time a Mr. Brand Whitlock who was
American Minister, that is to say, he was in charge of American affairs
in Belgium. As soon as he heard that Miss Cavell had been arrested, he
wrote to the German officers and did all he could to get a fair trial
for the lady. The Germans said that no one would be allowed to see
Miss Cavell, but that she should have a trial in accordance with the
soldier’s law.
Mr. Whitlock was told that Miss Cavell had said that she was “guilty”;
that she had hidden in her house French, English, and Belgians who were
anxious to get away from Belgium; and that she had given them money and
other help, sometimes providing guides to conduct them to the frontier.
Her trial began on the 7th October, and thirty-four other prisoners
were tried with her. The language used in the court was German, and
when a question was put to Miss Cavell it was translated into French,
with which she was familiar. She was allowed to have a lawyer to speak
in her defence, but she did not see him until the day of the trial,
so that his help was of no great service to her. She had, however,
confessed her “fault,” so that it did not matter. She probably thought
of cases in English military history where women had been found guilty
of military offences and had been imprisoned; and the punishment seemed
light when she thought of the young lives that she had saved and of
the mothers and sisters and sweethearts who would bless her name until
their dying day.
Perhaps she was as much surprised as were many other people when she
was sentenced to die. Before sentence was passed upon her she was asked
why she had helped soldiers to go to England. She replied quite simply
that she thought if she had not done so they would have been shot by
the Germans; and she considered she only did her duty to her country in
saving their lives. The order of the court was that she should be shot
the next morning at two o’clock.
During the following evening the American Minister made almost frantic
efforts to save her life. He was nobly helped by the Spanish Minister,
but all their efforts were of no avail. Mr. Gahan, the British chaplain
in Brussels, was, however, allowed to see Miss Cavell in her prison.
“I found her,” he afterwards wrote, “perfectly calm and resigned. She
said that she wished her friends to know that she willingly gave her
life for her country and said, ‘I have no fear nor shrinking; I have
seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me.’
“She further said, ‘I thank God for this ten weeks’ quiet before the
end. Life has always been hurried and full of difficulty. This time of
rest has been a great mercy. They have all been very kind to me here.
But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity,
I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or
bitterness towards any one.’
“We sat quietly talking until it was time for me to go. She gave me
parting messages for relations and friends. Then I said, ‘Good-bye,’
and she smiled and said, ‘We shall meet again.’”
Next morning she was shot. The place of her burial was kept secret, for
the Germans feared that the Belgians would make it a rallying place for
rebellion. In this way they showed that they knew they had acted not
only inhumanly but foolishly.
The execution of Edith Cavell roused great anger throughout the world,
except of course in Germany. British and French soldiers fought with
greater courage with her name upon their lips. From every civilised
country came protests against the shooting of a woman whose only
military offence was that she had followed the promptings of a tender
heart.
Her story was told in every British school and the Education Minister
of France gave orders that the teachers of Paris should also tell it to
their pupils. “The great and sublime figure of Edith Cavell,” he said,
“stands forth among the black horrors of the war as a living image of
outraged humanity.” Her death and the way it was regarded in Germany
reminded the Allies once again that in fighting Germany they were
fighting barbarism and the spirit which aims at “success” at any price.
In our just anger at the executioners of this noble lady let us not
miss the true lesson of her splendid life and her heroic death.
She loved England first as became an Englishwoman. That was made quite
clear in all that she said and did. She loved the friends of England
too--all those who were fighting for the same great cause. That also
was perfectly clear.
But mark once more that noble utterance spoken on the last evening
of her life, “This I would say, standing as I do in view of God and
eternity, _I realise that patriotism is not enough_. I must have no
hatred or bitterness towards any one.”
We know that she had helped German wounded and had shown them all the
care and tenderness that the sight of a suffering man could arouse in
her. She did this, not because she had any desire to help the rulers
of Germany whose ways she hated, but because the men were human beings.
Her kindness to German wounded and her last words which are twice
quoted above were her woman’s protest against the folly and the
wickedness of all war. She could put aside with a quiet smile the
pompous military rule which laid down that certain things were to be
done because men were living in a state of war. She followed a higher
rule, the law of pity and of mercy, remembering the words of the great
poet of her beloved country:
“Earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.”