Part 4 (1/2)
The service was over, and those who had been privileged to partic.i.p.ate in a soul-searching ceremony streamed out into the hum of the mightiest camp of men the world has ever known. It was like coming from the Holy of Holies, with an everlasting memory to kindle the love and enthusiasm of all who wors.h.i.+p at the shrine of duty.
And the wonder of it all, it was a great national tribute to one who a fortnight earlier was unknown outside her own family and immediate circle of friends. She had 'lived unknown till persecution dragged her into fame and chased her up to heaven,' as a cry of horror and execration, mingled with agonized pity for her harrowing fate, flashed her name from peak to peak and continent to continent.
The columns of the British press were flooded with letters denouncing the crime and acknowledging the death of the martyr as an irresistibly compelling call to duty; and innumerable suggestions were made for perpetuating in tangible form the memory of a daughter of England who had taught us how to die.
One notable scheme for a memorial was speedily announced in connexion with the London Hospital, which happened to be establis.h.i.+ng a new nursing home, which was to bear the name of Queen Alexandra. With true n.o.bility of heart Queen Alexandra promptly requested that her name should give way to that of Edith Cavell, and public subscriptions quickly a.s.sured an enlargement of the original scheme.
The _Daily Telegraph_ initiated a subscription fund to provide a statue in stone and bronze by Sir George Frampton, and the eminent sculptor intimated that his work would be a labour of love and a voluntary gift.
The Westminster City Council offered a site opposite the National Portrait Gallery; and thus the statue will face Trafalgar Square, already rich in national memories. Edith Cavell's death first became known in England on Trafalgar Day. The base of the Nelson Monument was hidden under the customary floral tributes to our greatest naval hero, and amid them was placed a wreath of laurels, a symbol of the martyrdom of the heroic nurse, of which the public would learn through the press the following day. 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.
Other ideas for the perpetuation of the name of Nurse Cavell included the raising of a Cavell Regiment, that should be a living monument of brave men, who would be heartened and vivified by the n.o.ble life and death of their devoted countrywoman. But the true spirit of Britons negatived the necessity for a particular regiment. The next day after the announcement of the death of Miss Cavell every eligible man in her native village joined the Forces, and the recruits, all told, must have numbered many thousands.
Probably it would afford general satisfaction if another proposal bore fruit, namely, the inst.i.tution of a new Order, equivalent to the Victoria Cross, for heroism by women of our race and Empire; and the heroism of our women in the present War emphasizes the justice and wisdom of some such acknowledgement.
Up and down the country there were soon memorial schemes, generally in connexion with local hospitals or the British Red Cross Society. One of the first of this kind was the endowment of a bed in King Edward VII's Hospital, Cardiff, by Sir W. J. Thomas. There speedily followed the proposed inst.i.tution of other beds to be named after Miss Cavell: the City of Dublin Hospital asked for 500 to endow a bed; the 'Ediths' of Yorks.h.i.+re commenced to collect to perpetuate her memory in the north; and a fund of 1,000 was started for a free bed for nurses at the Mount Vernon Hospital for Consumption.
Miss Scott Cavell made it known that her sister had hoped some time in the future to establish a home for nurses only, those either convalescent or tired, or who required a temporary home on holiday from abroad, or a temporary place of rest only. A subscription list was at once opened to give effect to a plan that had been so near Nurse Cavell's heart.
A similar idea, but on a larger scale, was favoured by Sir John Howard, well known in Brighton as the giver of the John Howard Convalescent Home for Ladies in Reduced Circ.u.mstances. He announced that in memory of Miss Cavell he would build twenty-four cottage homes for incapacitated nurses, and endow each with the sum of ten s.h.i.+llings a week. This munificent memorial will entail the expenditure of about 30,000.
IX
BRITISH OFFICIAL REPROBATION
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 Amba.s.sador 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. The Foreign Secretary's comments were as follows:
'Sir E. Grey is confident that the news of the execution of this n.o.ble Englishwoman will be received with horror and disgust, not only in the United States, but throughout the civilized world. Miss Cavell was not even charged with espionage, and the fact that she had nursed numbers of wounded German soldiers might have been regarded as a complete reason in itself for treating her with leniency.
'The att.i.tude of the German authorities is, if possible, rendered worse by the discreditable efforts successfully made by the officials of the German civil administration at Brussels to conceal the fact that sentence had been pa.s.sed, and would be carried out immediately. These efforts were no doubt prompted by the determination to carry out the sentence before an appeal from the finding of the court-martial could be made to a higher authority, and show in the clearest manner that the German authorities concerned were well aware that the carrying out of the sentence was not warranted by any consideration.
'Further comment on their proceedings would be superfluous.
'In conclusion, Sir E. Grey would request Mr. Page to express to Mr. Whitlock and the staff of the United States Legation at Brussels the grateful thanks of His Majesty's Government for their untiring efforts on Miss Cavell's behalf. He is fully satisfied that no stone was left unturned to secure for Miss Cavell a fair trial, and, when sentence had been p.r.o.nounced, a mitigation thereof.
'Sir E. Grey realizes that Mr. Whitlock was placed in a very embarra.s.sing position by the failure of the German authorities to inform him that the sentence had been pa.s.sed, and would be carried out at once. In order, therefore, to forestall any unjust criticism which might be made in this country, he is publis.h.i.+ng Mr.
Whitlock's dispatch to Mr. Page without delay.'
Sir Edward Grey also wrote to the Spanish Amba.s.sador in London acknowledging the good services of the Spanish Minister at Brussels, and concluding thus:
'His Majesty's Government much appreciates the efforts made by the Marquis de Villalobar on this occasion, and the sentiments of humanity and chivalry which animated him, and they would be grateful if your Excellency would be good enough to so inform the Spanish Government.'
In the House of Lords the Earl of Desart asked the Government if they could give any information with regard to the execution of Miss Edith Cavell by the German authorities in Belgium. Her offence, he said, of a.s.sisting her own countrymen and the countrymen of our Allies to escape was one which a belligerent was ent.i.tled to protect itself against, and a sentence of execution might even be pa.s.sed, but such sentence ought never to have been carried out by any country. It was rumoured that other persons against whom similar charges had been made were lying in peril of their lives, and it might be possible through the action of neutral countries to prevent a recurrence of one of the greatest tragedies of the War.
The Marquis of Lansdowne replied: