The Scotsman.
'That Miss Cavell was guilty of an offence against martial law was not denied. But it was not a crime that implied any moral delinquency or transgression of the normal rules of human conduct. On the contrary, it was prompted by the spirit of self-sacrifice and mercy that had guided her whole life, but of which not the tiniest measure was yielded to herself by the men who pursued her to the death. While it may be said that she acted imprudently, and that punishment, and even severe punishment, for her offence was to be looked for, she acted from motives and under circumstances that could only raise her in the eyes of all who are capable of appreciating generosity, courage, and kindness. No suspicion of espionage was attached to her conduct; no accusation of that nature was brought against her; and on being charged with what she had done, she made full and frank acknowledgement. This candour of confession was turned against her as one of the aggravations of her offence. It is made but too clear that the tribunal before which she was hurried thirsted for her blood and for the blood of all who were concerned in the escape of those prisoners from the tender mercies of the Brussels military authorities. Having already lain for several weeks in prison, Miss Cavell was brought before a court-martial, and after a two-days' trial was sentenced to death in the evening and led out to execution early next morning. There was a surreptitiousness as well as a vindictiveness about the whole proceedings that cannot but amaze, as well as horrify and disgust.'
The Irish Times.
'If any one in Ireland still fails to see the necessity for resisting to the utmost the extension of Prussian power in Europe, this should open his eyes. It will be equally admitted by every one but her executioners that her sex, her kindness to German wounded, and her charitable intentions in committing the undoubted offence against the law imposed upon Belgium by the conquerors should have been regarded as good reasons for treating her with leniency. All these considerations were ignored by the German authorities. Their haste to accomplish the foul deed without possibility of interference is not out of keeping with the worst that we know of savage races. In utter contrast with their proceedings, there was reported yesterday the hearing in a North of England town of an appeal by a woman charged with attempted espionage against a sentence of six months' imprisonment. The woman was of German descent; she had sought information concerning a shell factory, and she admitted that she would have passed it on to the Germans if possible. Her trial was fair and careful, and she had the fullest opportunity of securing legal advice at every stage. Her appeal was patiently heard. So it is with every case of the kind, whatever may be the nationality of the accused person. British justice has a name throughout the world. Henceforth, so will German justice, but the name will be of other significance.'
The Nursing Mirror.
'The heroic and tragic death of Miss Edith Cavell has placed the martyr's crown on the head of this most courageous and patriotic woman, and has consecrated afresh the whole of the nursing profession for her sake in the eyes of the world. Never has the heart of the nation been more deeply stirred than by this crowning deed of infamy; never have the vials of its righteous indignation been poured forth in such a torrent of just anger. 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. Spoken in the stern solemnity of that prison cell, with the sincerity that comes from the nearness of the eternal dawn, these words carry a force and conviction they might otherwise lack to every one of her fellow workers round the world, and are driven home to each heart like a nail fastened in a sure place.... This day of national adversity is our day of opportunity. In it may we be all "brave in peril, constant in tribulation, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another."'
The Lady's Pictorial.
'It is difficult to speak of the crime which has blotted the already foul page of Germany's infamy in constrained language. 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. Nor is it possible to deal in other than conventional phrases with her splendid self-sacrifice. She has died for her country, but she has also won the martyr's crown. Her love for her country was boundless. To serve it she ran a risk the gravity of which she fully recognized, and she freely admitted that in so doing she had offended against military laws. We all know—it is written for all time on the pages of history—how she paid the penalty. 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. Who dared to ask what is one woman among the tens of thousands of men who have perished for their country in view of all that this heroic nurse's slaughter means to England? Dying in her country's service, sacrificed to the savagery of the most treacherous, bestial, merciless enemy against which civilized peoples have ever had to fight, a victim to their lust of hate, she has left to Englishwomen an example and a message which must surely stir them to follow her, if need be, to death.'
The British Weekly.