err Dr. Albert Zimmermann, speaking for the German
Foreign Office, expressed its "surprise" that Miss Cavell's execution
should "have caused a sensation," it is well to remind Dr. Zimmermann
that to offer a refuge to the fugitive is an impulse of humanity. It is
likely that these soldiers were her wounded patients; at all events,
they had found a refuge in her hospital. They claimed the protection of
her roof and she gave it to them.

In the first act of Walkyrie--which is not overburdened with the
atmosphere of morality--even the black-hearted Hunding says to his
blood-enemy,

"Heilig ist mein herd;
Heilig sei dir mein haus."
(Holy is my hearth!
Holy will be to them my house!)

It must be remembered that all this did not take place in the zone of
actual warfare. A spy caught in the lines of armies is summarily dealt
with of necessity. But Brussels was miles away from the scene of actual
hostilities. Its civil courts were open and a civil administration ruled
its affairs of such reputed beneficence and efficiency as to evoke the
ungrudging admiration of a distinguished college professor who bears the
honored name of George B. McClellan. There was therefore no possible
excuse under international law for a court-martial, as this trial
plainly was. In the American civil war a similar military commission
once sought to hold a similar trial in Indianapolis over civilians
accused of treason, but the United States Supreme Court, in the case of
ex parte Milligan, sternly repudiated this form of military tyranny.

In that case the Supreme Court said:

"There are occasions when martial rule can be properly applied. If,
in foreign invasion or civil war, _the courts are actually closed_,
and it is impossible to administer criminal justice according to
law, then, _on the theatre of active military operations, where war
really prevails_, there is a necessity to furnish a substitute for
the civil authority, thus overthrown, to preserve the safety of the
army and society; * * * As necessity creates the rule, so it limits
its duration; for, if this government is continued _after_ the
courts are reinstated, it is a gross usurpation of power. Martial
rule can never exist where the courts are open, and in the proper
and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction. _It is also
confined to the locality of actual war._"

All civilized countries, including