Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia

64 HISTORY OF THE WAR.

decision of the Court had not been pronounced. At 8 p.m. M. de Leval heard by accident that sentence had been passed at 5 p.m., and that Miss Cavell was to be shot at 2 a.m. on the following morning. The American Legation made a last gallant effort. T'wo pleas for mercy were drawn up, addressed to Baron von der Lancken and to Baron von Bissing, the German Governor-General. Mr. Whitlock was ill in bed, but he wrote a personal letter to von Bissing, and Mr. Gibson, M. de Leval, and the Spanish Ambassador, the Marquis de Villalobar, called on Baron von der Lancken about 10 pm. The only power to grant a reprieve belonged to Baron von Bissing, a military pedant of the narrowest type, and the deputation, after an earnest appeal, was dismissed about midnight.

That night at ten o’clock a British chaplain, Mr. Gahan, was admitted to Miss Cavell’s cell. From him we have an account of her last hours. She asked him to tell her friends that she died willingly for her country, without fear or shrinking, and in the true spirit of Christian humility she forgave her enemies. “This I would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards any one.” At two in the morning she died, her courage and cheerfulness, on the admission of

Oct. 12. th€ German chaplain, being unweakened " °™ to the end. Some difficulty was found in providing her executioners, and there is reason to believe that a number of German soldiers were put under arrest for refusing to assist in the barbarity.* * See the documents in Appendix I.