A Study of the Rightsof Non-Combatants.
Former Assistant Attorney-General of the United States,and Author of "The Evidence in the Case."
(Reprinted from "New York Times.")
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS,NEW YORK AND LONDON.[Pg 2]
A Reply to Dr. Albert Zimmermann, Germany's
Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
By JAMES M. BECK,
Former Assistant Attorney-General of the United States, and Author of "The
Dual Alliance v. The Triple Entente," and "The Evidence in the Case."
Mr. Beck, who is one of the leaders of the New York Bar, is the authorof the most widely read article written since the war began, entitled:"The Dual Alliance v. The Triple Entente," which was subsequentlyexpanded into a book, called "The Evidence in the Case," pronounced by adistinguished publicist to be "the classic of the war." After itspublication in The New York Times this article was reprinted in nearlyevery language of the civilized nations and over a million copies of itwere published.
Those who have regarded the Supreme Court of Civilization—meaningthereby the moral sentiment of the world—as a mere rhetorical[Pg 4] phraseor an idle illusion should take note how swiftly that court—sitting nowas one of criminal assize—has pronounced sentence upon the murderers ofEdith Cavell. The swift vengeance of the world's opinion has called tothe bar General Baron von Bissing, and in executing him with thelightning of universal execration has forever degraded him.
Baron von der Lancken may possibly escape general obloquy, for his partin the crime was no greater than that of Pilate, who sought to wash hishands of innocent blood; but von Bissing will enjoy "until the lastsyllable of recorded time" the unenviable fame of Judge Jeffreys. He,too, was an able Judge and probably believed that he was executingjustice, but because he did not execute it in mercy, but with a ferocitythat has made his name a synonym for judicial tyranny, the world hascondemned him to lasting infamy, and this notwithstanding the fact thathe was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Lord High Chancellor ofEngland, and a peer of the realm. All these titles are forgotten. Onlythat of "Bloody Jeffreys" remains.[Pg 5]
Similarly, if his master shall be pleased to honor General Baron vonBissing with the iron cross for his action in the case of Miss Cavell,as the Kaiser honored the Captain of the submarine which destroyed theLusitania—and what order could be more appropriate in both cases thanthe cross, which recalls how another innocent victim of judicial tyrannywas sacrificed?—then even the Order of the Iron Cross will not save vonBissing from lasting obloquy. I do not question that he acted accordingto his lights and shared with Dr. Albert Zimmermann great "surprise"that the world should make such a sensation about the murder of onewoman. Trajan once said that the possession of absolute power had atendency to transform even the most humane man into a wild beast, andJudge Black in his great argument in the case of ex parte Milliganrecalled the fact that Robespierre in his early life resigned hiscommission as Judge rather than pronounce the sentence of death, andthat Caligula passed as a very amiable y