Your Government executed a woman of noble character, and defends its act
as perfectly legal and a "military necessity." Americans are quite
willing to admit that Miss Cavell may have been guilty of the charges
brought against her. Yet the entire world stood horrified when the
Government of Germany, with due legal form, committed a crime against
womanhood and against humanity, which for centuries will make Germans
blush for shame when the name of Miss Cavell is mentioned. Englishmen
blush at the memory of Jeffreys, but no Englishman ever defends that
fiendish butcher of women. Americans blush at the memory of Mrs.
Surratt; but few Americans will defend her execution. The fact that
Germans have risen to defend the Cavell atrocity led many Americans to
conclude that the brutalising influence of militarism has made the mass
of the German people less humane than are the peoples of other
countries, since they defend what other peoples condemn.

Your Government has bombarded unfortified seacoast towns which Americans
know from personal observation, both before the war and during the
bombardment, were not defended in any way. Mothers and babies were blown
to shreds, but no military damage was done in most cases. Dozens of
helpless old men, women and children were killed for every soldier
slain. The same is true of your Zeppelin raids. Americans believe these
acts are committed for the purpose of stirring up enthusiasm among the
German populace. They believe such acts are in defiance of the rules of
civilised warfare, that they are utterly inhuman and barbarous, and
that a nation which approves and applauds such senseless slaughter is
less civilised than other modern nations. The British Government has
steadfastly refused to accede to the clamour of a few of its citizens
who urge a policy of wholesale reprisals against German open towns.
Americans honour this respect for the rules of civilised warfare and
regret that even occasionally France has yielded to the provocation for