MURDER OF CAPTAIN FRYATT.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1916, Page 6

MURDER OF CAPTAIN FRYATT.

l . HEASONS FOR THE CRIME Why Captain Fryatt was nmrdeied in such a hurry, and who were cniefly responsible, are made clear in an art'ele in the chief Prussian Conservative paper, Kreuz Zeitung, by Professor Kruckinann, Captain Fryatt was murdered with the deliberate intention of exasperating British public opinion, and enabling panGerman annexationists and anti-Beth-mannites to ciy, "England will never forget us now; we must fight her to the last drop of blood." In other words, writes the Amsterdam correspondent of a 'London journal. Captain Fryatt's murder wa.; a political crime, intended to choke once and for all the growing hopes of many Germans that the fate of the bulk of the nation might possibly be avoided by sacrificing the men really responsible for the war. That such' hopes have recently been entertained in some quarters is unquestionable. Professor Kroc.kmann, in the course of bis long harangue, says: "An) one who had taken the trouble tostudy the English character could not help saying When he received the news of Fryatt's execution, "Now we have burned our boats." '"Previously there was just a possibility of coming to some arrangement with England, without completely defeating her. That possibility lias now vanished for ever. England will never forgive us for Captain Fryatt. Her national pride has never been so injured. For the period of the war, as well as for the succeeding peace, there is nr earthly possibility of reaching tolerable relations." The professor then explains tliat so far from in any way frightening Evgland or giving her a lesson of which others vainly talk, Captain Fryatt's dcatii will only steel her nerves and increase her determination. Therefore, he argues, German) must follow up this pinprick with real blows in a final colossal struggle wherein no means of injuring England dare to be omitted '•Nobody," he continues, "who knows England could be in the' slightest doubt that the shooting of an English captain must produce a final development of the war into one of pitiless fighting to the bloodiest of ends. By shootinq Fryatt we have begun this new phase, and now there ic no turning luck."