HOW KITCHENER WAS BETRAYED.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 July 1917, Page 5

HOW KITCHENER WAS BETRAYED.

CZARINA SENT WIRELESS TO BERLIN. TWELVE SUBMARINES IN WAITING FOR HAMPSHIRE. ; It is now generally believed that tlie sinking of the cruiser Hampshire, .with Lord Kitchener on board, was due to treachery of the ex-Czarina, who convey - j ed certain information to her German friends, this traitress was notoriously German in her ideas and sympathies, and although pretending a great patriotism for Russia and visiting the hospitals where there were 'wounded soldiers, in the guise of sweet sympathy, she was surrounded at Court by pro-Germans,, for whom her influence lias gained a very large share in the^ administration. ' It' was. known that Lord. Kitchener contemplated visiting Russia, but none knew the date of his departure from England, excepting the 'King, the Prime Minister, some members of the Cabinet, and a few high officials of the amy and navy administration, all of whom could be relied upon for absolute secrecy. 'A special courier had gone ahead bearing secret despatches informing the Russian Minister for War of the details of the projected visit. The Czarina heard of the courier's arrival, and prevailed upon one of the confidential secretaries of the Minister to let her know his mission. As soon as she had learned all she wished to know the Czarina sent for the noted Rasputin, and was closeted with him for some-jtime. Within three hours the (Czarina's secret 'wireless plant at the palace was sending the news to Berlin, and the Kaiser and the German war lords knew the very day and hour on which the Hampshire was to leave England with Earl Kitchener and his staff, j

To.intercept the. cruiser with a dozen ' submarines was ail easy task. Notwithstanding tho efforts of the authorities in England to convey the impression that the Hampshire struck a mine, it is common property that the cruiser was torpedoed by several submarines, which lay in wait directly in the route, and made a joint and simultaneous attack. The few who survived drowning told the truth of tlie affair, but we believe the Censorship immediately suppressed its publication, as the authorities did not know the secret of Kitchener's departure had leaked out, and wanted the public to think tßat the disaster was accident and not design. ' Now, however, the fact that the Hampshire was torpedoed is not denied, if it is not admitted.

Petrograd knew of the Czarina's duplicity ' because of the woman's own boastful tongue and ill-concealed Germanism. So elated was Bhe at the news of Kitchener's death that she could not refrain from con'ffding to a number of her favorites the part that she and K&sputin had played in bringing it about. These favorites ■ "confided" in > their friends, 'with the result that the wiVole Court, and later the public, know of their false Czarina's treasonable complicity in the matter. When the .Czar heard how the Germans learned of their chance of destroying Kitchener, the shock almost killed him. He was prostrated for days, but the guilty and unrepentant sharer of his throne exerted her magnetic influence on the weakling ruler, and he recovered, to lie more under her thumb than ever. There is no doubt that the Czarina has. practically been a •prisoner since the loss of, Kitchener, as there were Tiundreds of her people who swore to bring about.her death whenever the opportunity offered.

At the time of Ihe revolution she was surrounded by a bodyguard of favorites as pro-German as herself, all of whom were scheming to bring about a separate peace with the Hun, and it was no wonder that the Czar treamblcd for her safety 'When these parasites were arrested by the Provisional Government. It is not at ell unlikely that the Czarina, the military secretary who divulged the information, and a certain other former high official will be arraigned for high treason in having supplied the enemy with information of military import--8(Kio, —Prom the Bystand#*-