THE SERAJEVO TRIAL

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 259, 30 October 1914, Page 4

THE SERAJEVO TRIAL

The judicial, investigation conducted by the 'Austrian authorities into" the murder of the Archduke Ferdinand and-his wife has ended in. the only possible way, with the death-sentence for the principal assassins. Princip, who fireC the fatal shots, and Cabrinovie, who threw the bomb, were subjected, to a preliminary examination early in. July; and though they both professed at first to be irresponsible anarchists, they subsequently confessed that they were agents of a. conspiracy. Princip's object, he , declared, was "to save the Servian, naxion from oppression." He was born in Bosnia, but, as he said in his confession, he was strongly Servian in sympathy. He regarded Austria as the national, enemy of Servia, and he knew the Archduke as "the sworn enemy of Senna's aspirations," the man who "'had sworn, to destroy Servia and the Servian dynasty." Cabrinovie, who seems to have been more of an. anarchist than a patriot, declared that his purpose was to strike , a deadly blow at the House of Hapsburg, which he hated- apparently quite as much for anti-monarchical ac for racial, reasons. " I bad made preparations for the- attempt for a long time -beforehand. i#ith tlwbonib tha.t I threw at the , heir to the Throne and. his

wife I wished to destroy the present regime." "there was a. good deal of evidence' to connect th e assassins with a strong anti-Austrian society which Servia wag subsequently called upon to suppress, and even, to implicate officers in. the- Servian army in the plot. C-abri-novic asserted he got \his weapons from a Servian, major, who supplied tho •two murderers with six: bombs and six Bro-wning pistole for the deed. Xaturally these admission* were used later, by the Austro -(Hungarian Press to convince the public that that conspiracy was an official, one, organised and promoted by the- Servian authorities. Of. thie,. however, there is no vestige- of positive' proof. "There are," says the "Bound Table, ,, "no grounds whatever foT. supposing that official. Servia. had My connection -with the crime. Everything points to- the opposite conclusion, lor. the murder, occurred at a moment when Servia. wae specially in need. of. peace." We- have previously mentioned, the sinitter insinuation that the removal, of the Archduke was from, the standpoint of- Ean.Gftrman and. Magyar militarists desirable, and while there ie no- doubt that the- murder was the work, of Serb assassins, it is certainly remarkable that while it was openly said, not only in Belgrade, but in Buda Pest,, before the murder, that the Archduke and. his wife would never leave Bosnia alive, no' adequate precautions seem to have been taken to protect them. But without tracking these incsterious rumours to their source, we may point out that at first even the leading Viennese paper? adopted a very moderate tone toward Servia. after the murder. The "Xeue Freie Presse," foe example, declared that '"'Austria-Hungary will, never follow a policy of revenge, ,, and urged its readers not to' allow themselves to be persuaded "even, with strong reasons for suspicion," to undertake a vinvictive crusade against the Serbs, who were their fellow-citizons. On the whole, the most reasonable view of the whole episode is that it was the work of a band, of irresponsible fanatics; and there is certainly something to be said for -the"Round Table's" contention that "those whose sympathy for the Italian risorgimento" is not damped by the methods of the Carbonari, and who do not despair of Russian, freedom because its cause has been stained by acts of. terrorism, will not condemn, a whole nation for the crimes of a few raw and unbalanced striplings." ■ ■ -