KITCHENER’S DOOM

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9719, 23 July 1917, Page 4

KITCHENER’S DOOM

DUE TO CZARINA’S TREACHERY TWELVE SUBMARINES IN WAITING FOR HAMPSHIRE. It is now generally believed that th* sinking of the cruiser Hampshire, with Lord Kitchener on board, was duo to treachery of the cx-Czarina, who conveyed 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-Gormans, for whom her influence has gained a very large shave in the administration, says “The Bystander.”

It was known that Lord Kitchener contemplated visiting Russia, but none knew the date of his departure Irom England, except tho King, the Prime Minister, some members of the Cabinet, and a few high officials of llio Armv and Navy administration, all of whom could bo relied upon for absolute secrecy. A special courier had gone ahead bearing secret dispatches informing the Russian 31 mister for War of the details of the projected visit. Tho Czarina hoard of tho courier’s arrival, and prevailed upon one of the confidential secretaries of tho Minister to let her know his mission. As boon as she had learned all she wished to know, the Czarina sent for the noted Rasputin, and was closeted with him for some time. Within throe hours the Czarina’s secret wireless plant at tho Palace was sending tho news to Berlin, and the Kaiser and the German War Lords knew tho very day and hour on which the Hampshire was to leave England with Earl Kitchener and his staff.

To intercept the cruiser weth a dozen submarines was an easy task. Notwithstanding the efforts of the authorities in England toconvcy the impression that the Hampshire struck a mine, it is common property that tho 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 the affair, but we believe the censorship immediately suppressed its publication, as tho authorities did not kuow r tho secret of Kitchener's departure had leaked out. and wanted the public to think that tho disaster was accident and not design. Now. however, the fact that tho Hampshire 'was torpedoed is not denied, if it is not admitted. Petrograd know of the Czarina’s du. plicity because of tho woman s own boastful tongue and ill-concealed Germanism. So elated was she at the news of Kitchener’s death that sha could not refrain from confiding to a number of her, favourites tho part that she and’Rasputin had played in bringing it about. These favourites “confided” in their friends, with the result that tho whole Co_urt, and later, the nublio, knew of their false Czarina’s treasonable complicity in tho matter. When the Czar heard how the Germans learned of Wicir chance of destroying Kitchener, tho 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 over. There is no doubt that the Czarina has practically been a prisoner since tho loss of Kitchener, as there were hundreds of her people who swore to bring about her death whenever the opportunity offer-

ed. At the time of the revolution she was surrounded bv a bodyguard of favourites as pro-German as borself. all of whom were scheming to bring about a separate pence with tbe Hun, and it was no wonder that the Czar trembled for her safety when these parasites At the time of the Revolution _ she vernment. It is not at all unlikely that tbe Czarina, tbe military sccrctarv who divulged tbe information, and a certain other former official will be arraigned for high treason, having supplied the enemy with information of military importance.