Clado the Scapegoat.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 8037, 9 January 1905, Page 5

Clado the Scapegoat.

A Russian Trick.

The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Daily Express telegraphed : — Apparently "Captain" Clado, one of the four officers left behind by Admiral Rozjostvenski to attend the international inquiry, has beenaccoptedby the British Government without question as one of the naval officers on whom the responsibility for the North Sea outrage will naturally lie. I think it cannot be understood by the British Government that Clado is not a naval officer at all. He is a major in the Russian army, and he went with the Baltic fleet as Rozjestvenski's guest, with instructions to take despatches back to the Czar.

From the beginning of the cruise Clado intended to disembark at some southern European port where the fleet might touch. Admiral Rozjestvenski's action in landing Clado as a scapegoat is a piece of the purest mockery. As a military officer, Clado performed no duties whatever at sea.

Unbounded hilarity prevails in St. Petersburg at the Admiral's trick. It is esteemed a triumph in the art of " getting the best of those unspeakable English." in the accepted accounts of the affair it is admitted that the admiral himself ordered the firing.

One thing is both noticeable and significant. Since, his arrival in St. Petersburg Major Clado has been loaded by the Czar with unsual honours.