Page:Edvard Beneš – Bohemia's case for independence.pdf/140

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BOHEMIA'S CASE FOR INDEPENDENCE

spondent of the Národní Listy. Other foreign printed matter of a similar nature was also found in Kramář's house; among his papers, further, the Czech text of two articles from the London Times containing similar views was found.

"4. An important cause of suspicion for criminal proceedings against Kramář is also his secret conversation with the Italian Consul in a Prague hotel in April 1915, shortly before Italy's declaration of war.

"5. In a copy of a letter to the Viceroy, Prince Thun, found in Kramář's house, he, Kramář, expressly admitted that, always faithful to his political principles, he refrains from everything that might appear as approval of the war, and that his and the Národní Listy's conduct in regard to the war loan is guided by that conviction. According to the opinion of the Court, it is necessary to ascribe the painful phenomena which manifested themselves among a portion of the Czech population, and which placed considerable obstacles in the way of a successful conclusion of the war, to this activity of the accused. In this respect reference must be made especially to the distribution of treasonable Russian proclamations in Bohemia and Moravia; to the repeated manifestations of sympathy for the enemy; to the numerous but necessary criminal prosecutions for political offences; further, to the fact that Kramář, as the