The Germans have put a fresh stain on their record
as deep as any in the series that has already caused the world to say that they are outside the pale of civilization. They have executed Captain Charles Fryatt, the master of the Great Eastern Railway steamer ' Brussels,' on the ground that he acted as a franc-tireur in trying to ram a German submarine. His ship was captured on June 23rd, but the charge against him referred to his action on March 28th, 1915. The trial was conducted with haste and secrecy. The American Ambassador could obtain no information. What Captain Fryatt did was simply to try to save his vessel, crew, and passengers, in accordance with his legal rights and his duty. As the Times reminds us, on that same day the ' Falaba,' which did obey German instructions to stop, was sunk with the lose of over a hundred lives. In killing a prisoner of war the Germans also kill anything that remains to them of the chivalry of war. We have written on the whole subject elsewhere.
