THE RENEGADE'S CAREER

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 98, 26 April 1916, Page 7

THE RENEGADE'S CAREER

Sir Roger Casement spent many years in the British Consular Service, and as British Consul at Rio de Janeiro was associated with tl)e. disclosures' concern-, ing the Putumayo rubber atrocities. His. Consular service' dated from 1895- till 1913, when he retired on pension. Since the war broke out he has earned unenviable notoriety by ranging himself on the German side as a professed champion of "down-trodden Ireland," seeking to enlist Gorman interest in.severing Ireland from Britain, "and his activities in this direction really began some years earlier. In this unworthy cause-he has been associated with several other renegades, including Houston Chamberlain, j a writer of repute, the son of a British Admiral, and in some respects one of the weighty journalists in. Germany. Casement's traitorous action was first ventilated in the House of Lords, when Lord Curzon, during the course of a debate on recruiting in Ireland, said : : — "This gentleman went to Germany after the outbreak of war, where he has been accused of, disgraceful and disloyal acts His friends wrote to tho papers that not too much attention should be paid to those acts, as they were doubtful about his mentai condition. Since then his proceedings seem to me to have been characterised by perfect possession of his faculties. The last thing of which we read is that; he has prepared a pamphlet which has bean printed by the German Government and circulated, pleading for an alliance between Germany and Ireland. Ido not desire to comment upon this; it is unworthy of comment, but I wish to ask if this official who has received a title is to continue in the enjoyment of his pension." The Marquis of Crewe said :— ■"From what we have heard of his whereabouts, he is not in a position to draw his pension, nor is he likely to become- so, but such action as he is reported to have taken ought to be followed, ■■ as far a£ possible, by the infliction of tho severest penalties. With that I couple the melancholy reflection that a man who has done such good services in the past, assuming that he is still in possession of all his faculties, should have fallen so low as he appears to have done." PAMPHLETS FOR THE GERMANS. The v pamphlet referred to by Lord Curzon is entitled "The Crime Against Ireland and How the War May Right it." It is an appeal for a "German-Am?rican-Irish Alliance," and has been j officially circulated by the German Foreign Office, and is now being pressed into the hands of every American within the reach of the Kaiser's far-flung propaganda system. Casement's pamphlet opens with a preface dated New York, Ist September, 1914, which begins: — "The following articles were begun in 1911 under the title, 'Ireland, Germany, and the Next War,' and were ■intended for private circulation only among a few interested friends of boCn countries. . . The whole seven parts furnish in outline the case for a Ger-man-Irish alliance as this presented itself to the writer's, mind when the world was still' in peace; and in Part VII. the intrigues of Great Britain to induce an anti-German policy on the part of the United States are touched on." '■ ' v Sir Roger's articles especially delight the Teuton heart, Mr. Wile tells us, because of their violent attack on tho idea of an Anglo-American rapprochementSuch a consummation has been Germany's political pet aversion' for the past sixteen years—ever since the Span-ish-American War. It is easy to imagine the" satisfaction which the' closing sentiments of Sir .Roger's preachment evoke in Berlin-,:— "The Anglo-Saxon Alliance means a compact i,o ensure slavery and beget war. The people who fought the greatest war in' modern history to release slaves are not likely to begin the greatest war \n all history to beget slaves. "Let the truth be known in America that England wants to turn tie great

Republic of free men into the Imperial ally of the great Empire of bought men, and that.,day the. Anglo-Saxon Alliance gives place to the Declaration of Independence^ '. "The true alliance to aim at, for all who love peace, is the friendly union of Germany, ■ America, and Ireland. These are the true United States of the world. Ireland, the lick between Europe and America, must be freed by both. "Denied to-day free intercourse with either, she yet forms the great design of Providence, the natural bond to bring the Old World and the New together. "May 1915 lay the , foundations of this—the true Hundred Years of Peace!" "EXPLAINING" THE IRISH ■ " / SITUATION. Casement, in 1915, contributed a preface to a German edition of a mon6graph, published in New York, entitled "British Versus German Imperialism— a Contrast," in which he gave utterance ;to some most disloyal and traitorous sng-. I gestions. For example. "Even as the Irish have been maligned, oppressed, insulted, and exposed to general contempt, even so would the German j people be attacked, even 30 are they in fact being attacked in every quarter of the globe where the English . lies can penetrate and spread their asphyxiating gases. A common foe, a common enmity, should create a common interest and a fixed policy. Hitherto Germany has entirely misunderstood the Irish situation, and has missed—doubtless from her honourable goodwill for England—many opportunities to tetter her. position in this direction A definite German policy with regard to Ireland should have been a part of the German war-plan in the event of a GermanBritish war . . .. Even as things are now Germany lias friends in Ireland, and more perhaps than is suspected To be sure they are unarmed friends, and hence powerless to support 'their own cause or that of the nation now threatened by the same arch-enemy. But if there had been an Irish policy, if German methods had been less conscientious, less uprightly honourable towards England, then the Irish volunteers might have comprised a well-armed fighting body, a well-armed Ireland might have had a more deterrent effect upon Eng-' land's greedy ambition than even the 'outraged neutrality' of Belgium could have outweighed. An armed Ireland might well have meant a disarmed England." ■• In February, 1915, Casement alleged that the British Minister in. Norway had conspired to have him kidnapped and murdered, and the German press made a great parade of the allegation at the time. Casement is reported 'to have actively endeavoured, with.ill success, to seduce Irish prisoners in the Germaa prison camps to desert the British cause and enlist in a German-Irish brigade. The Graphic recently published the following reference to the Casement affair : " Sir Roger Casement, C^M.G., and: renegade, has sounded the very depths of vilenesa since he sold himself body and soul to the enemy. Not content with being a traitor himself, he must ■ needs tempt others to follow his base example, and his masters, with cold and calculated cruelty, sent him on a tour of the German prison camps to recruit for an ' Irish Brigade' among the Irish prisoners. So far he has met with very little success, in spite of the bribes he offered—a German farm, a Germap wife, and threei 'ma.rks a week, or, alternatively, a free passage to America, employment there, and £20 down. At Limburg, where most of the Irish are interned, after the mer had givep him a quiet hearing, they kicked him round the camp, giving him, as our informant and eye-witness put it, 'the soundest bating he iver had in. his life..'....ln.the.sequel the German guard charged with fixed bayonets, andmany of the men. had their wounds reopened ; ' but,' says the man from Limburg, 'it was.worth it.'"