SIR ROGER CASEMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11730, 21 June 1916, Page 2

SIR ROGER CASEMENT.

CAPTURED ON IRISH COAST. BLUFF THAT FAILED. [FROM OTJR Correspondent.] LONDON, April 25. There must he a tale really worth tho telling behind tho capture of that notorious pro-German,- Sir Roger Casement, but in their wisdom the Admiralty authorities exercise the most tantalising brevity and reticence. All that they permit us to know is that some tiino " between p.m. April 20 and p.m. April 21" (a quite now official method of denoting time) " an attempt to land arms and .ammunition in Ireland was made by a vessel undqir the guise of a neutral merchant ship, but in reality a German auxiliary, in conjunction with a German submarine," that the "auxiliary sank, and a number of prisoners were made, among whom was Sir: Roger Casement." The fate of the submarine is left for speculation. If it had been sunk or captured our Admiralty would not have told us, for it is an inflexible rulo of \\ hitehall to observe tho oyster's dumbness concerning the f'ate of Gorman submarines, unless their capture or destruction is achieved under circumstances that render it impossible to hide the facts. The British public is not patting itself on the bt!ck, and whooping for joy over the capture of Casement.. As a traitor to tho Empire they had not taken him very seriously; indeed, many people who had given thought to his ! anti-British words and deeds had come to the conclusion that the terrible things he camo upon during his investigation into tho ".Red Rubber" horrors of Putumayo had disturbed his mental balance. His old friend Sir Arthur Conan Doylo, who had entertained a great admiration for Casement, considers Sir Roger's actions during the past two years to be inconceivable to anyone who knew him intimately, except on tho assumption that he had developed mental weakness. British people at largo, however, are not keen to accept this charitablo view of Sir Roger's words and deeds to-day, for they havo some suspicion that Casement commenced his traitorous career long before the war was even thought of, and may have, used his position in a consular capacity at various places in Africa and South America to assist the Germans in their preparations for " The Day." Thoro is no evidence in support of these suspicions, but wo have Sir /Roger's own writings in proof of the fact that he longed for England's downfall, and looked to Germany to compass it, long befqro most of us in the Old Country perceived the war cloud on tho horizon. _ Articles written by him for private circulation among his friends between the years 1011' and 1913, when he was still /in the British service, prove that lie was plotting treason at that period. In 1913 he wrote:—"The day that the first German comrade lands in Ireland, the day when the first German warship is seen proudly breasting the waters of the Irish Sea, with tho flag of Ireland at her fore, that dav many Irishmen must dio, but they shall die in the sure peace_ of _ God tliat Ireland may live." Writing again in the same year, he said:—"As an Irishmen I have no fear for Ireland from German triumph. I pray for it. . . . The truo alliance to aim at for all who love peace, is the friendly union of Germany. America and Ireland." In "The Keeper of the Seas," published in 1011, Sir Roger CVscroont declared: "The power of the British Fleot can never be permanently retained until Ireland is restored to Europe. Germany lias of necessity ; become the champion of European interests as opposed" to the world-domin-ion of England and English-speaking 1 elements.* The Empire that has grown from an island will be ended where it began, oil an island. That island, I believe, will bo Ireland and not Great Britain." THE KAISER'S ALLY. Sir Roger retired from tho Consular service in 1913, iind when war broke out was believed to be in America,, but apparently reached Germany soon after tho war broko out and was, it seems, received with open arms by tho Kaiser. The War Lord ardently imagined that " Casement'' was a name to conjure with in Ireland, and that in Sir Roger he had found an ally who would coax disaffection in Ireland into open rebellion against King George. It has been reported that ho received about £2500 as a retainer from the Kaiser, and was to receive much moro if his plans, were successful. His most remarkable effort was an ad dross to Irish prisoners of vra r at Lemburg, where he tried to_ induce them to forswear their allegiance to King George, and join an Irish brigade i, in the German ■ service. As soon, however, as ho began to speak the soldiers discovered who he was, and a. rush was made for him. If it- had not been for tho armed Gorman guard in attendance upon him there is little doubt that he would have been lynched. Of about 2000 Irish prisoners it is said Casement was able to induce not more than fifty _ to join his nefarious enterprise. His name has been used freely by German agents the world over to spread sedition ■ ataong the Irish race, and several specious manifestoes in his name have been issued by the German Foreign Office. AMAZING MANIFESTO. 1 One of these manifestoes, which purported to be in reply to statements that a German victory would result in great injury to the Irish people, reads: —- " Tho Imperial Government em- | phatically repudiates the malicious in- j tentions" ascribed to it in tho statements reported by Sir Roger Casement; and it takes this opportunity to give a categorical assurance thai Ger- j many only desires the welfare of the j Irish nation, its country, and its in- j stitutions. The Imperial Government j explicitly declares that Germany would never invade Ireland with the object I of conquering it or destroying any of its institutions. , <•'&* " Supposing that in tho course of ! this war, which x Germany has not j sought, the fortune of arms should j over bring German troops to Ireland's i coasts, ihey would land there, not as an army of invadors, who come to rob and to" destroy, but a-s the forces of a government which is inspired by goodwill towards a land and a people for whom Germany only wishes national welfare and national freedom." On October 5. after the outbreak of hostilities, the "Irish Independent" published from him a letter in "which he said: — " Let Irish men and Irish hoys stay in Ireland. Their duty is clear before God and before man. Wo as a> people li°v© no quarrel with the German people. Germany has never wronged Ireland, and wo owe her moro than one debt of gratitude." The Irish Nationalist Party and also tho United Irish League in America immediately repudiated Sir Roger Casement and all his works, and an authoritative statement was made that he had not tho least right or title to speak in tho name of the Irish Nationalists. "THE IRISH LEADER." Rumours of his presence in tho Gcrma.n capital were abroad before wo had definite news of his movements in tho

/ following statement, issued through ;;u official German agency. '"'The Irish loader, Sir Roger Casement, who is in Germany, has purposely gone, to the Forcijm % offico to declare solemnly that all the Irish. Loth at banjo and abroad,will undoubtedly work to assist the victory of the Central Empires, as in their opinion this would mean the destruction of the yoke which for so many centuries the British have laid upon Ireland. " The Secretary of State, after baying reported this to the. Chancellor and having taken his instructions, has issued an official declaration, by which Germany pledges herself to do nothing injurious to Ireland or to the way inwhich ?he wishes her institutions to bo established. The declaration adds thai, in case of Germany lauding troops they would not come as conquerors but as fiehtin n ' forces animated bv the best towards'lrelnnd and the Irish people." r SIR- EDWARD GREY'S '• PLOT. - '' In February, 1915, Sir Roger Casement published an open lector to Sir Edward Grey, alleging documentary evidence to substantiate charges he made against the British Government of a criminal conspiracy to have him captured and murdered. He charged the British Minister in Norway of criminally conspiring with his manservant, Adler Christ ensen, to kill him, for which act Christensen would receive twenty-five .to fifty thousand dollars. The conspiracy was« supposed to have been made with a Norwegian subject 011 Norwegian soil, and Casement stated that Christensen personally declared that tho British Minister told him to lure Casement to a point on the coast where a British ship could run to get him, or, better still, knock him 011 tho head. It was, by tho way, only n few days beforo Sir Roger's capture that Berlin was assiduously circulating reports to the effect, that Casement had been arrested by tho German authorities on somo unspecified charge. No doubt this report was mere bluff, intended to smooth the way for Sir Roger's descent upon Ireland, but it seems in- I stead to have caused our naval authorities to pay very particular atten- J tion to the shipping round the Irish j coasts, with consequences likely to bo ; most unpleasant for Casement. Sir Roger was born in County Antrim in September, 1864, and was best known beforo his treason through his exposure of the Putumayo atrocities. At the age of thirty-one he was appointed Consul at Lorenzo Marques; three years later he was transferred to Loanda, in the Congo Free State, and later he filled tho office of Consul at Ivinchassam Santos, Para, goin? /to Rio dp Janeiro as ConsulGeneral in 1909. He reported for tho Government on the Putumavo ntrties in 1912, and retired in 1013. He received his knighthood in 1011.