The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1916. CASEMENT'S CRIME.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXI, Issue 16604, 27 April 1916, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1916. CASEMENT'S CRIME.

It is reasonable to assume a connection between this morning's news concerning the nipping in the bud of an incipient rebellion in the capital of Ireland and the, previously reported arrest of . Sir Roger Casement among those who were aboard the German vessel which 'was sunk while attempting io land.arms and munitions m that country. Read together } these incidents— the capture of Sir Roger Casement with the gun-runners, and the rebellious out- - break in Dublin—dovetail naturally a6 parts of a scheme which failed—a scheme which was evidently intended to occasion serious in Ireland. -Evep since the war commenced, Sir* ;Roger Casement has been making himself unpleasantly notorious by reason of his shamefully traitorous behaviour. A man who has had the privilege -of-.

serving hie country as a consular representative ' for nearly twenty years, and who during that lengthy period of service demonstrated his ability to do good jvork, is not a man m whom one would expect to find a traitor. Unfortunately, however, there is only too much evidence of Sir Roger Casement's falL from' grace. He retired-from the Consular service, on pensiorij in 1913, and when, in the following year, the war broke ouf, he proceeded to Germany, virtually threw m his lot with, the enemy, and devoted himself, with the help of others equally unworthy, to endeavouring to induce the Germans to take such action as would occasion a break between Ireland and Britain. The string •on which he harped was the' old discordant note of <rd6wntrodden Ireland," and it is now not surprising to learn that while he was striking that sorry and played-out note in Berlin, others of his kind were, in Ireland itself, co-operating in his nefarious work. The"Prussian philanthropists, whose benign work on behalf of small and down-trodden nations is today so signally manifested in Belgium j and Servia, vwere, naturally, only too i.pleased to lend a ready ear to Casement's traitorous overtures, so much so that the German Government in 1915 permitted him to supply the preface to an official pamphlet, prepared for circulation in America, entitled "British versus German Imperialism—a Contrast/" The sentiments to' whicli he gave expression in that pamphlet were quite sufficient to stamp him as an out-and-out traitor. • But Casement went much further along the road which used to end at the but which now lands the traitorous traveller vup against a stone wall, facing the business end of a file of weil-aimed rifles. In proof of this it is only necessary to quote a statement which Earl Curzon. felt impelled to make in the House ".of Lords some little time ago, when, In referring to this same renegade, he 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 the papers that' not too much attention should be paid to those acts, as they were doubtful about his mental condition. Since then his proceedings seem to me to have been characterised ly perfect possession of his faculties. The last thing of which we read is that he has prepared a pamphlet which has been printed' by the German Government and circulated, pleading for an alliance between Germany and Ireland. *I do not desire to comment upon this; it is unworthy of comment, but 1 wish to ask if this official who has received a title is to continue in the* enjoyment of his pension?" Casement's latest crime and folly—a folly "the very cruuity and futility.of which suggest tLat perhaps' after all his friends were not so very far oiit in their estim/ite ol his mental condition —has resulted in dismal failure. It has met the deserved, proper and inevitable fate of such a wickedly conceived and mad- | brained adventure. It will not seriously disturb Ireland much more than it will disturb the rest of the Empire. It will not cause the loj'al Irish regiments,, who have borne thenx-»!ves so •gallantly all through the war 5 to swerve a Hair's breadth from the jpath of duty. On the other hand it will serve to rid the Empire of at least one unscrupulous traitor, and has afforded gratifying evidence of the fact that the watchdogs of Great Britain are wideawake. '