Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Previous Page
–
Next Page
Full Title
Typescript copy: "The Correct copy of Roger Casement's Letter to Sir Edward Grey: 'A Black Chapter of English Perfidy,' February 1, 1915."
Author
Casement, Roger, Sir, 1864-1916.
Date Added
11 January 2014
Language
English
Publish Date
1915-02-01
Source
McGarrity Papers
Topic
Grey of Fallodon, Edward Grey, Viscount, 1862-1933. Casement, Roger, Sir, 1864-1916 --Correspondence. Ireland > History > 1910-1921.
About
More Details Permanent Link
Disclaimers
Disclaimer of Liability Disclaimer of Endorsement
OCR
Berlin, Germany,
Feb.lst 1935
Sir:
I observe that some discussion has taken place in the House of
Lords on the subject of the pension I voluntarily ceased to draw
when I set out to learn what might be the intentions of the German
Government in regard to Ireland,
In the course of that discussion I understand Lord Crewe
observed that "Sir Roger Casement's action merited a sensible
punishment,"
The question thus raised as to my action and your publicly
suggested punishment of it I propose discussing here and now,
since the final proof of the actual punishment you sought in
secret to inflict upon me is,at length,in my possession,
It is true that I was aware of your intentions since the first
day I set foot in Norway three months ago: but it has taken time
to compel your agent there to furnish the written proof of the
conspiracy then set on foot against me by His Majesty's Government.
Let me first briefly define my action before proceeding to
contrast it with your own,
The question between the British Government and myself has
never been,as you are fully aware,a matter of a pension,of a reward,
a decoration,
I served the British Government faithfully as long as it was
possible for me to do s0,and when it became impossible,I resigned,
When later,it became impossible for me to use the pension assigned
me by law,I voluntarily abandoned that income as I had previously
resigned the post from which it was derived,and as I now proceed to
divest myself of the honors and distinctions that at various tines
have been conferred upon me by His Majesty's Government,
I came to Europe from the United States last October in order
to make sure that whatever might be the course of this war,my own
country, Ireland, should suffer from it the minimum of harm,
The view I held was made sufficiently clear in an open letter
I wrote on the 17th of September last in New York,and sent to
Ireland for public distribution among my countrymen, I append a printed
copy of that letter,It defines my personal standpoint clearly enough
and expresses the views I held,and hold,on an Irishman's duty to his
country in thio crisis of world affairs.Scon after writing that letter
I set out for Europe.
_
