13th November 2009 9:00
By Chris Chapman
SIR ROGER CASEMENT-THE MAKING OF A TRAITOR
August 3rd 1916. Roger Casement is hanged in Pentonville Prison for treason, having admitted himself: “I have betrayed the Crown.”As early as 1913 he had helped create the Irish Volunteers (IV), a paramilitary wing for the aggressive Nationalist cause. In July 1914 he had organised a huge shipment of arms into Ireland at Howth for use by the Nationalists. After Britain declared war, he had visited Germany to gain their support for a free Irish republic; during 1916 he had consorted with the Germans to organise funding and armaments for the planned Easter Rising in Dublin in April that year. Yet his betrayal was a surprise to Crown and countrymen alike. He had been accepted into the English hierarchy and, in 1911, had been honoured with, and accepted, a knighthood. He had also been the confidante of two Prime Ministers, Salisbury and Gladstone, and their respective administrations had trusted him implicitly. He had fashioned a long, distinguished and publicly acclaimed career in the Colonial and later Foreign Offices. As a man, he was well liked and respected- many venerable men, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, worked to secure his reprieve. Yet barely five years after his honour was bestowed he was hanged for treason by the very system and people that had honoured him. So the question that arises is simple: why the drastic change from popular hero to callous traitor?
**The Cause**
There is no doubt that Casement’s obsession with the Irish Nationalist cause was a major factor. At the end of his trial he is quoted as saying “Loyalty is a sentiment, not a law. It rests on love, not on restraint. The Government of Ireland by England rests on restraint and not on law; and since it demands no love, it can evoke no loyalty... I am prouder to stand here today in the traitor’s dock than to fill the place of my accusers... I am sure that it is better for men to fight and die without right than to live in such a state of right as this.” This strong rhetoric shows his dedication to the cause, even as his execution seemed imminent; he refused to denounce the nationalistic fervour that pushed him this far.
He was born in Dublin in 1864, and, although he was brought up a Protestant in Ulster and joined the British Foreign Service in 1892, he became increasingly interested in all things Irish. He learned the Irish language and bought an estate in Ulster. In 1903 he joined the Gaelic League, a group dedicated to the promotion of Gaelic culture, art and sport; by the year-end he was making substantial financial contributions to them.
Casement’s humanitarian nature would also have been aroused by the Irish problem. He, through close work with the United States, helped to gain recognition for the Congo Free State in 1884. He also resigned his position in the African International Association due to its lack of willingness to bring about change in Africa. After joining the British Foreign Service in 1892, he had British diplomatic weight behind his humanitarian efforts and returned to the Congo. He discovered appalling conditions of labour for the indigenous peoples, being enforced at gunpoint and no pay for the King of Belgium. His famous Congo Report in 1904 exposed the abuse of the natives by the Belgians in shockingly graphic detail and provoked a huge scandal with relations with Belgium, but his genuine humanitarian interests can clearly be seen. His work in Brazil in 1906 with the local Putumayo Indians again highlighted exploitation. Thus we can see the treatment of the Irish by the British such as during the potato famine, in which over a million Irish died; the Land Acts, enabling English landowners dictatorial status over the Irish peasants and the shameless implication of Parnell in the infamous Phoenix Park murder of Cavendish in 1882 would have rankled with him.
Therefore it is little wonder that Casement began to espouse the political fight for Irish freedom from the British Crown. As early as 1903 he began writing anonymous articles for Sinn Fein and was contributing to the `Irish Review’, a pro-nationalist publication. Here he met future leaders of the Irish Nationalist movement, such as McDermot, MacDonagh, Plunkett, Connolly and Chase. Before long, he was donating on a regular basis to various Nationalist causes, most prominently Sinn Fein. These donations, sometimes amounting to almost a third of his salary, continued throughout his life and won him the friendship of Milligan and Hobson, two influential Nationalist figures.
When Casement retired from the Foreign Office in 1912 due to ill health he did so to his Irish estate, from where he began to see himself as an ambassador for Ireland and as a self-appointed diplomat for her cause. To this end, he used his former diplomatic contacts to visit the east coast of America in the summer of 1914 to raise awareness and support for the cause. His trip was stunningly successful, particularly in Philadelphia, helping to raise much-needed funds. On his return later that year, he set up and ran the London Committee, whose primary role was to acquire finances for paramilitary efforts.
Perhaps it was his close friendship with Eoin MacNeill that prompted Casement to eschew Redmond and Carson and the negotiated solution at Westminster, in favour of the more radical armed struggle for freedom. In 1913, he helped MacNeill establish the Irish Volunteers (IV), a group of well-organised and aggressively Nationalist paramilitaries and, in October that year, delivered a rousing speech at Ballymoney condemning Carsonism. He then set about arming the IV with a daring and dangerous gun running campaign, which was foiled by British forces at Howth in July 1915.
In October 1914, boosted by his success in America and after Britain had declared war in August, Casement went on a diplomatic quest to Germany to seek their support for an independent Irish state. He had already secretly floated the idea to the German Military attaché in Washington, Franz Von Papen, when he visited the US earlier, and decided a trip to Germany itself was required. His primary goal was not only political recognition but also military reinforcements in the form of 50,000 German troops and 200,000 weapons. He also wanted to create an `Irish Legion’ using Irish prisoners-of-war that the Germans had captured. This ill-fated mission should have secured military support for Irish independence at a time when British concerns and resources were committed to the European war, and the guarantee of German protection of the Irish state would trump any half-hearted Home Rule moves by Westminster.
And yet, despite his apparent dedication to the cause, it would seem Casement was never fully trusted by the Irish. For as good a friend as he was to MacNeill, the IV chief of staff kept all operational information secret from him. Although Casement was appointed onto the Provisional Committee in 1913, many inside the movement were suspicious that he never belonged to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), seen by most as the hub of Nationalist activity and felt that his views were too moderate. Although originally giving their backing to Casement on the Council, members of the IRB withdrew it and even tried to replace him on the Provisional Committee before he went to Germany in 1914 and, with vigorous support from Pearse and Clarke, deliberately kept him in the dark about the planned Easter Rising. Indeed, Casement was never appointed as an ambassador for Ireland and was never enlisted for diplomatic help: it was Casement himself who requested backing for his expeditions. Perhaps they found it difficult to trust a Protestant Ulsterman who had worked for the British over many years no matter what he did for the cause. Even though Casement was a traitor to the British Crown, any traitor must be treated with caution.
**The British**
Casement also could have had personal reasons for betraying the British. Casement’s mother died when he was a baby and his father struggled to raise him. He was a Captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards in Dublin, until early in the 1870’s when he was relieved of duty without any apparent reason. It was a devastating blow. Casement Senior tried valiantly to make a living as a shipping merchant in Belfast, but ended up bankrupt and living off charity from relations. When Roger was only 10 years old, his father died, a broken man. This treatment of his father could certainly have played a part in fermenting his hostility toward the British, but it does not appear to be a burning injustice for Casement, which should have demanded immediate revenge. He was content to join the British Colonial Office and carve a successful career over many years before other, more important, motivations came into play.
Further, while his work was highly acclaimed, particularly on humanitarian grounds, the British Government did not act upon it. Indeed, there is evidence that sections of his work were edited to allow high-ranking members of Government to claim `ignorance’ of the facts in the House. In his frustration, Casement persuaded journalist E.D. Morel to form the Congo Reform Association, and lead the anti-Congolese campaign in the press; as he himself could not be seen to be interfering due to his diplomatic status.
Finally, it is suggested that Casement was forced to retire from office in 1912. He had been suffering from ill health for a number of years, perhaps picked up from his travels in Africa, but had been deemed fit to undertake demanding travels to Peru in 1911. Perhaps his retirement was prompted more by a growing concern in Government circles over his Nationalist sympathies and friendships. In any event, it allowed Casement to concentrate more fully and openly on his support for the cause.
**British Policy**
It is clear, though, that apart from his treatment at British hands, Casement had also lost patience with Government policy.
Concerning Ireland, a whole series of weak, placatory and conciliatory Home Rule Bills were published and argued over by Carson of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Redmond of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and Westminster with little prospect of progress. When a fragile consensus was reached in 1912, the deliberations of the Government went on so long that royal assent was suspended until after the War. Perhaps Casement saw it as time for him to take matters into his own hands. The weak Liberal position in Parliament was also dangerous to the Nationalist cause. Redmond’s influence at Westminster was rendered ineffective as the Conservatives controlled Parliament, not the Liberals. Therefore any pressure that Redmond could have exerted was nullified by the huge Tory presence in both Houses. It can be said that this contributed in helping Casement to choose militarism instead of negotiation. Furthermore, Bonar Law and his huge Conservative support were actively supporting the UVF’s gun running campaign at Larne both politically and financially. This interference by the British, via the Conservative majority’s ability to `call the shots’, was bringing Ireland closer to civil war: an outcome Casement and the Nationalists could not afford to tolerate. Finally, Casement saw British unable to control their own troops in Ireland, in the Curragh Mutiny of March 1914, and this lack of control showed Casement that if the British could not control their own officers, they would not be able to control an unruly Irish population.
However, Casement was equally horrified by British foreign policy elsewhere. From his work in Africa and South America, he was beginning to see Britain as an imperialist dictator and its reluctance to modify policy to accommodate his findings led Casement to believe Britain wanted to prolong its iron fist on the world at all costs. After the mixed results of the Boer campaign (1899-1902), which highlighted British military weaknesses that had never been exploited before, the post-war recruitment programme reached as far as Ireland and in 1904 Casement anonymously published a set of anti-recruitment pamphlets, showing his opposition to British Foreign Policy. Casement also took interest in her disastrous entry into World War. He had written a book “Europe and the German Menace” in which he states a war with Germany would be potentially devastating for Europe but recognised it as an opportunity for Ireland: “a perfect opportunity to unite the United States of the world: America, Germany and Ireland,” in which he saw Ireland as they key interlink between the two. This conflict was the perfect cover to take the actions that the British Government had forced him to take.
**The Man**
There is little doubt that Casement was a character full of contradictions, a deeply complex personality. While still a baby, his Catholic mother had had him baptised into the Catholic Church. Upon her death, his father brought him up a Protestant and sent him to Protestant grammar school. The hatred of aggressive Irish nationalism was strongest in Ulster and his education would have been heavily biased towards Unionism. After his father’s death, Casement was sent to live with his staunchly Protestant Ulster relatives, fiercely loyal to the British Crown. Indeed, it was their connections that secured him passage to Africa and opportunities in Government service. With such a background, any concept of nationalistic or Catholic fervour should have been crushed; and yet Casement clearly had deep religious doubts. While contemplating his death in Pentonville prison, and unaware of his original baptism, Casement chose to be baptised, and died, a Catholic.rn rnRoger Casement was also a homosexual. The duality of living a double life could certainly cause a crisis of conscience, which could cause him to revaluate his position on the Irish question. He must have been sick of the hypocrisy in his personal life and in the Government he served, and this sickness coupled with his conscience resurfacing caused him to take action on a cause we have seen he felt strongly about.
His `Black Diaries’ still cause huge amounts of controversy as to their provenance, but are more often than not now acknowledged as genuine. These diaries perhaps show a fantasist side of Casement, as he describes his homosexual relationships in lurid detail. His promiscuity is debatable and this fantasism can be seen elsewhere in his life: he sees himself as a great Irish hero and self-importance is obvious in his book on the European war: “I will be the creator of such a glorious alliance.” The fact that he had never been asked to be an ambassador for Ireland and that he was never fully accepted into Nationalist circles at the time shows that he actually was not the great Irish hero he claims.
Casement was also extremely ill: he had been unwell for 3 months in Munich in early 1915 and had “grievous complaints of health” when he was in Berlin in November that year. In fact, when he was returning to Ireland from his ill-fated trip to Germany in 1916 he was so ill that he could not even attempt to evade capture. So perhaps his increasingly failing health lent him a desperation to betray Britain and take drastic measures to protect the homeland he loved. If time was running out for him perhaps he felt he had nothing to lose. However, it is unlikely his return to Ireland from Germany was a grand gesture for the cause; rather, on discovering the timing of the planned uprising, Casement returned to try to postpone events until the rebels were better armed and supported.
Perhaps it was the nature of his illness that led to doubts about his sanity. He became increasingly obsessive about the cause, refusing to accept the Irish refusal of help and ignoring the domestic politics of the IRB to get rid of him, he continued along his path, which culminated in his trip to Germany. It was as farcical as it was doomed from the start. It was ill advised at a time of war and the whole trip seems to have been poorly planned and naïve in its aim. His book was merely more than a vitriolic outpouring against the British Government, its policies and the War. He also voiced far-fetched ideas about the role of Ireland in European politics, concluding at one point “Ireland is the key to the future of Europe and its relations with the world.” Indeed, the remarkable content of the Black Diaries asks some questions of his sanity. Why did he keep such a detailed record of illegal acts? The content itself- was it promiscuity or fantasy? They all point towards instability of mind. Interestingly, insanity was never used at his trial although it was questioned at his hearing after his execution.
There is no evidence that his betrayal had any economic or fiscal motive. Indeed, Roger Casement was well off. He owned a comfortable residence in London (an expensive asset to hold in contemporary London) as well as an estate in Ireland. His Foreign Office salary would have been around £700 per annum- a huge amount of money- enabling him to donate significant amounts to various Nationalist causes.
The sophisticated and complex make-up of Roger Casement shows that he was a deeply unstable man, and the duality that ran throughout his life would have affected the rationality of a man who was already medically afflicted.
**His legacy**
A variety of motivations in such a complex man led to his change from British humanitarian hero to callous traitor. The British Government labelled him an “obscene traitor” and even his strongest supporters, such as Conan Doyle, relented their staunch defence of him when evidence of his “grotesque homosexual practices” surfaced at his trial. This also created hesitancy among his comrades to recognise him as a hero or martyr. He was eventually acknowledged in Ireland as a hero to the cause, and was granted a state funeral in 1965, and was reinterred in Ireland, although even in death he chose an Ulster site to rest- showing again the contradictions in the man. The `Black Diaries’ taint his reputation even today, where many British flippantly disregard him as a traitor and Irish tentatively honour him as a Nationalist victim. However, his legacy is far more important than either side give him credit for. It was Casement who opened up the possibility of US funding for the Irish cause. Through his trip to Philadelphia he created a constant stream of funds that the Irish desperately required and still tap into today. It was his skill that also helped create and arm the IV. Many recognised armed struggle as the best way to gain independence, but it was his intricate and clever planning that allowed it to happen. Finally, Casement gave Ireland their first diplomatic channels to work in. He mobilised contacts in the United States that allowed him to operate in an international diplomatic role- a luxury that had never before been utilised. Casement was hanged in disgrace, and that is the overriding factor in his present-day acclaim: but his dedication to the cause certainly cannot be doubted, and his work has helped the Nationalists for decades after his death. Therefore the extent of the work of Roger Casement, KCMG, will always be an unacknowledged quantity in the Irish fight for independence.