1 Mrs J. R. Green to General Botha
COPY 36 Grosvenor Road, Westminster. 16th Jun, 1916. My dear General Botha I venture to call you by the title you bore on the day that
I first saw you, when with General de Wet and General Delarey
you came to my house on your first landing in England, to meet
there Sir William Butler. It is in remembrance of that day and
of your old experiences that I now feel emboldened to make my
petition to you. I desire to plead for your sympathy in the matter of Sir
Roger Casement, whose present situation is know to you. When
this letter reaches you he will be undergoing his trial for high
treason - and the verdict will probably be given against him.
In the course of the last troubled six weeks your name has been
constantly invoked here, and your example cited on the side of
clemency. Public feeling has been greatly shocked by the
harshness with which martial law has been imposed and used, and
by the increasing list of deaths inflicted in the violence of
conflict, with or without law. The wiser people heredo earn-
estly desire to see the tale of executions cease, and the reign
of a new spirit begin. I cannot doubt that no voice would be
so powerful as yours in its effect on turning the public mind
to clemency and generosity. Allow me to say a few words (1) as to Sir Roger Casement
himself, and (2) as to the actual situation which has determined
me to write to you. 2 1) Sir Roger Casement was for some twenty years in the
service of the Foreign Office, in which he has carried through
what is probably the greatest work of humanity done in our gener-
ation - the bringing to light the destruction of the merci-
less exploitation of the defenceless people of the Congo, and the
carrying on of that work of deliverance in the Putumayo. I
have personal knowledge of all the details of these conflicts
since 1904 - Sir Roger's services were as devoted and self-sacri-
ficing as they were brilliant, and were warmly recognized by
Sir Edward Gray and Lord Lansdowne; his work undoubtedly won
distinguished success for the Foreign Office in a most delicate
and difficult matter of international policy. Unhappily twenty
years of continuous and arduous work in tropical and salarious
climates, without even a year of healthy conditions, wrecked the
vigour even of Sir Roger's wonderful constitution, and he return-
ed from South America grievously broken in strength. In the
Putumayo expedition the hardships he had to face and the dangers
he ran were even greater than in the Congo. The horrors he
witnessed had their effect on a mind peculiarly sensitive and
humane. He used to waken himself in the night shrieking, and
was unable on his return to look at certain of the photographs
he brought back without showing intense mental agitation and
physical emotion. He was in fact so much exhausted that he
often suddenly slept in the middle of dictating a sentence of
his Report. The doctors declared that his return to his post
at Rio must certainly lead to his death, and the Foreign Office
had no other to offer him. Under these circumstances he was 3
obliged to resign, and retire on a pension about 1912. I may
mention that the Royal Commission appointed to report on the
Civil Service drew attention to this case as one of peculiar
hardship, and recommended that steps should be taken to make
any recurrence of it impossible for any future consul of the
Foreign Office. During his official life Sir Roger gave and absolutely loyal
and devoted service. After his retirement he concerned himself
with the cause of Ireland which he had always had at heart. The
country was thrown into great unrest by the lawless action of
Sir Edward Carson, the army Mutiny, and incitements to violence
by English peers and Unionists. Sir Roger's effort was to disei-
pling and steady the people, and by every means to draw north
and south together in a sense of their common Irish nationality. In this effort for union of all Irishmen, he succeeded in
getting the Irish Volunteers to accept the leadership of Mr.
Redmond. In June 1914 he renounced his pension and went to
America. The trial will give the history of his action since
then. Rumours have been spread in an atmosphere of great ex-
citement and hostility. To himself, having watched the increas-
ing insults to Irish nationality in the last years, and the
growing conviction of the ultimate defeat of Home Rule, he felt
his first duty to be to his own country. In carrying out that
duty he was alleged to be guilty of high treason against England,
but the rumours of treachery, double-dealing, or base action
towards the Government must all be discarded as false. He is in
fact exactly in the position of the man most esteemed and honour- 4 ed in England now - Professor Masaryk - once leader of the
Bohemian party in the Vienna Parliament, now a refugee in England,
under the ban of high treason at home. He is now raising
Bohemian regiments for services against Austria, and is employed
in diplomatic work by the British government, and given a post
in the Imperial University. When the Lords and Commons sent
representatives to Paris, led by Lord Bryce, for a public govern-
ment banquet, the special feature of the celebration was the
presence of four men of the Vienna and Berlin parliaments now
under charge of high treason - but officially welcomed as honour-
able patriots. 2) I ask you also to consider the present situation of Sir
Roger. After his capture he was kept for three weeks in the
Tower, behind barbed wire, in a damp, gloomy, and airless cell,
with the window boarded up except for one pane for the sentry to
look through. (Two sentries were stationed inside, and were
changed every hour). No change of clothes was given him, and
he was allowed to suffer much from vermin; and from cold, as his
great coat had been taken away from him. He was allowed no visits
and unfortunately prejudice overturned the honourable tradition
of English justice that every prisoner should have full opportunity
of a fair trial more especially if his life is in question. One
solicitor, to whom he appealed, refused to see him or to advise
him. A second solicitor offered his services, but for nine days
the offer was neither answered by the authorities, nor communi-
cated to the prisoner, who was thus left without help, and suffer-
ing greatly. This effect upon his health of this Tower treatment 5 made him unable for a time to give instructions or consider the
case. Financial difficulties were pressing as he had no money for
legal costs, and all access to friends in Ireland was stopped by
martial law, and to America by the censor. Feeling in England
ran so high that the firm of the solicitor required that the part-
nership should be dissolved if he persisted in the defence, and it
was consequently dissolved. Leading counsel refused to act in the
case, and it was only on Sunday that a junior could be briefed for
the police trial to open on Monday. The Attorney General, an
adherent of Carson, and a political opponent, desired the utmost
haste for the final trial, probably in view of the political situ-
ation in Ireland. The utmost delay that could be got was till
June 26th. The time is lamentably short in face of such diffi-
culties. The most important witnesses and evidence for the defence
are in Germany and America, and in Ireland, and in a state of war
none of these are available, and he can bring no confirmation to
his bare word. A counsel employed by him in America had just come
over, ten days before the trial, and is not allowed to see him
except in presence of the prison Governor, whose information can
be used as evidence against the prisoner. He is confronted with
every difficulty that can be conceived in stating his defence, more
than I can here tell you, in addition to health greatly shattered. A further difficulty follows from the state of war. Sir
Roger's friends are met with every obstacle with regard to a
petition after the trial for a reprieve of execution. Owing to
martial law we cannot with safety address any one at all in Ireland.
We are cut off by the censor from any communication with America. 6 In England the terror and excitement of the war are so great that
I gravely doubt whether we shall be able to circulate a petition.
There are a number of subtle influences with which I need not
weary you. You will see however that whether in the matter of the usual
legal justice, or in the matter of an appeal for clemency, all the
dice are loaded in a very singular degree against the prisoner.
I have therefore ventured to appeal to you if you could give your
word at the critical moment on behalf of mercy. No influence
would be so powerful with this people. I ask it partly for the
sake of the clemency you have so nobly vindicated in a like situ-
ation; yet more on the ground of the higher aquities of justice,
now clouded here by prejudice and by alarm. Here is a man whose
whole life has been a loyal battle for humanity and righteousness.
He was the sole originator of the effort for the deliverance of the
Congo natives. He began it, and he carried it through, and I can
witness, at heavy cost to himself, and with the passion of an
apostle of mercy. His effort brought credit and renown to England
whom in this cause he devotedly served. Some day you will be
called to advise on the fate of Ireland. Your task will be the
easier if you come as the advocate among our people, as among your
own, of the cause of humanity, and as the friend of all who, like
Sir Roger Casement, have spent their lives in assuring the pro-
tection of the weak. I feel you cannot forget your first day in England; Sir
William Butler who never ceased to honour and defend your cause;
and the dying friend to whom your name meant the victory of justice 7 and nationality and fidelity, and whose great abilities, if he had
lived, might have averted many of our present sorrows in Ireland.
Much has happened since then, but I believe that in remembrance of
that day you will forgive my writing to you, and that you will
stand by the cause of large mercy, a great equity, and national
freedom. I remain Yours most sincerely,
(Signed) ALICE STOPFORD GREEN.