Letter from the Casement Relief Petition Committee to Herbert Henry Asquith, 31 July 1916

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Letter from the Casement Relief Petition Committee to Herbert Henry Asquith, 31 July 1916

1 Copy
to Mrs. Green
36 Grosvenor Rd
Westminster
London 44, Parnell Square, Dublin, 31st. July, 1916. Rt. Hon. H.H. Asquith M.P. Prime Minister. Sir, In continuation of our previous letters enclosing forms of
petition, we now enclose a few more making in all
18 Bishops & Archbishops, 2 Peers 26 M.Ps. & 253 others,
Representatives of Universities & other learned bodies. You may see that only men of character & position &
learning have been asked to sign. This committee has not sought great
numbers of signatures: it has tried to show the Government
that men of weight & position, men & women representing the
learned classes, not influenced by popular emotions, having gravely
considered the situation, deliberately advise the Government against
the execution of Roger Casement. Those who have signed have long &
intimate knowledge of the people & their history; they represent
many shades of opinion & are united only on this point : that
enough blood has been shed in Ireland & that it is in the interests
of Ireland & the Empire that mercy should be shown. The members of this committee, who are mostly unconnected
with politics, feel in addition that great dangers are to feared if
their advice is not followed, but they do not wish to insist on
this more than is absolutely necessary in order that their views
shall be known to the Government. We understand that some thousands of other petitions have
been sent in by other bodies, but this committee has studiously
avoided any popular agitation in view of the excited state of opinion
in Ireland & the signatures have been collected as privately as possible. We strongly urge the Government not to imagine because there
has not been a great popular outcry that a strong and intense feeling
does not exist. Hundreds of thousands of signatures could be obtained
with the greatest ease, but for the sake of the peace of the Country
we have deliberately refrained from demonstration or public appeals.
This ought to render our appeal all the stronger. Yours faithfully,

This is a letter from the Casement Relief Petition sent to Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1928), British prime minister, from the Casement Relief Petition Committee. They are sending signatures including 18 Bishops and Archbishops, 2 Peers, 26 MPs and 253 Representatives of Universities. These are all 'people of note' and claim to be looking at the situation without being influenced by the popular opinion and outcry. Sir Roger Casement (1864-1916) had been arrested at Banna Strand, County Kerry on the eve of the Easter Rising. Though Casement had not been intimately involved in the planning of the Easter Rising and had travelled to Ireland from Germany to try and prevent it taking place, believing it should not happen without sufficient German support, he had been sentenced to death for treason. The signatories believed that enough blood had been spilt in Ireland and that nothing good will come from the execution.

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How to cite

Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__0308.html)