1 In replying to this letter, please write on the envelope:-
NUMBER 1270 NAME R.D. Casement
Pentonville Prison.
The following regulations as to communications, by Visit or Letter, between prisoners
and their friends are notified for information of their correspondents.
....................................................................... The permission to write and receive Letters, is given to prisoners for
the purpose of enabling them to keep up a connection with their respectable friends
& not that they may be kept informed of public events. All letters are read by Prison Authorities. They must be legibly
written & not crossed. Any which are of an objectionable tendency, either to or
from prisoners, or containing slang, or improper expressions, will be suppressed. Prisoners are permitted to receive & to write a letter at intervals,
which depend on the rules of the stage they attain by industry & good conduct ;
but matters of special importance to a prisoner may be communicated at any time by
Letter (prepaid) to the Governor who will inform the prisoner thereof, if expedient. In case of misconduct, the privilege of receiving & writing a Letter
may be forfeited for a time. Money, Books, Postage Stamps, Food, Tobacco, Clothes &c., should
not be sent to Prisoners, for their use in prison, as nothing is allowed to be received
at the Prison for that purpose. Persons attempting to clandestinely communicate with, or to introduce
any article to or for prisoners, are liable to fine and imprisonment, & any prisoner
concerned in such practices is liable to be severely punished. Prisoners' friends are sometimes applied to by unauthorised persons, to
send Money, &c., to them privately, under pretence that they can apply it for the
benefit of the prisoners, and under such fraudulent pretence, such persons endeavour
to obtain money for themselves. Any Letter containing such application, received by
the friends of a prisoner should be, at once, forwarded by them to the Governor. Prisoners are allowed to receive Visits from their friends, according
to rules, at intervals which depend on their stage. When Visits are due to prisoners notification will be sent to the friends
whom they desire to visit them. No 243
(8254—20-4-00) 2 30th June 1916 My dear Gavan Duffy, I particularly wish you to recover from
the rooms of the High Court of Justice where I was detained
the canvas portfolio of papers dealing with my
case I had brought in from Brixton prison in the
morning to hand over to you. They are all papers &
documents dealing with my trial, & it is very
important for me that they fall into no
hands but yours. Please apply to the
Lord Chief Justice for them — with them were
two books. xAll have
been found
PSGov.
(1) Life of Columban
(2) John Bulls Other Island
with inscriptions to my cousins.
(1)Gertrude and (2) Elizabeth Bannister In 'John Bulls other Island' was a clipping
from the Daily News of 10th May with letter of G.B.
Shaw on Irish affairs — This also to go to
my cousin Gertrude — it is her property as well as the book. If the portfolio of papers is not found
or recovered will you please try through
Home Office or Brixton Prison Governor to
get it - & when recovered place all its
contents along with the other papers dealing with my
trial in your possession for the purposes already
communicated to you. I also wish you to apply to the
Home Office for the recovery of my personal
effects seized by the police — & the
restoration of all books and documents 3 they may have extracted therefrom. I beg that formal
application may be mad for the complete
restoration of all this property and its delivery
to you as my legal representative. You are
already acquainted with the manner in which I
wish my private effects disposed of — & the whereabouts
of important papers I wish to be secured after
my death, & when peace comes for the
country of my heirs. I further beg of you as a last
wish — or as if it be a last wish —,
to make absolutely clear from my
letters and private papers in your hands
& from the other sources of information Pu
to you wherein I have been wrongfully & most
untruthfully assailed in the course of this prosecution
by the crown witnesses. You are acquainted
with the facts & I leave the vindication
of my personal honour thus aspersed
& falsely charged in 'your hands & others'
of my friends. This covers not only the matter of the pension Knighthood to it- but still more
the testimony of the soldier witnesses which was as
you know from my statements capable of being
completely upset had I chosen to defend myself. It may be that you cannot do this till after the war is
over, altho something of it may be done today. I want to thank you & your wife and all those
who stood around me at the last so faithfully, so
bravely and so loyally and to say that my last
thoughts will be of the devotion shown to me — and
of the Please have what I said at the last 4 carefully preserved and a copy of it given
someday to my many friends in Ireland. Also the leter that was handed to me
in the Jack which I gave back to you- God bless the writer whoever she was.
Further - a last wish - write for me to that
lady who wrote to me in the Tower, the one
who said she had travelled with me from
Berkshire up to London in 1898 & who
sent me the cigarettes. If I had had her address
I should have written to her from Brixton. I was greatly touched at her remembering me
& her chivalry — if one may use the word of a
woman - I think one may—, for the noblest, bravest
& most chivalrous friends I have found in
these last days, have been women. To Mark Ryan too & Father Ryan.
I shall not be able to write often to you
& when you come again to see me it
can only be on my legal affairs. Remember — I left it you &
those other friends to protect my name after
all was over — & you know why I kept
silent & why I did not refute many
things as I might have done. I shall bear your friendship with me as
one of the precious gifts of God, given by Him
to those whose hearts are faint & broken — for
it was you, & your help & courage
that gave me courage to the End & now that
it is all over, I am happier than you can possibly
conceive - with heart & mind & soul too
at peace - & reconciled with all men & all things. Ever yours
Roger Casement.