Letter from Roger Casement to Margaret Gavan Duffy, 2 August 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Roger Casement

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Letter from Sir Roger Casement (1864-1916) to Margaret Gavan Duffy on the eve of his execution. He thanks various friends, and asks that God forgive his mistakes made in the cause of Irish freedom. He signs the letter with the Irish variant of his name, ;Ruairí.The note is written on the reverse of the prayer-poem 'Fac me cruce inebriari' by Father Thomas Gavin Duffy, published in the Dublin Review, a Catholic journal, in 1911. Thomas Gavan Duffy (1888-1942) was the brother of Margaret's husband, George Gavan Duffy (1882-1951), who unsuccessfully defended Casement at his trial for high treason after the Easter Rising. Casement was a humanitarian and Irish Nationalist. He believed that an Irish insurrection would be crushed unless it received substantial assistance from Germany, and when it became clear that adequate help would not be forthcoming he travelled to Ireland by submarine. Casement landed and was arrested at Banna Strand, County Kerry on Good Friday 1916. He was tried in the Old Bailey for treason and subsequently executed by hanging at Pentonville Prison on 3 August 1916.

 University College Dublin Archives George Gavan Duffy Papers, P152/11 https://letters1916.ie/item/657 English Roger Casement 1916-08-02 Pentonville Prison, London, UK Margaret Gavan Duffy Male Last letters before death

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 To dear Margaret Gavan Duffy - From Ruari. in my last cell — 2 Augt 1916 9 p.m. Thank you dear friend and Moya &and Dana and Eva and all the fond ones. Tomorrow St Stephen's Day I die the death I sought and may God forgive the mistakes and receive the intent — Ireland's freedom. Ruari Fac Me Cruce Inebriari Make merry, soul of mine, say: 'More!' say 'More!' Art thus o'ercome the feast before? Thy chalice sparkles...Or Wouldst be milk—nurtured till the sod has gaped? Not so! Drink of the wine Heaven-graped None ever yet escaped; A myriad sainted hearts love—pressed in pain, Have spurted blood of Christ; 'twere vain Another hope to feign. Come, come, drink deep, my soul, inebriate! Stagger a most unworldly gait! Be inarticulate Thy love to state! The world's prim ears in thine unlovely key Startle, while God brings out in thee His heavenly symphony. Roll in the dust — is that a fall for us?—; Be wounded. Let the dead discuss Why thou art Lowered thus. Exult that Evil, seemingly at peace, Triumphant prides in thy decrease— Thy pain, not his, will cease... Will cease? Is not! For some commingling sweet Decrees thy pain a counterfeit, Nor leisure leaves to greet Sorrow so fleet. There is a master—vision haunts thy dreams, Whose face a mist of spittle seems, A fog of blood, where beams No more the sun of beauty! Ah! 'tis he Hath overset thus utterly Thine heart's identity! See how he creeps to conquest amid jeers: Falls, rises, totters...meekly bears, A thousand shames! His tears Speak agonies to thy love.—Come, soul of mine, To where at last thy Worm Divine Must on His Cross resign His life for thine Ah! Cross of Christ! my own, my own thou art! Hug closer, lest thy counterpart Steal off my fickle heart. Let me not love the staid and sober road. But ever, with unfaltering goad, Drive me where bleeds thy Load May not I be the mystic Body's side Spear-thrust, one of the wounds nail-plied? These shall be glorified.. Cross! Vine of vines, bearing death-trampled Fruit! The quest of all our mad pursuit Hangs there, the world's dispute— Joy undilute. Soul, soul of mine, be not unworthy found Her slavery, whom Calvary crowned A queen compassioned—throned; Be moulded Jesus-shape in her embrace; Be crucified; and on thy face The Passion hall—mark's trace Be cut and hammered for eternity, Thou Temple—stone. Gold, minted be For next world currency. Mary! the magic metamorphosis Of such an earth-clung soul as this To any form of His Thy secret is. T G D Pentonville Prison, London, UK Letter from Roger Casement to George Gavan Duffy, 30 June 1916Letter from Roger Casement to Margaret Gavan Duffy, 2 August 1916 Roger Casement Letter from Roger Casement to Nina Casement, 25 July 1916.Letter from Roger Casement to George Gavan Duffy, 30 June 1916Letter from Roger Casement to Margaret Gavan Duffy, 14 July 1916Letter from Roger Casement to Margaret Gavan Duffy, 2 August 1916Letter from Sir Roger Casement to Robert Monteith, 11 January 1916Letter from Sir Roger Casement to Robert Monteith, 13 January 1916Postcard from Sir Roger Casement to Robert Monteith, 23 February 1916Letter from Sir Roger Casement, 9 April 1916Letter from Sir Roger Casement, 20 December 1915Letter from Sir Roger Casement, 13 March 1916Letter from Sir Roger Casement, 26 March 1916Letter from Sir Roger Casement, 26 March 1916Letter from Sir Roger Casement, 9 April 1916Letter from Count Georg von Wedel to Roger Casement, 27 November 1915Letter from Louis Hahn to Roger Casement, 19 November 1915Letter from T. A. Quinlisk to Roger Casement, 22 November 1915Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 2 November 1915Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 5 November 1915Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 8 November 1915Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 11 November 1915Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 21 November 1915Telegram from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, November 1915Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 26 November 1915Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 18 March 1916Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 1 February 1916Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 24 March 1916Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 11 November 1915Letter from Robert Monteith to Roger Casement, 24 January 1916