Letter from Sir Roger Casement, 9 April 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Roger Casement

This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in 2017. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.

 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

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The letter is a facsimile copy of a letter written by Sir Roger Casement (1864-1916). In the first part of the letter, Casement refers to his poor physical and mental state. By this time, he had been marginalized by the planners of the Rising and his relations with the Germans were severely strained. Adding later to what he had written, Casement writes a strong critique of the situation in Europe and concludes at the end that Germany's only enemy is England and that she needs to realise this. It was shortly after this letter was written that Casement left for Ireland for the last time.Casement spent eighteen months in Germany, arriving first as an envoy of Irish-American leaders, attempting to encourage Germany to support Irish separatist aspirations by providing arms. Casement succeeded in securing limited German support but his attempt to form a brigade of Irish soldiers in German prisoner of war camps to fight against Britain was largely unsuccessful. Believing that German support was insufficient, Casement travelled to Ireland to prevent the planned rebellion but was arrested after landing in Kerry on the eve of the Easter Rising. He was hanged in London in August 1916.

 Military Archives of Ireland Bureau of Military History Contemporary Documents, Mrs Erskine Childers Collection, CD 6/2/15 https://letters1916.ie/item/1266 English Roger Casement 1916-04-09 Hotel Saxonia, Berlin, Germany Male Easter Rising Ireland 1916 Politics World War I (1914-1918)

The data in these XML files was generated based on a data dump from the Magellan database (https://github.com/Maynooth-Center-for-Digital-Humanities/Magellan). Each database record has been converted to a JSON file (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/json). The element section of the JSON file contains the TEI-encoded contents of the letters. The TEI XML has been cleaned and made well-formed using a Python script (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/src).

 Delayed at last moment Hotel Saxonia, Inhaber Neue Berliner Hotel- Gesellschaft m.b.H. Berlin W 9, Budapesterstr. 10 Am Potsdamerplatz — nahe Tiergarten Fernsprecher Amt Lützow 2838 und 2871 Berlin W, 9 den — 9.4.16 It is so hard to see straight. Even when one is well & not troubled - && I am not well in body && have not been for long & then greatly troubled too in mind — so that my remarks are often unjust & hasty & ill considered. The last days are all a nightmare — I have only a confused memory of them & some periods are quite blank in my mind — only a sense of horror and repugnance to life. But I daresay clouds will break & brighter skies dawn — at least for poor old Ireland. Kindest thoughts for you ......... Yours, RC. She may win a Hundred Austerlitzes (as I said four years ago in my first song on the 'freedom of the Seas') & yet be beaten in the end. That is the terrible factor — the power of the sea — that in the hands of one people means the dominion of the World. The 'crime against Europe' is an inadequate title, it is the Crime against Humanity, the World, Nature — this awful power in the hands of one , irresponsible, arbitrary, tirading, greedy people — the power to shut all the oceans, all the coasts & to starve whole Continents into submission by holding up all the ordinary methods of subsistence, intercourse & civilized contact England need never send a single man on the Continent & yet in the end she will dictate the terms of peace. The only hope I had was that the submarines might 'break through' — but that hope has long since gone & I don't see how any victories on land in Europewill change the situation. Germany has only one Enemy. England. Until they realise that in their souls & every fibre of their being they can only hit the air. If I don't hear by Wednesday I shall go to Dresden for that night, & on to Munich next day. Please God I'll spend Xmas Eve with you & Christmas Day at Gauting. My love to the children and with Roger Casement. Hotel Saxonia, Berlin, Germany Letter from Sir Roger Casement, 9 April 1916Letter from Sir Roger Casement, 9 April 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