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10, Downing Street,
Whitehall S.W. Private 2 Aug 1916 Dear Madam, It is with
sincere pain (& only
in compliance with your
request) that I inform
you that, after my
full consideration, the
Cabinet today came
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to the conclusion that
there were no sufficient
grounds for a reprieve. I need not assure you
that I wish it had
been possible for them
to arrive at a different
decision. Yours very faithfully H.H.Asquith This is a secret communication. I am returning the
documents.
The letter was written by Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1928), then Liberal Prime Minister
of Great Britain. The letter is a response to an appeal for clemency for Sir Roger
Casement (1864-1916) who was under a sentence of death. He writes that the British
Cabinet had decided that they could not offer a reprieve. Casement had been imprisoned
in London after he had been arrested while landing on the coast of Kerry in a submarine
on the eve of the Easter Rising. A campaign was launched featuring many prominent
figures such as W.B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw to secure a reprieve for Casement
but he was hanged on 3 August 1916, the day after this letter was written.