GERMANY & IRELAND

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2367, 25 January 1915, Page 6

GERMANY & IRELAND

BRITISH CONSUL'S FOLLY A BERLIN ENTANGLEMENT WHAT THE KAISER PROMISED Following closely on a discission in tlio House of Commons regarding seditious utterances in several obscure Irish newspapers, the announcement that an ex-British Consul had visited tlio German Foreign Office in Berlin, and declared that the Irish people, both at home and abroad, will work for Germany's victory over G-reat Britain caused a painful sensation in England, states the London correspondent of tho '"Age." The ex-British Consul in question is Sir Rogor Casement, a wellknown Irish Nationalist, who will be best remembered in Australia as the author of the report whioh in 1912 exposed the outrages perpetrated by tho Peruvian Amazon Company's agents on rubber collecting Indians. 'In Great Britain Sir Roger Casement is known as an ardent Insh patriot, who has always been a strong supporter of tho Irish language campaign and similar movements. With Professor John MacNoill, who was mentioned in the debate in the House of Commons on Irish sedition, he formed one of the Irish National Volunteer group which refused to accept Mr. Redmond's leadership. 'Writing irom Now York to the Dublin Press in September last, with reference to the war, Sir Roger Casement was reported as saying:—"Let- Irishmen and boys stay in Ireland. Their duty is clear. Before God and man Germany has never wronged Ireland, and we owe her moro than one debt of gratitude." Sir Rogor Casement was born in 1864, and entered the British Consular service in 1895. His work in exposing tho Congo atrocities, and later in investigating those in Pntumayo (Peru), ere fresh in the publio memory. He was knighted in 1911, and now draws a pension from the British Government of £421 per annum. The first intimation in this countrv of his extraordinary action in approaching tho Berlin Foreign Office appeared in tho summary of the German -war news officially circulated through German wireless stations, and received by the Marconi Company. A few days later this was supplemented by an official communication that appeared in tho "North German Gazette " the Government organ ill Berlin. It reads »s follows :—

"The well-known Irish Nationalist, Sir Roger Casement, who has recently arrived in Berlin from the United States of America, was received at the l'oreign Office; Sir Roger Casement pointed out that in Ireland statements apparently authorised by the British Government were published to the effect that a German victory would do tho Irish people a great injury, since its land, its homes, its churches, and its priests would be given up to the caprice of an amy of invadors, led only by the desire for pillage and conquest. Recent observations by Mr. Redmond, in tho course of his recruiting tour through Ireland, as well as various expressions of the British Press in Ireland upon this subject, had, said Sir Roger Casement emphatically, a wide circulation, and excited among the Irish' natural fears in regard to Germany's attitude towards Ireland in the eveait of a German victory. Sir Roger Casement asked to be. given a convincing declaration regarding Germany's intentions towards Ireland, in order to reassure his countrymen throughout tho world, awl especially in Ireland and America, in face of the disquieting assertions proceeding from responsible British sources. "Tho Acting State Secretary of the Foreign Department thereupon, in concert with the Imperial Chancellor, gave the following official declaration: — "The German Imperial Government emphatically repudiates tho malicious intentions ascribed to it in. the statements reported by Sir Roger Casement; and it takes this opportunity to give a categorical assurance that Germany only desires the welfare of the Irish nation, its country, and its institutions. The Imperial Government explicity declares that Germany would never invade Ireland with the object of conquering it or destroying any of its institutions. Supposing that in the course of this war, which Germany has not sought, the fortune at arms should ever bring German troops to Ireland's coasts, they would land there not as an army of invaders, who come to rob and to destroy, but as the forces of a Government which is inspired by goodwill towards tt land and a people for whom Germany only wishes welfare and national freedom."

Sir Roger Casement's action has caused an immense amount of comment and conjecture in both the German and British Pross. The German Press points to it as gratifying evidenoe that the Irish and tho Irish-Americans are pro-German, and that financial pressure may bo brought to bear trom America upon the loyal Irish at home. Ono German comment goes so far as to assert' that at every meeting of Irishmen in America Mr. John Redmond is denounced as a traitor to Ireland/ and his invitations to enlist rejected with scorn and contumely. The general attitudo of the London Press is one of mingled amazement and indignation at Sir. Roger Casement's misguided action, and in some quarters he is strongly condemned for "sedition" and "holding treasonable communication with an alien, enemy." Tho suggestion has also been made that he should bo -immediately deprived of the pension he enjoys from the British taxpayer. Tho "Daily Chronicle," however, is more- in accordance with the general consensus of sober English opinion, in describing his action as "infatuation." In a letter to tho "Chronicle," the well-known author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hints at a sad explaantion of a painful problem. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who evidently knows Sir Roger Casement well, says that he was "a sick man, worn by tropical hardships, and ho complained often of pains in the head." "Last May," continues Sir Arthur Conan Doylo, "I had letters from him from Ireland which seemed to me so wild that I expressed fears at tho time as to the state oE his. nerves. 1/ have no doubt that ho is not in a normal stato of mind, and that this unhappy escapade at Berlin is only an evidence of it. On the face of it, would any sane man accept an assurance about Ireland which had obviously been already broken about Belgium?" Apart from the prominence given in the German Press to Sir Roger Case r ment's strange conduct, tho Berlin newspapers are making a persistent effort to create the impression that Ireland is pro-German and eagerly anticipating Germany's victory in tho war. Irish newspapers, such as "Irish Freedom" and the "Irish Volunteers," which circulate pro-German sentiments, have been indignantly repudiated by Mr. John Redmond on behalf of the Irish Nationalists, hut theyreceivo a wide hospitality hi the columns of tho German Press, and are the subject of much German editorial comment. Fictitious "Irish patriots living in Germany" are frequently raised up to denounce the "traitor England" for the edification of good Germans. A typical cxnmplo of this kind of rubbish was published recently in the "Kolnisclie Zcitung." The suposcd "Irish patriot" declared that "all good Irishmen were filled witli hatred against England." He wished to assure the Germans that no true Irishman will raise a hand to help tho English in this terrible war, "which they have conjured up themselves." In fact, ho writes, tho Irish would bo glad if they could help tho .Germans and could have an opportun-

it.v of "striking a good blow at thoso cowards," who havo "crushed us, tortured us, oppressed us," for bo long, who have "sucked fair Ireland's lifeblood" niul scattered her children over tho wide world. There arc, ho states, "no hypocrites, no more miserable cowards and liars than those Englishmen, with their varnish of culture and of good manners." He trusts that tho Germans will givo John Bull a sound thrashing and will send him home limping, and with his body covered with wounds. Tho "Kolnische Zeitung" adds the information that tho writer of the letter belongs to an old Irish family, whose ancestors wero kings in Ireland, and that it is obvious that liis name cannot be given. Another equally ridiculous form of this campaign is a species of cartoon published by some of the lower-class German papers illustrative of Germany and Ireland living together in peace and amity after England has been conquered. In several of those preposterous productions a map of Europe is depicted on the wall, and tho words, "Great Germany and Ireland," scrawled across the British Isles.