CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 189, 19 January 1915, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS.

if it is true, as alleged, that Sir Rogei Casement, an Irish Nationalist, lias been making overtures to the enemy in re gard to Ireland, he has been guilty ol an act of sedition which will be con dunned by every patriotic rishman ii I the Empire, and which will ieserve ex emplary punishment. The c .'unistances 'are that the German newsp; ;ers of the 20th November gave an account, evidently ollicial, of a visit paid to the German Foreign Ollice by Sir Roger Casement, who'was described as "a wellknown Irish Nationalist," and the object of his visit was said to obtain certain assurances from the German Government as to the treatment of Ireland in ease of a German invasion. The acting Foreign-Secretary, who is said lo have been authorised by the Imperial Chancellor, said that if Germany ever landed troops on the Irish coast, it would be "because she was inspired by good-will towards a country and a people for which she wishes nothing but welfare, and national liberty." Earl Crewe said that if the facts are. as alleged, severe penalties ought to be indicted upon Sir Koger Casement, who was wriitng a few weeks ago in the ''lrish Independent," advising Irishmen not to light Germany, and to look upon that Power with gratitude. We have no room in the British Empire for renegades of the Casement class, and the £40(1 a year pension the traitor receives should be immediately cut oh*.

[ AN 08-I rCCT LESSON. in a recent narrative of Eye-Witness, describing events in France, there is one passage that will, one may hope, leave a palpable impression on the mind of the British public. In a passage which mentions that during the last six weeks Viirious classes of men liable for service have been called up to service by the Flench Government, and which describes tile meaning of this step for the French people. "To the average Englishman,'' says Eye-Witness, "whom, a life spent far removed from 'all that war implies is apt to render unimaginative, even the immediate effect of such orders is hard to conceive, and to him a journey made shortly after their issue along the highways of France might come as somewhat oF a revelation." If such a journey did not convince an English observer of the necessity of compulsory service for national defence, it would at least teach him a lesson not less valuable —the magnitude of the sacrifices that the French nation is making in the cause that is as vitally British as French, and the reality of the obligation in honor, made yet stronger by the absence of legal pressure, not to fall behind in readiness for such sacrifices.