The Trial of Sir Roger Casement

[Skipman]

The trial of Sir Roger Casement

The jury returned into Court at 3.48.
The KING'S CORONER Gentlemen of the jury, will you answer to your
names ?
The names of the jury were called over.
The KING'S CORONER Are you agreed upon your verdict?
The FOREMAN OF THE JURY We are.
The KING'S CORONER How say you; do you find the prisoner, Sir
Roger David Casement, guilty or not guilty of the high treason whereof he
stands indicted?
The FOREMAN OF THE JURY Guilty.
The KING'S CORONER You find Sir Roger David Casement guilty of
high treason, and is that the verdict of you all?
The FOREMAN OF THE JURY Yes.
The KING'S CORONER Sir Roger David Casement, you stand convicted
of high treason. What have you to say for yourself why the Court should
not pass sentence and judgment upon you to die according to law?
The PRISONER My Lord Chief Justice, as I wish to reach a much wider
audience than I see before me here, I intended to read all that I propose to
say. What I shall read now is something I wrote more than twenty days
ago. I may say, my lord, at once, that I protest against the jurisdiction
of this Court in my case on this charge, and the argument that I am now
going to read is addressed not to this Court, but to my own countrymen.
There is an objection, possibly not good in law, but surely good on
moral grounds, against the application to me here of this old English
statute, 565 years old, that seeks to deprive an Irishman to-day of life
and honour, not for "adhering to the King's enemies," but for adhering
to his own people.
When this statute was passed, in 1351, what was the state of men's
minds on the question of a far higher allegiance that of a man to God
and His kingdom? The law of that day did not permit a man to forsake
his church or deny his God save with his life. The " heretic then had the
same doom as the traitor ."

Part of the Secret Code



Mike

[wig]

Sir John Lavery was invited by the presiding appeal judge, Darling J., to paint the scene of Casement's appeal hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice. the painting is now owned by the Government Art collection and is on permant loan to the Kings Inns in Dublin.

Two of the witnesses against Casement, both soldiers of the RAMC, were former prisoners of war who returned to the UK on a prisoner exchange scheme.

[Nigel Marshall]

Casement's speech, which Mike has quoted the beginning of, made it into 'The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches' edited by Brian MacArthur. (ISBN 0-14-028500-8). There are a number of speeches in the book relating to this period of Irish history, more infact than British speeches about the Great War, so it seems that to the editor at least this period is one which merits closer scrutiny by a wider readership.

Cheers,

Nigel

[wig]

High Treason by Sir John Lavery: A description of one of the greatest legal paintings ever, depicting the appeal of Roger Casement against conviction for High Treason.

[Guest]

The only extant footage of Roger Casement (apparently)

Mike