1916 Letters |

Letter from Roger Casement to Father Edward Murnane, 16 July 1916

University College Dublin Archives

image 4 of 4

This item is editable! Sign in or register to track your edits, watch pages, etc.

can ensure nothing, and possess nothing and can only 
<lb/>leave the expression of a wish that they should go
<lb/>back to you.

Tomorrow I go to the Appeal Court to#
<lb/>hear my Counsel against the indictment - 
<lb/>and I shall return here. <hi rend="underline">That</hi> is the one
<lb/>thing I am sure of. However interesting from
<lb/>the point of view of "the history of treason law in
<lb/> this country" I anticipate no other interest than
<lb/> that of listening to the arguments, for and against, and
<lb/> coming back to the place I started from in the morning.

If I had Solon for an advocate the result 
<lb/>I fancy would be the same - for we know that
<lb/>"the law is an ass" - and is always true to
<lb/>itself - let Solons state what they please.

Please read Grattans indictment of "the Law" in his
<lb/> Declaration of Irish Rights Felony 1782 -
<lb/>particularly in regard to "that Leviathan of
<lb/> the Law" (Lord Coke) or the "luminary"
<lb/>Vaughan - He <unclear>truanced</unclear> the Whole Bunch, from the
<lb/>middle ages down - in a Philippic that will warm
<lb/>your heart if you turn to his speeches.

I was going to read it out in Court, but my
<lb/> <hi rend="underline">eyesight</hi> failed! - it is in small print -
<lb/>and, besides, I felt sorry for the Jury!
<lb/>They have had enough - and their kindly faces deserved a
<lb/>change of scene, from that dreadful Court.

Goodbye, my dear old friend - for such
<lb/>in truth you are - friend in the deepest sense and true
<lb/> sense- and I thank you with much affection for
<lb/>your intervention and all your loving effort in my
<lb/>behalf.

<salute>Yours affectionately, 
Roger Casement</salute>

| | | |

Letter from Roger Casement to Father Edward Murnane, 16 July 1916

University College Dublin Archives

Notes: