[CASEMENT (Roger)] &
O'GORMAN (James), Senator.
Resolution Urging Clemency to Sir Roger Casement.
SIR ROGER CASEMENT THE REVOLUTIONARY HERO
A good copy of Senator James O’Gordon’s (1860-1943) speech defending famous the Irish nationalist, Roger Casement (1864-1916), for his role in the 1916 Easter Uprising. He compares him to Nathan Hale and other patriots of the Revolutionary War:
“If Sir Roger Casement be a criminal, then George Washington and John Hancock and John Adams were criminals. They were all rebels protesting against wrong and tyranny. Mr President, the names of those who fail no less than those who succeed i rebellion remain enshrined in the hearts of a grateful people.”
Casement was a human rights activist and journalist. He was awarded a knighthood for his reports on Belgian atrocities in the Congo. In the First World War he served as a negotiator with German forces and arranged for a shipment of arms to Ireland to support an attempted coup in Dublin. The shipment was delayed, the uprising failed, and the organisers were executed by firing squad. Casement was captured separately, convicted of treason and sentenced to hang.
Extremely rare: OCLC locates a single copy at Harvard. There is another at the National Library of Ireland.
