Re: Conan Doyle/A Request for Assistance

[philidor11@snet.net]

Research on central topics may be judged by accuracy on ancillary 
subjects.

Roger Casement, formerly a prominent and decorated member of 
the British colonial service, was converted to Irish cultural 
and political nationalism in the early twentieth century. On 
the outbreak of World War One, he negotiated German[] support 
for Irish independence: organising arms and attempting to recruit 
prisoners of war for an Irish brigade. When attempting to land 
a shipment of arms in April 1916, Casement was arrested, tried 
in London, found guilty and sentenced to death. Despite a vigorous 
campaign to commute the sentence, he was hanged in Pentonville 
prison on August 3, 1916. In his defense, Casement refused to 
recognize the right of the court on moral grounds and denied 
that he had committed treason because he rejected the legitimacy 
of British rule. Loyalty to God and to his country, Ireland, 
based on love, justified revolution in Casement's opinion. This 
speech from the dock made a powerful impression upon the public 
and was cited by later generations as justification for the [Easter] 
rising.

But the same page also says:

Roger David Casement (1864-1916): British diplomat and Irish 
revolutionary. Born in County Dublin, Casement joined the British 
consular service in 1892. He gained an international reputation 
and was knighted for his reports on the exploitation of plantation 
workers by Europeans in the Congo and Peru. He resigned from 
colonial service in 1912 and joined the Irish Volunteers the 
following year. When war broke out in 1914, he attempted to secure 
German aid for Irish independence. He tried to enlist Irish prisoners 
of war in an Irish Brigade and obtained a shipment of German 
arms. In 1916 he was captured in Ireland, having returned there 
in a German submarine in the hope of postponing a rebellion. 
He was arrested, tried and executed in London for treason. 
http://www.ucc.ie/ucc/depts/history/multitext/1916/casement.html

Whether landing a shipment of arms or attempting to postpone 
a rebellion, his capture after leaving the U-19 certainly was 
related to treason.
The arms never reached Ireland:

The Germans were however sceptical, but nonetheless aware of 
the military advantage which an uprising in Ireland would give 
them, granted the Irish 20,000 guns, 10 machine guns and accompanying 
ammunition, a fraction of the amount of weaponry which Casement 
was after. Whilst in Germany, he tried to enlist Irish prisoners 
of war at the prison camp of Limburg Lahn in an Irish Brigade. 

The weapons never reached Ireland, the ship in which they were 
travelling, the 'Aud Norge'[,] was intercepted[,].
http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Roger_Casement 

At any rate, this is far off the subject of dinosaurs.  Back 
to the bees.
(Sherlock Holmes was supposed to have retired to keeping bees 
in Suffolk, if I remember correctly.)

 




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