424 Sir Roger Casement [1914 



the arming of Protestant Ulster, and as a precaution against a possible 

 betrayal of Home Rule by Asquith. 



" It is announced that the United States Fleet has landed troops at 

 Vera Cruz in Mexico, President Wilson at the same time declaring, 

 in imitation of Gladstone when he sent troops to Egypt, that he is not 

 making war with the Mexican Republic, but with a person named 

 Huerta, who calls himself President of Mexico. Rothstein, whom I 

 saw yesterday, attributes this to Wilson's naivete, which believes it 

 possible to reconcile moral principles of Government with the rascalities 

 of financial politics. 



"7,0th April. — My answer to Mrs. Colum is this: 

 ' Thank you for the Volunteer Manifesto. You know I have al- 

 ways been a Fenian in my sympathies, and, though it is twenty-five 

 years since I was in Ireland and I am living now quite away from 

 politics, I confess it rouses me to hear talk again of physical force. I 

 never believed much in the Union of Hearts without a reserve of the 

 other, and a long experience of British Imperial ways has taught me 

 (if I may be allowed the bull) that in dealing with British Govern- 

 ments, the best sort of moral force is always material force. Our peo- 

 ple cannot be trusted to go straight without two strong incentives, money 

 in front of them (like the carrot in front of an ass) and a big stick 

 behind. The Irish National Volunteers must be the big stick. 



" ' I am not sure whether it will not prove a useful reminder to 

 your own parliamentary people. Some of them have been talking a 

 deal of Imperial nonsense lately, and it is time they should remember 

 that until the Irish Parliament is actually open in College Green, the 

 British Empire is still the enemy. I send you £10 for your Defence 

 of Ireland Fund, as a small token of my sympathy and a proof that I 

 remain true to the old motto, " Ireland a nation and as much and 

 well armed a nation as you can make it.' " 



" 14th May. — Sir Roger Casement came to lunch and to talk over the 

 Volunteer movement in Ireland, of which he is one of the chief or- 

 ganizers. He had seen my letter to Mrs. Colum, which it appears was 

 published in a Dublin newspaper, and wished to consult me. He is an 

 interesting man of the same Irish type as was Michael Davitt, only 

 much bigger and better looking, still very like him ; an Ulsterman, he 

 tells me, and a Protestant, but his mother was a Catholic, and he now 

 is of no religious complexion, only a strong Nationalist. He is not in 

 favour with Redmond, who considers him a dangerous revolutionist, 

 being anti-imperialist, and opposed to the Parliamentary alliance with 

 the English Radicals. He holds Dillon greatly responsible for this, 

 and and that it is demoralizing Irish patriotism. Hence his zeal for 

 the Volunteer movement. He considers that unless the rest of Ireland 

 arms itself as the north-west of Ulster is arming it will be cheated out 



