SIR,--The Spectator, referring to Roger Casement, voiced the hope that
'the ghost of this fine man . . . may be peacefully laid.' No one would deny that Roger Casement did fine work during his time as His Majesty's Consul, but there arc many who believe that complexity of character and personal instability better describe the man.
In 1911 he received a knighthood and in a letter to Sir Edward Grey wrote: tI am deeply sensible of the honour done to me by His Majesty. 1 would beg that my humble duty might be presented to His Majesty when you may do me the honour to convey to him my deep appreciation of the honour he has been so graciously pleased to confer upon me.'
Two years later he retired on pension from His Majesty's service and it was but one year later, after war had been declared, that he was in Germany carry- ing on the treasonable activities for which he was later to be tried and executed.
Whatever may come from his diaries now in the Public Record Office I doubt whether his ghost will easily be laid in Ireland, where at times the ghost of Cromwell still walks.—Yours faithfully, House of Commons, SW
S. KNOX CUNNINGHAM
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