THE HOME OFFICE also has a shabby record in con-
nection with the Casement Diaries. I cannot really feel that either. Alfred Noyes's The Accusing Ghost (Gollancz, 15s.) or the two articles by Mr. Mont- gomery Hyde in the Sunday Times throw any fresh light on the subject; but at least they remind us how shamefully government departments—and Ministers—can behave. Mr. Noyes has done what Yeats urged him to do : he has made amends to Casement's ghost in a spirited and sometimes moving plea that the diaries were forged. But his arguments are hardly convincing, and he produces no fresh evidence. Nor does Mr. Hyde, though he makes brisk and effective use of research that has recently been done by others in the Casement papers in the National Library of Ireland to suggest that the diaries were genuine. But both agree that there is no shadow of an excuse for resisting the demand for an inquiry.
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