I AM INDEBTED TO Dr. Roger McHugh, one of the
representa- tives of University College, Dublin, in the Irish Senate—for another clue on the long, long trail towards elucidation of the truth about the Casement Diaries. In the British Museum there is a pamphlet, A Discarded defence of Roger Casement, sug- gested by Bernard Shaw, which was privately printed by Clement Shorter in 1922. Shaw was urging that no attention should be paid to the lawyers who would, he thought, make a mess of the defence by trying to deny the charges—which, as he rightly foresaw, would play into F. E. Smith's hands. Casement's comments, which are printed in an appendix, show that he was incapable of grasping the good sense of Shaw's suggestions; but what is more interesting today is the foot- note which accompanies them. It is not made clear whether it was written by Shaw, or by Shorter; but it says, 'These notes are in Roger Casement's handwriting, which does not tally with the handwriting of the notorious diaries shown, to me at Scotland Yard by Sir Basil Thomson.'
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