Sir, - Those of us who are convinced that Roger Casement was no paedophilic homosexual must thank Angus Mitchell for his articles in History Ireland and The Irish Times and look forward to the publication of his books. He is of course right in saying that Casement's sexuality is only the superficial issue at stake. What is at stake is that yet another Irish patriot, one who had led a life of selflessness and humanitarianism, has had his reputation and integrity vilified, first by the British and latterly by revisionist historians.
As for Dr Roger Sawyer, I expressed my opinion of his novelettish black comedy of the "flawed hero" in a paper I presented at the Casement Symposium in Dublin earlier this year. I did not and do not doubt his sincerity. His doctrinal thesis is far from the Beaverbrookish blather of Rene MacColl or the West Britonism of Brian Inglis, but his account of Casement's attempts to poison himself in the Tower of London, by scratching his flesh with a broken glass lens and rubbing in curare from a previously concealed phial of poison, smacks more of Bram Stoker than historical reality. Where was this phial concealed during the horrendous journey from the U19 to the Banna strand? Where was it during the numerous body searches between McKenna's Fort and the Tower? In his hair? Note that he had shaved off his beard and his hair is short in the photo of him emerging from the conning tower of the submarine. And what were the ever-present guards doing in the constantly-lighted cell while their prisoner extracted nails from firewood and tried to swallow them? There are many other questions regarding Sawyer's work.
There will be a second Casement Symposium in Dublin in 1998, probably in September. It is hoped that both Dr Sawyer and Angus Mitchell will be invited and perhaps this time your paper will report the event. - Yours, etc.,
Wanstead, London, €11.