In this letter of 7 December 1908, Casement’s growing disaffection with the British Empire is apparent.
He was dismayed at the suffering brought about by the Dublin carters’ strike of 1908, and observed to his friend Major Berry that ‘I never saw so much poverty & sheer hunger staring out of the eyes of the poor as this winter.’ It was, he thought, ‘quite enough to make a thoughtful man a socialist.’
He blamed the British Empire — ‘The whole thing is wrong, from top to bottom.’
Citation:
Letter from Roger Casement,
Marsh's Library Exhibits: ‘Changed Utterly?’
curated by Elaine Doyle and Jason McElligott,
accessed September 26, 2023,
https://www.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/irishrevolution/item/619