Sir, - No figure in Irish history has been mythologised to the extent of Roger Casement. Some want to claim him as a gay saint, others claim he was a sterile, mixed-up person without any saving graces.
Those who prosecuted him in his day claimed he was a paedophilic pathic, whose so-called Black Diaries "could not be printed in any language in any age".
Judging by your letters page recently, many people take leave of their senses when writing about him.
What an admission from Roisin McAuley (September 1st)! She tells us she was able to authenticate the so-called Black Diaries after the briefest perusal and states: "20 pages had been torn out and gummed back in again". Is that an attempt to cover up the fact that what is on display now is not what was shown in 1916? I refer her to Ben Allen's description of what he was shown by Captain Reginald "Blinker" Hall in 1916.
Her statement that it would take years to write the "diaries" is also wrong. One penman could copy them in a matter of weeks. Those of us who watched Dr Baxendale perform at last year's RIA Symposium were shocked when he told us of the restrictions placed on him in 1993 when he authenticated the so-called Black Diaries.
Mr Duggan's contribution (August 31st) is equally extraordinary. He must be ignorant of the letter John Devoy wrote to the German Foreign Office, dated November 15th 1915, in which he stated: "We have the fullest confidence in Sir Roger Casement. There has never been since he went to Germany any lack of confidence in him on our part. . ."
He went on to recommend Casement's essay "Ireland, Germany and the Freedom of the Seas", and finished up with: "We hereby certify to the German Government that Sir Roger Casement has authority to speak for and represent the Irish Revolutionary Party in Ireland and America."
Adler Christensen, a brave and loyal Norwegian, a naturalised American citizen, was Casement's bodyguard and guide. That Casement needed a bodyguard is very evident from the fact that as he passed through Oslo on his way to Germany in 1914, Mansfeldt Findlay, British minister there, was so keen to have Caseent murdered that he offered the loyal Christensen £5,000 and immunity from the law in writing to betray his employer. This explains why Christensen's character must also be assassinated.
For the record, I must point out to Mr Duggan that Casement did not convert to Catholicism as he waited for his terrible fate. Rather, he was reconciled to the church of his baptism. Eoin Neeson has embroiled himself in the sexual issue in his article of August 22nd and letter of August 30th. I find it my duty to point out that the controversy surrounding the so-called Black Diaries is "textual, not sexual". In fact, it would not matter if they had Casement dancing on the top of a pin, they would still be forgeries.
It is distasteful to discuss a sex matter in the language of a less enlightened era and I have no inclination to go down that road. However, let me say this: I find it troubling that some of those still discriminated against because of their sexual preference, whom one would expect to be at the cutting edge of justice and fair play, cannot get their heads round the fact that the so-called Black Diaries are forged. Here we have homophobic documents still being used in a homophobic way, with no source material to back them up, falsifying an important part of world history; and they are believed. I wonder why.
Roger Sawyer (September 3rd) makes the bald statement, "Casement's homosexuality was widely known abroad", without any references to substantiate this. The so-called Black Diaries have Casement constantly, nearly every day, engaged in what can only be described as sex Olympics:
"August 8th 1910: "Then after dinner to Vero Peso. Two types. Also to gardens of Praca Republica. 2 types. Baptista Campos one type. Then Senate Square & Caboclo (boy 16-17) seized hard. Young stiff, thin. Others offered later.
"August 16th 1910: To Gardens by Lyceo & Barracks. Several policemen wanting I think. One lovely schoolboy".
Mr Sawyer's ridiculous statement that the missing Casement Diaries were destroyed in Ireland is a step too far. I ask what his source is for this. The Roger Casement Foundation is in possession of typescripts of shorthand notes taken at Casement's interrogation in Scotland Yard by Reginald Hall and Sir Basil Thomson on Easter Sunday, April 23rd, 1916 and the following two days (HO 144/1639) and there is no mention that any diaries were found then - a supposed fact touted by Mr Sawyer's predecessors. How can this be explained?
I also wonder why in all this debate, "establishment" Casement scholars will not engage with the linguistic fingerprint research of Eoin ╙ Maille. Linguistic analysis works on the principle that every individual makes habitual use of certain words.
By comparing genuine Casement writings with the so-called Black Diaries, Mr ╙ Maille has proved that Casement could not have written them. Why would Casement have abandoned all his key words and phrases, his style and idiom? It beggars belief.
In his article Eoin Neeson repeats the Dennis Gwynn assertion that Casement could be compared to the fictional character Don Quixote. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our history proves Casement did not "dream the impossible dream", nor did he "tilt at windmills", but fearlessly took on an empire. He was a courageous humanitarian, a brilliant writer and political analyst, a man of action who shook continents awake. - Yours, etc.,
Jack Moylett, Secretary, Roger Casement Foundation, Dublin 1.