The Crime Against Europe

The Crime Against Europe, by
Roger Casement

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Title: The Crime Against Europe A Possible Outcome of the War of
1914
Author: Roger Casement
Release Date: January 18, 2005 [EBook #14728]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE
Crime Against Europe

* * * * *
A Possible Outcome of the War of 1914
BY
SIR ROGER CASEMENT
* * * * *
COPYRIGHTED 1915
* * * * *

INTRODUCTION.
* * * * *
The reader must remember that these articles were written before the
war began. They are in a sense prophetic and show a remarkable
understanding of the conditions which brought about the present great
war in Europe.
The writer has made European history a life study and his training in
the English consular service placed him in a position to secure the facts
upon which he bases his arguments.
Sir Roger Casement was born in Ireland in September, 1864. He was
made consul to Lorenzo Marques in 1889, being transferred to a similar
post in the Portuguese Possessions in West Africa, which included the
consulate to the Gaboon and the Congo Free State. He held this post
from 1898 to 1905, when he was given the consulate of Santos. The
following year he was appointed consul to Hayti and San Domingo, but
did not proceed, going instead to Para, where he served until 1909,
when he became consul-general to Rio de Janeiro. He was created a
knight in 1911.

He was one of the organizers of the Irish Volunteers at Dublin in
November, 1913, being one of their provisional committee. At present
he is a member of the governing body of that organization. He spent the
summer of this year in the United States. Sir Roger is at present in
Berlin, where, after a visit paid to the foreign office by him, the
German Chancellor caused to be issued the statement that "should the
German forces reach the shores of Ireland they would come not as
conquerors but as friends."
Sir Roger is well known for his investigation into the Putomayo rubber
district atrocities in 1912.
December, 1914.
Chapter I
THE CAUSES OF THE WAR AND THE FOUNDATION OF PEACE
Since the war, foreshadowed in these pages, has come and finds public
opinion in America gravely shocked at a war it believes to be solely
due to certain phases of European militarism, the writer is now
persuaded to publish these articles, which at least have the merit of
having been written well before the event, in the hope that they may
furnish a more useful point of view. For if one thing is certain it is that
European militarism is no more the cause of this war than of any
previous war. Europe is not fighting to see who has the best army, or to
test mere military efficiency, but because certain peoples wish certain
things and are determined to get and keep them by an appeal to force. If
the armies and fleets were small the war would have broken out just the
same, the parties and their claims, intentions, and positions being what
they are. To find the causes of the war we must seek the motives of the
combatants, and if we would have a lasting peace the foundations upon
which to build it must be laid bare by revealing those foundations on
which the peace was broken. To find the causes of the war we should
turn not to Blue Books or White Papers, giving carefully selected
statements of those responsible for concealing from the public the true
issues that move nations to attack each other, but should seek the

unavowed aims of those nations themselves.
Once the motive is found it is not hard to say who it is that broke the
peace, whatever the diplomats may put forward in lieu of the real
reason.
The war was, in truth, inevitable, and was made inevitable years ago. It
was not brought about through the faults or temper of Sovereigns or
their diplomats, not because there were great armies in Europe, but
because certain Powers, and one Power in particular, nourished
ambitions and asserted claims that involved not only ever increasing
armaments but insured ever increasing animosities. In these cases peace,
if permitted, would have dissipated the ambitions and upset claims,