The Irish standard., 1915-02-27

off, SO to that extent Easements
friends were treasured. They had to
wait for the arrival of the steamer at
Christiania for the information that
Sir Roger had arrived safely there.
They got it in plain and positive
terms.
Easement Used No Passport.
1t may be said here that Sir Roger
Easement used no passport. If he had
done SO, the record of it's having been
vised would now be in some Embassy
or Legation. But there is no such rec
ord. Yet he was the innocent means
of effecting radical change in the
whole American passport system. The
State Department, in it's extreme zeal
to oblige the British Government, does
everything that Government asks of it.
When the British Ambassador con-
veyed to Secretary Bryan the false in
formation, believing it to be true, that
Sir Roger Easement had travelled on
an American passport, real or forged,
the whole forces of the State Depart
ment were sent scurrying up blind
alley. Working on false clue that led
nowhere, they started after the Ger
mans, and devised the elaborate
scheme which compels every American
citizen seeking passport to supply
two photographs of himself, one for
deposit in the State Department and
the other to be pasted on his pass
port; and to repeat the operation
when returning to America.
Sir Roger, who had been many years
in the British Consular service and
was personally known to many naval
officers, took great risks of discovery
in the search by British cruisers. Moth
ing could have saved him if discovered
on the ship. The risks he took showed
the character Of the man. By going
at all he lost his pension, which was
practically his only means Of living. If
captured on his way to Germany he
WOulO W SllOL OF la0R0U.
When he arrived in Christiania, as
subsequent events showed, Mr.. Find
lay, the British Minister to Norway,
knew nothing about him. When the
vessel was brought into Storoway the
British naval officers had no suspicion
that he was on board, for they made
no search for him and asked no ques-
tions about him. But within some
forty hours of his setting foot on Nor
wegian soil Minister Findlay knew
that he had landed and where he was
stopping. He had evidently received
notification from London and London
must have got a cable from America.
That part of the story may be let
pass for the present after noting the
fact.
Findlay Proposes Murder.
On the morning of the second day
after his landing Christensen, the
young Norwegian, was jostled by a
man in the corridor Of the hotel. The
man apologized, got into conversation
with him, asked him to take a drink,
and then invited him to an automo-
bile ride. He stopped the automobile
in front of a building, said he wanted
to go in for few minutes and asked
Christensen to step inside. The house
was the British Legation, and on be-
ing brought into a room Christensen
was accosted by man, who later
turned out to be Mr.. Findlay, the Brit
ish Minister. The first thing the Min.
lister did was to put twenty crowns
into Christenson's hand. Findlay was
excited and he began the talk by say
ing to Christensen that he was good
young man, but that he was in very
bad company. Asked to explain what
he meant the Minister told him he
knew the name of his companion and
what mission he was on; it was an
evil one and Christensen should have
nothing to do with 1t. He named Sir
Roger Easement, said he was going to