Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-08-04
1HE EXECUTION Of EASEMENT.

It Is like reading a page from the
history Of past centuries. The crowds
gathered about the grim sca1old
awaiting the spectacle of execution,
pushing and crowding for places OF
vantage, quarreling. perhaps munching
CHASTITY lunches while the show is de-
layed, Sir Roger Easement, knight Of
the empire stripped of his honors,
bravely mounting the scaffold to his
doom, amid the cheers and mockery
of the crowd and the prayers Of the
pious, all is rereading Of English his
tory with new names and in a new
generation.
Easement, convicted Of treason, had
earned the penalty whether or not he
deserved it. So had John Brown,
armed against the government of the
United States and convicted Of treason.
But Brown is a name wherewith we
conjure for liberty today and mis- soul
goes marching on. We accept the pur-
ity Of Browns motive and the is-
nominy Of the manner of his death as
sists his fame So when Brown was
hanged his fate was fuel on the fires
of those who held with him and his
all the muddle Of reconstruction and
readjustment after our civil war was
the refusal to make a martyr out of
Jefferson Davis 1t robbed him and his
cause Of a living issue and a memory
that to those who fought about him
would thus have been made holy as
his execution would have canonized
him as a martyr and a memory. So
the execution Of Easement has canon
still hope and wait for free Ireland"
Causes and men grow tired Of lead
ers who have failed and live on in their
failure. But death for an idea makes
saints of sinners and turns failure into
success.
The general conclusion must be that
Easement was brave man, tho mis-
taken and wrongly led. He had held
high. office under the crown. had
fer service to mankind, as he under
stood service. He was not less a
traitor to his country because he may
have been convinced Of the righteous
ness Of the claim of Ireland to be in
dependent. A citizen and subject of
the empire who had received honors
and held office under it he can not
Justify treason against Great Britain
in an hour Of desperate stress by urg-
ing patriotism for Ireland. However
deeply Americans may sympathize with
the man and deplore his fate the fact
remains that he knew the penalty and
paid a debt, just and owing under the
law.
Easement failed in his attempt, but
he won and England lost when he was
hanged and his body thrown into
quicklime. Granted a contemptuous
mercy he would be remembered as one
who turned against his country in an
hour Of need and failed in his treason
Hanged against the pleading Of neutral
nations and Of the mos, powerful re-
ligious hierarchy in the world he will
live on as a hero and a martyr in the
cause Of an oppressed and downtrod-
den race. But it is also TO be consid-
cred that Britain is fighting a desper-
ate battle for existence and place and
that the popular demand for Case
ment's execution was scarcely to be
withstood. Those who lived turnout
the civil war will understand how
strong such demands are ard how
sternly they influence those who hold
the power Of life and death. Perhaps
had Davis been captured in the early
years Of our civil war he would have
met the fate of Easement.