Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-07-09
NO REAL DEFENSE PUT UP
FOR SIR ROGER EASEMENT
Shaw Says He Should Have Con-
tended He Was Not Traitor,
but Prisoner Of War.
HIGH TREASON is NOT a SIN
Calls 1t Act OF Exalted Virtue, and
Carrying Out OF Sentence for 1t
Always Leaves Question of Effect
1t VIII Have on Public Opinion.
NY w. orroN TEwsoN.

LONDON, July S.-The question
whether Sir Roger Easement is to die
before July Is out. remains unsettled.
His appeal comes before court of ivo
Judges, presided over by Justice Darl-
Ing. week from to-day.
Should the appeal be decided against
Easement. then there will be nothing
between him and the gallows but King
Georges clemcncy.
Beyond the announcement that he Is
embracing the Roman Catholic faith
practically nothing has appeared in the
newspapers about Easement during the
past week, mad there seems to be little
outward public interest In his fate.
George Bernard Shaw. however, is
keenly Interested and sets forth his
views in the following interview:
Assuming tEat the Court of Grim
ina Appeals upholds tho conviction Of
tencc should be carried cute" was
asked.
Certainly not. as high treason is not
a sin, but rather is an act OF exalted
virtue, and the carrying out of SON
eence Tor 1t leaves always a question
or the effect it will have on public
opinion The effect in this case would
be disastrous"
do you think Easement had as
fair trial as DR.. jameson and Colo
mel Lynch"
Yes was tho reply. "the trial
could not have been fairer under any
circumstances. The conduct of tho
trial was so indulgcnt that Sir Harry
Poland and Sir Homewood Crawford.
both famous lawyers. have protested
against the latitude allowed the pris-
oner. When tho death sentence is a
toregone conclusion, every one is kind
to the victim"
coz r,r,,~-
hut NOT SCIENTIFIC
Are you of the opinion that Sir
Roger Easements objection to being
tried in England was a just one. and
that his desire to be tried by jury
Of his fellow -countrymen should have
been granted?'
NO. If an impartial trial was i'm
possible In England, 1t would have
been ten times more impossible in
ireland. A trial in America would
have been nominally, but not really.
impartial. A court Of neutrals sit
ting at The Hague, Berne or Stock
holm might have met the objection as
far as 1t could be met humanely. In
all high treason trials at present the
plaintiff is Judge. jury and execution
er. Sir Roger Easement was we'll adj
vised in drawing attention to this
point, but obviously his solution was
sentimental and not scientific. The
ancient custom of calling in u stranger
to be judge Is the right solution
I'm the event Of his execution, do
you think the feeling in Ireland will
be greatly embittered against the Eng
lish government
Yes. of course. II the British gov
eminent, having repricvcd De wit,
executes Easement, what can any one
think but that Easement was executed
not for being n traitor, but for being
an lrishman, or rather for being a
National IriShman. For the ulster
traitors wero not prosecuted, although
it was their threat of rsing that en-
couraged Germany to count on being
able to attack France without molcs-
tation from England.
please understand, by the way, that
1 am very glad they werr not prose-
cuted. and / hope they Mill stand up
for the right Of rebellion in Sir Rogers
case as stoutly as they did in their
own