A RARE DOCUMENT OF IRISH HISTORY 'HIGH TREASON' BY SIR JOHN LAVERY 1. John LAVERY (1856-1941): High Treason 1916. Oil on canvas, 214 x 322 cms (UK Government Art Collection on loan to the King's Inns, Dublin). The painting, whichwas commissionedby JudgeDarling who ispresiding, depicts the scene in thecourts during Roger Casement's appeal against his convictionfor high treason. The canvas is huge: ten feet by the Appeal, Casement had, by Royal seven feet and it hangs at the foot JohnMcGuiggan command,been strippedof his knight of the great marble staircase within the hood and his honours so that he appears King's Inns,Dublin where it dominates describesthe background to as a plain Irish felon, a rebel, as the five the descent of the Benchers as they scarlet-robed judges of the Court of process on their way to dine. It appears a paintingof Criminal Appeal listen to the pleadings to belong there.The scene, inCourtroom forhis life. I of theWest Green Building of London's RogerCasement's Appeal Casement (Fig 8 in the Key) had been RoyalCourts of lustice (nowCourtroom brought from the beach at Banna 34) as viewed from the the jury box, presents a unique social Strand, county Kerry to a cell in the Tower of London. There, and legal record of immense historical importance. Here is a under trulyawful conditions, he was allowed to see the solicitor, Dublin barrister in an English Court pleading for the life of a George Gavan- Duffy (Fig 10 in the Key) - then a successful British diplomat turned Irish revolutionary:the traitor in the partner in a prestigious London firm - who was to become the dock. This is a real history-painting, caught by the artist's hand firstmember of his legal team. But Gavan Duffy was wamed that as he sits in the jury box, paints beside him, sketching, drawing, if he took on the case he must leave the partnership and so, and listening to a dramatic moment in the struggle between when - without hesitation - he accepted Casement as his client, England'slaws and Ireland'sdestiny. he was sacked. The case was to prove a tuming point in his life. The date is 17July 1916 and it is Roger Casement's Appeal Although English-bomand English-educated- at theCatholic against conviction for High Treason and sentence of death. In public school of Stonyhurst - he was of an Irish family rich in the same courtroom the sentence itself had been handed down republican politics: his father, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, was a just nineteen days earlier by the English Lord Chief Justice, prolific Irishhistorian, a foundermember and editor of The Viscount Reading, and two judicialcolleagues. By the time of Nation, and a leader of the Tenant League. He had been tried, 1 5 7 IRISH ARTS REVIEW Irish Arts Review is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Irish Arts Review Yearbook ® www.jstor.org A RARE DOCUMENTOF IRISHHISTORY: 'HIGHTREASON' BY SIR JOHNLAVERY Welshman, Artemus Jones, who appearedat the Bow StreetMagistrate's 1. Scrutton J. 9. Michael Francis Doyle 16. Sir Arthur Bodkin 2. Bray J. (American Lawyer) (DPP) Court hearing, at the Trial, and at the 3. Darling J. 10. George Gavan-Duffy 17. Travers Humphreys Appeal. (Fig 19 in theKey). Jones,who 4. A.T. Lawrence J. 11. Mrs G. Gavan-Duffy 18. Serjt. Sullivan 5. Atkin J. 12. Sir Guy Stevenson 19. Artemus Jones has recordedthat Casement told him in 6. Kershaw 13. Sir George Cave 20. John H. Morgan theTower of London that he 'shouldbe 7. Dowling 14. Sir F.E. Smith 21. Sir John Simon 8. Roger Casement 15. G.A.H. Branson glad to die a thousand times for the name of Ireland',5was accompanied by an expert on constitutional law, Professor John H Morgan (Fig 20 in the Key).6 In his search for a King's Counsel, Gavan Duffy eventually turned to the Irish Bar and to one of its leading advo cates, Serjeant Sullivan, KC (Fig 18 in theKey) whose sister,Margaret (Fig 11 in the Key), was actually his own wife. *~~ The office of Serjeant meant that the holderwas a member of a superiororder of barristers- their only distinguishing mark was a small patch of black silk set with Daniel O'Connell, for sedition; and, for his role in the 1848 into the top of thewig - fromwhose ranks theCommon Law rising at Ballingarry, county Tipperary, he had also been tried judgeswere chosen. They were Crown law officers and could and acquittedon four separateoccasions. Eventually, he emi not, in the normal course of events, take a brief against the grated to Australia where he became Governor General of Crown and so Sullivan sought the advice and sanctionof Chief Victoriawhile his other son,Frank, rose to becomeChief Justice Baron Palles before takingup the Casement brief and it was of the High Court of Australia.' After the Casement trial, Palleswho encouragedhim to accept it. In accepting,Sullivan George Gavan Duffy went on to a distinguished political and wrote toGavan Duffy saying,'...I would reluctantlygo into the legal career. He was appointed by De Valera to the Treaty nego businessproviding I was handsomelypaid...';7 and he demanded tiations along with Collins, Griffith, Barton, and Duggan and a fee of 150 guineas. In the event, he was paid ?530 for the was subsequently Ireland'sfirst Minister for ForeignAffairs. Trial,which lastedfour days, and a furtherfee for theAppeal. Later, he retumed to the law, reading for the Bar at King's Inns, This was a handsome sum indeed for 1916 when a pound ster and rising to become President of the High Court. ling could purchaseup to fortypints of Guinness. Using the Gavan Duffy had been sought out by Casement's devoted samebenchmark, it was the equivalentof ?42,800 today.The cousin,Gertrude Bannister,2 while Casementwas imprisonedin money was raised by Gavan Duffy and Gertrude Bannister the Tower and still uncertain as to whether he was to be tried by throughprivate donations from, amongst others, Sir Arthur Court Martial and shot or whether he was to be tried by the ConanDoyle andWilliam Cadbury,the Quaker chocolateman Criminal Courts. Gertrude, who attended each day of the Trial ufacturer. Large sumswere also raised inAmerica by John and each day of the Appeal, has not been identified in the paint Devoy of Clan na Gael in New York and brought over to ing but, as it is well known that during both hearings she was Englandby an American Lawyer,Francis Doyle (Fig9 in the handed a series of notes from Casement,3 it is probable that she Key), who was grantedpermission to assist the defence team. is the lady in the hat at the very end of the solicitors' bench, MontgomeryHyde, in his importantbook of the trial,8records directlybeneath the dock inwhich Casements sits.Gertrude that thismoney was reimbursedto JohnDevoy by theGerman was a primary school teacher and as a price for helping her SecretService. cousin, the traitor, she was sacked from her school with one In his powerfuland eloquentsumming up to the jury,Sullivan week's notice. sought to show thatNationalist Irelandhad been engaged in Gavan Duffy initially turned to the English Bar to find a armingitself solely to defeat threats toHome Rule emanating King's Counsel for Casement but those whom he approached from the already heavily-armed Unionists of the Ulster declined or refused the brief.4 It was not a propitious moment to Volunteers.He suggestedthat Casement, in seeking to procure represent a traitor who, as a guest of the German enemy, had and land German arms, was acting only to defend legitimate, sought to recruit an Irish Brigade from among prisoners of war constitutionalNationalist concerns againstUnionist threats to drawn from the Irish regiments of the British Army; and to do so the Home Rule legislation. It is a stirring speech and makes would have been considered an act of treachery that could prej much of the limited material available to him but during his udice a future legal career, as Gavan Duffy already knew. As delivery he was interruptedby both the prosecution and the Junior Counsel, Gavan Duffy secured the services of a Bench who protested that he was introducingarguments not 158 IRISH ARTS REVIEW A RARE DOCUMENrr OF IRistI HiSTORY: 'HiCi-i TREASON' BY SIR JOHN LAVEIY supportedby anymaterial evidencegiven throughoutthe Trial. painted as such. On the contrary, it was commissioned by Obliged to make an apology, he lost the thread of his argument Darling as a commemoration of himself and the role he played and when he resumed he collapsed.9 The Trial was adjourned, in what was to be the most important State Trial of the 20th but Sullivan had fully recovered by the time of the Appeal. century. Darling and Lavery were friends and indeed Lavery had Unionism was well represented both on the Bench - Viscount previously painted him in his full judicial robes and wearing the Reading, the Lord Chief Justice (not shown in the picture), was black cap which indicated that he was pronouncing a sentence a well known Unionist supporter - and in the prosecution in F E of death. (The Inner Temple, London). That was a portrait Smith, the English Attomey General (Fig 14 in the Key), who which many considered to be in bad taste and Darling's decision was staunchly Unionist. He was a brilliant lawyer and exception to commission Lavery to record the Casement Appeal also ally close to Edward Carson to whose Unionist cause he was attracted criticism and, in time, the painting became a source of deeply committed.