That 1921 ‘Treaty’?
LLOYD GEORGE / DE VALERA correspondence, September1921. Dail Eireann, Official correspondence relating to the peace negotiations, June-September, 1921 (Dublin, October 1921)
Lloyd George to De Valera, 29 September . . . The proposals we have already made have been taken by the whole world as proof that our endeavours for reconciliation and settlement are no empty form, and we feel that conference not correspondence is the most practical and hopeful way to an understanding such as we ardently desire to achieve. We, therefore, send you herewith a fresh invitation to a conference in London on October11th, 1921, where we can meet your delegates as spokesmen of the people whom you represent with a view to ascertaining how the association of Ireland with the community of nations known as the British Empire may best be reconciled with Irish national aspirations.
De Valera to Lloyd George, 30 September,1921. We have received your letter of invitation to a conference in London on October 11 ‘with a view to ascertaining how the association of Ireland with the community of Nations known as the British Empire may best be reconciled with Irish national aspirations.’
Our respective positions have been stated and are understood, and we agree that conference, not correspondence, is the most practical and hopeful way to an understanding. We accept the invitation and our Delegates will meet you in London on the date mentioned ‘to explore every possibility of settlement by personal discussion’.
Credentials and Instructions of Irish plenipotentiaries (Dail Eireann treaty debate October,1921)
IN virtue of the authority vested in me by Dail Eireann, I hereby appoint Arthur Griffith, T.D., Minister for foreign Affairs, Chairman; Michael Collins, T.D., Minister for Finance, Robert C. Barton, T.D., Minister for Economic Affairs; Edmund J . Duggan, T.D.; and George Gavan Duffy, T.D. as envoys plenipotentiaries from the elected Government of the Republic of Ireland to negotiate and conclude on behalf of Ireland, with the representatives of his Britannic Majesty George V. a treaty or treaties of settlement, association and accommodation between Ireland and the community of nations, known as the British Commonwealth. In witness hereof I hereunder subscribe my name as President.
Signed EAMON DE VALERA
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- The Plenipotentiaries have full powers as defined in their credentials.
- It is understood before decisions are finally reached on the main question, that a despatch notifying the intention to make these decisions will be sent to members of the cabinet in Dublin, and that a reply will be awaited by the Plenipotentiaries before final decision is made.
- It is also understood that the complete text of the draft treaty about to be signed will be similarly submitted to Dublin, and reply awaited.
- In case of a break, the text of the final proposals from our side will be similarly submitted.
- It is understood the Cabinet in Dublin will be kept regularly informed of the progress of the negotiations.
The Irish Air Corps Celebrating 100 Years
On 21st October 1921, during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations, Emmet Dalton and C.F, ‘Charlie’ Dalton—both IRA volunteers and Great War veterans—wrote to their Chief of Staff from London that a Martinsyde Type A, MK II areoplane had been purchased in secret to carry out military operations on the British mainland and to assist, if required, the escape of Michael Collins and the plenipotentiaries should the talks collapse.
The Treaty was eventually signed on 6th January, 1922 and the Martinsyde became the first aircraft owned by the provisional Irish Government, arriving at Baldonnel via sea and road on 16th June, 1922. Charlie Russell and William ‘Jack’ McSweeney, also war veterans and volunteers, had been instrumental in the plan and both immediately went to work in the Military Aviation Department under General Emmet Dalton’s Training Branch at GHQ in Beggars Bush Barracks, setting up the Departments of Military and Civil Aviation.
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“The Treaty that never was”—
Paper never refused ink!
THE front and back covers of this publication show two different versions of what is ostensibly the same document purporting to be an “Anglo-Irish Treaty”.
The front cover shows the first and signature pages of that actually signed in the early hours of 6th December, 1921 and now held in the Irish National Archives. It is entitled “PROPOSED ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT” and the word “Treaty” appears nowhere in it.
The back cover shows the first and signature pages of the document in the British Archives signed later in the day on 6th December, 1921 but which is purportedly the same “Anglo-Irish Treaty”. This has an added title page inscribed “TREATY between GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND signed
6th December 1921 at LONDON”, though the word “Treaty” also appears nowhere else in its actual text (which uses the term “instrument” throughout).
It also has additional British signatures, that of the Irish
signatory Eamon Duggan is cut and pasted onto it from an autograph on a concert programme, the two columns of signatures are in reverse order to the other document, and the paragraphs of the whole are formatted
differently to the document in the Irish Archives.
What explains these mysterious differences?
Irish Political Review 