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“Terrible Finality”: Treaty, Constitution, and Boundary Commission, 1921–1925

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Shaping Ireland’s Independence

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Abstract

Many scholars assert that, as Sinn Féin and Lloyd George’s Cabinet began to negotiate the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921), the terms were already set: partition was accomplished by Northern Ireland’s establishment, and the British would not countenance any constitutional arrangement but a truncated dominion status. Rast asserts that British officials considered alternatives to both facets. Sinn Féin argued for bringing Northern Ireland into an island-wide parliamentary framework. De Valera’s constitutional formula of external association provoked interest, but Sinn Féin negotiators adhered to British terms hoping to secure Irish unity. The Irish nationalist press and public were hesitant toward an early draft and accepted the final agreement based on misconceptions concerning its operation. Through 1925, Free State officials feared a popular backlash against the Treaty.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    P. F. Clarke, Hope and Glory: Britain, 1900–1990 (London: Allen Lane, 1996), 101.

  2. 2.

    Paul Bew, Ireland: The Politics of Enmity, 1789–2006 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 422; Hart, Mick: The Real Michael Collins (New York: Viking, 2005), 282; Michael Laffan, The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916–1923 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 347, 425; J. J. Lee, Ireland, 1912–1985: Politics and Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 51; Robert Lynch, Revolutionary Ireland, 1912–1925 (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), 86; Arthur Mitchell, Revolutionary Government in Ireland: Dáil Éireann, 1919–22 (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1995), 319, 327, 340; Frank Pakenham [Earl Longford], Peace by Ordeal (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1972), 250; John Regan, The Irish Counter-Revolution, 1921–1936 (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1999), 5–6.

  3. 3.

    R. F. Foster, Modern Ireland, 1600–1972 (London: Allen Lane, 1988), 508; Jason Knirck, Imagining Ireland’s Independence: The Debates Over the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006), 8, 91–92.

  4. 4.

    Diarmaid Ferriter, A Nation and Not a Rabble: The Irish Revolution, 1913–1923 (New York: Overlook, 2015), 253; David Fitzpatrick, The Two Irelands, 1912–1939 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 106, 114, 124; Foster, Modern Ireland, 506; John Hutchinson, The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism: The Gaelic Revival and the Creation of the Irish Nation State (London: Allen and Unwin, 1987), 306; Laffan, Resurrection, 232; Paul Murray, The Irish Boundary Commission and Its Origins, 1886–1925 (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2011), 77–80; Charles Townshend, The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence, 1918–1923 (London: Lane, 2013), 339–340.

  5. 5.

    Ronan Fanning, Fatal Path: British Government and Irish Revolution, 1910–1922 (London: Faber and Faber, 2013), 286–290; Hart, Mick, 302.

  6. 6.

    NAI, TSCH/3/S553, J. L. Fawsitt, “Notes on the Constitutional Aspect of the Treaty.”

  7. 7.

    Bill Kissane, New Beginnings: Constitutionalism and Democracy in Modern Ireland (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2011), 36–38.

  8. 8.

    Patrick Buckland, James Craig: Lord Craigavon (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1980), 69–70; St. John Ervine, Craigavon: Ulsterman (London: Allen and Unwin, 1949), 438–439; Laffan, Partition of Ireland, 89–92; Murray, Irish Boundary Commission, 90–91; Graham Walker, A History of the Ulster Unionist Party: Protest, Pragmatism and Pessimism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), 59.

  9. 9.

    BMH WS 779, section 3, Robert Brennan, 660–662; Robert Brennan, Allegiance (Brown and Nolan, 1950), 311–312.

  10. 10.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Seventh Session, 24 Oct 1921.

  11. 11.

    BMH WS 779, section 3, Brennan, 662.

  12. 12.

    UKPA, LG/F/29/4/58, Lloyd George to George V, 15 July; UKNA, CAB/23/26/15, Cabinet Minutes, 20 July 1921.

  13. 13.

    Gavin Foster, “Res Publica na hÉireann?: Republican Liberty and the Irish Civil War,” New Hibernia Review 16, no. 3 (Autumn 2012): 26–27.

  14. 14.

    UKPA, LG/F/29/4/58, Lloyd George to George V, 15 July 1921.

  15. 15.

    UKPA, LG/F/14/6/13, Lloyd George, “Proposals of the British Government for an Irish Settlement,” 20 July; UKNA, CAB/23/26/15, UK Cabinet Conclusions, 20 July 1921.

  16. 16.

    UKPA, LG/F/29/4/60, Lloyd George to George V, 21 July; Frances Stevenson, Lloyd George: A Diary, ed. A. J. P. Taylor (London: Hutchinson, 1971), 231, 22 July 1921.

  17. 17.

    UCDA, P150/1473, Dáil Cabinet Meeting Notes, 24 July 1921.

  18. 18.

    BMH WS 418, Una Stack, 37–38. This statement includes Austin Stack’s memoir of the peace negotiations. NAI, DE/1/3, Dáil Cabinet Minutes, 27 July 1921.

  19. 19.

    UKPA, LG/F/29/4/61, Stamfordham to Lloyd George, 21 July; UCDA, P150/1474, Robert Barton, Report of Meeting with Lloyd George, 13 Aug; Thomas Jones to Lloyd George, 11 Aug in Whitehall Diary, 3 vols., ed. Keith Middlemas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), III:96; Jan Smuts to George V, 4 Aug 1921 in Jean Van Der Poel, ed., The Jan Smuts Papers, 5 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), 100.

  20. 20.

    IT, 15 Aug; FJ, 22 Aug; II, 27 Aug; UH, 20, 27 Aug 1921.

  21. 21.

    An asterisk (∗) indicates rejection of partition. For acceptance of the July 20 proposals: Cork County Eagle, Tuam Herald, 20, 27 Aug. For rejection (all 20 Aug): Connacht Tribune, Drogheda Argus∗, Drogheda Independent, Enniscorthy Guardian∗, Longford Leader, Mayo News∗, Meath Chronicle∗, Nationalist and Leinster Times, Western People∗, Westmeath Examiner∗; CE∗, 17–19 Aug; DJ∗, 19–22 Aug; Donegal Democrat∗, 19 Aug; Leinster Leader∗, 27 Aug. For accepting the Dáil’s decision: Limerick Leader, 15 Aug; Connaught Telegraph∗, Sligo Champion, Southern Star, 20 Aug 1921.

  22. 22.

    Jones to Lloyd George, 11 Aug in Whitehall Diary, III:96; UKNA, CAB/23/26/22, UK Cabinet Conclusions, 15 Aug; CAB/23/26/25, UK Cabinet Conclusions, 18 Aug 1921.

  23. 23.

    CE, 9 Feb; TT, 27 July; IT, 7 Aug; Gaelic American (New York), 28 Aug 1920; NLI, Ms. 15,444/3/37, Text of de Valera’s Cuba Speech; Patrick McCartan, With de Valera in America (Dublin: Fitzpatrick, 1932), 151–152.

  24. 24.

    UKNA, KV 2/515, Irish Intelligence Summary, 10 March; Lloyd George in Parliament, TT, 6 Aug; NLI, Ms. 15,986, Liam Mellows to J. J. Hearn, 9 March 1920.

  25. 25.

    NAI, DE/1/3/118, Dáil Cabinet Minutes, 10 Sept 1921; BMH WS 418, Stack, 42.

  26. 26.

    NLI, Ms. 10,925, Plunkett, The Irish Peace Conference and After (Dublin: Irish Dominion League, 1920); Ms. 42,222/39, Plunkett Diaries, 30 June 1919.

  27. 27.

    Tim Pat Coogan, Eamon de Valera: The Man Who Was Ireland (New York: Harper Collins, 1993), 244–257; Diarmaid Ferriter, Judging Dev: A Reassessment of the Life and Legacy of Eamon de Valera (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2007), 63–69.

  28. 28.

    DÉ, 16 Dec, Griffith; 19 Dec 1921, Collins.

  29. 29.

    UCDA, P150/1547, Robert Barton to Kathleen O’Connell, 7 Aug 1922.

  30. 30.

    UKNA, LG/F/181/2/5, E. F. Cave, “Visit to Ireland,” 1 Aug 1921; J. M. Andrews, Killinchy, BNL, 5 Dec 1921.

  31. 31.

    DÉ, 22 Aug 1921, de Valera; Ferriter, Judging Dev, 149–150; John Regan, Myth and the Irish State: Historical Problems and Other Essays (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2013), 150.

  32. 32.

    IMA, CD45/11/7, de Valera, “North East Ulster Draft Clause,” 15 Oct 1921.

  33. 33.

    NAI, DE/2/304/1/5, de Valera to Griffith, 25 Oct 1921.

  34. 34.

    IMA, CD/45/11/5, Minutes: First Meeting, 11 Oct; UKPA, LG/F/181/4/1, Lionel Curtis to Lloyd George, 8 Nov 1921.

  35. 35.

    IMA, CD/45/11/5, Minutes: Fourth Session, 14 Oct; Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:127–132, 14 Oct 1921.

  36. 36.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Minutes: Fifth Session, 17 Oct; Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:132–137, 17 Oct 1921.

  37. 37.

    UKNA, CAB/43/1/17, Meeting of the British Representatives to a Conference with Sinn Fein, 18 Oct 1921; Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:138, 18 Oct 1921.

  38. 38.

    UCDA, P150/1498, de Valera to Griffith, 14 Oct 1921.

  39. 39.

    UKNA, CAB/43/1/17, Meeting of the British Representatives, 18 Oct 1921.

  40. 40.

    UCDA, P150/1555, John Chartres to Griffith, 14 Oct 1921.

  41. 41.

    R. F. Foster, Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890–1923 (New York: Norton, 2014), 278; Hart, Mick, 282–283; Lee, Ireland, 51; Townshend, The Republic, 335–336.

  42. 42.

    UCDA, P150/1560, de Valera to Joseph McGarrity, 27 Dec 1921; UCDA, P150/1556, “Memo given to the President by Cathal Brugha between October 20th and 25th, 1921”; BMH WS 418, Stack, 53; Longford, O’Neill, Eamon de Valera, 155. The following supported external association in the Dáil: Mary MacSwiney, 14 Sept, 17 Dec; Childers, 15 Dec 1921; Brugha, 7 Jan 1922.

  43. 43.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, “Proposals of the Irish Delegates,” 24 Oct 1921.

  44. 44.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Seventh Session, 24 Oct; Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:141–144, 24 Oct 1921.

  45. 45.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:144–145, 24 Oct 1921.

  46. 46.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:147, 26 Oct; BMH WS 979, Robert Barton, 37–38; UCDA, P150/1489, Childers, Diary, 25 Oct 1921.

  47. 47.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, “Memorandum by His Majesty’s Government,” 27 Oct; also, UKNA, CAB/43/4/332–336; Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (DIFP), No. 183, Childers, “Notes on the British Memo,” 27 Oct 1921.

  48. 48.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Meeting of Sub-Conference at the House of Lords, 24 Nov 1921.

  49. 49.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Griffith to de Valera, 27 Oct; CD45/11/5, “Further Memorandum by the Irish Delegates,” 29 Oct 1921; also, UKNA, CAB/43/4/337.

  50. 50.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:152, 31 Oct 1921.

  51. 51.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Memo of a Meeting at Mr. Churchill’s House, 30 Oct; George Riddell, Lord Riddell’s Intimate Diary of the Peace Conference and After, 1918–1923 (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1934), 330–332, 30 Oct–3 Nov 1921.

  52. 52.

    Kevin Matthews, Fatal Influence: The Impact of Ireland on British Politics, 1920–1925 (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2004), 44; Scott, Political Diaries, 401, 9 Aug 1921.

  53. 53.

    Riddell, Intimate Diary, 164–166, 1 Feb 1920; Ball, Conservative Party, 65; Ross McKibbin, Parties and People: England, 1914–1951 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 33–41; G. R. Searle, Country Before Party: Coalition and the Idea of ‘National Government’ in Modern Britain, 1885–1987 (Harlow: Longman, 1995), 117–133; Robert Self, The Evolution of the British Party System, 1885–1940 (Harlow: Pearson, 2000), 132.

  54. 54.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:153, 2 Nov; UCDA, P150/1499, Griffith to de Valera, 1 Nov 1921.

  55. 55.

    Versions of this letter and Griffith’s minutes of Nov 1–2 meetings with British delegates are in IMA, CD45/11/5.

  56. 56.

    UKNA, CAB/43/4/200, Griffith to Lloyd George, 2 Nov; IMA, CD45/11/5, Griffith, “Minutes of Sub-Conference,” 2 Nov 1921.

  57. 57.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Griffith to de Valera, 3 Nov 1921.

  58. 58.

    UCDA, P150/1513, Childers, “Minute of Conversation,” 28 Oct 1921.

  59. 59.

    TT, 1 Nov 1921.

  60. 60.

    UCDA, P7/A/72, Collins to Gearóid O’Sullivan, 31 Oct; IMA, CD45/11/5, Griffith to de Valera, 8, 9, 12, 16 Nov 1921.

  61. 61.

    PRONI, CAB/4/26/19, Northern Ireland (NI) Cabinet Conclusions, 4 Nov 1921.

  62. 62.

    Stevenson, Lloyd George, 234–235, 6 Nov; Jones Whitehall Diary, III:160, 10 Nov 1921. Jones confirms that Craig seemed pliable at the first meeting.

  63. 63.

    PRONI, CAB/6/27B, “Precis of Meeting at War Office,” 7 Nov; Craig to Robert Horne, 8 Nov 1921.

  64. 64.

    John McColgan, British Policy and the Irish Administration, 1920–22 (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1983), 67–70; Fanning, Fatal Path, 290–291.

  65. 65.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:154–156, 7, 8 Nov; IMA, CD45/11/5, Griffith to de Valera, 8 Nov 1921.

  66. 66.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Griffith to de Valera, 9 Nov; Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:157, 9 Nov; UCDA, P150/1489, Childers, Diary, 9 Nov 1921.

  67. 67.

    BMH WS 979, Barton, 44.

  68. 68.

    UKPA, LG/F/181/4/1, Lionel Curtis to Lloyd George, 8 Nov 1921.

  69. 69.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:159, 10 Nov; Stevenson, Lloyd George, 236, 11 Nov 1921.

  70. 70.

    PRONI, CAB/4/10/5, Craig to Lloyd George, 29 July; Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:162, 10 Nov 1921.

  71. 71.

    UKNA, CAB/43/4/172–177, Craig to Lloyd George, 11 Nov; UKPA, LG/F/7/4/31, Chamberlain to Lloyd George, 11 Nov; Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:163, 12 Nov 1921.

  72. 72.

    PRONI, CAB/4/27/11, NI Cabinet Conclusions, 28 Nov 1921.

  73. 73.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:161–162, 10 Nov; UKPA, LG/F/14/5/33, Derby to Lloyd George, 18 Nov 1921.

  74. 74.

    UCDA, P15/1498, de Valera to Griffith, 9 Nov 1921.

  75. 75.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:163, 12 Nov 1921.

  76. 76.

    Robert Blake, The Unknown Prime Minister: The Life and Times of Andrew Bonar Law, 1858–1923 (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1955), 431–433; Matthews, Fatal Influence, 51.

  77. 77.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Griffith to de Valera, 12 Nov; Stevenson, Lloyd George, 237, 14 Nov 1921.

  78. 78.

    UKNA, CAB/43/2/134–138, Laming Worthington-Evans, “Alternative to the proposals in the letters of the 10th and 11th November, 1921,” 12 Nov 1921.

  79. 79.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:164, 14 Nov; UKNA, CAB/43/4/186–188, Lloyd George to Craig, 14 Nov 1921.

  80. 80.

    TT, 18 Nov 1921.

  81. 81.

    Spectator, 5 Nov 1921; W. A. S. Hewins, The Apologia of an Imperialist: Forty Years of Empire Policy, 2 vols. (London: Constable, 1929), II:241–243, 30 Oct–2 Nov 1921; Salisbury to Bonar Law, 18 Nov 1921 in Beaverbrook [Max Aitken], The Decline and Fall of Lloyd George: And Great Was the Fall Thereof (London: Collins, 1963), 119–121.

  82. 82.

    BL, Add. Ms. 62,405, Long to Derby, 22 Nov; SR, 19 Nov 1921.

  83. 83.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:168, 17 Nov 1921.

  84. 84.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Untitled memo begins, “It is hereby agreed that,” 16 Nov; also, UKNA, CAB/43/2/257–259; UCDA, P150/1489, Childers, Diary, 17 Nov 1921.

  85. 85.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, “Memorandum by the Irish Representatives,” 22 Nov; also, UKNA, CAB/43/2/260–262; UKPA, LG/F/7/4/34, Chamberlain to Lloyd George, 28 Nov 1921.

  86. 86.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:170–171, 22 Nov 1921.

  87. 87.

    UKNA, CAB/24/126/80, Laming Worthington-Evans, “The Irish Situation,” 29 July; CAB/43/2/79–81, Macready, Report, 13 Sept 1921.

  88. 88.

    UKNA, CAB/43/2/74–78, Worthington-Evans, “Ireland,” 22 Oct 1921.

  89. 89.

    F. Russell Bryant, ed., The Coalition Diaries and Letters of H. A. L. Fisher, 1916–22: The Historian in Lloyd George’s Cabinet, 4 vols. (Lewiston: Mellen, 2006), III:793, 5 Aug; Harold Laski to Oliver Wendell Holmes, 9 Nov 1921 in Holmes-Laski Letters: The Correspondence of Mr. Justice Holmes and Harold J. Laski, ed. Mark DeWolfe Howe, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), I:368; UKNA, CO/904/232, John Anderson to Robert Horne, 12 Nov; A. W. Cope to Jones, 24 Aug 1921 in Whitehall Diary, III:100–102.

  90. 90.

    PRONI, CAB/6/27A, Craig to Macready, 22 Sept; Craig to Macready, 23 Sept; Conference between Craig and Macready, 20 Oct 1921.

  91. 91.

    PRONI, CAB/6/27A, Craig to Henry Wilson, 25 Oct; Craig to Wilson, 28 Oct; Wilson to Craig, 1 Nov; “Interview at War Office,” 7 Nov 1921.

  92. 92.

    PRONI, CAB/6/27B, Craig to Robert Horne, 8 Nov 1921.

  93. 93.

    PRONI, CAB/6/27A, “Resumption of Operations in Northern Ireland,” 24 Oct; CAB/6/27B, “Application of Martial Law to Northern Ireland”; CAB/6/27A, C. G. Wickham to Dawson Bates, 20 Sept 1921.

  94. 94.

    PRONI, CAB/6/27A, G. Moore-Irvine to W. B. Spender, 1 Aug; Spender to Moore-Irvine, 3 Aug 1921.

  95. 95.

    UKPA, BL/107/1/98, Craig to Chamberlain, 15 Dec 1921; PRONI, CAB/4/31/22, Craig, “Communique to the Press,” 8 Feb 1922.

  96. 96.

    DEL, reprinted BNL, 28 Nov 1921.

  97. 97.

    An t’Óglaċ, 5, 12 Aug 1921.

  98. 98.

    UKNA, CAB/24/129/30, Macready, Report, 18 Oct; CAB/24/129/53, Macready, Report, 25 Oct 1921.

  99. 99.

    IMA, Collins Papers, A/0622, “The Military Situation at the End of Sept. 1921,” 1 Oct 1921; TCDA, IE TCD MS 7784/8. The author is unidentified, but was likely Macready’s principal aide, J. E. S. Brind.

  100. 100.

    UKNA, CAB/43/2/95, W. G. Barron, “Note on the State of North-West Munster,” 15 Oct 1921.

  101. 101.

    BMH WS 877, P. J. Paul, 55; BMH WS 1764, Vincent White, 25–28; Charles McGuinness, Sailor of Fortune: Adventures of an Irish Sailor, Soldier, Pirate, Pearl-Fisher, Gun-Runner, Rebel and Antarctic Explorer (Philadelphia: Macrae Smith, 1935), 197–205.

  102. 102.

    Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:175, 25 Nov 1921.

  103. 103.

    Fanning, Fatal Path, 310; Keith Jeffery, The British Army and the Crisis of Empire, 1918–22 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984), 91; Knirck, Imagining, 101.

  104. 104.

    Foster, Modern Ireland, 506–507; Nicholas Mansergh, The Unresolved Question: The Anglo-Irish Settlement and Its Undoing, 1912–72 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991), 187.

  105. 105.

    Regan, Irish Counter-Revolution, 69.

  106. 106.

    Geoffrey Shakespeare, Let Candles Be Brought In (London: MacDonald, 1949), 86–89; Kenneth Morgan, “Lloyd George and the Irish,” in Ireland After the Union (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), 98–99; Roy Hattersley, David Lloyd George: The Great Outsider (London: Little, Brown, 2010), 544–546.

  107. 107.

    Daily Chronicle, reprinted, BNL, 30 Nov, 6 Dec 1921.

  108. 108.

    PRONI, HO/5/16, Churchill, Memorandum, 21 Dec 1921.

  109. 109.

    Bew, Ireland, 421; Mitchell, Revolutionary Government, 325.

  110. 110.

    UKNA, CAB/43/4/350–358, “Proposed Articles of Agreement,” 30 Nov 1921.

  111. 111.

    IMA, CD45/11/4, “Meeting of Cabinet and Delegation,” 3 Dec 1921.

  112. 112.

    IMA, CD45/11/4, “Amendments by the Irish Representatives,” 4 Dec; also, UKNA, CAB/43/4/380; NAI, DE/2/304/1/8, Griffith to de Valera, 4 Dec 1921.

  113. 113.

    UKNA, CAB/21/243, Curtis, “Draft Reply to the Irish Memorandum,” 4 Dec 1921.

  114. 114.

    IMA, CD45/11/5, Curtis, “Memorandum on Dominion Status,” 17 Oct 1921; also, UKNA, CAB/43/2/10.

  115. 115.

    IMA, CD45/11/4, Collins, “Interview with Mr. Lloyd George,” 5 Dec 1921.

  116. 116.

    IMA, CD45/11/4, Barton, “Two Sub-Conferences,” 5–6 Dec 1921.

  117. 117.

    UCDA, P150/1489, Childers, Diary, 5 Dec 1921; IMA, CD45/11/4, Meeting of the Irish Delegation, 5 Dec 1921.

  118. 118.

    BMH WS 979, Barton, 34–35.

  119. 119.

    UKNA, CAB/63/34/89, Jones to Maurice Hankey, 6 Dec; CAB/21/243, Jones, Curtis, “Note by the Secretaries to the Irish Conference,” 16 March 1922.

  120. 120.

    II, 7 Dec; FJ, 8 Dec; UH, 10 Dec; IN, 12 Dec 1921.

  121. 121.

    UKNA, CAB/24/131/63, J. Brind, Situation in Ireland, 13 Dec; WO/35/182A/1, “Reception of the Agreement in Dublin”; IN, 12 Dec 1921.

  122. 122.

    FJ, II, 9 Dec; DIFP, No. 216, Childers, Cabinet Meeting Notes, 8 Dec 1921.

  123. 123.

    UCDA, P150/1549, de Valera, “Memo on Oath and Document No. 2,” 18 Feb 1923.

  124. 124.

    DIFP, No. 205, de Valera to Harry Boland, 29 Nov 1921.

  125. 125.

    DÉ, 15 Dec 1921, de Valera.

  126. 126.

    Ronan Fanning, Éamon de Valera: A Will to Power (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016), 108–129.

  127. 127.

    DÉ, 15 Dec 1921, de Valera; UCDA, P150/1549, de Valera, “Memo on Oath and Doc. No. 2,” 18 Feb 1923.

  128. 128.

    DÉ, 17 Dec, Seamus Robinson; FJ, 22 Dec 1921; Sean O’Faolain, Vive Moi! (Boston: Little, Brown, 1934), 187.

  129. 129.

    Foster, Modern Ireland, 506–507; Garvin, 1922, 27, 193–194; A. C. Hepburn, Catholic Belfast and Nationalist Ireland in the Era of Joe Devlin, 1871–934 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 232; K. T. Hoppen, Governing Hibernia: British Politicians and Ireland, 1800–1921 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 318; Knirck, Imagining, 152–153; Laffan, Resurrection, 380; Lynch, Revolutionary Ireland, 86, 104; Matthews, Fatal Influence, 61; Conor Mulvagh, The Irish Parliamentary Party at Westminster, 1900–1918 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016), 165–166; Murray, Irish Boundary Commission, 78; John Regan, Myth and the Irish State: Historical Problems and Other Essays (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2013), 61.

  130. 130.

    Maureen Wall, “Partition: The Ulster Question (1916–1926),” in The Irish Struggle, 1916–1926, ed. Desmond Williams (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966), 87; Martin Mansergh, “The Freedom to Achieve Freedom?,” in Michael Collins and the Making of a New Ireland, ed. Gabriel Doherty and Michael Keogh (Cork: Mercier, 1998), 170.

  131. 131.

    Hart, Mick, 335.

  132. 132.

    Knirck, Imagining, 152.

  133. 133.

    DÉ, 3 Jan, Ernest Blythe; 4 Jan 1922, Eoin O’Duffy.

  134. 134.

    DÉ, 20 Dec, Milroy; 22 Dec, MacEntee.

  135. 135.

    BMH WS 939, Ernest Blythe, 137.

  136. 136.

    DÉ, 14 Dec, Griffith; 15 Dec, de Valera, MacNeill; 19 Dec 1921, Collins. Seán O’Mahony focused on the oath, 4 Jan 1922.

  137. 137.

    UCDA, P150/1549, de Valera, “Memo on Oath and Doc. No. 2,” 18 Feb 1923.

  138. 138.

    DÉ, 3 Jan 1922, Lorcan Robbins. Hitherto uncited Dáil members who mentioned northern issues were: 15 Dec, Childers; 16 Dec, Gavan Duffy; 17 Dec, Fionán Lynch, Seumas Mac Gearailt, Mary MacSwiney, Vincent White; 19 Dec, Kevin O’Higgins; 20 Dec, Joseph MacDonagh, Patrick McCartan; 21 Dec, W. T. Cosgrave; 22 Dec 1921, Liam de Roiste, Sean Moylan, Richard Mulcahy, Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh; 3 Jan, Piaras Béaslaí, Eamon Dee, Frank Fahy, Art O’Connor, J. J. Walsh; 4 Jan, John Crowley, Bryan Cusack, Alexander McCabe; 6 Jan 1922, Thomas Derrig, Francis Ferran.

  139. 139.

    DÉ, 17 Dec 1921, O’Duffy; 4 Jan, McCabe; 7 Jan, P. J. Ward.

  140. 140.

    DÉ, 14 Dec, Griffith; 19 Dec, Childers; 21 Dec 1921, George Gavan Duffy.

  141. 141.

    NLI, Ms. 17,143, Frank Aiken to Richard Mulcahy, 15 July; Ms. 17,489, Stack to Joseph McGarrity, 3 Aug 1922; UCDA, P150/1428, Gavan Duffy, “Voice Recording made for the Bureau”; Florence O’Donoghue, No Other Law (The Story of Liam Lynch and the Irish Republican Army, 1916–1923) (Dublin: Irish Press, 1954), 203.

  142. 142.

    NAI, TSCH/3/S3124, “Extract from Provisional Government Minutes,” 31 Jan 1922; Churchill to John Anderson, 31 Jan 1921 in Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, Volume IV Companion Part 3, 1742–1743.

  143. 143.

    UKPA, LG/F/10/2/42(c), Curtis to Curzon, 6 Feb 1922.

  144. 144.

    UKNA, CAB/43/6/79–102, Conference on Ireland, 26–27 May 1922.

  145. 145.

    UKNA, CAB/43/1/120–131, Jones, Curtis, “Secretary’s Note of a Conference of British Representatives,” 23 May 1922; UKNA, CAB/43/7/9–48, T. St. Quintin Hill, “The Draft Irish Constitution: History of Negotiations, May–June, 1922,” 13 July 1922.

  146. 146.

    UKNA, CAB/43/6/79–91, Conference on Ireland Meeting Minutes, 26 May 1922.

  147. 147.

    For an unedited copy of the draft constitution, NLI, Ms. 17,136/9. For British government criticisms, UKNA, CAB/23/30/9, “Memorandum on the Irish Draft Constitution,” 29 May 1922.

  148. 148.

    UKNA, CAB/23/30/9, UK Cabinet Conclusions, 1 June; UKPA, LG/F/184/3/14, Curtis, “Irish Draft Constitution,” 31 May 1922.

  149. 149.

    UKNA, CAB/43/7/54, Hill, “Draft Irish Constitution,” 13 July; CAB/24/137/14, Lloyd George to Griffith, 1 June 1922.

  150. 150.

    UKNA, CAB/43/7/89–92, Hill, “Draft Irish Constitution,” 13 July 1922.

  151. 151.

    UKNA, CAB/24/137/14, Griffith to Lloyd George, 2 June; CAB/43/1/77–87, Meeting of British Treaty Signatories, 9 June; UCDA, P4/363, Hugh Kennedy to Griffith, 11 June; CAB/43/1/177, Meeting of British Treaty Signatories, 16 June 1922.

  152. 152.

    BMH WS 979, Barton, 44.

  153. 153.

    UKNA, CAB/43/6/26, Conference on Ireland, 5 Feb; UKPA, LG/F/20/2/2, Cope to John Anderson, 15 Feb 1922.

  154. 154.

    PRONI, CAB/9/Z/3/1, Craig to Chamberlain. Marked “Draft” and “Not Sent”; Craig, Rathfriland, TT, 8 Dec; UKPA, LG/F/11/5/28, Craig to Lloyd George, 14 Dec 1921.

  155. 155.

    Craig, Belfast, IT, 13 Dec; UKPA, BL/107/1/93, Craig to Bonar Law, 13 Dec; LG/F/11/3/28, Craig to Lloyd George, 14 Dec 1921.

  156. 156.

    UKPA, BL/107/1/98, Craig to Chamberlain, 15 Dec 1921.

  157. 157.

    UKPA, BL/107/1/98, Chamberlain to Craig, 16 Dec 1921.

  158. 158.

    John Ramsden, ed., Real Old Tory Politics: The Political Diaries of Sir Robert Sanders, Lord Bayford, 1910–35 (London: Historians’ Press, 1984), 165, 18 Dec; Jones to Maurice Hankey, 13 Dec 1921 in Whitehall Diary, III:187.

  159. 159.

    Hansard, HL, 14 Dec 1921, “Address in Reply to His Majesty’s Most Gracious Speech,” Carson, vol. 48, columns 36–54; Jones, Whitehall Diary, III:189, 14 Dec 1921.

  160. 160.

    Carson was in touch with die-hard Unionists: UKPA, BL/107/1/92, Salisbury to Bonar Law, 13 Dec 1921. Hansard, HC, 15 Dec, “Irish Free State,” Bonar Law, vol. 149, columns 196–210. For northern unionists’ surprise at Bonar Law’s intervention, PRONI, D1633/2/25, Lillian Spender Diary, 16 Dec 1921.

  161. 161.

    TT, 15, 18 Feb, 9 March 1922. For the amendment’s inspiration, PRONI, CAB/9/Z/3/1, James to Charles Craig, 11 Feb 1922.

  162. 162.

    Roger Mortimer and Andrew Blick, eds., Butler’s British Political Facts (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), 400.

  163. 163.

    Selborne to Salisbury, 15 Nov 1921 in D. G. Boyce, ed., The Crisis of British Unionism: Lord Selborne’s Domestic Political Papers, 1885–1922 (London: Historians’ Press, 1987), 232–233.

  164. 164.

    David Dutton, A History of the Liberal Party Since 1900 (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 82; Martin Pugh, State and Society: A Social and Political History of Britain Since 1870 (London: Bloomsbury, 2017), 257–259.

  165. 165.

    PRONI, CAB/4/29, NI Cabinet Conclusions, 10 Jan; UKPA, LG/F/11/3/32, Craig to Lloyd George, 6 Feb; Craig, TT, 7 Feb 1922.

  166. 166.

    UKNA, CAB/24/134/73, Jones, Curtis, “Position of the Imperial Government in Northern Ireland,” 18 March; UKPA, LG/F/20/2/91, Churchill to Craig, 28 March 1922.

  167. 167.

    PRONI, CAB/4/45/6, Churchill to Craig, 25 May; CAB/4/45/5, Craig to Churchill, 26 May 1922.

  168. 168.

    Churchill believed Craig wielded great influence among British Unionists. Winston to Clementine Churchill, 4 Feb 1922 in Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill: Volume IV Companion Part 3, 1752.

  169. 169.

    TCDA, IE TCD MS 11399, Churchill to Collins, 31 July 1922.

  170. 170.

    UKNA, HO/45/12296, T. M. Healy to J. H. Thomas, 15 March; Thomas to Healy, 1 April; Jones to W. T. Cosgrave, 1 April; Cosgrave to J. Ramsay MacDonald, 4 June 1924.

  171. 171.

    Chamberlain, Sandiway Lodge, TT, 11 Aug; Duggan, TT, 22 Aug 1924.

  172. 172.

    PRONI, CAB/9/Z/8/1, Birkenhead to Balfour, 3 March 1922; Churchill to Craig, 19 Aug; TT, 8 Sept 1924.

  173. 173.

    Lloyd George, Penmaenmawr, TT, 11 Sept; DÉ, 15 Oct 1924, Cosgrave.

  174. 174.

    Craig, TT, 12 Sept; David Lindsay [Lord Balcarres, Earl Crawford], The Crawford Papers, ed. John Vincent (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984), 497, 1 May; H. M. Pollock, Belfast, TT, 1 Feb 1924.

  175. 175.

    UKNA, HO/45/12296, Craig to W. Joynson-Hicks, 25 Nov 1924.

  176. 176.

    UKNA, CAB/61/162, Irish Boundary Commission, Report, 34–37, 59, 146.

  177. 177.

    UKNA, CAB/23/51/10, UK Cabinet Conclusions, 2 Dec 1925.

  178. 178.

    IN, 13, 25 Nov, 17 Dec; UH, 5, 12, 19 Dec 1925; DJ, 22 Jan 1926.

  179. 179.

    Hepburn, Catholic Belfast, 259–261; Eamon Phoenix, Northern Nationalism: Nationalist Politics, Partition and the Catholic Minority in Northern Ireland, 1890–1940 (Belfast: Ulster Historical Society, 1994), 332–336; Enda Staunton, The Nationalists of Northern Ireland, 1918–1973 (Blackrock: Columba, 2001), 96–100.

  180. 180.

    UKNA, CAB/43/6/30, Conference on Ireland, 5 Feb 1922.

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Rast, M.C. (2019). “Terrible Finality”: Treaty, Constitution, and Boundary Commission, 1921–1925. In: Shaping Ireland’s Independence. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21118-9_7

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