1921 AD - 7 / October - November

October 7th: David Lloyd - George the British Coalition Prime Minister advised that he together with Austen Chamberlain, Lord Birkenhead (of whom Michael Collins was to say it was an honour to work with), Winston Churchill, Sir Worthington - Evans, Sir Hamar Greenwood and Sir Gordon Hewart would represent the British side in any discussions with the members of the 2nd Dail Eireann.

     Eamonn de Valera with the knowledge he had gained prior of David Lloyd - George's attitude to the question of Irish Independence still refused to go as the head of the Irish delegation although he was the Priomh Aire of the 2nd Dail Eireann and his confidants, Cathal Brugha and Austin Stack who were both at odds with Michael Collins also refused to go, which would then allow them the luxury of criticism, without any responsibility over what was to occur in the final results of the Anglo - Irish Treaty and instead Eammon de Valera wanted to send Michael Collins who was personally upset about this, as he rightly considered that he was the leader of the military aggression against the British Imperial Government in Ireland, while Eammon de Valera was the actual leader of the Irish people and should be there to decide. The appointment of Michael Collins was also objected to by Arthur Griffith, for these very same reasons, but it was finally decided by the Irish Cabinet that he should go, and this was ratified by the 2nd Dail Eireann. Mary Mac Swiney and Joseph Mac Donagh had wanted to impose conditions on the Irish delegates, but Eammon de Valera personally objected and warned the Dail Eireann Cabinet," That there could be no question of their being in a position to dictate their own terms to the British Coalition Government, and therefore differences of opinion would occur on the Irish side and if the final proposals were not acceptable they could always elect a new Irish Cabinet."

October 8th: All of the previously assigned Irish delegates from the 2nd Dail Eireann left for London, except for Michael Collins, with no actual guidance at all to resume the Anglo - Irish Treaty talks with the British Coalition Government, except not to sign until the agreement was approved in Dublin and on their arrival in England the Irish delegates were met by a very large enthusiastic crowd of supporters.

October 9th: Michael Collins arrived in London unannounced to escape personal recognition, leaving Liam Tobin to act on his behalf as the Director of Intelligence in Ireland, and while there he was able to attend daily mass at the Brompton Oratory, and would return to Ireland on separate occasions to carry out his Dail Eireann responsibilities, including those concerning financial matters.          

October 11th: The meeting with the British Coalition Government was held at Downing Street, were it was made known to David Lloyd - George that the Irish delegates would not shake hands with Sir Hamar Greenwood who had previously caused so much death and destruction in Ireland, and so they were placed either side of the table and introduced to each other across it and during the discussions David Lloyd - George, the British Coalition Prime Minister, kept referring to the Irish members with the terms of, "Your Parliament" and "Your Government." Michael Collins wrote home stating. " You know the way it is, either way it will be wrong, you might say the trap is sprung." The Dail Eireann delegates were left with 3 choices to conclude on the 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 in the Ulster Province under the control of the "Official" Unionist Ascendancy who still refused to join in Unity with the rest of Ireland, take Dominion status as against the Irish Republic, which was sharply opposed, and leave Eammon de Valera's idea of "External Association" idea to the very last.  

October 14th - 21st: Arthur Griffith took over the Anglo - Irish Treaty delegation together with Michael Collins, Robert Barton, Eamonn Duggan and Gavin George Duffy, (a son of Charles Gavin Duffy the Young Irelander leader who had become the Premier of Victoria in Australia) while Patrick O Driscoll's brother in law, the ex - English Army Officer Erskine Childers, had also been bought in as their secretary by Eamonn de Valera against the wishes of Arthur Griffith. (Fionan Lynch, John Chartres and Diarmait O Hegarty acted as their assistant secretaries). Eamonn de Valera, Cathal Brugha and Austin Stack were now left in control of Ireland.  

October 19th:  The Pope sent a letter to the German Saxe Coburg British King George V stating that he hoped the results of the Anglo - Irish Conference would bring to an end the, "Age Long dissension," and David Lloyd - George the British Coalition Prime Minister replied to the Pope on his behalf stating, "It may initiate a new era of peace and happiness for "My People" while Eammon de Valera wrote to the Pope stating, " That the "Troubles" in Ireland are because the people of Ireland are, "physically forced to owe allegiance to the British King."

October 21st: The Irish Treaty delegates held a meeting of their own, as the Allegiance to the British Crown was now on the agenda, and they notified Eammon de Valera of the results of their discussions, who informed them that there could be no allegiance to the British King and that War was the only other alternative and Michael Collins wanted Eammon de Valera to get ready to go to London for the crucial final meeting, but he stated that he would not go and informed them also to refer any further decisions back to him and this upset the Irish delegates who had previously received a free hand to make the final decision on the Anglo - Irish Treaty from the Dail Eireann Cabinet and the 2nd Dail Eireann, while Eammon de Valera himself had refused to participate. Arthur Griffith wrote back to Ireland expressing their anger at Eammon de Valera's intervention, which was inconsistent with the original Dail Eireann Cabinet decision and he further informed him that if they could not continue on uninhibited, they would resign, and the correspondence was signed by all of the Irish delegates.      

October 24th:  By now the Irish delegates to the Anglo - Irish Treaty had attended 7 meetings with the British Coalition Government representatives in regard to both their responsibilities as to Air and Naval Defence, their Financial Relations and the actual observance of the Anglo - Irish Treaty over the proceeding fortnight in which the Irish delegates had agreed to accept the British King as the head of the Association of States, which was also acceptable to Eammon de Valera, who also persuaded Cathal Brugha, but they were still firm on "no allegiance" to the British King.           

October 30th: Arthur Griffith met with David Lloyd - George the British Coalition Prime Minster at Winston Churchill's, where David Lloyd - George told him he wanted recognition of the British Crown, a free partnership with the British Imperial Empire and Naval facilities in Ireland, and in return he would make a fight on the 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 in the Ulster Province to ensure the Unity of Ireland. David Lloyd - George now felt that the meetings conducted with all of the Irish delegates present was too cumbersome, and basically now only wanted to meet with Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, and one or two of his own British colleagues and as a result the negotiations were now continued by sub - committees with Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins representing Ireland, and David Lloyd - George and Lord Birkenhead representing the British Government. Because of this new arrangement Robert Barton and Gavin George Duffy became estranged from the others, while Arthur Griffith kept Eammon de Valera personally informed on all the discussions, and Erskine Childers sent him the minutes of all the meetings, along his own personal observations and the Irish delegates themselves were to return to Ireland on several occasions to report on the meetings personally. Michael Collins returned basically on the weekends where he  had discussions with the Dail Eireann Cabinet members and the subject of Ireland's association with the British Crown and the 6 "artificially partitioned" Counties from the 9 in the Ulster Province were to be left to the last minute. 

      Sir James Craig and his Ascendancy "Official" Unionist Cabinet who were now in control in the 6 "artificially partitioned" Counties from the 9 in the Ulster Province had refused to discuss any chance of Irish Unity as an All - Ireland Government, and it could now only be hoped that the British Imperial Government's "enforced partition" of Ireland would eventually become unworkable in these 6 Counties of Ulster.

November 1st: Arthur Griffith desperately trying to come up with a compromise decided to compose a letter to David Lloyd - George the British Coalition Prime Minister acknowledging the British Crown, but Charles Gavin Duffy, Robert Barton and Erskine Childers opposed it so he rewrote it.

November 4th: As one of the Irish delegates to the Anglo - Irish Treaty, Charles Gavin Duffy, went especially to Dublin to advise Eammon de Valera personally about Arthur Griffith's intended letter that acknowledged the British Crown, but he seemed to be unconcerned about it.

November 8th: 9 informal meetings were now also to be held by the Irish delegates, regarding the Anglo - Irish Treaty, with the British Imperial Government's official, Thomas Jones, up until December 4th.

November 13th: As the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown and the "artificial partition" of the 6 Counties from the 9 in the Ulster Province were the basic sticking points, Arthur Griffith was still trying to bring about a solution to one of these problems and he gave his own personal assent to a British Coalition Government document intending to further appease the "Official" Unionist leaders giving them the option after one month of the ratification of the Anglo - Irish Treaty to either become part of Ireland or remain in the United Kingdom with a Boundary Commission being set up to divide the Ulster Province territories, and this document would be used against him later by David Lloyd - George, Winston Churchill, Smith and Lord Birkenhead. They had given an undertaking to Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins that only 4 Counties in Ulster would be involved if the "artificial partition" occurred, which they knew would be unworkable, and these 4 Counties would be then forced to return to the whole of Ireland.

    In Dublin the 2nd Dail Eireann Cabinet reaffirmed their original instructions and powers to the Irish delegates participating in the Anglo - Irish Treaty talks with Eammon de Valera, William Cosgrave, Cathal Brugha, Austin Stack and Kevin O Higgins firm on "no allegiance" to the British King, although they agreed they would recognize him as the head of the British Commonwealth as the head of the Association of States, but not individual states.  

November 14th: Erskine Childers returned personally to Ireland see Eammon de Valera in Dublin to advise him of the seriousness of the situation, but he also too failed to make any real impression upon him with the facts, as he had been well aware of the attitude of David Lloyd - George beforehand.

November 16th: Arthur Griffith had a meeting in London with the southern Unionists, including Sir Andrew Jameson the Earl of Midleton and Dr. Bernard the Provost of Trinity College, where they agreed that a Senate should also be set up in Ireland.  

November 21st: Irishmen who had not been involved in any of the shootings, which were to occurr, during the Anglo - Irish Truce were picked up by the Dublin Castle authorities and accused of carrying out the shootings, then Court Martialled and executed. 

November 25th: The 2nd Dail Eireann Cabinet had a meeting in which all were in attendance, including the Irish Treaty delegates who had come back from London, and Arthur Griffith was to previously spend time alone with Eammon de Valera outlining the results of their negotiations with the British Coalition Government and the Dail Eireann Ministers agreed that Ireland should recognize Britain by association as the head of a combination of Associated States for common concerns including Defence, Peace and War, the British Crown as the head of the associations, and vote a sum to the British King's Civil list, with Legislative and Executive authority derived from Ireland's "elected representatives."

November 29th: Eammon de Valera as the Priomh Aire of the 2nd Dail Eireann informed Harry Boland that the British Imperial Coalition Government had given an ultimatum of allegiance to their British King, or else, which really meant outright War, but Michael Collins saw no prospect of any chance of success for the Irish forces if the Anglo - Irish War was to be resumed.

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