1921 AD - 5 / July
July 4th:
Eamonn de Valera
the President of the 2nd Dail Eireann / 2nd Irish Assembly held a meeting with the leading
"Official "Unionists
at the
Mansion House in
Dublin
where the
Earl of Midleton
suggested a
Truce and undertook to see
David Lloyd - George
the British Coalition Prime Minister, while
Sir
James Craig
the leader of
the "Official" Unionists did not even
bother to turn up.
July 5th: General
Smuts
the Prime Minister of South Africa arrived personally in
Dublin were
he met with
Eamonn de Valera, Arthur Griffith,
Robert Barton and
Eamonn Duggan
and
put forward his proposition for
Ireland
to accept
Dominion
status as he had done in South Africa, and not push for an Irish
Republic,
but
Eamonn de Valera
was not
interested in his proposition.
July 8th:
The
"Official" Unionist leaders once again attended a meeting at the
Mansion House in
Dublin, except, once again, for
Sir
James Craig
the leader of the Ulster
Unionists, but
Eamonn de Valera, Arthur Griffith, Eamonn Duggan and
Robert Barton who had all previously been released by the
British Imperial Coalition Government
from
Mountjoy Jail were
now also able to attend.
The
Earl of Midleton
the leader of the
"Official" Unionists
who did attend,
advised
all those present that David
Lloyd
- George had agreed to a
Truce and
General
Mac Cready the
British Imperial Commander in Chief in
Ireland then arrived.
He was meant to clear up any outstanding difficulties and
David
Lloyd - George the British Coalition Prime Minister then responded, by arranging for him and
Sir
Alfred Cope, his appointed Under-
Secretary in Ireland,
to meet with
the executive of the
I.R.A. Volunteers.
Robert Barton and
Eamonn Duggan
were
to act as the Irish Volunteers'
Liaison
Officers,
which also meant the
I.R.A. was
now also
"officially" recognized as
the Irish Republican Army.
July 9th: Eamonn de Valera the President of the 2nd Dail Eireann announced that the hostilities were to cease on the 11th July due to an "official" Anglo - Irish Truce being agreed upon with the British Imperial Government.
July 10th:
On this day the Unionists in the
6 Counties artificially partitioned
from the
9 in the Ulster Province
in an ethnic sectarian rampage of a further show of their inbuilt "siege mentality" killed
15
more Irish Catholics there, and wounded another
68.
while burning
down 161 Irish Catholic homes.
A Military Conference
was then held at the British Military
H.Q. between
Eamonn Duggan and
Robert Barton
representing
the Irish
Volunteers / I.R.A. / Irish Republican Army
forces
and
Sir
Alfred Cope
and
Lt.
Brind representing the
British Imperial
Government forces, to enable the terms
of the Anglo - Irish Truce
to be worked out.
July 10th:
Cathal Brugha
and
Robert Barton
brought a
telegram to
Eammon de Valera
the President of the 2nd Dail Eireann from
David
Lloyd - George
the British Imperial Coalition Prime Minister who wanted to
fix a date for a meeting to discuss the
Anglo - Irish
Truce, to which he sent a reply
that he would be in London
on
the next
Thursday.
July 11th: The Anglo - Irish Truce began, which was to last 6 months before any final conclusions were to be actually reached after a series of Conferences were to be held in London with the British Imperial Coalition Government who were still under the control of David Lloyd - George. The casualties for the Anglo - Irish War now stood at British Imperial Government forces 600 killed and 1,200 wounded, while the Irish forces had lost 752 killed and 866 wounded.
July 12th:
Eamonn de Valera the President of the
2nd Dail Eireann
took
Arthur Griffith, Austin Stack , Robert
Barton, Dr.
and
Mrs.
Farnan,
Kathleen O Connell
and
Erskine Childers
over with
him to London
to begin
the Anglo - Irish negotiations with the British
Imperial Government. The
British Imperial Coalition Government
wanted
Ireland to
remain in the British
Imperial Empire, with no coercion of the
6 Counties
artificially partitioned from the 9 in the
Ulster Province in
which there where now an Irish Catholic
minority of 1/3rd, that had been
by now
handed over to
the control of the
Ascendancy "Official" Unionists, to do with as
they liked, in their own ancient territory there to be known as "Northern
Ireland."
July 14th:
Eamonn
de Valera the President of the 2nd Dail Eireann
had a private meeting with
David
Lloyd - George the British Imperial Coalition Prime Minister
who tried to impress on him the Military might of the
British Imperial Empire,
and that
Ireland
should accept
Dominion status, but
Eamonn
de Valera stood firm for
Irish Self
- Determination.
July 18th:
The
Irish
and
British
Coalition Government delegates held their second meeting where the
6 Counties
from the 9 in
the
Ulster Province artificially
partitioned from Ireland
by the British Imperial Government
were discussed, and the matter of a
Saorstat / Irish Free State,
which
David Lloyd - George the British Imperial
Prime Minister
accepted
instead of the word,
Poblacht / Republic.
July 19th: James Craig the leader of the "Official" Unionists put forward the argument that the 6 Irish Catholic minority Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, and the whole 32 Counties of Ireland should be able to have Self - Determination too after meeting with David Lloyd - George the British Imperial Coalition Prime Minister. Eamonn de Valera the President of the 2nd Dail Eireann could see no purpose in pursuing the matter any further and he wrote to Michael Collins informing him to be prepared for a breakdown in the Truce negotiations, who advised him in return that the British Imperial Government were already preparing for that particular outcome in Ireland.
July 20th:
David Lloyd - George
on behalf of the British Imperial Government
then put forward proposals for an
Irish
settlement stating that he would
be willing to grant
Dominion status to Ireland, subject to
various qualifying clauses to suite the British Imperial Government, and
Eamonn de Valera
met with
the other
Irish delegates to
discuss this proposition further.
July 21st:
The
Irish
delegates
then rejected the proposal of
Dominion status
only, at the next meeting with
David
Lloyd - George the British Imperial Coalition Prime Minister
who then threatened them that he would
continue on
with the
War
on
Ireland while informing
Eamonn de Valera that he alone would be responsible, who then
replied,"
No, you will be the aggressor."
David
Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister in further Imperialistic
fashion then informed him that he could put a
British soldier into
Ireland for every
Irishman,
Irishwoman and Irish child who
lived, to which
Eamonn de Valera
replied,
"You would have to keep them there."
David
Lloyd - George then said that he would publish his proposals for all
the
Irish people to see what
was on offer, but
Eamonn de Valera
got him to
agree to a further extended
Anglo - Irish Truce
instead so that he could discuss the British Imperial Government's proposals with
all of the members of the
2nd Dail Eireann, but the discussions
with
David Lloyd - George
had lasted
over a week, and by now
Eamonn de Valera
was
well
aware of what he would or would not really accept,
and he was to act later on, on this
knowledge, to suite his own particular agenda.
While in England, Eamonn de Valera
the President of the 2nd Dail Eireann through the intercession of
General
Smuts the
Prime Minister of South Africa had tried
once again to have a
meeting with
Sir
James Craig
the
"Official" Unionist
leader in the
6 Catholic
minority
Counties artificially
partitioned from the 9 in the
Ulster Province,
but he
once again
refused to
meet with him, so the Irish delegation then returned to
Ireland.
July 25th: Eamonn de Valera
on returning to Ireland only advised the
2nd
Dail Eireann Ministers
in the
Irish Cabinet
of
David
Lloyd - George's proposals, and the members of the elected
2nd
Dail Eireann
were not involved at all,
and besides this he also drafted a new proposal of his own based on
a principle of
"External Association"
of which the Irish
Cabinet
was
not the least interested in, as it was not actually clear what he was
really trying to put
forward.
July 27th:
The
2nd Dail
Eireann Cabinet Ministers
met again, where
Eammon de Valera
put
forward his new "External Association
Theory" with the Commonwealth
of Nations, where Ireland would still not actually
be a member, as the Commonwealth members
would be in the inner circle and
Ireland would be
attached outside the circle.