1921 AD - 8 / December
December 2nd:
David Lloyd - George the
Prime Minister of the British
Imperial Coalition Government gave their final proposals to
Arthur Griffith
and the
other Irish delegates who
returned to Ireland to deliver them to the
Irish Cabinet, and
Eammon de Valera
said
"No.
December 3rd: The
2nd Dail Eireann
Cabinet met again to
discuss the Anglo - Irish Treaty, and they
rejected the terms for the artificial partition
of the 6 Counties
from the 9 in the Ulster Province, which
it now seemed were to be perpetuated, the offer of
Dominion status, the Oath of Allegiance to the
British King who was
also to be
received as the head of the
Irish
State. Once again they wanted
Eammon de Valera as the
President of the 2nd Dail Eireann
to go to
London to sought it out, but
once again he refused to go.
Arthur Griffith
laid it on
the line to him that if he was personally to remain in charge of the
Irish delegates that he would refuse to break off
any further negotiations over the recognition of the British Crown, but still no clear indications were given to the
delegates.
Arthur Griffith then said
right out that he would personally sign the Anglo - Irish
Treaty and leave it up to
the
2nd Dail Eireann
Cabinet to
reject it or except it.
Cathal Brugha at this time
also objected to
Michael Collins
being
involved in the sub - committees, with the exclusion of
Gavin George Duffy
and
Robert Barton and further
sarcastically commented, "That the Brits had
picked their men well," meaning
Arthur Griffith
and
Michael Collins.
Arthur Griffith
naturally took exception to this remark, but
Cathal Brugha refused to withdraw
his remarks so
Arthur Griffith
then asked for
Cathal Brugha's comments to be recorded in the minutes so they were then
withdrawn.
Although
Cathal Brugha also agreed with
Eamonn de Valera
he still would not recognize the British King even as the Head of the
Associated States.
The
Irish delegates then
returned to London
were
Robert Barton, Erskine Childers and
Gavin George Duffy
drafted the counter
proposals, and to release the tension
Michael Collins and
Eammon Duggan also abstained from the meetings with the British
delegates.
Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton and
Gavin George Duffy
attended the sub - committee meetings
instead of Micheal Collins,
and there was then a subsequent complete break down of the negotiations
with the British delegates. The
British Coalition Government's representatives under
David Lloyd - George their Prime Minister were
not
impressed with the terms agreed to by the
2nd Dail
Eireann Cabinet, especially the
exclusion of the Crown and the
omission of the Oath of Allegiance
to the British King.
David
Lloyd - George now standing on his British Imperial Empire authority stated,
"That there would be immediate and terrible War with
Ireland within 3 days."
The Irish delegates because of the complete breakdown in negotiations, decided to return to Ireland, when David Lloyd - George the British Coalition Prime Minister asked for Michael Collins to see him personally before they left England and before he had to advise George V the British King of the breakdown in negotiations and Arthur Griffith and Eamonn Duggan persuaded him to go and talk to him. During further discussions, which were to last up until 9 p.m., Arthur Griffith was able to persuade David Lloyd - George to give him more time to reach a decision. David Lloyd - George gave him only one hour to come up with a final result or he would send his letter off to Sir James Craig the leader of the "Official" Unionists in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, which would mean outright War with the British Imperial Government
December 5th: In depth personal negotiations began at 5 p.m. and they were to last until 2.30 a.m. the next morning with
David Lloyd - George the British Coalition Prime
Minister playing on
the hopes of the Irish delegates of the ending of the
artificial partition
of Ireland.
December 6th:
At 2.30 a.m. the Anglo - Irish Treaty was
signed
after 750 years of
repression and oppression
by those in authority in England when
Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins,
Robert Barton,
Eamonn Duggan and
Gavin George
Duffy signed for Ireland and
David
Lloyd - George, Austen Chamberlain, Lord Birkenhead,
Winston Churchill, Sir Worthington - Evans, Hamar Greenwood
and
Gordon Hewart signed for
the British Imperial Government.
Michael
Collins was forced to
comment that it should be viewed, "As
a stepping stone to the Irish Republic," and that,
"I have signed my own, Death Warrant."
Eamonn de Valera
the President of the 2nd Dail
Eireann was informed that the
Anglo - Irish Treaty
had been made and signed, but what he read in the morning paper did not
make him very happy, although he knew full well that there was no other
alternative, but "Bloody War" in Ireland.
When
Eamonn Duggan,
who was accompanied
by
Desmond Fitz Gerald,
returned to Ireland and handed
him the envelope containing the details of the
Anglo - Irish Treaty at the Mansion House
in Dublin, he refused to read it, and they could see that he was visibly and physically
upset.
December 7th: The 2nd Dail Eireann Cabinet met in Dublin, which included Eammon de Valera, Cathal Brugha, William Cosgrave, Kevin O Higgins and Austin Stack. Eammon de Valera stated that he would call for the resignation of Arthur Griffiths, Robert Barton and Michael Collins, but William Cosgrave interjected and said, "We should hear their side first," which made Eamonn de Valera realise that William Cosgrave might also be in favour of the Anglo - Irish Treaty, which would give it a 4 out of 7 majority in the 2nd Dail Eireann Cabinet, so he backed off.
December 8th:
At the
full 2nd Dail Eireann Cabinet
meeting
Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton,
Michael
Collins and
William Cosgrave
said they
would recommend the Anglo - Irish Treaty to
the Irish people.
Michael Collins was hoping that
Co. Fermanagh
and
Co. Tyrone would join with the
Irish Free State
in time, as they
had a high Catholic Irish
population, and this would leave only
4 Counties partitioned from the
32 Counties of Ireland,
which would become unworkable.
Eamonn
de Valera the President of the
2nd Dail Eireann was very upset, and he was backed up by
Cathal Brugha and
Austin Stack,
and he stated
that he personally would refuse to recommend it to the
2nd Dail Eireann
and would issue a
statement of his own opinion.
December 9th: Eamonn de Valera
as the President of the
2nd Dail Eireann Cabinet cancelled the
meeting and published a letter of his own
condemning the Anglo - Irish Treaty, while mentioning in it that he
was supported by
Cathal Brugha and
Austin Stack, and called a meeting of the
2nd Dail Eireann
for the 14th, as he desperately wanted all of the members
of the
2nd Dail
Eireann to reject the Anglo
- Irish Treaty,
but he also knew that he had to come up with an alternative to the agreement,
so he re - worked his original ideas and came up with what became known as
"Document No 2,"
while the agreed Anglo - Irish Treaty was
to be Document No 1.
December 12th:
The Irish Republican
Brotherhood / I.R.B. also had a meeting to discuss the
Anglo - Irish Treaty
were they decided to
vote
for it, while all of their members were given freedom to vote as they wished.
December 14th: The
2nd
Dail Eireann
/ 2nd Irish Parliament began the Debate on the
Anglo - Irish
Treaty at the National
University, which was to last until
January 7th 1922,
were
Eamonn de Valera stated that the Irish
delegates had exceeded their
authority,
and Arthur Griffith
repudiated
this stating that the
2nd Dail Eireann now had the choice of either accepting or
rejecting it, but
Eamonn de Valera
kept interjecting the speakers. Eammon de Valera said
that the Irish delegates had no right to sign it,
and that they had betrayed the
Irish Republic, and he wanted no part of
Dominion status or the
Oath of Allegiance
to the the British King. Despite his objections he could not put forward any other measure. It was decided
that they would all go into Private Session were
Dr.
Mac Cartan
asked
Eamonn de Valera to advise everyone
who was present of any other alternatives if he had
any, which he said he would do at the next meeting. From this date until
January 10th., 1922
the 2nd
Dail
Eireann
was to hold
12 sittings
to confront the issues in the Anglo
- Irish Treaty, with some
of the delegates who were against the Anglo - Irish Treaty even denying
the right of
the Irish people to disown the
Irish Republic.
December 15th:
The 2nd Dail Eireann
was
still in Private Session, where
Eammon de Valera
tried to
detail his "Document No. 2" to
which members of the Dail
Eireann
said
it wasn't worth going to outright
War with the British Imperial Government
over the differences, while
Sean Etchingham,
Seamus Robinson
and
Liam Mellowes would settle
for nothing less than an Irish
Republic. The Irish
people
were to
remain oblivious of any of the real facts about the Anglo
- Irish Treaty for
5 days
until
Eamonn de Valera once again produced his old "No 2 Document,"
that contained the original conditions in the Anglo -
Irish Treaty, but with
different
phrasing.
Among those who
supported the
Anglo - Irish
Treaty at this stage were
William Thomas
Cosgrave who would become
the 1st President of the
Irish Free State,
Eoin O Duffy the T.D. for
Co. Monaghan in
Southern Ulster and the
I.R.B Director of Organization,
Kevin
O Higgins,
Joseph Devlin the
M.P.
for West
Belfast in Co.
Antrim in the north - east of the Ulster
Province,
Eoin Mac Neill,
Eamonn Duggan who had also been released from interment and signed it,
Ernest Blythe and
Gavin Duffy who had been the last to sign it.
Those who were
against the Anglo - Irish Treaty included
Robert Erskine Childers who
had acted as the secretary to the
Treaty delegation, his cousin
Robert Barton who was responsible for the Land Bank as Minister for Agriculture who
had
originally signed the Treaty, but was to
have second thoughts and repudiate it.
Others where
Sean Mac Bride, Frank Aiken
and Countess
Markievicz,
Sean
O Faolain who was a bomb
maker in the I.R.A.
from
Co. Cork,
Ernest O Malley an
I.R.A. Captain,
Sean Russell and
James Larkin who had taken over the
Socialist Party
previously run by
James Connolly,
Tomas Derrig who was elected to the
Dail
Eireann for
South
Co. Mayo.
Rory O Connor
said that he would
never yield, while
Liam Lynch the
Irish Republican Army Commander
on the Supreme Council was the
only
member
of the Council
to vote against it and he later on became the Irregular
IRA Chief of Staff in the Civil War, and also
Liam Mellowes the political
Sinn Fein Party T.D.
for
Galway who would later become the
Irregular
IRA Director of Purchases.
Austin Stack was also
against it and would become the
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Irregular IRA who had
previously sided with
Cathal Brugha
against
Michael Collins
when
Richard Mulcahy
had
tried to keep the peace between them,
Helena Molony and
Hannah Sheehy - Skeffington
were among many others
who were against
it also.
December 15th: Eammon de Valera as the President of the 2nd Dail Eireann resigned when the Anglo - Irish Treaty was ratified by the 2nd Dail Eireann by 26 votes for the Treaty to 6 against.
December 16th:
The British
Imperial Parliament ratified the
Anglo - Irish
Treaty.
December 19th:
The 2nd Dail Eireann
met in
a
Public
Session, where
Eamonn de Valera withdrew his "No 2 Document," and
Arthur Griffith
objected to keeping the
3 day
discussion of
alternative proposals
secret from the Irish population and moved that the
Anglo - Irish Treaty
be voted on, either
"For
or Against"
and he was seconded by
Sean Mac Eoin. Eammon de Valera
moved an Amendment for the
2nd Dail
Eireann to put forward a new proposal to the British
Imperial Government instead of the
agreed Treaty, which he saw as
"Document No. 1,"
and said he would bring forward another proposal personally himself and during the next
sessions
he only produced
another version of his alternative proposals, which were vastly different from
the ones that the 2nd Dail
Eireann / 2nd Irish Assembly had
discussed in Private Session.
December 22nd:
As the
Anglo - Irish Treaty Debate
was producing no other alternatives and
therefore no result, it was adjourned until
January 3rd, 1922
by
77 votes
to 44 against with no public statements to be issued.
At
this time the
Legion of Mary was
set up in
Dublin, which was
devoted to
social work and spiritual rehabilitation to lift the spirits of the Irish people.