British Proposals of July 20th
Introduction from Chronology
British cabinet agrees proposals for a settlement with Ireland
(including use of word Treaty) which would grant qualified Dominion status for
Southern Ireland.
These proposals would form the basis of future negotiations. They also give the British side ‘first mover
advantage’.
More Detail
In the first paragraph, the British Government state it is “convinced
that the Irish people may find as worthy and as complete an expression of their
political and spiritual ideals within the Empire as any of the numerous and
varied nations united in allegiance to His Majesty’s throne”. (In other words, in the view of the British
Government, any agreement has to be explicitly based on Ireland staying within
the Empire.)
According to these proposals, “Ireland shall enjoy complete autonomy in
taxation and finance; that she will maintain her own courts of law and justice;
that she will maintain her own military forces for home defence, her own
constabulary and her own police”.
Ireland would also get responsibility for areas such as education,
agriculture, postal service, labour, health, transport and trade.
However, there are six enumerated qualifications to full Dominion
status. Four concern defence – (1) There
would be bases in Ireland for the British Royal Navy and the British Royal Navy
would control the seas around Ireland; (2) There would be restrictions on the
number in the Irish army; (3) The Royal Air Force would have facilities in
Ireland; (4) The British would retain rights of recruiting within Ireland for
its military forces. The fifth qualification is that there must be free trade
between two countries and the sixth qualification is that Ireland would assume
liability for a share of the United Kingdom’s National Debt and War Pensions.
In addition, there was a seventh condition (not given a number in the
document) which is that Ireland must recognise "the existing powers and
privileges of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, which cannot be abrogated or
diminished except by their own consent”.
The full text of these proposals is given in Macardle.
They are sent to the Irish delegation, who were staying at the Grosvenor Hotel,
late in the evening of July 20th. See
Jul-21-21/1.
Llyod George informed his cabinet that he has warned de Valera that “if
disorder broke out again, the struggle would bear an entirely different
character. British military commitments
in different parts of the world were gradually being reduced, which had enabled
the [British] Government to concentrate their forces at home”.
See
Comments on the Treaty in Dec-06-21/1 for Tom Jones’s final assessment of the British
cabinet’s July 20th proposals.