7th Plenary Session
Introduction from Chronology
This session started at 5pm and took place, as usual, in 10 Downing
St. The Irish side present Draft Treaty
A and it is discussed in depth.
Later that evening, at the request of the British, the first of the
sub-conferences take places with only Llyod George, Chamberlain, Griffith and
Collins present.
More Detail
The Irish delegation present Draft Treaty A - according to this "On
the one hand Ireland will consent to adhere for all purposes of common agreed
concern to the League of Sovereign States associated and known as the British
Commonwealth of Nations. On the other, Ireland calls upon Great Britain to
renounce all claims to authority over Ireland and Irish
affairs". Pakenham notes that “There was no mention here of a
Republic, nor an express rejection of allegiance to the Crown or membership of
the Empire.” (Pakenham (1967), pg 144).
Draft Treaty A also contained proposals on trade, civic rights, fiscal
autonomy and a ‘stand aside’ request on NI. Full text of Draft Treaty A given
as Appendix 17 in Macardle.
Llyod George pointed to the word ‘adhere’ and asked “Does that mean if
all other conditions are satisfied you are prepared to come inside the Empire
as New Zealand, Canada?”. Griffith replied that “That is not quite our idea of
association”. Llyod George asked “By
‘adhere’, you don’t accept the link of the Crown?” Griffith replied that “we
will accept the Crown as head of the association”. (Pakenham says that this
reply “gave away further ground”.)
Griffith elaborated that Ireland would not be members of the Empire but
would be represented in the Imperial Conference and would accept its decision
in matters of common concern (such as war and peace). Griffith proposed that an agreed list of
matters of common concern would be included in the treaty. Llyod George
asked “To put it bluntly, will you be British citizens or foreigners? You must
be one or the other.” Griffith replied
that there would be “reciprocal citizenship” where “We should be Irish, and you
would be British, and each would have equal rights as citizens in the country
of the other”.
Birkenhead points out that the granting by the Irish of naval facilities
in Ireland to the British navy was incompatible with neutrality. Griffith and Collins tried to argue this
issue but to no avail. Birkenhead
countered that, with the granting of naval facilities, “neutrality is reduced
to a shadow – a meaningless trophy which would give you nothing. There is
nothing in it.” On this issue, Pakenham comments “Not much more was likely to
be heard of the Irish claim to neutrality; Britain has won on Defence.”
(Pakenham (1967), pg 148). However, Pakenham also notes that “Griffith had put forward External Association, not
his scheme, but one he was pledged to put forward. It had been discussed, and
it had not been ruled out as impossible.” (Pakenham (1967), pg
148).
Earlier this day, Duggan relayed a request from Andy Cope that Griffith
and Collins meet with Llyod George and Chamberlain for a “ten minutes’ private
conference”. Barton and Gavan Duffy did
not like the idea but could find no grounds for objection. This sub-conference took place after the
plenary session. The British side
pressed that peace was impossible unless Ireland accepted the Crown and asked
Collins and Griffith if they would accept the Crown if they got all other
issues were accepted. (Griffith later told de Valera they wanted
something to reassure themselves against the Die-Hards.) Griffith said “If we
came to an agreement on all other points, I could recommend some form of
association with the Crown".
With regard to Draft Treaty A, the British ruled out that Irish freedom
would be guaranteed by the United States and the League of Nation. They also ruled out an elective head of
state. When the British returned to saying that peace was impossible without
the Irish accepting the Crown, Griffith told them that the only possibility of
Ireland considering association of any kind was in exchange for “essential
unity” and that he considered this action as a concession to Ulster. It was therefore agreed to continue
discussions on the basis of settling all other points and leaving the Crown to
the end.
Later that evening, Griffith wrote to de Valera saying “I told them that
no Irishman could even discuss with his countrymen any association with the
British Crown unless the essential unity of Ireland was agreed” by both sides.
See Oct-25-21/1.
The success of the sub-conference led the British to adopt this way of
working for the rest of the negotiations – see Pakenham (1967), pgs 145-146 for what he considers their reasons.