November
12th - 1921
Macardle says Pakenham concluded that Griffith had given this
concession as he still understood it as a manoeuvre to wrong foot the unionists
as he explained the previous day in a letter to de Valera. Griffith also
said that if the unionists accepted then he and his colleagues would discuss it
with Llyod George and his colleagues in the privacy
of the Conference. On Llyod George’s request,
Griffith also agreed to keep secret about their meeting to protect him from
charges of conspiring against Ulster. This allowed Llyod
George to give different accounts of his meeting with Griffith to others as he
immediately did with Chamberlain. He told Chamberlain immediately after
his meeting with Griffith that he had got Griffith (personally) to agree to not
break off negotiations as long as Llyod George
carried through his plan for a boundary commission. (This got Llyod George of his promise to resign if he did achieve
unity.)