roposals. England would not cede the Irish waters, she would not cede full fiscal liberty; or again, by a dazzling turn, in the effort to tempt the weaker delegates, she would yield on one of these points and give Ireland such privileges as the grandest Home Rule proposals had not envisaged. All the time, however, the Welshman was sticking to one point: there must be allegiance to the English Crown, no sovereignty. The exclusion of the Six Counties, of course, remained all the time as a fait accompli which the Irish wanted above all else to overcome, and the lost territory was held out as the final bait. If the delegates would sign Lloyd George’s treaty, with its British allegiance the Six Counties would be engineered into the new Dominion. To the bait was added a threat—immediate and terrible war.
The position on the last day, the shameful day when an imperial statesman coerced five exhausted men by threatening to loose upon their people a hideous dragooning that would spare neither age nor sex—that infamous day when Lloyd George copied his fellow-countryman Cromwell in savagery towards a civilised Christian nation—must be studied closely in order to understand the full treachery of the Welshman. On Friday December 2nd, 1921, the Irish delegation brought home a draft treaty which the English had handed to them as the maximum British offer. On Saturday, the Irish Cabinet met for an all-day discussion of the treaty. Beside the President, the Cabinet comprised Griffith, Brugha, Stack, Collins, Barton and Cosgrave. There was sharp division; for Griffith was prepared to take the Dominion, oath and King. However, the Cabinet came to agreement. The delegation, due in London next morning, was to refuse the oath of allegiance and to renew its demand for external association only; Griffith was to inform Lloyd George that the document could not be signed, but must go before the Dail if not vitally modified.
By a former unanimous decision of the Cabinet of the Republic, the British Crown could be recognised as the symbolic head of the association; but not otherwise. On Sunday, December 4th, the delegates drew up a reply to the British proposals, in accordance with the instructions received in Dublin. Collins did not go with the others when this reply was given to the British Ministers and was championed by Griffith ably and earnestly in the last effort that the founder of Sinn Fein ever made for external association. The British seized on a remark of Gavan Duffy’s to break up the meeting and demand a formal rejection of their offer—which the Irish promised to give.
A break had come, but it was not quite complete. Lloyd George secured a meeting with Collins next morning, accepted the alternative oath which ultimately reached the Free State Constitution, and promised to secure the essential unity of Ireland by reducing the Six Counties to their Unionist core, which is uneconomic. In the afternoon, the last conference began. On finance, defence and trade, concessions were made. Fiscal autonomy went so far beyond all Home Rule proposals of the past that it gilded the prospect in the eyes of persons who thought first and last of economics. The revised oath was accepted by the English. In fine, a Dominion settlement was offered, stripped of the reservations which had attached to the offer rejected in the Summer. However, it meant that Ireland must surrender sovereign status and enter the empire.
Lloyd George refused Griffith’s request for a week’s adjournment, in order to lay this plan before the Dáil.
“You must sign the agreement for a Treaty or else quit,” Lloyd George said: “and then both sides will be free to resume whatever warfare they can wage against each other.”
Griffith said: “I will give the answer of the Irish Delegation at nine to-night; but, Mr. Prime Minister, I personally will sign this agreement and recommend it to my countrymen.”
Every Delegate,” Lloyd George said, “must sign the document and undertake to recommend, or there can be no agreement.”
He then delivered his infamous speech, which threatened instant war if the