THE ANGLO-IRISH TREATY. 100 YEARS AGO TODAY
THE ANGLO-IRISH TREATY. 100 YEARS AGO TODAY
One-hundred years ago today the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London between representatives of both the Irish and British governments. For two months Irish negotiators had been under great pressure in London. Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins and the rest of the Irish team faced the most powerful men in the British Empire, among them Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. During the night of 5-6 December 1921, Irish delegates at Downing Street signed an agreement to end the War of Independence and create a new Irish state. The Irish newspapers were full of hope for a peaceful resolution to the age-old conflict, but when the Kildare Observer hit the newsstands on 10 December 1921 a fissure had already appeared. There was both good and bad news: the good news was that the republican prisoners held in internment camps would be immediately released, the bad news was that a split was imminent in the republican movement over the signing of the Treaty.
The Kildare Observer 10 December 1921
The Agreement
HAPPY CONCLUSION TO A LONG STRUGGLE
The following are the main features of the Article of Agreement of the proposed Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland : — ” Ireland shall have, the same constitutional status in the community of nations known as the British Empire as the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa; with a Parliament having powers to make laws for the peace, order and good government, of Ireland and an Executive responsible to that Parliament, and shall be styled and known as the Irish Free State.”
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THE STAND THE LEADERS TAKE
MR. DE VALERA
The following statement from Mr. De Valera was issued from the Mansion House after a long sitting of the Cabinet of Dail Eireann on Thursday :— ” A Chairde Gaedhal.—You have seen in the public Press the text of the proposed treaty with Great Britain.
“The terms of this agreement are in violent conflict with the wishes of the majority of this nation, as expressed freely in successive elections during the past three years.
“I feel it my duty to inform you immediately that I cannot recommend the acceptance of this treaty either to Dail Eireann or to the country. In this attitude I am supported by the Ministers of Home Affairs and Defence.
“A public session of Dail Eireann is being summoned for Wednesday next at 11 o’clock, a.m. I ask the people to maintain during, the interval the same discipline as heretofore. The members of the Cabinet, though divided in opinions, are prepared to carry on the public services as usual.
“The Armv as such is, of course, not affected by the political situation—and continues under the same orders and control.
“The great test of our people has come. Let us face it worthily without bitterness, and, above all without recrimination’s. There is a definite constitutional way of re-solving our political differences. Let us not depart from it, and let the conduct of Cabinet in this matter he an example to the whole nation.—Mise, December 8. 1921.”
MR. GRIFFITH
Mr. Griffith issued the following statement this (Friday) morning:— “I have signed the treaty of peace between Ireland and Great Britain.
“I believe that this treaty will lay the foundation of peace and friendship between the two nations.
” What I have signed I will stand by, in the belief that the end of the conflict of centuries is at hand.”
