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The Reaction of the British Government to the 1922 Collins-de Valera Pact

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Thomas Towey
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Extract

In the months following signature of the Anglo-Irish treaty the British government was particularly concerned with the transfer of power to a legally constituted government and parliament in Dublin which would be committed to implementation of the treaty and supported by an electoral majority This goal was, however, subject to an overriding consideration: preservation, at almost any cost, of the agreement embodied in the treaty The Collins-de Valera pact brought these considerations into conflict. It is the purpose of this paper to examine why the British government, and Winston Churchill in particular, objected so strenuously to the pact and why, despite these objections, an election under the terms of the pact was permitted.

Type
Articles
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 85 , March 1980 , pp. 65 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1980

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References

1 Supervision of the transfer of power in Ireland was the responsibility of the provisional government of Ireland committee of the cabinet of which Churchill, as Secretary of State for the Colonies, was chairman.

2 Acts parl. U.K. 1922.

3 Gilbert, Martin, Winston S. Churchill, 1916–1922 (London, 1975), 4, 703.Google Scholar

4 Ibid., pp 708–9.

5 Copy of telegram from Cope to Churchill, 17 April 1922 (H.L.R.O., F/10/2/67, Lloyd George papers).

6 Gilbert, Martin, Winston S. Churchill, companion to volume iv., April 1921-November 1922 (London, 1976), pp 1852–3.Google Scholar

7 Telegram from Churchill to Cope, 17 April 1922 (P.R.O., C.O. 739/14).

8 de Vere White, Terence, Kevin O’Higgins (London, 1948), p. 94.Google Scholar

9 Jones, Thomas, Whitehall Diary, Ireland 1918–1925, ed. Middlemas, Keith, (London, 1971), 3, 200.Google Scholar

10 Gilbert, , Churchill, 4, 709.Google Scholar

11 Ibid.

12 Cope to Churchill, 18 April 1922 (P.R.O., C.O. 739/14).

13 Jones, , Diary, 3, 199.Google Scholar

14 Ibid.

15 Gilbert, , Churchill, 4, 714–15.Google Scholar

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid., p. 716.

18 Ibid., p. 715.

19 Cope to Curtis, 21 May 1922 (P.R.O., CO. 739/14).

20 Ibid.

21 ‘The Collins-de Valera agreement’, note by Curtis, 21 May 1922 (P.R.O., CO. 739/5).

22 Ibid. Curtis’s hostility toward the pact was probably caused, in part, by his doubts about Collins’s commitment to the treaty. Writing to Churchill in 1924, he said Collins was the one who ‘chose to ignore the spirit and letter’ of the treaty. He was ‘personally convinced that Collins’s early death alone saved the treaty.’ Curtis to Churchill, 19 August 1924 (Bodl. Curtis papers).

23 Masterson-Smith to Cope, 21 May 1922, transmitting Churchill’s message (P.R.O., CO. 739/14).

24 Cope to Churchill, 23 May 1922 (P.R.O., C.O. 739/14).

25 Ibid.

26 Memorandum by Curtis for Churchill, 23 May 1922 (P.R.O., C.O. 739/6).

27 Ibid. Collins had told Cope that ‘no oath of allegiance of any kind will be required’ of members of the constituent assembly. Cope to Churchill, 23 May 1922 (P.R.O., CO. 739/14).

28 Memorandum by Curtis for Churchill, 24 May 1922 (P.R.O., C.O. 739/6).

28 P.G. 25, meeting of the provisional government, 25 May 1922 (S.P.O., G 1/2).

30 Ibid.

31 Ibid.

32 Churchill was the only member of the British Cabinet present. The other British delegates were: Sir John Anderson, joint under-secretary to the lord lieutenant; Sir James Masterson Smith, permanent under-secretary of state for the colonies; Sir Frederick Liddell, first parliamentary counsel; Sir Francis Greer, parliamentary draftsman in the Irish office; E. H. Marsh, Churchill’s private secretary; Alfred Cope and the joint secretaries, Jones and Curtis.

33 ‘Conference on Ireland,’ 26 May 1922, copy of minutes (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George papers, F/184/2/112). All subsequent quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from this source.

34 Forty-seven non-panel candidates stood in the election which was held on 16 June.

35 At one point in the discussion Griffith told Churchill:‘I did not say they would not sign. I have not discussed it with them. But in order to save their face they may be unwilling.’ The general impression given by the Irish delegates was, however, that they would not sign.

36 Jones, , Diary, 3, 202.Google Scholar

37 Gilbert, , Churchill, 4, 718.Google Scholar

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid., pp 719–20.

40 Worthington-Evans to Herbert Gibbs, 15 June 1922 (Bodl. Worthington-Evans papers).

41 The results were: pro-treaty panel 58, Labour 17, Farmers 7, Independents 7, Trinity College 4, anti-treaty panel 35.

42 Memorandum by Lord Stamfordham for the king, 4 May 1921, quoted in Gilbert, Churchill iv, 713.

43 Although the final returns were not in until 24 June, it was clear by the evening of the 20th that pro-treaty candidates were well ahead. By the evening of the 21st it was certain that there would be a large majority for the treaty

44 Lloyd George to Collins, 22 June 1922 (H.L.R.O., F/10/6/4).

45 Gilbert, , Churchill, 4, 737 Google Scholar