Peace After The Final Battle: The Story of the Irish Revolution 1912-1924 by Dorney John

Author:Dorney, John [Dorney, John]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: New Island Books
Published: 2014-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8:

Truce, Treaty and Border War

On the ground, nobody thought at the beginning that the truce would be permanent. In Monaghan, one Volunteer later admitted to mixed feelings. ‘To say that we were jubilant would be untrue. It was more bewilderment. Through the years of struggle, the hangings and executions and sufferings had generated in us something unchristian. Our lust to kill had not been satisfied’.516

However, for all their misgivings, it was the IRA that benefited most from the cessation of hostilities. New Volunteers flooded into its ranks. It was given official recognition, the ability to train in public and given the status – effectively if not in theory – of a national Army. Throughout the second half of 1921, negotiations took place between British and Irish teams in London for a final settlement.

The Treaty negotiations

Éamon de Valera, the President of the Irish Republic, engaged in preliminary negotiations with the British, but decided not to take part in the final talks that would thrash out a settlement. Perhaps, as has often been alleged, he did not want to take responsibility for a settlement short of the Republic. His thinking was as follows: ‘We will have proposals brought back to us [the Cabinet] that cannot satisfy everybody… when such a time comes, I will be in a position… to come forward with such proposals as we think just and right’.517

In his place he sent Michael Collins as head of the Irish negotiating team. With him went Arthur Griffith, founder of the Sinn Féin movement, Eamon Duggan, Charles Gavan Duffy and Robert Barton. Erskine Childers went as secretary to the delegation.

Collins was not keen on leading the negotiating team, citing both his lack of experience in matters of state and his vulnerability in exposing himself should hostilities resume. In spite of this, Collins followed the orders of his ‘Chief’ and went to London. It was a decision that de Valera would later have cause to regret.

The negotiations that led to the Treaty essentially concerned three vital points. First, the unity of Ireland; second, the degree of independence an Irish government would have; and third, the relationship of an Irish state to the British Empire.

The first of these points had already been decided before negotiations started. Northern Ireland, limited to the six north-eastern counties of Ireland with a Protestant and Unionist majority, was up and running by late 1921. By the time of the Treaty negotiations, the partition of Ireland was therefore an established fact and no longer up for negotiation. Thus the Unionists, under James Craig, did not even take part in the Treaty talks. Northern Ireland as a whole was given the option of uniting with the southern state after a year.

There would also be a ‘Boundary Commission’ set up to arbitrate on how the border could be changed to reflect the wishes of the local population. It was the hope of the Irish delegation that Northern Ireland’s viability would eventually be undermined by the defection of much of its Catholic-populated western and southern territory to the southern state.

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