Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ As most people will know, a little over one hundred years ago an Irish delegation entered into talks (the treaty talks) with the British side with a view to bringing the War of Independence to a satisfactory end. 

The Treaty they brought back was far from the satisfactory end envisaged by those who negotiated it but it was, arguably, the best attainable at the time. The Irish team consisting of an odd bunch, Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins, Robert Barton, Eamon Duggan and George Gavan Duffy had done their best: a best which to some back in Dublin was not good enough. 

One of those “some” was Eamon de Valera, self-styled President of the Irish Republic who knew full well the cherished republic he wanted the British side to concede was a non-starter. The British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George (nicknamed the “Welsh Wizard” who was born in Manchester) had made that abundantly clear to him back in July of that year, when de Valera had met with the British Prime Minister and knew full well what was on offer. Ever since de Valera had come back from the USA where he had been trying, with much success, to rally support for the Irish Republic (though President Woodrow Wilson was not interested, the British were allies) he had resented Michael Collins who had been conducting the war, certainly in the capital, Dublin, with much success and credibility.

De Valera for some reason resented this, could that have been a contributing factor as to why he sent Collins over on mission impossible and not go himself? He was jealous of Collins, and saw him as a threat, did he want him out of the way as a discredited scapegoat? Who knows? It’s all speculation now. But one thing may be for certain and that is, no matter how much de Valera wanted to discredit Collins, if indeed that was the case, he almost certainly did not want a civil war which is what unfortunately happened.

De Valera did not want to go down as the man who betrayed or lost The Republic so his meeting with Lloyd George in July was played down. It would never do if it was popular knowledge that the great man, “Dev,” knew full well The Republic was unattainable so he sent others to deliver the best they could, knowing that anything short of The Republic he, de Valera, could sell to the Irish public as a betrayal. 

The team returned with their treaty which gave Ireland dominion status, similar to that of Canada, within the British Empire. The oath of allegiance to the British monarch was retained, the position of the Governor General would be unchanged and, should the unionists in the North, as expected, withdraw from the agreement, Ireland would be partitioned giving the bulk of the country, twenty-six counties. 

This “dominion” status which would be known as the “Irish Free State” and the six north-eastern counties of Ulster’s nine counties would become “Northern Ireland”. All government decisions in the twenty-six counties would be taken unilaterally by the Irish Government, defence, taxation, rents, infrastructure and all the governmental responsibilities of any other independent nation would now be taken unilaterally by the Government of the Irish Free State. The twenty-six counties would leave the United Kingdom, but remain part of the empire. Now, no republican could possibly take the oath to the monarch, any monarch, and remain a republican. This is a universal rule as republic means, among much more, a non-monarchist state.

The debates in the Dail, the new recognised Irish Parliament, began almost immediately between pro and anti-Treaty groups of TDs. These were heated debates, and old friendships and loyalties were put to one side, something which would become permanent in many instances, as civil war became a stronger and stronger possibility. This was something de Valera, despite his wish to teach Collins a lesson had not seriously anticipated but now loomed like an arch demon glaring down at the assembly. 

Of the IRAs nineteen commands in 1922 eleven were anti-Treaty and eight pro-Treaty (I have included the 4th Northern Division in the anti-Treaty numbers but at first they were non-partisan, coming down on the anti-Treaty side) so the rank and file, those who did the fighting making the whole thing possible were, on the whole, against the Treaty. 

The main bones of contention were, after the vote was taken on 7th January 1922 in the Dail to accept The Treaty by 64 votes to 57, was not the expected partition, it was felt the border commission written into The Treaty which would sit at a later date would give territory to the Free State administration, thus making “Northern Ireland” unviable to govern. This could wait, though it was an issue it was not the major concern to the anti-Treaty side. Their main bone of contention was the retention of the oath of allegiance to the British King, his “heirs and successors” and the retention of the Governor General as the “official representative of the sovereign of the Irish Free State”. This office was largely ceremonial but nonetheless it was highly controversial as republicans regarded the existence of the office as offensive to republican principles. As Mary MacSwiney, the sister of Terrance MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork who died on hunger strike in Brixton Gaol, who was anti-Treaty, indicated to the pro-Treaty side “get rid of the oath, and the Governor Generals Office and we’ll be with you.” These, and not partition, were the main stumbling blocks to a unified acceptance of the Treaty.

The Irish General Election was scheduled for June 1922. To reduce the possibility of Sinn Fein losing seats to smaller parties, thus weakening their position albeit only slightly, and perhaps more importantly to avoid civil war de Valera and Collins agreed an electoral pact. The pact paved the way for pro and anti-Treaty Sinn Fein candidates to stand as a united party. They would not be standing against each other neither would The Treaty, for or against, be an election issue as such. A united Sinn Fein was the last thing the British Government wanted or, indeed, would tolerate! Even though The Treaty was signed therefore having little if anything to do with the Irish General Election, the British wanted the forthcoming Free State constitution to be as pro-British as possible. 

With a unified Sinn Fein in government that treaty was likely to be more pro-Irish than British which Churchill and Birkenhead in particular – to say nothing of the Conservative and Unionist opposition led by Andrew Bonar Law – found totally unacceptable. 

Lloyd George summoned Michael Collins to London to berate him about the pact. Collins was told the pact was in breach of The Treaty signed on 6th December 1921, which it was not, and the withdrawal of British troops from Ireland was suspended. There was no mention in The Treaty as to what sort of government the Irish Free State would have, provided the terms of said treaty were not broken. At this point no such breach had taken place neither was such a breach intended.

Under pressure from London and with another heavy heart Collins returned to Ireland and repudiated the pact with de Valera, who was once again off the hook. With the electoral pact now in tatters and an Irish Civil War looming hope was fading in the country. The election took place on 16th June 1922, twelve days before civil war broke out and the results were, for the record, as follows:

turnout 62.5% with pro-Treaty Sinn Fein winning 58 seats, anti-Treaty Sinn Fein 36, the Irish Labour Party under Thomas Johnson won 17 seats and the Farmers party under Denis Gorey collected 7 seats. 

The election result may have given the pro-Treaty side a certain amount of legitimacy, which was overshadowed by Britain’s interference (had the pact survived the situation would not have arisen as The Treaty would not have been an issue). Once again, even under treaty, the British had called the shots in Ireland. On 28th June 1922 under the instructions of Winston Churchill and using artillery loaned them by General McCready (General Officer Commanding British Forces in Ireland, those who remained) the Free State Army bombarded the anti-Treaty stronghold in Dublin, the Four Courts. Once again, the British had done it except this time they used the soldiers of the Irish Free State Army to do their dirty work and set former comrades against each other. The Irish Civil War had begun and the consequences would be as brutal and bloody as anything the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries had inflicted on the country, which should tell the reader a lot!! 

The Treaty was ratified on 6th December 1922, one year to the day since it was signed. As expected, the northern unionists immediately withdrew from the agreement, triggering the clause which allowed them to do so, leading to partition. Nobody really bothered, after all the border commission would put them in their place, wouldn’t it?

Today, 100 years since the vote was taken in the Dail the curse of partition, the issue of least concern to the anti-Treaty side is still with us. The consequences, as James Connolly had warned, of this partition has been dire. The latest stage of the war, conflict, troubles depending on who is describing the situation from 1969 to 1998, cost over 3,000 lives. The border commission did sit, as arranged in 1924/25 but did not deliver the “put them in their place” result all sides in The Treaty debate expected. The Government of “Northern Ireland” refused to nominate a representative to the commission and the Westminster Government appointed one for them. This was the contempt the six county authorities treat the border commission!

For fifty years the Ulster Unionist Party misruled the six- counties, at best turning a blind eye to pogroms against the Roman Catholic minority, at worst actively encouraging such attacks. The British Government did nothing to intervene, which they could and should have done, when it was realised the unionists and loyalist gangs could not carry out these pogroms without the prop in Westminster to support them action was taken. 

Welcome to the world of the Provisional IRA.

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

The Collins/De Valera Electoral Pact Of 1922

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ As most people will know, a little over one hundred years ago an Irish delegation entered into talks (the treaty talks) with the British side with a view to bringing the War of Independence to a satisfactory end. 

The Treaty they brought back was far from the satisfactory end envisaged by those who negotiated it but it was, arguably, the best attainable at the time. The Irish team consisting of an odd bunch, Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins, Robert Barton, Eamon Duggan and George Gavan Duffy had done their best: a best which to some back in Dublin was not good enough. 

One of those “some” was Eamon de Valera, self-styled President of the Irish Republic who knew full well the cherished republic he wanted the British side to concede was a non-starter. The British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George (nicknamed the “Welsh Wizard” who was born in Manchester) had made that abundantly clear to him back in July of that year, when de Valera had met with the British Prime Minister and knew full well what was on offer. Ever since de Valera had come back from the USA where he had been trying, with much success, to rally support for the Irish Republic (though President Woodrow Wilson was not interested, the British were allies) he had resented Michael Collins who had been conducting the war, certainly in the capital, Dublin, with much success and credibility.

De Valera for some reason resented this, could that have been a contributing factor as to why he sent Collins over on mission impossible and not go himself? He was jealous of Collins, and saw him as a threat, did he want him out of the way as a discredited scapegoat? Who knows? It’s all speculation now. But one thing may be for certain and that is, no matter how much de Valera wanted to discredit Collins, if indeed that was the case, he almost certainly did not want a civil war which is what unfortunately happened.

De Valera did not want to go down as the man who betrayed or lost The Republic so his meeting with Lloyd George in July was played down. It would never do if it was popular knowledge that the great man, “Dev,” knew full well The Republic was unattainable so he sent others to deliver the best they could, knowing that anything short of The Republic he, de Valera, could sell to the Irish public as a betrayal. 

The team returned with their treaty which gave Ireland dominion status, similar to that of Canada, within the British Empire. The oath of allegiance to the British monarch was retained, the position of the Governor General would be unchanged and, should the unionists in the North, as expected, withdraw from the agreement, Ireland would be partitioned giving the bulk of the country, twenty-six counties. 

This “dominion” status which would be known as the “Irish Free State” and the six north-eastern counties of Ulster’s nine counties would become “Northern Ireland”. All government decisions in the twenty-six counties would be taken unilaterally by the Irish Government, defence, taxation, rents, infrastructure and all the governmental responsibilities of any other independent nation would now be taken unilaterally by the Government of the Irish Free State. The twenty-six counties would leave the United Kingdom, but remain part of the empire. Now, no republican could possibly take the oath to the monarch, any monarch, and remain a republican. This is a universal rule as republic means, among much more, a non-monarchist state.

The debates in the Dail, the new recognised Irish Parliament, began almost immediately between pro and anti-Treaty groups of TDs. These were heated debates, and old friendships and loyalties were put to one side, something which would become permanent in many instances, as civil war became a stronger and stronger possibility. This was something de Valera, despite his wish to teach Collins a lesson had not seriously anticipated but now loomed like an arch demon glaring down at the assembly. 

Of the IRAs nineteen commands in 1922 eleven were anti-Treaty and eight pro-Treaty (I have included the 4th Northern Division in the anti-Treaty numbers but at first they were non-partisan, coming down on the anti-Treaty side) so the rank and file, those who did the fighting making the whole thing possible were, on the whole, against the Treaty. 

The main bones of contention were, after the vote was taken on 7th January 1922 in the Dail to accept The Treaty by 64 votes to 57, was not the expected partition, it was felt the border commission written into The Treaty which would sit at a later date would give territory to the Free State administration, thus making “Northern Ireland” unviable to govern. This could wait, though it was an issue it was not the major concern to the anti-Treaty side. Their main bone of contention was the retention of the oath of allegiance to the British King, his “heirs and successors” and the retention of the Governor General as the “official representative of the sovereign of the Irish Free State”. This office was largely ceremonial but nonetheless it was highly controversial as republicans regarded the existence of the office as offensive to republican principles. As Mary MacSwiney, the sister of Terrance MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork who died on hunger strike in Brixton Gaol, who was anti-Treaty, indicated to the pro-Treaty side “get rid of the oath, and the Governor Generals Office and we’ll be with you.” These, and not partition, were the main stumbling blocks to a unified acceptance of the Treaty.

The Irish General Election was scheduled for June 1922. To reduce the possibility of Sinn Fein losing seats to smaller parties, thus weakening their position albeit only slightly, and perhaps more importantly to avoid civil war de Valera and Collins agreed an electoral pact. The pact paved the way for pro and anti-Treaty Sinn Fein candidates to stand as a united party. They would not be standing against each other neither would The Treaty, for or against, be an election issue as such. A united Sinn Fein was the last thing the British Government wanted or, indeed, would tolerate! Even though The Treaty was signed therefore having little if anything to do with the Irish General Election, the British wanted the forthcoming Free State constitution to be as pro-British as possible. 

With a unified Sinn Fein in government that treaty was likely to be more pro-Irish than British which Churchill and Birkenhead in particular – to say nothing of the Conservative and Unionist opposition led by Andrew Bonar Law – found totally unacceptable. 

Lloyd George summoned Michael Collins to London to berate him about the pact. Collins was told the pact was in breach of The Treaty signed on 6th December 1921, which it was not, and the withdrawal of British troops from Ireland was suspended. There was no mention in The Treaty as to what sort of government the Irish Free State would have, provided the terms of said treaty were not broken. At this point no such breach had taken place neither was such a breach intended.

Under pressure from London and with another heavy heart Collins returned to Ireland and repudiated the pact with de Valera, who was once again off the hook. With the electoral pact now in tatters and an Irish Civil War looming hope was fading in the country. The election took place on 16th June 1922, twelve days before civil war broke out and the results were, for the record, as follows:

turnout 62.5% with pro-Treaty Sinn Fein winning 58 seats, anti-Treaty Sinn Fein 36, the Irish Labour Party under Thomas Johnson won 17 seats and the Farmers party under Denis Gorey collected 7 seats. 

The election result may have given the pro-Treaty side a certain amount of legitimacy, which was overshadowed by Britain’s interference (had the pact survived the situation would not have arisen as The Treaty would not have been an issue). Once again, even under treaty, the British had called the shots in Ireland. On 28th June 1922 under the instructions of Winston Churchill and using artillery loaned them by General McCready (General Officer Commanding British Forces in Ireland, those who remained) the Free State Army bombarded the anti-Treaty stronghold in Dublin, the Four Courts. Once again, the British had done it except this time they used the soldiers of the Irish Free State Army to do their dirty work and set former comrades against each other. The Irish Civil War had begun and the consequences would be as brutal and bloody as anything the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries had inflicted on the country, which should tell the reader a lot!! 

The Treaty was ratified on 6th December 1922, one year to the day since it was signed. As expected, the northern unionists immediately withdrew from the agreement, triggering the clause which allowed them to do so, leading to partition. Nobody really bothered, after all the border commission would put them in their place, wouldn’t it?

Today, 100 years since the vote was taken in the Dail the curse of partition, the issue of least concern to the anti-Treaty side is still with us. The consequences, as James Connolly had warned, of this partition has been dire. The latest stage of the war, conflict, troubles depending on who is describing the situation from 1969 to 1998, cost over 3,000 lives. The border commission did sit, as arranged in 1924/25 but did not deliver the “put them in their place” result all sides in The Treaty debate expected. The Government of “Northern Ireland” refused to nominate a representative to the commission and the Westminster Government appointed one for them. This was the contempt the six county authorities treat the border commission!

For fifty years the Ulster Unionist Party misruled the six- counties, at best turning a blind eye to pogroms against the Roman Catholic minority, at worst actively encouraging such attacks. The British Government did nothing to intervene, which they could and should have done, when it was realised the unionists and loyalist gangs could not carry out these pogroms without the prop in Westminster to support them action was taken. 

Welcome to the world of the Provisional IRA.

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

8 comments:

  1. That Collins had broken or repudiated the Pact would become an article of faith in Republican accounts of the period, when really all he did was tell his audience to vote for whoever they wanted - not a particularly shocking thing to say in a democracy - followed the next day by him reminding people to keep to the Pact. Speeches from other candidates on both sides of the Treaty divide likewise supported the Pact all the way up to polling day, which was peaceful enough for the Irish Times to note how: "Owing to the Collins-de Valera pact here was a complete absence of that acute party feeling which used to impart bitterness and excitement into such contests.”

    That the Pact failed was because the electorate failed to do what they were supposed to and voted for whoever they wanted, and since the overwhelming mood was for peace and the Treaty, that meant pro-Treaty candidates got the lion's share of seats. The idea that the Pact was ever broken is just post hoc rationalization from bitter Anti-Treatyites who couldn't accept that the masses weren't buying what they were selling.

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  2. No, the masses voted the way they wished and perhaps not as they "were suppossed to". The fact remains the pact was, wrongly in my view, and certinly not wilingly, on the orders of the British Government, who also told Collins, again wrongly, the pact was in breach of the treaty. Evidence of the British determination, by fair means or foul, to break the pact was the suspension of the withdrawal of British troops, and other thinly veiled threats.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

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  3. Yes, the British condemned the Pact, but no, it wasn't broken. All contemporary sources, from newspaper commentary to speeches from the candidates themselves, assumed the Pact still applied when time to cast the votes. Harry Boland was waiting for the invite from Collins to help form the coalition government, as per the Pact, when the artillery fired on the Four Courts. That Collins 'broke' anything is retrospective rationalisation from sore losers.

    The British opposed the Pact on the grounds that (1) it was an election in name only, (2) a coalition government consisting of two factions irreconcilably opposed on the Big Question of the Day could only result in disaster. Both pretty reasonable points, really.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The British oppossed the pact principly because a unified Sinn Fein, after all their efforts to split the movement, which had succeeded, was not what Lloyd George wanted. They, the British, wanted the forthcoming Free State constitution to be as pro-British as possible. A united Sinn Fein would ensure the constitution woud be too pro-Irish, therefore Lloyd George, the so-called "Welsh Wizard", told collins the pact was in breach of the treaty. The withdrawal of British troops from the 26 counties was suspended, a warning perhaps to the Irish if the pact was not broken. Collins then, on his return, repudiated the pact. The object of the pact was to not make the treaty an election issue, presenting the electorate with a unified party. The pact, according to sources, was definately repudiated by Collins on 14th June 1922, making a unified party impossible, therefore making the treaty an election issue. On the instructions of Lloyd George though behind the scenes Churchill and Birkenhead (real name Smith) were more likely to have been calling the shots stopping a reunified Sinn Fein. Perhaps Harry Bolan was unaware the pact was no more,it was repudiated only two days before the election, held on 16th June.

    The British, no doubt, were aware their intervention would lead to Civil War, it was in all probability and off the record what they wanted. A reunified Sinn Fein may well have avoided this scenario which Churchill in particular was already prepared for, as was General Neville McCready who loaned the Free State Army the artillerry to bomb the Four Courts.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
  5. If Collins repudiated the Pact in Cork, why then did he speak in Clonakility the next day, urging people to vote as per the Pact? Why did pro and anti-Treaty SF candidates continue to share platforms and likewise speak as if the Pact was still the course to stay? Arguably, the attempts by Darrell Figgis to form a pro-Treaty voting bloc among Labour, Farmers and Independent candidates were a much more grievous breach of the Treaty, but no one claims Figgis broke anything.

    That the British Government opposed to the Pact was no secret - its members had been speaking out against it since its announcement. Collins and co. had pressed on all the same, so no reason to think he was easily intimidated or that anyone in Westminster had special power over him. Neither is it surprising that they wanted an Irish Constitution on their own terms, since that was the terms of the Treaty. A split SF was the last thing they wanted, since a schism would threaten the agreement and possibly force them to send troops back - the very thing they had signed the deal in the first place to avoid.

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  6. No it is not surprising they wanted a constitution on Irish terms, and rightly so, but they were limited because of the repudiation of the pact, you seem to think did not happen. Well, according to Eoin Neeson, in his now dated work, The Civil War 1922-23 Collins repudiated the pact, as I suggested, on 14th June 1922. This, I would suggest, may not be heresay but historical fact. Nobody, least of all me suggestes Collins did this willingly, and certainly not agreeably with London but the ever looming threat of"imediate and terrible war", coupled with the suspension of the British withdrawal may have left him little room. There was no harm in pretending to the nation all was fine, hoping the British would leave it, but if Neeson is right, and dates are supplied, then the pact was, like it or not, repudiated.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
  7. As Lionel Curtis, second Secretary to the British delegation in the treaty talks, stated later of the treaty; "it is a British treaty, signed with a British gun to an Irish head". He was eager to have the pact repudiated, and as an advisor he advised Lloyd George accordingly advocating the same unspoken tactics about guns to heads, but also cautioned about being seen to be interfering in Irish domestic affairs. He cautioned against too much perceived interference which may provoke a republican backlash or reaction. By the same token, the pact which would affect the constitution had to be broken. The same gun, at the same heads? Well, certainly at the head of Micheal Collins, put in this position by de Valera, which forced Collins, very reluctantly and as least public as possible, to "repudiate" the pact.

    Very few Irish historians mention Lionel Curtis, come to that English ones are not queing up with his name, but apparently he was a very influential figure in British Imperial affairs at the time.

    At the time of the pact the invisable gun was represented by the suspension of British troop withdrawal. Couple this with Lloyd George claiming, wrongly, that the pact was in breach of the treaty, probably on the advice of Curtis, and a picture of British leaning very hard on Collins emerges.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

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  8. Neeson is a historian, not a primary source. At no point is there any contemporary accounts that said 'okay, lads, forget the Pact.' Instead, we get plenty at the time, from newspapers to private correspondence, who assumed the Pact was still on. The most we've got to the contrary is an ambiguous speech by Collins, the one in Cork on the 14th June, and since he spoke clearly in favour of the Pact the next day, that's not much to go on. Whether he said in private to Curtis or Lloyd George or whoever, or what was said to him, is irrelevant, because publicly, the Pact was still a green light, and the people who went to the polls did so with that in mind.

    ReplyDelete