Sold – Churchill: The British Government is Ready to Hand Over Power to an Independent Ireland

After hundreds of years of British rule, Irish nationalists saw the weakening of Britain in World War I as an opportunity. Members of Parliament elected in Irish constituencies in the UK general election in 1918 formed a unilaterally-declared independent Irish parliament, the Dáil Éireann. This parliament decreed Irish independence, and its military arm, the Irish Republican Army, commenced the Irish War of Independence. This was fought as a guerilla campaign mounted against the British government in Ireland. Volunteers attacked British property, carried out raids for arms and funds, and targeted and killed prominent members of the British administration. They mimicked the successful tactics of the Boers – fast violent raids without uniform. Although some republican leaders, notably Eamon de Valera, favoured classic conventional warfare in order to legitimise the new republic in the eyes of the world, the more practically experienced Michael Collins and the broader IRA leadership favored these guerilla tactics. The British responded in kind, and soon the standard for the Crown forces throughout Ireland became the destruction of property and murder of prominent republicans.

Thousands died, and the war was a disaster for Britain and Ireland. By July 1921, the conflict was at a stalemate. From the point of view of the British government, it appeared as if the IRA’s guerrilla campaign would continue indefinitely, with spiralling costs in casualties in money. More importantly, the government was facing severe criticism at home and abroad for the actions of its forces in Ireland, and the British people had lost the will to retain Ireland as a colony no matter what the cost. On the other side, IRA leaders and in particular Michael Collins, felt that the IRA was on the verge of collapse, as it had been hard pressed by the deployment of more regular British soldiers into Ireland and by the lack of arms and ammunition. A truce was declared in July 1921 and peace talks began on October 11.

One of the seven negotiators for the British was Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill, who proved a vocal advocate for Britain giving up political domination over Ireland. A month later, now a primary negotiator, he proposed giving the south of Ireland the status of an independent state, and then hammered out the final details of an agreement. The resulting Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed on December 6, 1921. It established the Irish Free State as a dominion within the British Empire while partitioning off a sixth as a separate, self-governing entity called Northern Ireland, which would remain in the United Kingdom. It also provided that British troops would be removed from Southern Ireland. Now Churchill saw Britain’s interests as at one with those of the Irish who supported the treaty, saying “We had become associates in a common cause.” Given the responsibility for guiding the Irish treaty through the House of Commons, Churchill with his rhetoric was an important factor in winning its acceptance in January 1922. Churchill was also Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Ireland which met regularly throughout the struggle for the treaty to plan the details of the handing over of power, and argued for preparations to leave to begin at once. His activities caused many to suggest that he was one of the founders of the modern Irish State.

Most of the Irish independence movement’s leaders were willing to accept the treaty, which was ratified by the Dáil in January 1922. However, a minority of those involved in the War of Independence, led by de Valera, refused to accept the treaty from the start (claiming it betrayed the ideals they had fought for), and commenced an Irish civil war over its adoption. As the Irish struggled amongst themselves to determine whether the treaty would be implemented, and most of the Irish leadership attempted to prepare to govern the new Free State, Churchill wanted to make sure the peoples of his nation and Ireland understood that the British Government was proceeding under the clear expectation that the Irish Free State would come into existence. This, he hoped, would both encourage supporters of the treaty in Ireland (who were under attack) and discourage opponents in England (who still desired its failure).

Typed Document Signed on Colonial Office letterhead, London, no date but between December 1921 and early 1922, providing a policy statement on this exact question. “Chairman sits daily in the Colonial Office to make the necessary arrangements for handing over the Irish Administration to the Provisional Government. There are difficult times ahead but there seems little doubt that the settlement has been enthusiiastically accepted by the great majority of the Irish people and that the influence of the extremists is on the wane.”

This document was quite possibly designed as a press release or policy memorandum; it may also have been part of a longer letter or other communication. His use of embossed letterhead makes the latter possibility less likely, however. In either event, it stated the official policy of His Majesty’s Government on one of the most significant questions it has ever faced: Irish independence.