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a new " Ministry," all of whom were at once elected. The most notable perhaps of the appointments were those of Michael Collins as Secretary for Finance, and Countess Markievicz, a popular figure at Liberty Hall, as Secretary for Labour.

Before the nomination of the new " Ministers " the " Presi- dent " read the letter addressed by him on the previous day to the Prime Minister, in which he announced the Bail's unan- imous rejection of the proposals for a settlement made on behalf of the Government. In this document Mr. De Valera once more enlarged on the principle of self-determination, stigmatizing as fundamentally false " in Ireland's case to speak of her seceding from a partnership she has not accepted, or from an allegiance she has not undertaken to render," and as fundamentally unjust " the claim to subordinate her independ- ence to British strategy." Bail Eireann, he concluded, was willing to appoint representatives to negotiate a peace " on the broad general principle of government by consent of the gov- erned " ; the responsibility for a renewal of the conflict would rest upon the Government, if it refused to come to terms on this principle.

The Prime Minister replied, in the name of the Cabinet, on Aug. 26. In a lengthy statement, he declared it to be " play- ing with phrases " to say that the principle of government by the consent of the governed involved the recognition of the demand to recognize Ireland as a foreign Power. The demand that Ireland should be treated as a separate sovereign Power, with no allegiance to the Crown and no loyalty to the sister nations of the Commonwealth, was one which the most famous national leaders in Irish history, from Grattan to Parnell and Redmond, had always explicitly disowned. In reply to the contention that Ireland had never undertaken to render alle- giance to the Crown, Mr. Lloyd George pointed out that for over a hundred years the representatives of Ireland in the Im- perial Parliament had, without protest, taken the oath of allegiance. The British Government had offered to Ireland all that O'Connell and Thomas Bavis asked, and more; and from all quarters of the world had come nothing but praise for the generosity of their policy. The Government did not believe that the permanent reconciliation of Great Britain and Ireland could ever be attained without a recognition of their physical and historical interdependence, which made complete political and economic separation impossible for both. Pressing this point, Mr. Lloyd George quoted from President Lincoln's first presidential address:

Physically speaking we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. ... It is impossible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than be- fore. . . . Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you.

" I thought I had made it clear," wrote Mr. Lloyd George, " both in my conversations with you and in my two subsequent communications, that we can discuss no settlement which in- volves a refusal on the part of Ireland to accept our invitation to free, equal and loyal partnership in the British Common- wealth under one Sovereign." He pointed out that action was being taken in various directions 1 which, if continued, would prejudice the truce and must ultimately lead to its termination. While, therefore, he was prepared to make every allowance as to time which would advance the cause of peace, he added that the Government were not prepared to prolong a mere exchange of notes, and that it was essential that some definite and immediate progress should be made towards a basis upon which further negotiations could usefully proceed. They could not proceed unless the essential facts of the situation were recognized and admitted. Mr. Be Valera's letter, un- fortunately, had shown no progress towards such an under- standing.

1 e.g. Reorganization of and recruiting for the I.R.A., and or- ganized attacks by Sinn Feiners in Ulster, aimed at exciting re- prisals, which culminated in serious rioting in Belfast.

A second phase of the negotiations between Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Be Valera opened after the definite rejection by Bail Eireann of the British Government's proposals of July 20. Cabinet meetings were held, on the Prime First Con- Minister's summons, at Inverness, in order that his holiday in Scotland might not otherwise be inter- 'paJis". rupted; and eventually, on Sept. 7, they resulted in his sending to Mr. Be Valera an invitation to a conference at Inver- ness for which the date of Sept. 20 was proposed. The basis of the conference was to be, " How the association of Ireland with the community of nations known as the British Empire can best be reconciled with Irish national aspirations "; and the Prime Minister's letter of invitation laid down no other condition than that the British Government could not accept the setting up of an Irish Republic or any repudiation of allegiance to the Crown. On Sept. 14 Mr. Be Valera's answer, as agreed to by Bail Eire- ann, was published, in circumstances distinctly embarrassing to a continuation of the negotiations. In its first paragraph it accepted the invitation, but it then went on aggressively to reaffirm that Ireland had already declared its independence as a sovereign state, and that its representatives would enter into the conference on that basis. This reply had been sent a day or two earlier to Mr. Lloyd George at Inverness by Sinn Fein emissaries, and he had sent word to Mr. Be Valera that he was willing to treat it as withdrawn if it were redrafted and an acceptance sent without the latter part, which would make a conference impossible. But this diplomatic suggestion was ignored by Mr. Be Valera, who incontinently sent the Sinn Fein reply, as originally communicated, to the press. Once more the negotiations had come to a dead-lock. On Sept. 15 Mr. Lloyd George telegraphed to Mr. Be Valera, cancelling his in- vitation to the proposed conference, on the ground that it was impossible to proceed with it now that Mr. Be Valera had insisted on the independence of Ireland as a sovereign state a point on which the British Government could not give way. At the same time he intimated that, owing to his being unwell, he would take time for consultation with his colleagues before taking further steps. On Sept. 16 Mr. Be Valera sent a reply telegram, expressing surprise at the way in which his acceptance of the proposed conference had been received, and saying that his own view was that the negotiators must meet " without prejudice " to the claims made on either side. The inevitable comment on this rejoinder, and one that was generally made, was that, if that was what he had meant, he would have been well- advised to use that phrase, which would have contained no offence, rather than make an aggressive statement which was bound to be offensive. Any lawyer, or experienced negotiator, would have known that" without prejudice " would be harmless.

Up to Sept. 29 the detente was maintained, further communi- cations passing meanwhile between Mr. Lloyd George and his colleagues, among whom Lord Birkenhead played an active part in counselling moderation. The British Cabinet then decided to assume that Mr. Be Valera had not intended deliberately to wreck their propos- al for a conference, and on Sept. 29 a new invita- tion was sent to him, opening a third phase in the pourparlers. After premising that the result of the previous correspondence with regard to a meeting at Inverness was that the British Gov- ernment could not now accept it as the basis of negotiations, since it might be argued, if they did, that they had recognized the claim made for Irish independence, " which no British Govern- ment can accord, " Mr. Lloyd George wrote that they were, nevertheless, keenly anxious to make, " in cooperation with your delegates, another determined effort to explore every possibility of settlement by personal discussion." He therefore sent " a fresh invitation to a conference in London on Oct. n, where we can meet your delegates as spokesmen of the people whom you represent, with a view to ascertaining " and here the formula of Sept. 7 was repeated " how the association of Ireland with the community of nations known as the British Empire may best be reconciled with Irish national aspirations." On Sept. 30 Mr. Be Valera sent in reply a simple acceptance of

London Confer- ence Ac- cepted.