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Editor says, what if Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith had walked out on the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1921, threatened with a renewal of "terrible and immediate war" by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George if they failed to sign the Treaty at once, Irish delegates terminated negotiations at 22 Hans Place and returned to Dublin to consult the cabinet according to their instructions.
A terrible and immediate warAs the principal Irish revolutionary leader, Michael Collins was fully aware that his direct participation in the negotiations had been life-threatening; his explicit approval of an Irish Free State would mean "signing his own death warrant" whereas rejection would lead to arrest and execution by the British. In his diary that evening Winston Churchill would note that "Michael Collins rose up looking as if he was going to shoot someone, preferably himself. In all my life, I have never seen so much passion and suffering in restraint".
However Lloyd-George recalled that "From the very outset of our conversations [in June 1921] I told you that we looked to Ireland to own allegiance to the Throne, and to make her future as a member of the British Commonwealth. That was the basis of our proposals, and we cannot alter it. The status which you now claim in advance for your delegates is, in effect, a repudiation of that basis. I am prepared to meet your delegates as I met you in July, in the capacity of 'chosen spokesmen' for your people, to discuss the association of Ireland with the British Commonwealth".
Collins and Griffiths had sensed disunity and perhaps even design and intent when Éamon de Valera sent Irish plenipotentiaries rather than attend in person. As the self-styled President of the Government of the Republic of Ireland, he would probably reject the Treaty whereas Collins once identified could no longer continue as he had. Also, it appeared unlikely that a consensus would form around the controversial sanctioning of a twenty-six county Dominion within the Empire, and the creation of a statelet (Northern Ireland) comprising the other six counties under the British Crown. And therefore Collins was presented with a stark choice between a continuation of the War of Independence, or a Civil War. Although many feared that rejection of the Treaty would postpone any form of independence for a generation, Collins sensed otherwise because even The Times had also turned against the Irish war, saying in an editorial as early as 1919, "We deplore the fact that the authority of the British name in Ireland has come to rest upon military power".
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith, Dev Valera, Ireland, England. Editor says, in reality Collins and Griffiths agreed, with Collins noting that he had "signed his own death warranty". A cabinet meeting of the Dáil decided by 4 votes to 3 to recommend the Treaty. The result was a rift in the leadership that led to the Irish Civil War.
~ So Lloyd-George yet again proved his liberalism and radicalism wasn't. Also he was known for his deviousness.
I think that the British government would haave renewed its operations.
But this would have complicated relations with the Amercians over the war debt, which we couldn't pay and the new naval race with the Americans and the Washington Treaty negotiations on naval arguments, and although it sounds surprisng from the issue of Ireland a different interwar history would have emerged.
~ Loyd-Geroge yet again showed what a liberal and radical he wasn't.
Also he was known for his deviousness.
~ Asking for further instructions seems like a good move to me! As opposed to signing your own death warrant and facing a civil war.
~ "OH S***" doesn't even begin to describe my reaction...
~ There are accounts the British ministers made an offer to the Irish republicans they believed they would refuse.
~ So would this mean the war would continue?
~ It looks like it. But is is claimed the army was moreefficient with urban foot patrols with rubber plimsols rather than army boots etc. But this may have been Montgomery, who was a young officer there, boasting about his methods.
~ The problem, is not winning the war so much. That is easy. What to do, with Ireland, once you have won? You are going to get the same problem again in a generation. Firstly Collins and the rest of the team, don;t need to go to back to Dev. They can take the treaty, back to the Irish people. This what happened more or less in OTL. The RC church, Irish America, and enough of the IRA, will support them. I see no reason, why the Treaty would be rejected, by the voters now. If the British empire could not force Collins into the open, why should Dev? Collins is also strictly speaking head of the IRB. He has a rival claim to legitmacy., My guess, is the British, do a few spectaulars. Shut down Dublin. Mass arrests. ( IRA are much weaker, during the truce, because they have come out into the open, including doing things like taking photos of themselves with their british counterparts) Basically LG, squeazes the Irish, until someone calls uncle. Peversely this might destroy Dev. Collins, gets to say I told you so. Northern Ireland has a bloodier birth, which may be a blessing in the long run. Alas. Irish Free state, gets much less powers and probably does not remain neutral in WW2
~ A very bloody war if they press on the might of the Empire. Imagine Bengalese troops occupying Cork.
~ The auxiliaries. and special constables for the duration (black and tans) were bad enough.
There is the story that one Tory member of the negotiating committee said to the other " that's the last we will see of them I think".
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
