I am instructed by the Minister to thank you for your reports which he has read with much interest. Besides the matter of the Cardinalate on which instructions have already been sent to you by wire, there are a few other matters to which you should give your attention before leaving Rome.

It is important that the Holy Father's reply to your letters of credence should be sent to the King through you and the Saorstát Government. If the reply is sent through the British we intend making a first class row about it. In the circumstances, it would be better to tell both Mr. Chilton and Monsignore Pizzardo what the correct channel is. You are, of course, as much the King's representative as Mr. Chilton is, but the actions of the Vatican and the Foreign Office are not always based on constitutional fact.

The Minister is very anxious that you should make the Cardinal and the Vatican authorities feel that we regard the present arrangement as one-sided, and shall feel dissatisfied until the Nuncio arrives in Dublin. Perhaps it may be possible at this stage to find out his name. I presume you are asking the Vatican to send letters to the Palace Hotel so that you may still act as the channel of communication even while in Dublin.

[matter omitted]