On the Taoiseach's instructions, I gave the following message to the High Commissioner on the phone at 7 p.m. this evening:

He was to go to see Mr. Chamberlain, tonight if Mr. Chamberlain could receive him, or, if not, as early as possible tomorrow morning. He was to speak to Mr. Chamberlain in the following words, and to leave a copy of his statement with Mr. Chamberlain in writing:

'Mr. de Valera is very perturbed indeed by Mr. Chamberlain's announcement in regard to conscription. He is anxious to have an assurance that there is no intention of applying conscription to the people of the Six Counties. At least a third of the population there are cut off from Ireland against their will. Any attempt to conscript them would be resented as an outrage.

In union with our fellow countrymen in the Six Counties, we are prepared to undertake the defence of the whole of Ireland against any enemy seeking to get a foothold here. That is the constructive line to take and the line that would serve the true interests of Britain, whereas the introduction of conscription in the Six Counties by the British Government for the British Army can only be regarded as an act of war against our nation and will provoke the bitterest hostility to England wherever there are Irishmen throughout the world.'