I saw Mr. Chamberlain at No. 10 Downing Street this morning. I told him that I had understood from Sir Thomas Inskip that the Conscription proposal of the British Government announced yesterday afternoon would apply to the Six Counties of Northern Ireland. I had informed Mr. De Valera accordingly and he had instructed me to represent to Mr. Chamberlain immediately the gravest concern with which the Irish Government regarded such a proposal2.
Mr. Chamberlain asked me in a rather sharp tone why Mr. de Valera should be so concerned.
I said that was a surprising question. Yesterday morning, when my Government had no information beyond rumours in the newspapers of the proposal to introduce Conscription, I had seen Sir Thomas Inskip on Mr. De Valera's instructions for the express purpose of saying how extremely serious the situation would be in Ireland if any form of Conscription were introduced into the Six Counties. Sir Thomas Inskip told me that he had sent a verbal note of my remarks to Mr. Chamberlain and also to Sir Samuel Hoare.
I then handed to Mr. Chamberlain the letter, a copy of which is attached hereto.3
After reading this he said he was dismayed by the harsh fate which seemed to dog his steps in regard to Ireland. Following upon his recent conversation with me when I delivered a personal letter to him from Mr. De Valera he gave careful consideration to the Northern Ireland problem and had drafted a letter to Lord Craigavon asking him to come to London to discuss the question with a view to seeing whether something could not be done and done quickly to solve the problem. 'I did not send the letter' Mr. Chamberlain continued 'because Mr. de Valera made a speech which immediately brought forth sharp retorts from the Northern Unionists. I am afraid also his subsequent utterances will put the Northern people still more on edge'.
The Irish aspect of this momentous proposal, I suggested, had not been fully considered. One would have thought a matter of such far-reaching consequences would have been mentioned to the Irish Government if for no other purpose than that of obtaining their view. His own Opposition in Parliament he would remember had made a similar point that they had no prior intimation.
Mr. Chamberlain said that he had regarded this as a domestic question and he had not therefore informed any Dominion.
My rejoinder was that there could clearly be no kind of comparison between Canada, South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand, and ourselves. Apart from our fundamentally different attitude towards the Commonwealth conception none of these had part of their territory occupied in the way our six Northern counties were occupied. In that part of our country - I emphasised the words 'our country' - nearly half a million of our people had maintained unbrokenly the position that they were in a state of bondage to a Government they detested, had not the rights of free men, and were coerced into separation from their fellow-countrymen in the rest of Ireland. Mr. de Valera, as Mr. Chamberlain was well aware, had declared his wish for and had worked towards 'good neighbour' relations between the two countries. The introduction of Conscription into the Six Counties would not only completely destroy any progress which might have been made in that direction but would lead for many a year to a state of strife and bitter struggle - an appalling prospect to anyone who knew Ireland.
The speed with which events had travelled within recent weeks, Mr. Chamberlain said, had compelled the British to move in this matter with the utmost despatch. Whether their action would modify Hitler's speech this week or not he was not sure but it was of supreme importance that the announcement he had made yesterday should precede instead of follow Hitler's speech. From every point of view it would have been dead wrong for their Conscription proposal to appear as a retort to Hitler when in fact it was meant to have the influence of restraint.
He would, however, try to see Sir Thomas Inskip and Sir Samuel Hoare. The position was beset with very real difficulties for them. The supporters of the Northern Ireland Government were most eager and anxious for the Conscription Bill to include the Six Counties. 'Rightly or wrongly they regard themselves as part of us' Mr. Chamberlain said, 'and if we leave them out we will be in serious difficulties'. I said the difficulties for the British arising out of exclusion of the Six Counties were as nothing compared to the difficulties for us, and later for the British, by their inclusion. Mr. de Valera felt that no situation fraught with such extreme dangers had arisen since he took office over seven years ago.
Mr. Chamberlain was in the middle of the preparation of his speech introducing the Conscription motion this afternoon in their Parliament but he said in view of these representations he would certainly try his best to find time today to see what could be done.
My impression was that the British Government did not realise the consequences their proposal would have if the Six Counties were included and I am afraid I got the further impression that Mr. Chamberlain this morning was not encouraging about the exclusion of those Counties.
