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Volume 7 1941~1945

Doc No.
Date
Subject

No. 222  NAI DFA Secretary's Files P60

Confidential report from John W. Dulanty to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)
(No. 26) (Secret)

LONDON, 28 August 1942

In addition to the interviews on the Belfast sentences already reported with Messrs Attlee, Bevin, and Morrison, other people who have been seen are:-

MR. EDEN - who seemed to be sympathetic:
MR. ALEXANDER1 - who said that he would speak to Mr. Attlee:
SIR STAFFORD CRIPPS - who seemed to be well informed and promised to see whether anything could be done
MR. BRACKEN - who said he knew nothing about the case and doubted whether anything could be done:
MR. ARTHUR GREENWOOD2 - certainly follow if the sentences were carried out and he would urge clemency on Mr. Attlee:
THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR3 - who was unresponsive:
CARDINAL HINSLEY - who wrote straight away to Mr. Churchill, Mr. Morrison, and Sir John Anderson. He also wired to Mr. Churchill. His Eminence also wired, as I suggested, to Bishop Mathew4 [and] to Cardinal MacRory. The Cardinal is considering a letter to the 'Times'. He is anxious to give Mr. Churchill and Mr. Morrison every opportunity to consider the question 'before upsetting them by a letter to the newspapers':
THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY5 - who would appeal privately to the Prime Minister through a very close friend of the latter
MISS HELEN WADDELL6 - who wrote a letter which appeared in today's 'Times':
MR. BERNARD SHAW7 - who is writing to Mr. Morrison.

 

In the newspaper sphere I got into touch also with:-

'The Times' - who were friendlier than formerly
'The Manchester Guardian' - who promised an addition to their London Correspondent's paragraph yesterday and a Leader either tomorrow or Monday
'The Daily Telegraph'
'The Daily Mail'
'The Daily Express'
'The News Chronicle'
'The Evening Standard'

[signed] J. W. DULANTY

1 Albert V. Alexander (1885-1965), British Labour Party politician; First Lord of the Admiralty (1940-5).

2 Arthur Greenwood (1883-1954), Deputy Leader of the British Labour Party (1935-45).

3 John G. Winant (1889-1947), United States Ambassador to Great Britain (1941-6).

4 Bishop David Mathew (1902-75), Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster.

5 William Cosmo Gordon Lang (1864-1945), Archbishop of Canterbury (1938-42).

6 Helen Waddell (1889-1965), scholar, translator and author, who had been raised in Northern Ireland and was then resident in London.

7 George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish-born writer and dramatist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.

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