Dear Ervin,
I was very glad to receive your letter through Hugh Will. He will have seen you by the time you get this note and will have given you a message from me. My contacts with him and Ed Lawler were most pleasant,¹ and we are looking for- ward to continuing with both of them the happy relationship which you inaugurated. There is a complete understanding already established with both, and you can feel quite assured that the good work will go on.

I need hardly repeat how very grateful we are to you for having caught up our relations at a point where misunderstanding seemed likely to go on increasing to the detriment of both countries. The new relationship has gone most of the way towards eliminating these misunderstandings, and I most earnestly hope that the part played by your courage and patriotism will be fully understood and appreciated by your own authorities.

I hold firmly that, notwithstanding our small size, we can be a valuable friend of your great country because, as you well know, there is no country in Europe where close friendship and real affection for the United States are so natural and so much taken for granted. When the war is over, much can be done to cement our relations, and I believe your knowledge of the Irish people – whatever post you may fill – will enable you to be an agent in that good work.

I know you always held tenaciously, and strongly expressed the view, that we were wrong to be neutral. But some day I hope to convince you that, notwithstanding an increased friendliness in our relations with Britain (one of the astonishing results of the war in this part of the world), we could never quite resign ourselves to the possibilities and consequences of the inevitable re- occupation by British forces. If you, as an American, could imagine your feelings were the British still occupying the State of Massachusetts, you would be making a good approach to realising the Irish attitude. In a people which so narrowly escaped absorption, the strongest of all desires is to assert and defend its national distinctiveness. We are ready to make any sacrifices and to suffer any obloquy to remain Irish and to keep our independence, and I believe that your Government, once that fundamental principle is accepted by them, will find us ready to take part wholeheartedly in devising an international organisation for the common good of all peoples.

I hope that, when the war is over, you and your family will be able to take a long holiday in this country, and I can assure you that you will be most heartily welcomed.