(courtesy sarasmichaelcollinssite.com)
The Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921 officially ended Ireland’s War of Independence / Tan War 1919-1921. Collins’ death was directly related to the Treaty dispute among the Dáil leadership, and the resulting split in the army. This split was led and actuated by DeValera; ostensibly on the argument that the Treaty negotiators had betrayed Ireland, by failing to secure the immediate establishment of an independent 32-county republic. In some quarters, this debate still rages. Yet, with the Government of Ireland Act 1920, partition was a done deal before negotiations opened.
“The compromise was in agreeing to negotiate at all.” – Michael Collins
DeValera was the main Irish negotiator, for the preliminary meetings which established the terms upon which talks would be based. Documentation now entirely proves beyond any doubt that it was DeValera himself who agreed with British authorities in advance, that there would be no republic at that time.
DeValera: “How can I come over and negotiate a Treaty if I know
in advance there can be no republic?”
Lloyd George: “You don’t have to come. Send somebody else!”
By August 1921, DeValera’s private meetings and correspondence with Lloyd George had agreed partition, in exchange for a Dublin-based Irish government in the south.
[DeValera] knew that any agreement brought back would be a compromise. Having left Collins at home while he teased out from Lloyd George what was on offer, he now, having found out, began to steer Collins towards the negotiating table in Downing Street. The man who had felt his place was in America during most of the Tan war felt he must stay in Dublin during the coming diplomatic offensive in London… – T P Coogan
He admitted to the Dáil when announcing his decision to stay in Dublin that “he knew fairly well from his experience over in London how far it was possible to get the British Government to go.” [Dáil Eireann, private sessions 14 Sept 1921 ]
“When I was caught for this delegation, my first thought was how easily I had walked into it. But having walked in, I had to stay.”
In this letter excerpt, was Collins writing of his first inkling of betrayal by someone close to him, in the highest echelons of the provisional government? Someone with the motive, means, opportunity, and cold-bloodedness to sacrifice him and countless others, on the altar of personal ambition? In a private letter to Kitty Kiernan about the same time, he was more explicit:
The Treaty will not be accepted in Dublin, not by those who have in mind personal ambitions under pretense of patriotism.
Read more
“The Assassination of Michael Collins:
What Happened at Beal an mBlath?”
by S M Sigerson
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The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth? 