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BOOK REVIEWS
Jones (Thomas)
—Whitehall Diard—Volume III—
1918-1925. Edited by Keith Middlemas; 8vo; pp. xxvii,
268; Oxford University Press, 1971. £4.75.
The famous author of this Diary was Private Secretary
to David Lloyd George, when he was Prime Minister
from 1916 to 1922. The first two volumes of the Diaries
deal with events in England and elsewhere from 1916
to 1930. It was indeed a happy idea of the children of
the author, Mr. Tristram Jones and Lady White, that
Volume III of these Diaries, relating specifically to
events in Ireland, should be published separately. Pro-
fessor Mansergh, as an expert in the period, has written
an interesting foreword where he poses several historical
questions, and correctly states that the views of the
author will help find the answers, for instance what
were the Post-Treaty relationships with the Irish Pro-
visional Government?
Mr. Middlemas, Lecturer in
History in Sussex University, has written a fascinating
Introduction, apart from having edited with a master-
ful hand the vast material contained in these Diaries.
It would be impossible in a few words to give an
accurate brief description of the Diaries themselves.
Suffice it to say that, during the worst incidents of the
Black and Tan regime, Jones was already persuading
Lloyd George that Dominion status was the only
solution to the Irish problem, and this inevitably led to
the Truce of July, 1921 and to the subsequent negotia-
tions in Scotland between Lloyd George and De Valera:
on 27th August 1921, the Premier stated that "the
British Government had offered Ireland all that O'Con-
nell and Thomas Davis asked and more".
At Inverness, the Cabinet considered nine drafts be-
fore agreeing upon a formula to send to De Valera. It
is interesting to compare the Treaty negotiations with
the account given by Pakenham; it seems that Collins
as a man of action could evoke strong radical sentiments
on Irish Independence, and that the British Delegation
had to use all its wiles to win him over eventually in
favour of the Treaty; he appears to have been even
more radical in May, 1922 when Churchill was accusing
him of breaches of the Treaty. Lloyd George and
associates successfully managed to detach Griffith, as
leader of the Irish delegation, from his colleagues, and
to influence him and Collins by stealthy cunning and
ruse and by lionising them of the British arguments
in favour of the Treaty. This continuous political
and social barrage inevitably shook Griffith. It
is only fair to say that in agreeing to a Boundary
Commission as regards the Six Counties, Griffith was
definitely of opinion that this matter would be deter-
mined not by county, but by individual districts which
would have given most of Tyrone and Fermanagh to
the Free State: Lloyd George's duplicity, and Craig's
utter intransigence followed by the later negotiations of
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1924-25 would not allow this. The fact that the author
could talk in Welsh to Lloyd George ensured that he
could influence the Premier in favour of moderation
whenever this was possible; the author was also a most
valuable go-between amongst the Irish delegation.
This volume certainly ranks as an essential document
for all who wish to study the history of Ireland in that
troubled period.
C.G.D.
(1) Chairman or Chief The Role of Taoiseach in
Irish Government
by Brian Farrell; 8vo; pp. x'ii+110.
(2)
The Founding of Dail Eireann—Parliament and
Nation Building
by Brian Farrell; 8vo; pp. xx + 89;
(Paperback Studies in Irish Political Culture, Nos. 1
and 2); Dublin, Gill and Macniillan, 1971; £1 each.
It was a happy thought to get Mr. Farrell to start the
volumes on Irish political culture.
The first of the volumes, dealing with the role of the
Taoiseach, analyses from the point of view of political
theory each of the five Premiers in the last fifty years—
William Cosgrave, Eamonn de Valera, John Costello,
Sean Lemass, and Jack Lynch. Whereas Cosgrave,
owing to the circumstances prevailing after the Civil
War, and Costello, on account of the formation of the
Inter-Party Government, preferred to act as Chairman
to their ministerial colleagues, de Valera and Lemass
were Chiefs, who, having made a decision, expected
their Ministers to adhere to it; furthermore de Valera
preferred unanimous decisions, and would wait hours
until that position was reached. The more recent events
of Mr. Lynch's Premiership may require to be rewritten
when more information becomes available. The author
has rightly stressed the institutional strength of the
Taoiseach's role within the Irish system and the general
stability of Irish political institutions. There is a most
useful list of Ministers from 1922 to the present.
The second volume covers the period from 1916 to
1921 and stresses how Sinn Fein began to organise as a
political party to eventually achieve its remarkable
success in the Election of December, 1918. The author's
main proposals are stated in four propositions :
(1) Modern Ireland already existed before 1916. The
Wyndham Land Act of 1903 brought to an end
the regime of landlord rule, and made many small
farmers contented.
(2) Most political values, such as universal franchise,
and fundamental rights were articulated in a
British way.
(3) The Catholic Church in Ireland, as a conservative
and popular force was a stabilising influence yet
a rich stream of Catholic liberalism has prevented
the development of a confessional state.
(4) Constitutional agitation rather than a revolutionary
urge was the prime force in the movement for
independence. The Parliamentary Party, as an
existing political elite was being replaced by a
new, more militant and less educated group of
leaders; Sinn Fein was a national front of many
diverse interests. Whereas in 1910, 60 constituencies