May we also take the liberty of suggesting, in view of existing conditions in Ireland (which can not and will not be denied), that to foreclose its case by refusing a hearing to its representatives at this time would be disconsonant with the declared purpose for which the war was prosecuted and out of harmony with the common principles of democracy. We would gratefully appreciate a response at your convenience, and with assurances of our continued high regard. Sincerely, To the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris. FRANK P. WALSH, Chairman. MICHAEL J. RYAN. AMERICAN COMMISSION TO NEGOTIATE PEACE, MY DEAR MR. WALSH: The President asks me to acknowledge the receipt of the letter of May 20 signed by yourself, Gov. Dunne, and Mr. Ryan and to say that he has taken the matter up with the Secretary of State, and that by the President's direction, Mr. Lansing will reply to it. Sincerely, yours, GILBERT F. CLOSE, Confidential Secretary to the President. Hon. FRANK P. WALSH, Suite 760, Grand Hotel, Paris. AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, Grand Hotel, Paris, May 22, 1919. The original of the following letter was to-day handed to M. Clemenceau's secretary at the foreign office, Quai d'Orsay, Paris, by Sean T. O'Ceallaigh, envoy of the Irish republican government at Paris, and copies were handed personally by Mr. Frank P. Walsh, chairman of the American Commission on Irish Independence, to President Wilson, Col. House, Secretary of State Lansing, Mr. White, and Gen. Bliss, the members of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace: "MANSION HOUSE, Dublin, May 17, 1919. "To M. CLEMENCEAU, "President of the Peace Conference of Paris. "SIR: The treaties now under discussion by the conference of Paris will, presumably, be signed by the British plenipotentiaries claiming to act on behalf of Ireland as well as of Great Britain. "Therefore we must ask you to call the immediate attention of the peace conference to the warning which it is our duty to communicate, that the people of Ireland, through all its organic means of declaration, has repudiated and does now repudiate the claim of the British Government to speak or act on behalf of Ireland, and consequently that no treaty or agreement entered into by the representatives of the British Government in virtue of that claim is or can be binding on the people of Ireland. "The Irish people will scrupulously observe any treaty obligation to which they are legitimately committed; but the British delegates can not commit Ireland. The only signatures by which the Irish nation will be bound are those of its own delegates deliberately chosen. "We request you to notify the peace conference that we the undersigned have been appointed and authorized by the duly elected national government of Ireland to act on behalf of Ireland in the proceedings of the conference and to enter into agreements and sign treaties on behalf of Ireland. 66 Accept, sir, the assurance of our high esteem, "EAMON DE VALERA, "ARTHUR GRIFFITH, "COUNT GEORGE NOBLE PLUNKETT." AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: The following communication has this day been transmitted to M. Clemenceau, president of the peace conference: "To M. CLEMENCEAU, 66 'MANSION HOUSE, Dublin, May 17, 1919. "President of the Peace Conference of Paris. "SIR: The treaties now under discussion by the conference of Paris will, presumably, be signed by the British plenipotentiaries claiming to act on behalf of Ireland as well as of Great Britain. "Therefore we must ask you to call the immediate attention of the peace conference to the warning which it is our duty to communicate, that the people of Ireland, through all its organic means of declaration, has repudiated and does now repudiate the claim of the British Government to speak or act on behalf of Ireland, and consequently that no treaty or agreement entered into by the representatives of the British Government in virtue of that claim is or can be binding on the people of Ireland. "The Irish people will scrupulously observe any treaty obligation to which they are legitimately committed; but the British delegates can not commit Ireland. The only signatures by which the Irish Nation will be bound are those of its own delegates deliberately chosen. 66 We request you to notify the peace conference that we the undersigned have been appointed and authorized by the duly elected national government of Irland to act on behalf of Ireland in the proceedings of the conference and to enter into agreements and sign treaties on behalf of Ireland. At the suggesion of President de Valera, we desire to call the same to your attention. We trust that the justice of the demand from the standpoint of democracy as well as of fundamental human rights, may lead you to throw the weight of your influence in its favor. Sincerely, To the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. FRANK P. WALSH, Chairman, COMMISSIONER PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE DEAR MR. WALSH: I have duly received the letter dated the 22d which you have been so good as to write me. Yours, sincerely, Hon. FRANK P. WALSH, Grand Hotel, Paris. (Signed) HENRY WHITE. AMERICAN COMMISSION TO NEGOTIATE PEACE, SIR: I have received the letter which you and Messrs. Dunne and Ryan addressed to me on May 16th regarding the issuing of safe-conducts by the British Government to Eamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, and George Noble Count Plunkett, in order that they may proceed from Ireland to France and return, and I immediately took steps to acquaint myself with the facts of the case, which transpired before the matter was brought to my attention by your above-mentioned letter. I am informed that when the question of approaching the British authorities with a view to procuring the safe-conducts in question was first considered every effort was made, in an informal way, to bring you into friendly touch with the British representatives here, although owing to the nature of the case it was not possible to treat the matter officially. The British authorities having consented that you and your colleagues should visit England and Ireland, 135549°-19- -4 although your passports were only good for France, every facility was given to you to make the journey. Before your return to Paris, however, reports were received of certain utterances made by you and your colleagues during your visit to Ireland. These utterances, whatever they may have been, gave, as I am informed, the deepest offense to those persons with whom you were seeking to deal, and consequently it seemed useless to make any further effort in connection with the request which you desired to make. In view of the situation thus created, I regret to inform you that the American representatives feel that any further efforts on their part connected with this matter would be futile and therefore unwise. I am, sir, Your obedient servant, Hon. FRANK P. WALSH, Grand Hotel, Paris. ROBERT LANSING. NOTE. This letter was received subsequent to the dispatch of our letter of May 26, 1919. AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, Grand Hotel, Paris, May 26, 1919. Hon. ROBERT LANSING, Secretary of State and American Commissioner to Negotiate Peace, Paris. SIB: Upon the 17th instant we had the honor to hand to your private secretary, for immediate transmission to you, a letter requesting your good offices to procure from the British Government safe conduct from Dublin to Paris and return for Hons. Eamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, and Count George Noble Plunkett, representatives of the people of Ireland, copy of which letter we inclose to you herewith. Upon the day following we were advised by the American press representatives that you had communicated to them the fact that you had referred the letter to the President of the United States. Later in the day this statement was confirmed by your secretary in an interview with our chairman. With this information, upon the 20th instant we addressed a letter of the same purport to the President of the United States, and requesting a hearing by him. We also inclose copy of this letter to you herewith. Upon the 21st instant we were advised by Mr. Gilbert F. Close, confidential secretary to the President, that at the President's direction you would make reply to such letter. We have not been advised of further action, if any, either by yourself or the President, upon our request. In view of the urgency and importance of the matter, the arrangements which must necessarily be made by President de Valera and his associates as an outcome of your reply, as well as the further steps which we may be called upon to take in an endeavor to accomplish the objects of our mission, may we not ask that you be good enough to give us an answer to our request. With assurances of our high regard, we are, Sincerely, Hon. ROBERT LANSING, AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, By FRANK P. WALSH, Chairman. AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, Secretary of State and American Commissioner to Negotiate Peace, Paris. SIR: Your letter of the 24th instant conveying the refusal of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace to our request that they should use their good offices to secure the issuance of safe conducts by the British Government to Hons. Eamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, and George Noble Count Plunkett, was duly received. Your letter states that you have been informed that every effort was made, unofficially, to bring us into friendly touch with the British representatives in Paris. It is also stated in your letter that you have information to the effect that certain utterances of ours made during our visit to Ireland" gave the deepest offense to certain persons with whom you (we) were seeking to deal." We beg to advise you that no person was authorized by us to make any effort to bring us into friendly touch with any British representatives, here or elsewhere We also beg to further advise you that at no time, in Paris, or elsewhere, have we sought to deal, privately or unofficially, with any persons relative to the purposes of our mission. In order to make the record perfectly clear, we submit the following: On March 27, 1919, a letter in form following was delivered in person by the undersigned to the Acting Secretary of State, in your absence, at your office in Washington: 66 Hon. FRANK L. POLK, Acting Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. "PARIS, March 27, 1919. "DEAR SIR: We respectively request the issuance of passports to France to Frank P. Walsh, of New York, N. Y.; Michael J. Ryan, of Philadelphia, Pa.; and Edward F. Dunne, of Chicago, Ill., who have been appointed by the recent Irish race convention held in the city of Philadelphia, Pa., on February 22 and 23, 1919, and whose object in visiting France is to obtain for the delegates, selected by the people of Ireland a hearing at the peace conference, and to place before the conference, if that hearing be not given, the case of Ireland; her insistence upon her right of self-determination; and to international recognition of the republican form of government established by her people. 66 Very respectfully, "FRANK P. WALSH, Chairman." We were informed by Mr. Assistant Secretary Phillips that he was acting for you, in your absence, and that the request contained in the letter would receive careful consideration. After a lapse of two days Mr. Assistant Secretary Phillips informed Mr. Patrick Lee, our secretary, that the request contained in the letter had been granted, and that your office had ordered the passports issued, which was accordingly done. Upon our arrival in Paris a communication was addressed to the President, signed by Messrs. Walsh, Dunne, and Ryan, the full commission, advising him that we were acting in pursuance of a commission given us by the Irish Race Convention held in Philadelphia on February 22, 1919, and that we were instructed by said convention to obtain, if possible, for the delegates selected by the people of Ireland a hearing at the peace conference, and containing the following specific request: May we, therefore, ask you to obtain from Mr. Lloyd-George, or whomsoever may be intrusted with the specific details of such matters by the English Government, safe conduct for Messrs. de Valera, Griffith, and Plunkett from Dublin to Paris." Following an interview between the President and the chairman of our delegation, the matter was taken up with Col. E. M. House, and the identical request was made through him. The implications of your letter that any person was acting unofficially, privately, or secretly, is therefore erroneous. Attempted negotiations on behalf of Ireland in such fashion would not only be violative of our instructions but obnoxious to the principle, to which the steadfastly adhere with multitudes of our fellow citizens, that a just and permanent peace can only be secured through open conventions openly arrived at. For the verity of the record, which we are anxious to maintain upon this important matter, will you be good enough to give us the names of the persons to whom we gave deep offense by our utterances in Ireland, and with whom you have been informed we "were seeking to deal," as well as the name or names of any person or persons who assumed to negotiate or promote any such secret or unofficial dealings upon our behalf? We likewise deem it proper to call your attention at this time to the fact that we scrupulously refrained from any public utterances in England, and that our statements to the people of Ireland as to the objects of our mission were in strict conformity with the purposes stated to you in our written application for passports and cherished and advocated by American citizens since the foundation of the American Republic. We are confident that, if your information is correct to the effect that our utterances gave deep offense, such offense was not given to the Irish people or to their duly elected representatives, in whose presence the utterances were made. Awaiting your further advices, we are, sir, Respectfully and sincerely, AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, By FRANK P. WALSH, Chairman. NOTE. This letter was never answered. AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris. DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: We inclose herewith copy of letter received last evening from Mr. Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, together with copy of reply thereto of even date. We submit this so that you may be fully advised pending one further effort to carry out the purposes of our mission. With assurances of our high esteem and respect, we are, Sincerely, yours, AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, By FRANK P. WALSH, Chairman. (Same letter sent to Messrs. White, Bliss, and House.) COMMISSIONER PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DEAR SIR: I am in receipt of your letter of the 27th instant and hasten to inform you, in reply, that I have neither made nor associated myself in any way with efforts to bring you and your colleagues into touch with the representatives of the British Government in Paris or elsewhere, nor had I, until within the last few days, any knowledge of those efforts. You, yourselves, have not at any time approached me in the matter, nor was I aware, until quite recently, of the informal action to which yo urefer. I may add that I was equally unaware, until a few days ago, of the communication which you addressed to the President upon your arrival in Paris from the United States. I must, therefore, both personally and as a member of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace with Germany and Austria, decline all responsibility in connection with the outcome of your mission. Commissioner Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, Paris. DEAR SIR: Please accept our thanks for your prompt and courteous response to our letter of the 27th instant, just received. With assurance of our appreciation and respect, Sincerely, AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, By FRANK P. WALSH, Chairman. AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, To the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris. DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: We have the honor to transmit to you herewith a large number of cablegrams from different parts of the United States, insisting upon the securing of opportunity to present Ireland's case to the peace conference, and protesting against article 10 of the covenant of the league of nations. We trust that you will find time, even with your multiplicity of duties, to give the same careful consideration. May we also take the opportunity to suggest that the fears of these petitioners as to the effect of article 10, if adopted, seem to have a very substantial basis of fact and reason. It occurs to us, as it doubtless has to them, that the following evil effects might flow from the inclusion of article 10 in its present form: 1. That nations and peoples claiming age-old territorial integrities of their own would, ipso facto, be forced under the authority of other nations or even kingdoms, without a hearing. |