AMERICAN COMMISSION TO NEGOTIATE PEACE, MY DEAR SIR: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of June 17, which arrived during the President's absence in Brussels, and to say that ĺ am bringing it to his personal attention. Sincerely, yours, GILBERT F. CLOSE, Confidential Secretary to the President. Grand Hotel, Paris. Mr. FRANK P. WALSH, Mr. FRANK P. WALSH, AMERICAN COMMISSION TO NEGOTIATE PEACE, Grand Hotel, Paris. American Commission for Irish Independence, SIR: I beg to acknowledge, on behalf of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, the receipt of your letter of June 20, in which you advise the commission of a resolution adopted by the American Federation of Labor at its annual session now being held at Atlantic City and ask certain questions with regard to the recent Senate resolution. In reply to your letter I beg to inform you that, in accordance with advice which has already been given you, a copy of the said Senate resolution was forwarded to the president of the peace conference, Mr. Clemenceau. Mr. Clemenceau, alone, is competent to bring this whole question to the attention of the conference. Beyond this, of course as you very readily will appreciate neither the American commission as a whole nor any of its individual members can take any further steps in the premises. I am, sir, Your obedient servant, J. C. GREW, Secretary General. [Copy of telegram.] PARIS, June 25, 1919. IAN MACPHERSON, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland. Proof has been submitted to us at Paris that you are using your official power as well as the forces of the English Army of Occupation in Ireland to suppress our full reply to your answer to our report on conditions in Ireland, which was made on the 21st instant. Your answer, published broadcast, made denials of certain portions of our report and serious personal accusations against us. We are also advised that through the same instrumentalities you are suppressing altogether or causing to be printed garbled accounts of statements and affidavits made by individuals and officials in Ireland supporting the report of our commission and challenging the accuracy of your answer. We most earnestly protest against this unfair procedure and arbitrary abuse of authority as repugnant to the modern conception of justice and fair play held by right thinking men and women, which we had hoped applied to the English officials in Ireland as well as to the rest of mankind. AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE. NOTE. This telegram was never answered. M. GEORGES CLEMENCEAU, AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, Paris, June 27, 1919. President of the Peace Conference and Premier of France, Paris. Monsieur le PRESIDENT: We have received formal notification from the secretary general of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace that the whole Irish question is now referable to you alone. We therefore beg leave, as the representatives of the Irish race in America, to submit to you copies of the following documents, i. e. : (a) The repudiation by the representatives of the Irish republic of the usurped right of England to enter into obligations or agreements affecting Ireland. (b) Official report of the American commission on Irish independence on conditions in Ireland with demand for investigation by the peace conference. Pending action by the full peace conference upon the request already submitted to you by Messrs. Sean T. O'Ceallaigh and George Gavan Duffy, the envoys of the Irish republic at Paris, for a full hearing before the peace conference, we desire to urge upon you the urgent necessity of the early creation of an impartial commission of inquiry to investigate and report upon the actual state of war now existing between the people of Ireland and the English Army of occupation, with especial reference to the atrocities and acts of barbarism still being perpetrated. Since the filing of our original report with President Wilson and the American commission to negotiate peace, the following acts of savagery are being perpetrated by the English Army of occupation on the Irish people, which we submit are in violation of the rules of civilized warfare, and which, if permitted to continue, will render impossible the just pacification of the world for which its people are so earnestly striving: (1) Lives are being taken, or men and women are being maimed and wounded daily. (2) An organized effort to destroy the homes of the peoples of Ireland is being waged; (3) Orders of banishment are issued frequently against people, commanding them to leave their homes at the risk of death and under penalty of imprisonment; (4) Raids are being made upon peaceful towns and villages by aeroplanes; (5) The homes and places of business of the inhabitants are beiing invaded and ransacked; looting is being carried on in a most shameful manner; (6) Property of great value is being confiscated, for which reparation will be impossible, unless opportunity is quickly given to prove and inventory the losses; (7) Barricades and emplacements for artillery and machine guns are being erected, which menace the lives and property of the people; (8) The meeting places of the workers of Ireland are surrounded by nachine guns, so that the workers are in imminent peril of death while endeavoring to carry on the lawful and ordinary activities of their organizations; (9) Reprisals of a cruel and unusual character are being practiced, in retaliation for the efforts to present the case of Ireland to the peace conference; (10) Delicate and aged men and women are being confined in noisome and insanitary jails solely on account of their political opinions. As the president of the peace conference, to which the peoples of the world are looking for the establishment of peace, and the adoption of instrumentalities which will put an end to existing wars and prevent future conflicts, we most earnestly urge upon you the immediate presentation of the accompanying docu-. ments to your honorable body, and the great necessity for early action thereon. With considerations of our high esteem and respect, we are, Respectfully, AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE. E. F. DUNNE. M. GEORGES CLEMENCEAU, [Personal and urgent.] AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRISH INDEPENDENCE, Paris, July 22, 1919. President of the Peace Conference and Premier of France, Paris. Monsieur le PRESIDENT: We are in receipt of information from sources of high authorities that, as president of the peace conference, you have notified American peace plenipotentiaries that, so far as further consideration of the Irish question is concerned the matter is one in which you will take no action. We understand this decision covers: 1. That the resolution of the American Senate, officially forwarded to you by the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, and the recommendations contained therein expressing sympathetic support to the people of Ireland in their efforts to obtain a government of their own choice, is, by this action, denied in a manner suggestive of your entire disregard of American public opinion as rendered in the deliberate resolution of our highest legislative body. 2. That the peace conference further ignores the request of the Hon. Messrs. Walsh and Dunne for the appointment of an international tribunal to investigate into the charges of barbarities and inhuman conduct, in violation of the rules of civilized warfare, perpetrated by the British Government through its military forces in occupation of Ireland, and upon its defenseless people. The knowledge of your decision in these matters, has been up to now withheld from the American public. The results of the publication of this information will doubtless have very material weight at this time while the attention of the United States Senate is occupied in matters of international importance, in which, we feel France has a material interest. Arrangements have already been made for giving widespread publicity in America to this decision on your part. But before taking this step, we respectfully suggest that an audience may be granted by you to the undersigned to present the importance of the situation, particularly in this relation to the future interests of France, of America, and of Great Britain. There are 20,000,000 citizens of Irish blood in the United States, and the effect of this information, when published there, needs no characterization by us to indicate how grave may be the danger to the continuance of those same relations of amity and esteem that have marked the friendships existing be tween the French, American, and Irish peoples. Trusting that I may be accorded the honor of this audience with you at your earliest possible convenience, and, with assurances of high esteem and respect, we have the honor to remain, Sincerely, yours, REPORT ON CONDITIONS IN IRELAND WITH DEMAND FOR INVESTIGATION BY THE PEACE CONFERENCE. The Irish race convention held in Philadelphia on the 22d and 23d of February, 1919, provided by resolution for the appointment of a committee of 25 by the chairman, and instructed it to use all honorable means to secure for Ireland her right of self-determination. This general committee selected from its own body Frank P. Walsh, of New York, former Gov. Edward F. Dunne, of Illinois; and Michael J. Ryan, of Philadelphia, as a special commission to go to Paris. The instructions of this special committee were as follows: "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." Upon their arrival at Paris a letter signed by all the commissioners was addressed to President Wilson asking him to obtain from the British Government safe conducts for Eamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, and Count George Noble Plunkett, the representatives selected by the people of Ireland, from Dublin to Paris and return; and also asking him to accord an interview to the American commission. In response to this letter the President wrote to Mr. Walsh, chairman of the commission, granting him an interview, and fixing the time. The President gave an exhaustive hearing to the case as presented by Mr. Walsh, and referred him to Col. E. M. House with instructions to say that he believed the request a proper one, and that it should be granted. The entire commission waited upon Col. House, advised him of the suggestion of the President, and presented the request in writing for safe conducts for Messrs. De Valera, Griffith, and Plunkett. Col. House promised to take the matter up with Mr. Lloyd-George immediately and to use every effort to have the safe conducts granted. Upon the following day Col. House announced to the commission, who again called upon him in a body, that he had communicated with the prime minister of England, and that in all likelihood the safe conducts would be granted; but that Mr. Lloyd-George was very desirous of having an interview with the American commissioners personally and would be glad to have Chairman Walsh take up the matter of fixing the time and place for the meeting with Mr. LloydGeorge's confidential secretary, Mr. Philip Kerr. The commission notified Col. House at once that they did not seek a conference with Mr. Lloyd-George; doubted very much the wisdom or propriety of meeting him, but finally agreed to do so as a matter of courtesy. Later in the day the entire commission called upon Col. House and stated that, under no circumstances did they wish to be relegated to Mr. Lloyd-George on the question of the issuance of the safe conducts, but were relying upon him, Col. House, as one of the American commissioners, to secure compliance with the request, if possible. With this clear understanding they would meet the Prime Minister. Mr. Lloyd-George, on the plea of being closely occupied with the preparation of the German peace terms, put off the proposed meeting with the delegates from time to time, covering a period of something like two weeks. The American commission finally called upon Col. House, explained once more that no part of the duties of their mission called for a meeting with Mr. Lloyd-George, and asked him to address a formal request for the safe conducts for Messrs. De Valera, Griffith, and Plunkett, to Mr. Lloyd-George, and secure, if possible, a prompt and direct answer to that request. Upon the same day, and shortly before the visit of the commission to Col. House, Messrs: Sean T. O'Ceallaigh and George Gavan Duffy, the representative of the Irish republic in Paris, conveyed an invitation from President De Valera to the commission to visit Dublin, and gave, among other reasons, the necessity for a conference upon matters of grave importance at the time transpiring in Ireland. When we arrived at the office of Col. House in the Hotel Crillon that evening to receive an answer from Mr. Lloyd-George, we found Sir William Wiseman, the liaison officer between the American and British embassies in Paris. He presented the apologies of Mr. Lloyd-George for the delay, and said that Mr. Lloyd-George would like to fix a time for the interview upon some day of the following week. Mr. Walsh, speaking for the commission, replied that if they were to remain another week in Paris before receiving an answer to their request for the safe conducts, they wished to use the time in a visit to Ireland for the purpose of meeting the representatives of the Irish people and of making a first-hand investigation of conditions in Ireland. As the passports of the members of the commission did not include England and Ireland, it was necessary to have them amended, which was expeditiously done, the amended passports reading that the members of the commission were going to Ireland on an "unofficial political mission," and the forms of the passports were made diplomatic, which greatly facilitated their movements. It should be noted that after the visit to Ireland demands were made in the English Parliament for a full report from the prime minister as to whether or not it was true that he intended issuing safe conducts to the Irish representatives, and also if it was his purpose to have an interview in Paris with the members of the American commission. Mr. Bonar Law, leader of the House of Commons, made official answer for the prime minister and stated that Mr. Lloyd-George had not and never had the slightest intention of granting safe conducts to the Irish representatives. He said that Mr. Lloyd-George had agreed to the visit of the American commission to Ireland, hoping upon their return that he could press upon them the English point of view," to be used as propaganda in America. 66 The lord chancellor, officially replying to the same questions in the House of Lords, likewise denied, on behalf of the prime minister, that there was ever any intention to grant safe conducts to Messrs. De Valera, Griffith, and Plunkett, and declared it was the purpose of the prime minister to have present at his interview with the American commission upon their return from Ireland all of the American newspaper correspondents, so that he (the prime minister) might make a statement of England's attitude on the Irish problem which would tend to allay the growing prejudice against England in the United States. When the passports were handed to the American commissioners on the morning of their departure for Ireland, Sir William Wiseman stated that Mr. Lloyd George wished the commission to go to all parts of Ireland, if possible and it was his especial request that they should visit Belfast. Upon repeating Sir William Wiseman's resuest to Messrs. Sean T. O'Ceallaigh and George Gavan Duffy, the envoys of the Irish republican government at Paris, they joined in the request that we should make a close investigation of conditions in Ireland, and especially urged that we should visit the jails, particularly those in the larger cities, where, they asserted, hundreds of men and women were confined under circumstances of the most shocking nature. Crossing the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dunleary we came upon the first evidence of the military occupation of Ireland. The vessel and wharves swarmed with soldiers, fully equipped for the field, going to and coming from Ireland. When we arrived in Ireland we found soldiers everywhere. A careful investigation made on the day before we left Ireland showed that the army of occupation numbers considerably over 100,000 men, to which accessions are being made daily. The troops are equipped with lorries, armored cars, tanks, machine guns, bombing planes, light and heavy artillery; and in fact all of the engines of war lately employed against the Central Powers. In addition to this there are approximately 15,000 members of the Royal Irish Constabulary. The constabulary is a branch of the military forces. They are armed with rifles, as well as small side arms, engage in regular drill and field maneuvers. They are never residents of the districts which they occupy, and have quarters in regular government barracks. After our arrival in Ireland we conferred with President De Valera as to the prisons which we should visit, and Mountjoy Jail, in the city of Dublin, was selected, for the reason that it contained a large number of political prisoners, many of them men of the highest character and standing. Mountjoy, so far as physical equipment and brutality of conduct goes, is not as bad as many of the other jails in Ireland. We made our demand for permission to visit this Jall through the municipal authorities of the city of Dublin. The governor of the prison, a resident of England, who had been in office but a few weeks, refused us admission. It was then explained to Sir John Irwin, chairman of the visiting justices of Mountjoy prison, that the commission was traveling on diplomatic passports and was investigating conditions in Ireland, partly at the solicitation of the prime minister. With this explanation Sir John Irwin, who is in supreme authority of the jail, overruled the decision of the governor and we were admitted to Mountjoy. When we appeared at the gate we were ushered into the office of the governor, where we found Sir John Irwin. The governor told us that we were to be admitted to the prison, but with the understanding that we should not speak to any prisoner nor seek to fix the identity of any prisoner exhibited. Although Mountjoy is called a jail it is, as a matter of fact, a combination of jail and penitentiary. It is surrounded by a stone wall 20 feet in height, and is larger than any of the midwestern American penitentiaries, such as Jefferson City or Joliet, and almost as large as Sing Sing. It has immense cell houses, built to accommodate approximately 1,000 prisoners. It is equipped with workshops, where men convicted of serious crimes are confined at hard labor. It is also used for the confinement of persons awaiting trial, as well as misdemeanants serving sentences for petty offenses. Exclusive of the political prisoners, there were but 12 persons in confinement, all of them undergoing sentence for petty infractions of law. One of the men who accompanied us upon the visit was an official of the city of Dublin, well acquainted with all of the political prisoners, so that we had no difficulty in identifying them. They were confined for the most part in groups, the majority of them being locked up in steel cages built in the yards of the prison, entirely outside of the buildings proper. These cages are exact duplicates of those used for wild animals in the larger zoological gardens, such as Lincoln Park and the Bronx in the United States. Statements had been made that unspeakable outrages were being committed against the persons of these men and the most barbarous cruelties inflicted upon them. That they had been starved, beaten, confined in dark and noisome underground cells, otherwise maltreated, and kept for days with their hands handcuffed behind their backs. We attempted to secure statements from the officers, either confirming or denying the charges. We were permitted to talk to no one inside the prison except the governor. He stated that no such barbarities had been committed |