REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE IRISH CONVENTION. $rtstnt*o to $arltaimni bu Command of His #ta|*st|r. DUBLIN: PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. To be purchased through any Bookseller or directly from E. PONSONBY, Ltd., llt>, Grafton Street, Dublin ; or from 11. M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Imperial House, Kixgsvay, London, W.C.2., and 28, Abingdon Street, Lo W.l. 37, Peter Sireet, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; 23, Forth Street, Edinburgh. 1918. Price One Shilling and Sixpence Net, [Cd. 9019.] REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS L OF THE IRISH CONVENTION. |)r*Bfntf& to parliament bn (tfommano of %is Jilajtstn. DUBLIN: PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. To be purchased through any Bookseller or directly from E. PONSONBY, Ltd., 116, Grafton Street, Dublin : or from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses : Imperial House, Kinqsway, London,' W.C.2., and 28, Abingdon Street, London, S.W.I. 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff ; 37, Peter Street, Manchester ; 23, Forth Street, Edinburgh. 1918. Price One Shilling and Sixpence Net. [Cd. 9019.] -R3 LIST OF CONTENTS. PAGE Letter of Transmission from the Chairman of the Irish Convention to the Prime Minister ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 Report of the Proceedings of the Irish Convention ... ... ... ... !) Report of the Ulster Unionist Delegates to the Irish Convention... ... ... 30 Note by the Provost of Trinity College and the Archbishop of Armagh ... ... 35 Report by Twenty-two Nationalist Members of the Irish Convention ... ... 36 Note by the Majority of the Nationalist Members of the Irish Convention ... ... 44 Note by the Majority of the Labour Representatives ... ... ... ... 46 Note by the Earl of Dunraven ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 47 Note by Southern Unionists ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 48 Appendices (See List, page 49) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 49 JAM 1 1984 IBRARY BOSTON CO! I m ! MAu2ib? CHtSmui Hill, LETTER OF TRANSMISSION FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE IRISH CONVENTION TO THE PRIME MINISTER. »«»• The Right Honorable D. Lloyd George, M.P., Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, London, Sir, I have the honour to transmit herewith the Report of the Proceedings of the Irish Convention. For the immediate object of the Government the Report tells all that needs to be told : it shows that in the Convention, whilst it was not found possible to overcome the objections of the Ulster Unionists, a majority of Nationalists, all the Southern Unionists, and five out of the seven Labour representatives were agreed that the scheme of Irish self-government set out in Paragraph 42 of the Report should be immediately passed into law. A minority of Nationalists propose a scheme which differs in only one important particular from that of the majority. The Convention has, therefore, laid a foundation of Irish agreement unprecedented in history. I recognise that action in Parliament upon the result of our deliberations must largely depend upon public opinion. Without a knowledge of the circumstances which, at the termination of our proceedings, compelled us to adopt an unusual method of presenting the results of our deliberations, the public might be misled as to what has actually been achieved. It is, therefore, necessary to explain our procediire. We had every reason to believe that the Government contemplated immediate legislation upon the results of our labours. The work of an Irish settlement, sus- pended at the outbreak of the war, is now felt to admit of no further postponement. A2 In the Dominions and in the United States, as well as in other allied countries, the unsettled Irish Question is a disturbing factor, both in regard to war effort and peace aims. Nevertheless, urgent as our task was, we could not complete it until every possi- bility of agreement had been explored. The moment this point was reached—and you will not be surprised that it took us eight months to reach it—we decided to issue our Report with the least possible delay. To do this we had to avoid further con- troversy and protracted debate. I was, therefore, on March 22nd, instructed to draft a Report which should be a mere narrative of the Convention's proceedings, with a statement, for the information of the Government, of the conclusions adopted, whether unanimously or by majorities. It was hoped that this Report might be unanimously signed, and it was under- stood that any groups or individuals would be free to append to it such statements as they deemed necessary to give expression to their views. The Draft Report was circulated on March 30th, and discussed and amended on April 4th and 5th. The accuracy of the narrative was not challenged, though there was considerable difference of opinion as to the relative prominence which should be given to some parts of the proceedings. As time pressed it was decided not to have any discussion upon a Majority Report, nor upon any Minority Reports or other statements which might be submitted. The Draft Report was adopted by a majority, and the Chairman and Secretary were ordered to sign it, and forward it to the Government. A limit of twenty-four hours was, by agreement, put upon the reception of any other reports or statements, and in the afternoon of April 5th the Convention adjourned sine die. The public is thus provided with no Majority Report, in the sense of a reasoned statement in favour of the conclusions upon which the majority are agreed, but is left to gather from the narrative of proceedings what the contents of such a report would have been. On the other hand, both the Ulster Unionists and a minority of the Nationalists have presented Minority Reports covering the whole field of the Convention's enquiry. The result of this procedure is to minimise the agreement reached, and to emphasise the disagreement. In these circumstances, I conceive it to be my duty as Chairman to submit such explanatory observations as are required to enable the reader of the Report and the accompanying documents to gain a clear idea of the real effect and significance of the Convention's achievement. I may assume a knowledge of the broad facts of the Irish Question. It will be agreed that, of recent years, the greatest obstacle to its settlement has been the Ulster difficulty. There seemed to be two possible issues to our deliberations. If a scheme of Irish self-government could be framed to which the Ulster Unionists would give their adherence, then the Convention might produce a unanimous Report. Failing such a consummation, we might secure agreement, either complete or sub- stantial, between the Nationalist, the Southern Unionist and the Labour representa- tives. Many entertained the hope that the effect of such a striking and wholly new development would be to induce Ulster to reconsider its position. Perhaps unanimity was too much to expect. Be this as it may, neither time nor effort was spared in striving for that goal, and there were moments when its attainment seemed possible. There was, however, a portion of Ulster where a majority claimed that, if Ireland had the right to separate herself from the rest of the United Kingdom, they had the same right to separation from the rest of Ireland. But the time had gone by when any other section of the Irish people would accept the partition of their country even as a temporary expedient. Hence, the Ulster Unionist members in the Convention remained there only in the hope that some form of Home Rule would be proposed which might modify the determination of those they represented to have neither part nor lot in an Irish Parliament. The Nationalists strove to win them by concessions ; but they found themselves unable to accept any of the schemes discussed and the only scheme of Irish government* they presented to the Convention was confined to the exclusion of their entire Province. Long before the hope of complete unanimity had passed, the majority of the Convention were considering the possibilities of agreement between the Nationalists and the Southern Unionists. Lord Midleton was the first to make a concrete proposal to this end. The Report shows that in November he outlined to the Grand Committee, and in December brought before the Convention, what looked like a workable compromise. It accepted self-government for Ireland. In return for special minority representation in the Irish Parliament, already conceded by the Nationalists, it offered to that Parliament complete power over internal legislation and administration and, in matters of finance, over direct taxation and Excise. But. although they agreed that the Customs revenue should be paid into the Irish Exchequer, the Southern Unionists insisted upon the permanent reservation to the Imperial Parliament of the power to fix the rates of Customs duties. By far the greater part of our time and attention was occupied by this one question, whether the imposition of ( Justoms duties should or should not be under the control of the Irish Parliament. The difficulties of the Irish Convention may be summed up in two words Ulster and Customs. The Ulster difficulty the whole world knows ; but how the Customs question came to be one of vital principle, upon the decision of which depended the amount of agreement that could be reached in the Convention, needs to be told. The tendency of recent political thought among constitutional Nationalists has been towards a form of government resembling as closely as possible that of the Dominions, and, since the geographical position ofTreland imposes obvious restrictions in respect of naval and military affairs, the claim for Dominion Home Rule was concentrated upon a demand for unrestricted fiscal powers. Without separate Customs and Excise Ireland would, according to this view, fail to attain a national status like that enjoyed by the Dominions.