§ Mr. BALDWIN(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has any statement to make on the question of the representation of the Irish Free State at Washington?
Mr. THOMASAs I informed the House on Monday, His Majesty's Government have been asked by the Irish Free State to request the Government of the United States to receive a Minister Plenipotentiary accredited by His Majesty to the President, and furnished with credentials enabling him to take charge of all affairs relating only to the Irish Free State. I must remind the House that His Majesty's Government agreed to similar application from the Canadian Government in 1920. We are bound by the Treaty as made by our predecessors and ratified by Parliament to give the Irish Free State the same facilities which would be given to the other Dominions. The request from the Irish Free State was clearly within the terms of Article 2 of the Treaty, and His Majesty's Government had no hesitation in agreeing to the principle. A communication to that effect was sent to the Governments of the other Dominions.
A number of details remained to be settled, and as the Government of the Irish Free State, in view of the magnitude of interests of the Free State in the 597 United States and of the urgency of certain questions, were anxious that the step should be taken at once, I suggested that the communication to be sent to His Majesty's Ambassador in Washington should be settled in personal consultation with the Free State Minister for External Affairs. As a result of these consultations, the Ambassador has been asked to approach the Government of the United States in the matter.
The proposal upon which we arrived at an agreement is that, while the Free State Minister would be the official channel of communication with the United States Government for dealing with matters exclusively affecting the Free State, the principle of the Resolution of the Imperial Conference of 1923 as to the negotiation, signature and ratification of Treaties and, in particular, of that part of the Resolution which relates to the conduct of matters affecting more than one part of the Empire, would apply generally to all questions with which he dealt. If any doubt should arise whether any particular question exclusively concerned the Free State, the point would, if possible, be settled by consultation between the Free State Minister and the Ambassador. If the matter could not be settled by such consultation, it would be referred to the British Government and the Free State Government.
In order to meet the possibility that any particular question might in its initial stages be exclusively of concern to the Free State, and might subsequently prove to be of concern to other parts of the Empire, the Free State Minister would keep in close contact with the Ambassador.
While the Free State Minister would not purport to deal with matters affecting the Empire as a whole, the assistance of the Ambassador and his staff would be at his disposal, if desired. The Ambassador would not, however, be in any way responsible for action taken by the Free State Minister, nor would the latter be in any way subject to the Ambassador's control.
In this, as in all other matters relating to Ireland, His Majesty's Government have been guided by the principles laid down by the Prime Minister in the first paragraph of the statement which he made to the House on the 4th June. As my right hon. Friend then said, the Irish 598 question is no longer a matter at issue between parties in this House. To us on this side of the House, as to my hon. Friends opposite, the Treaty embodies a final settlement of Anglo-Irish relations, made once for all, with no ulterior purpose. I regret that the significance of these words has not been fully recognised.
There are people in both countries who continue to urge that demands for a Republic in Ireland, if made, should be conceded. Once for all, let it be understood that any such demand would receive from His Majesty's present advisers the same reply and no other than that which it would, I believe, have received from either of the two previous Governments which have been in office since the Treaty was signed. We shall carry out the letter and spirit of the Treaty ourselves as the Government of the Irish Free State has done in the past and as we look to all future Governments in the Free State to do in the future.
While the utterances to which I refer attract little attention in this country, they give rise to hopes and fears elsewhere which are not destined to be realised in fact. We believe that peace and friendship can be maintained with Ireland by the establishment of the Free State as a self-governing Dominion of the British Commonwealth and in no other way. It is for that reason that we are glad to see the Irish Free State assuming all the privileges to which she is entitled under the Treaty in common with Canada and the other Dominions.