Adventures from the United States of America to the new Soviet Union, to the Antipodes and, of course, to continental Europe went to the making of this State. And perhaps seldom before has so much of the spirit of the times been contained in a few pages of a periodical as in the new Spring issue of History Ireland. Here Michael Kennedy, a master in his field (he is Executive Editor of the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, published by the RIA and the Department of Foreign Affairs), brings so much of the history to life. There is a reproduction from the volume, facsimile of a document from the early hours of 2nd December, 1921, in London. Using a thick blue pencil, Collins crossed out clauses to which he objected, or noted where redrafting was needed. "Seventy years later," writes Kennedy, "the imprint of the pencil on the following page can still be seen on the original."
Now, for the first time, he writes, we can work through the actual negotiating documents of the London Treaty, including correspondence with the remaining members of the Dail Cabinet in Dublin. We also read of de Valera smuggled on board a liner at Liverpool and crossing to America as a stowaway in the lamplighter's cabin. Then Patrick McCartan reports from Russia. "Nobody in Russia pretends to think that such a thing as liberty exists there." Sean Nunan writes to Collins from America: "God knows, you hardly know who to trust out here. Everybody seems to be out for some game of his own." And Sean T. O'Ceallaigh and Gavan Duffy trying in vain in Paris to get recognition for the Irish case. There are still light touches. This History Ireland reproduces a bill from Harrods for the 1921 Delegation, including much of the minutiae of meals or snacks: crackers, peppermint liqueurs, assorted chocolates, fancy baskets, fruits.
Michael Mac White, a County Cork man, former French Foreign Legionnaire, joined a French Armistice Day parade and laid a wreath on behalf of the Government of Ireland. A delightful, robust character, he was later our first Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations from 1923 to 1929. There he was succeeded by Sean Lester, who later, after a hectic time from the Nazis in Danzig (now Gdansk), and always on secondment from his old department in Dublin, became the third and last Secretary-General of the League of Nations. But that is beyond the scope of the period of this first volume. Much more in History Ireland worth returning to another day. Price £3.95. The other editors of the Documents are Ronan Fanning, Dermot Keogh and Eunan O'Halpin.