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Was De Valera a Republican?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

D. H. Akenson
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Extract

If eamon de Valera were an ordinary politician, the question of to what extent his behavior conformed to any given principle would be insignificant, for we expect all ordinary politicians to clothe their actions with high principled rhetoric. But Eamon de Valera is more than a politician. He has become a nearly mythic figure in Irish political history. Quite consciously, he has contrived to present himself as the premier statesman of post-British Ireland. De Valera is different from any politician presently on the North American or British political stage, for he has projected his actions not on the silver screen of the possible, but against the hard wall of principle.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , April 1971 , pp. 233 - 253
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1971

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References

1 The Sinn Fein constitution of 1917 is found in Macardle's, DorothyThe Irish Republic: A documented chronicle of the Anglo-Irish conflict and the partitioning of Ireland, with a detailed account of the period 1916–1923 (New York, 1965, originally published 1937), pp. 233, 915–916Google Scholar.

2 Ryan, Desmond, Unique Dictator: A Study of Eamon de Valera (London, 1936), p. 70Google Scholar.

3 The Manifesto is printed in full in Macardle, pp. 919–920.

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5 McCartan, Patrick, With De Valera in America (New York, 1932), p. 25Google Scholar.

6 McCartan, p. 150.

7 Ibid.

8 For the truce details, see Arrangements governing the Cessation of Active Operations in Ireland which came into force on July 11, 1921 (Cmd. 1534), H.C., 1921Google Scholar, xxix.

9 O'Faolain, Sean, De Valera (Harmondsworth, 1939), p. 70Google Scholar.

10 George, David Lloyd to de Valera, Eamon, July 20, 1921, reproduced in Correspondence relating to the Proposals of His Majesty's Government for an Irish Settlement, pp. 2–3 (Cmd. 1470), H.C., 1921Google Scholar, xxix; also reproduced in Correspondence relating to the Proposals of His Majesty's Government for an Irish Settlement, p. 2 (Cmd. 1502), H.C., 1921Google Scholar, xxix.

11 de Valera, Eamon to George, David Lloyd, 08 10, 1921, reproduced in Correspondence (Cmd. 1470), pp. 4–5Google Scholar; also reproduced in Correspondence (Cmd. 1502), pp. 3–5.

12 George, David Lloyd to de Valera, Eamon, 08 10, 1921, reproduced in Correspondence (Cmd. 1470), p. 6Google Scholar; also reproduced in Correspondence (Cmd. 1502), p. 5.

13 de Valera, Eamon to George, David Lloyd, 08 25, 1921, reproduced in Correspondence (Gmd. 1502), p. 6Google Scholar.

14 David Lloyd George to Eamon de Valera, August 24, 1921, ibid., p. 8.

15 George, David Lloyd to de Valera, Eamon, 09 7, 1921, reproduced in Further Correspondence relating to the Proposals of His Majesty's Government for an Irish Settlement, pp. 6–7 (Cmd. 1539), H.C., 1921Google Scholar, xxix.

16 Eamon de Valera to David Lloyd George, September 12, 1921, ibid., p. 7.

17 David Lloyd George to Eamon de Valera, September 15, 1921, ibid., p. 8.

18 David Lloyd George to Eamon de Valera, September 17, 1921, ibid., p. 9.

19 Eamon de Valera to David Lloyd George, September 17, 1921, ibid., p. 9.

20 David Lloyd George to Eamon de Valera, September 18, 1921, ibid., p. 10.

21 David Lloyd George to Eamon de Valera, September 29, 1921, ibid., p. 11.

22 Eamon de Valera to David Lloyd George, September 30, 1921, ibid., p. 11.

23 Fitzgerald, Desmond, “Mr. Pakenham on the Anglo-Irish Treaty,” Studies, XXIV (09, 1935), 409Google Scholar.

24 Pakenham, Frank, Peace by Ordeal: An Account from First Hand Sources of the Negotiation and Signature of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, 1921 (London, 1935), p. 96Google Scholar.

25 Ibid.

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27 Beaslai, Pieras, Michael Collins and the Making of a New Ireland (London, 1929), II, 293Google Scholar.

28 Fitzgerald, Desmond in the Observer, 06 16, 1935, quoted in Ryan, pp. 141–142Google Scholar.

29 Reproduced in full in Macardle, pp. 937–939.

30 Neeson, Eoin, The Civil War in Ireland (Cork, 1966), p. 25Google Scholar.

31 Colum, Padraic, Arthur Griffith (Dublin, 1959), p. 288Google Scholar.

32 O'Faolain, p. 82.

33 Gallagher, p. 174; Ryan, p. 146.

34 Pakenham, p. 92.

35 de Vere White, Terence, Kevin O'Higgins (Tralee, 1966, first published in 1948), p. 67Google Scholar.

36 Gallagher, p. 176.

37 See Macardle, pp. 959–963 for the full text of the document.

38 de Burca, Padraig and Boyle, John F., Free State or Republic? Pictures of the historic treaty session of Dail Eireann (Dublin, 1922), pp. 6–8Google Scholar.

39 Gwynn, Denis, The History of Partition (1912–1925) (Dublin, 1950), p. 154Google Scholar.

40 Ibid., p. 168.

41 Poblacht Na hEireann, January 17, 1922.

12 See Kennedy, Hugh, “Character and Sources of the Constitution of the Irish Free State,” American Bar Association Journal, XIV (08–09, 1928), 437–445Google Scholar.

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44 See O'Sullivan, Donal, The Irish Free State and Its Senate: A Study in Contemporary Politics (London, 1940), pp. 68–82Google Scholar.

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46 The draft constitution submitted to the British government is found in the Public Record Office, London, CAB 43/3, SFG 34.

47 The Times, June 3, 1922; to ascertain the extent of the Irish surrender, compare the document taken to London (cited above) with the version published in Dublin in mid-June 1922. This latter version is most conveniently available in the British parliamentary papers (Cmd. 1688), H.C., 1922, xvii.