The Minister of Ireland presents his compliments to the Honourable
the Secretary of State and, on the instruction of his Government,
has the honour to transmit herewith a Statement made by Mr. De
Valera in Dublin on January 27th 1942, and issued by the
Government.
[Enclosure]
In reply to the Press Mr. de Valera stated today that the Irish
Government had not been consulted either by the British
Government or the American Government with regard to the coming
of the American troops to the six counties.
Everyone knew, he said, that Ireland had 20 years ago been
partitioned and the six counties cut off from the rest of the
country by an act of the British Parliament despite the
expressed will of the Irish people.
When the United States was entering the last war President Wilson
declared that America meant to fight for democracy and for the
right of peoples to national self determination. The Irish
people took him at his word and in the general elections of
December 1918 by an overwhelming vote (more than three for, to
one against) declared for national independence and for the
establishment of a Republic. This decision was reaffirmed after
two years of conflict with Britain, in the general elections of
1921, when the partition candidates returned were less than
one-fourth of the total representation.
Nevertheless the British Government cut the nation in two and set
up a separate Parliament for six of the thirty-two counties.
These six counties formed no natural, historic or geographic
entity. The area was chosen solely with a view to securing a
majority within it for the anti-national minority. In one-half
of the area including the city of Derry the whole territory
adjoining the boundary with the twenty-six counties, a majority
of the inhabitants are against partition.
To partition the territory of an ancient nation is one of the
crudest wrongs that can be committed against a people. The
partition of Ireland is in essence not different from the former
partition of Poland, nor are the evils that flow from it less in
kind than those Abraham Lincoln foresaw from the projected
partition of the United States, when he determined to prevent it
even at the cost of fighting one of the bitterest civil wars in
history.
The people of Ireland have no feeling of hostility towards and no
desire to be brought in any way into conflict with the United
States. For reasons which I referred to a few weeks ago, the
contrary is the truth, but it is our duty to make it clearly
understood that no matter what troops occupy the six counties,
the Irish peoples claim for the union of the whole national
territory and for supreme jurisdiction over it, will remain
unabated.
Four years ago the British Government recognized fully the
sovereignty of the Irish nation over that part of the national
territory included in the twenty-six counties and the bond has
been honorably kept in that regard. But the maintainance of the
partition of Ireland is as indefensible as aggressions against
small nations elsewhere which
[Page 758]
it is the avowed purpose of Great Britain
and the United States in this war to bring to an end.
