Editing Anglo-Irish Treaty (section)

==Approval and ratification==
[[File:The peacemakers- George Gavan Duffy, Erskine Childers, Robert Barton and Arthur Griffith in a group (28455606301).jpg|thumb|Members of the Irish negotiation committee returning to Ireland in December 1921]]
Under the terms of the treaty, it required approval by:
#the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and
#a "meeting summoned for the purpose [of approving the Treaty] of the members elected to sit in the [[Parliament of Southern Ireland|House of Commons of Southern Ireland]]". This referred to the persons elected at the [[1921 Irish elections]] called under the [[Government of Ireland Act 1920]]. This "parliament" had never in fact come into operation;<ref>One formal meeting took place in June, followed by adjournment ''sine die'': see [[Parliament of Southern Ireland#June 1921 meeting]].</ref> of the 128 members elected, the 124 [[Sinn Féin]] candidates refused to sit in the House, instead forming (along with some of the Northern representatives) an alternative parliamentary assembly, the [[Second Dáil]], which claimed to represent all of Ireland.
The British House of Commons approved the treaty on 16 December 1921 by a vote of 401 to 58.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1921/dec/16/irish-free-state|title=IRISH FREE STATE.|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203731/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1921/dec/16/irish-free-state|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=16 December 1921|url-status=live}}</ref> On the same day the House of Lords voted in favour by 166 to 47.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1921/dec/16/address-in-reply-to-his-majestys-most|title=ADDRESS IN REPLY TO HIS MAJESTY'S MOST GRACIOUS SPEECH.|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212813/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1921/dec/16/address-in-reply-to-his-majestys-most|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=16 December 1921|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Dáil approved the new treaty after nine days of public debate on 7 January 1922, by a vote of 64 to 57, but it was not the assembly specified in the treaty. Therefore, its approval of the treaty was not enough to satisfy the requirements of the treaty. The "meeting" required under the terms of the treaty was therefore convened. It formally approved the treaty on 14 January 1922. The "meeting" itself had a somewhat ambiguous status, not being convened or conducted in accordance with the procedures established for the House of Commons, nor being declared a session of Dáil Éireann. Anti-treaty members of the Dáil stayed away, meaning only pro-treaty members and the four elected unionists (who had never sat in Dáil Éireann) attended the meeting. Those assembled overwhelmingly approved the treaty, nominated Michael Collins for appointment as [[Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State|chairman of the provisional government]] and immediately dispersed with no parliamentary business taking place. This was the nearest that the House of Commons of Southern Ireland ever came to functioning; no other meeting ever took place, but the vote on 14 January, in strict compliance with the treaty wording, allowed the British authorities to maintain that the legal niceties had been observed.

In terms of the ratification of the treaty, the treaty required that "necessary legislation" be enacted to ratify it. The legislation required was enacted solely by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The legislation enacted to do so was the [[Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922]] which became law on 31 March 1922.<ref name=Treaty>{{cite journal |url=https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/LON/Volume%2026/v26.pdf#page=9 |title=Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland, signed at London, 6&nbsp;December 1921 |journal=League of Nations Treaty Series |volume=26 |pages=9–19 |number=626 |access-date=21 December 2015 |archive-date=17 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117023808/https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/LON/Volume%2026/v26.pdf#page=9 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1922/mar/31/clause-1-provisions-for-giving-the-force |title=Final debate on 31 Mar 1922 – accessed 22 Jan 2009 |access-date=23 February 2019 |archive-date=9 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309175459/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1922/mar/31/clause-1-provisions-for-giving-the-force |work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=31 March 1922 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>"An Act to give the force of Law to certain Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland, and to enable effect to be given thereto, and for other purposes incidental thereto or consequential thereon."{{spaced ndash}}preamble to the Act</ref>

On 11 July 1924, the treaty was registered at the [[League of Nations]] by the Irish Free State.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/LON/Volume%2026/v26.pdf#page=9 |title=Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland, signed at London, 6&nbsp;December 1921 |journal=League of Nations Treaty Series |volume=26 |pages=9–19 |number=626 |access-date=21 December 2015 |archive-date=17 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117023808/https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/LON/Volume%2026/v26.pdf#page=9 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Dáil debates===
{{Further|Anglo-Irish Treaty Dáil vote}}
The Dáil debates lasted much longer and exposed the diversity of opinion in Ireland. The new Parliament fiercely debated the terms of the Treaty yet devoted a small amount of time on the issue of partition, just nine out of 338 transcript pages.<ref>Moore, Cormac (2019), Birth of the Border, Merrion Press, Newbridge, pp. 63–64, {{ISBN|978-1785372933}}</ref> Opening the debate on 14 December, President de Valera stated his view on procedure:

{{blockquote|It would be ridiculous to think that we could send five men to complete a treaty without the right of ratification by this assembly. That is the only thing that matters. Therefore it is agreed that this treaty is simply an agreement and that it is not binding until the Dáil ratifies it. That is what we are concerned with.}}

However, when the treaty was ratified by the Dáil on 7 January, he refused to accept the vote as final, saying on 10 January that:

{{blockquote|Anything that would seem to make it appear that that Treaty was completed by the resolution of approval here, we are against;}}

Secret sessions were held on 14 to 17 December, and on the morning of 6 January, to keep the discord out of the press and the public arena. During the first of these, de Valera also produced his ideal redraft, which was not in most respects radically different from the signed agreement, but which was probably not acceptable to the British side as the differing points had already been explored.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.difp.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=217|title=Proposed Alternative Treaty of Association between Ireland and the British Commonwealth presented by Mr Eamon de Valera to a Secret Session of Dáil Éireann on 14&nbsp;December 1921|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-date=11 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311144257/http://difp.ie/viewdoc.asp?docid=217|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 15 December, Robert Barton was questioned by [[Kevin O'Higgins]] about his notes on Lloyd George's statement about signing the agreement or facing a renewal of war: "Did Mr Lloyd George single Mr Barton out as the left wing of the delegation and did he say, 'The man who is against peace may bear now and forever the responsibility for terrible and immediate war?{{'"}} Barton replied: "What he did say was that the signature and the recommendation of every member of the delegation was necessary, or war would follow immediately and that the responsibility for that war must rest directly upon those who refused to sign the Treaty". This was seized upon by opponents of the treaty as a convenient proof that the Irish delegates had been subjected to [[Coercion|duress]] at the last minute, and "terrible and immediate war" became a catch-phrase in the debates that followed.<ref>[http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.P.192112150082.html Barton's statement, 15 Dec 1921] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141207054512/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.P.192112150082.html |date=7 December 2014 }}</ref> The next day, de Valera took up this point: "therefore what happened was that over there a threat of immediate force upon our people was made. I believe that that document was signed under duress and, though I have a moral feeling that any agreement entered into ought to be faithfully carried out, I have no hesitation in saying that I would not regard it as binding on the Irish nation."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110607143444/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.P.192112160124.html Secret debates, 16 Dec 1921; De Valera]</ref>

The crucial private Dáil session on 6 January was informed that it could not be told about a private conference of nine TDs that had reached a compromise agreement on almost all points the night before. Most TDs wanted at least to be told what matters were still not agreed on, and from this point onwards the pro-treaty members insisted that all sessions should be held in public.<ref>[http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.P.192201060001.html Private session, 6 January 1922] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607132157/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.P.192201060001.html |date=7 June 2011 }}</ref>

The public sessions lasted nine days from 19 December to 7 January. On 19 December Arthur Griffith moved:
"That Dáil Éireann approves of the Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland, signed in London on 6 December 1921."

By 6 January, the day before the final vote, de Valera acknowledged the deep division within his cabinet: "When these Articles of Agreement were signed, the body in which the executive authority of this assembly, and of the State, is vested became as completely split as it was possible for it to become. Irrevocably, not on personalities or anything of that kind or matter, but on absolute fundamentals."

The Second Dáil ratified the treaty on 7 January 1922 by a vote of 64 to 57. De Valera resigned as president on 9 January and was replaced by Arthur Griffith, on a vote of 60 to 58. On 10 January, de Valera published his second redraft, known generally as ''Document No. 2''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.difp.ie/docs/1921/Anglo-Irish-Treaty/218.htm|title=Proposed Treaty of Association between Ireland and the British Commonwealth presented by Eamon de Valera to Dail Eireann from Eamon de Valera to Dail Eireann – Jan. 1921 – Documents on IRISH FOREIGN POLICY|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-date=4 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404034449/http://www.difp.ie/docs/1921/Anglo-Irish-Treaty/218.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Griffith, as President of the Dáil, worked with Michael Collins, who chaired the new [[Provisional Government of Ireland (1922)|Provisional Government of the Irish Free State]], theoretically answerable to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, as the treaty laid down. On 25 October 1922, a new Irish constitution was enacted by the [[Third Dáil]], sitting as a [[constituent assembly]]; the British Parliament confirmed the enactment on 5 December 1922. This parallel enactment provided the legal basis for the [[Irish Free State]].

The Treaty debates were held in private, and not published until 1972, "in all their aggression and rawness". They comprise a vital resource on the psychology of the Irish War of Independence and show the varying ideals that sustained the Sinn Féin deputies. Definitions of their understanding of their mandate in 1918 and 1921, and of the Republic itself, are interspersed with the practicalities of devolving power from London to Dublin. The narrow division led to the outbreak of the Irish Civil War on 28 June 1922.