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Why was Ireland partioned in 1920-21?

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This stuy unit - for GCSE coursework - provides a framwork for students in English secondary schools to investigate the different reasons behind the decision to partitionIreland in 1920-21.
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Ulster and Northern Ireland, 1921 The symbols on each county show the proportion of Catholics to Protestants Nationalism and Unionism by Brennan, E. & Gillespie, S., CUP, 0-52146-605-9, p. 74 Conflict in Ireland Year 11 Coursework unit A01 Why was Ireland partitioned in 1921? By Richard Bailey Ansford Community School Castle Carey
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Page 1: Why was Ireland partioned in 1920-21?

Ulster and Northern Ireland, 1921The symbols on each county show the proportion of Catholics to ProtestantsNationalism and Unionism by Brennan, E. & Gillespie, S., CUP, 0-52146-605-9, p. 74

Conflict in Ireland Year 11 Coursework unit A01

Why was Ireland partitioned in 1921? By

Richard BaileyAnsford Community SchoolCastle Carey

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Mark scheme

Question 1Use the source material and your own knowledge to describe how the Easter Rising of 1916 was crushed by theBritish (10 marks)

Level 1 Shows a basic understanding of how the Rising was crushed and makes simple statements that describesequence of events (1-3 marks)

Level 2 Simple, accurate description of the crushing of the Rising, showing good understanding (4-7 marks)Level 3 A logical, clear and coherent account with well-selected supporting knowledge (8-10 marks)

Question 2What effects did the Easter Rising and the Sinn Fein Election victory of 1918 have on the decision to partitionIreland? (15 marks)

Level 1 Makes simple statements showing basic comprehension of effects of Easter Rising and Election(1-5 marks)

Level 2 Simple explanation in generally clear and structured form, showing understanding (6-8 marks)Level 3 Logical and coherent explanation showing how events inter-related, expressed with confident

understanding (9-13 marks)Level 4 A logical and sustained discussion showing real understanding of the topic, with precisely-selected

knowledge (14-15 marks)

Question 3How did the events of 1918-21 lead to the Anglo-Irish Treaty? (10 marks)

Level 1 Simple narrative showing understanding of sequence of events, with at least one link to the Treaty(1-3 marks)

Level 2 Simple explanation in clear and structured form (4-7 marks)Level 3 Logical and coherent explanation with good selection of knowledge to show understanding

(8-10 marks)

Question 4Look at the main clauses of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Explain how each of the following would have reacted to it:

(a) a Nationalist supporter of the Treaty; (b) a Nationalist opponent of the Treaty (15 marks)

Level 1 Can produce at least one reaction per group, simply expressed but without explanation (1-4 marks)Level 2 Produces at least one reason for all groups with some simple explanation of their motives

(5-8 marks)Level 3 Logical and coherent explanation of a variety of reactions, with clear understanding of why different

groups had different attitudes (9-12 marks)Level 4 Logical and sustained discussion of factors, with some analysis of their significance e.g. sees effects of

De Valera’s attitude (13-15 marks)

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Key questionWhy was Ireland partitioned in 1921?

In this piece of coursework you are going to investigate the different reasons behind the decision to partitionIreland in 1921. You will use some source material as well as your own investigations to answer a series ofquestions that will show your overall understanding of the Key question.

The questions

1. Using the source material and your own investigations, explain how the Easter Rising of 1916 was crushed bythe British. (10 marks)

2. What effects might the Easter Rising and the Sinn Fein election victory of 1918 have had on the decision topartition Ireland? Use the sources and your own investigation. (15 marks)

3. How did the events of 1918-21 lead to the Anglo-Irish Treaty? Use the sources and your own investigation.(10 marks)

4. Look at the main clauses of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in the source booklet. Explain the attitude of the followingto the Treaty:a) A nationalist supporter of the Treatyb) A nationalist opponent of the Treaty (15 marks)

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The Easter rising of 1916Background information

In the period leading up to the First World War there had been a move towards Home Rule for Ireland. HomeRule would have given the Irish their own parliament that could make laws relating to domestic (Irish) issues.Major decisions about the economy and foreign affairs would still be made in London. Home rule was a verypopular idea amongst the Irish population and was supported by the Liberal government of the day. Attitudestowards Home Rule changed as a result of the Easter 1916 Rising. At the 1918 election, Sinn Fein won 73 seats,the Home rule party only 6 seats and the Unionists 26 seats, each in northern counties.

Causes of the Easter rising

Date Event Consequence/description

1912 Third reading of Home Bill This made Home rule for Ireland inevitable. Some people in Ulster start toarm themselves.

1912-14 IRB arm themselves As a response to the arming of Ulstermen the IRB orders its members tobe trained in military drill. This makes conflict more likely.

1914 Irish Citizen Army emerges As a result of police violence against striking transport workers the ICAwas formed.

August1914

Britain declares war onGermany

Many men join the British army.Nationalists see the war as an opportunity to rebel.

1914-16 War British government pressurises men to join the army yet still does notimplement Home Rule.Leads to further anger amongst Nationalists.

1916 Easter rising An opportunist rebellion led by a small group of Irish Volunteers. TheRising is suppressed by the British army.

Activities1. Briefly explain what Home Rule would have meant for Ireland.2. Which sections of the Irish population would have supported Home Rule?3. Which sections of the Irish population would have opposed Home Rule?

Explain your answer.4. Why would so many Ulstermen be enraged by the prospect of Home Rule?5. Why did extreme nationalists see the advent of the First World War as an opportunity?

‘A raucous crowd came pouring out of the houses and the side streets to accost the rebels. Waving British flags,they shouted “Murderers! Guttersnipes!” The flood of insults was fierce. These were the people for whose freedomthe rebels had just been risking death.’Eyewitness account.

6. What reasons are there to explain the reaction of the local Irish population to the rebel leaders?7. Why might the above account be considered unreliable?8. What impact might the Rising have on the implementation of Home Rule?

Outline of the Rising

The Volunteers seized and fortified six positions in Dublin city: the GPO, the Four Courts, Boland’s Mill, St. Stephen’sGreen, Jacobs Factory and the South Dublin Union. Attempts to seize Dublin Castle and Trinity College failed. This latterfailure severely restricted the Volunteers means of communicating with each other. The failure of the country to rise madeit impossible to prevent the arrival of English reinforcements. By Wednesday the revolutionaries were outnumbered by20 to 1. The English secured a cordon about the city and closed in. They concentrated their attack on the GPO whilst noneof the other strongholds came under the same sort of concentrated bombardment.

The Rising - a day by day account

Monday, 24 AprilEaster Monday, 24 April 1916, was a Bank Holiday and as little more than a thousand volunteers marched through thecity they were seen by holiday crowds out enjoying the fine weather. It may seem strange that groups of armed men, someuniformed, marching their way through the city would arouse so little attention but such a thing had become a commonsight for Dubliners in the past two years. The Dublin police had had no warning of a rising and though arms were availableto the police, unless there was an emergency they usually went about there duties unarmed. Most of the rebels’ objectiveswere seized with almost no opposition. In two crucial areas, however, they failed to press home the surprise that lay ontheir side. In Phoenix Park was a government arsenal and for the arms-hungry rebels it should have been a target of theutmost priority. They failed to take the arsenal and the weapons it contained. Similarly, Dublin Castle was threatened butnot taken. Although the presence of armed Irishmen without the gates caused no little amount of panic to the British

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De Valera captured

within, the attempt to take this symbol of British power in Ireland was not pursued vigorously enough, the rebels believingit to be held more strongly than it was. The British were left in peace to organise their riposte.

The rebels successfully seized areas both north and south of the River Liffey. Pearse and Connolly and about 150 menincluding Joseph Plunkett and his aide Michael Collins took over the General Post Office in Sackville (now O’Connell)Street, ejected the staff, barricaded the doors and prepared for the inevitable British reply. Above the roof of the GPO theydefiantly ‘flung out a flag of war’, actually two; the Irish tricolour and a green banner bearing a golden harp and the words‘Irish republic’ written in Irish letters. Five other main areas were taken. The South Dublin Union, a group of workhousebuildings, was held by Eamonn Ceannt, the Four Courts were seized by Ned Daly and his 1st Battalion, Jacob’s Factoryby men under the command of Thomas MacDonagh, St. Stephen’s Green by Michael Mallin and Countess Markievicz’sunit and Boland’s Mill by Eamonn De Valera. The latter position was of great importance as it covered the road fromKingstown, the port through which any British reinforcements would surely pass. Some men rose in Meath and there wasfighting in both Wexford and Galway but apart from a few widely separated and unco-ordinated skirmishes the rest of thecountry stayed quiet. Those who rose outside Dublin were too few and too widely scattered to offer any save emotionalsupport to the men in the capital. Dublin quickly became the focus of the rebellion and of British attempts to suppress it.

One of the first successful rebel actions in defence of what they had seized occurred in Sackville Street barely an hour afterthe GPO was taken. A troop of British lancers, forgetting how vulnerable cavalry had become in the face of modern riflesand probably naively thinking that a simple show of force would be enough to bring the ‘restless natives’ to their senses,charged down the street towards the post office. Accurate rifle fire soon disabused them of that notion. Four lancers andmany horses were killed, more wounded. Taken by surprise the British authorities responded quickly and forcefully. DublinCastle called in units from the nearby Curragh army base and urgently appealed to London for extra troops. The C-in-CLand Forces in Britain was Field Marshal Sir John French. Ex-commander of the BEF in France and one-time cavalrycommander in the Boer War, French was an Irishman and a determined Unionist. He ordered four divisions to be readyto transfer to Ireland. These forces totalled over 50,000 men. There was not much more fighting on Monday as the Britishmarshalled their forces and the rebels tried to fortify their positions. By that evening they had established effective controlof the city centre but they were hampered by a lack of signalling equipment which forced them to use runners to maintaincontact between their strong points. As the fighting intensified in the coming days communications between the differentunits broke down.

Tuesday, 25 AprilThere was not much fighting on Tuesday either, but serious looting broke out and despiteappeals by the self-proclaimed leaders of the Provisional Government it could not be stopped.Meanwhile the British had declared martial law and managed to assemble over 6,500 troopsin Dublin itself. They had also brought in artillery and were quite prepared to use it. Connollyhad always assumed that capitalist sentiment would prevent the British from destroying theirown property. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Not only had the British brought 13 and18 pounder field guns into the city but a Royal Navy sloop, the Helga, had been summoned.

It was on Tuesday that the atrocities began. A British officer, a certain CaptainBowen-Colthurst executed four men without trial; men entirely innocent who had simply beenunlucky enough to have crossed Colthurst’s path. One of them Francis ‘Skeffy’ Skeffingtonwas a well known Dublin character. Colthurst never answered for his crimes before a courtof law. He was certainly insane, but this begs the question as to why the British Army alloweda mad officer to remain on active service and in command of troops. More atrocities were to follow but they had little ofthe premeditation of Colthurst’s crimes. The newly arrived British reinforcements were mostly young, raw recruits andthey faced fire for the first time not on a battlefield but in a modern city. Their confusion was understandable andcompounded by the fact that few of the rebels wore uniform. It did not become long for any adult male to be seen as apossible enemy. Also when soldiers are used in the role of policemen, their discipline tends to deteriorate, a fact notunknown in the Ireland of more modern times.

Wednesday, 26 AprilOn Wednesday 26th, the gunboat Helga steamed up the Liffey and bombarded Liberty hall, HQ of the Citizen’s Army.Luckily, it had been evacuated and there were no casualties. People in other buildings were not so lucky as behind thecover of their artillery, the British tried to work themselves closer to the GPO. Guns set up in Trinity College fired intoSackville Street and Dublin began to burn. Then a further 10,000 British troops arrived and as they marched up the roadfrom Kingstown were ambushed by De Valera’s men and the rebels in St. Stephen’s Green. The British suffered heavycasualties but the rebels were hopelessly outnumbered and forced out of the Green and back into the Royal College ofSurgeons, the British hot on their heels. The fighting was much more widespread and vicious now, with large parts of thecentre of Dublin being virtual free-fire zones. Normal life in the city came to a standstill. Organised firefighting wasimpossible, evacuation of civilians difficult and dangerous and worse, no food was coming into the city. Already burning,the city began to starve. In the GPO conditions were appalling but the handful of brave men and women held out as bestthey could while the flames from burning buildings and the British infantry crept inexorably closer.

Thursday, 27 AprilAs more British poured into the city, the South Dublin Union and Boland’s Mill were attacked by British forces and therebel perimeters forced back. Both positions held out, however. At the GPO conditions continued to deteriorate. In anabortive sally intended to set up an outpost, Connolly was hit twice. Seriously wounded he continued giving orders eventhough he was in great pain and unable to walk. A new C-in-C Ireland arrived on the Thursday. His name was GeneralSir John Maxwell, a chain-smoking soldier who had but recently successfully defended the Suez canal from a majorTurkish invasion. He knew little of Ireland , however, and in his determination to follow his orders to squash the rebellionas soon as possible his was to be very heavy-handed. As martial law was in force Maxwell had full powers to act as he sawfit.

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General Maxwell

Friday, 28 AprilBy Friday morning, the GPO was on the point of becoming untenable. It was being heavilybombarded and was burning from the top down. It became obvious that evacuation of thebuilding was necessary and whilst attempting to establish a position to cover the withdrawal,the O’Rahilly led an assault in Moore Street. It was repulsed with the loss of twenty men, theO’Rahilly among them. Small groups tried, some successfully, to break out and finally onlythe leaders and a few others remained in the building. Carrying Connolly in a litter theycrossed into a row of houses in Moore Street and tried to move from house to house. It wasalmost impossible with the British firing at anything, rebel or civilian, that moved.

Saturday, 29 AprilStill in Moore Street, on Saturday morning a meeting was held between Patrick Pearse, hisbrother Willie, Joseph Plunkett, Tom Clarke and Mac Diarmada. It must have been amelancholy gathering indeed. They knew they were beaten and worse that any continuedresistance would only result in more horror for the people of Dublin and more innocentdeaths. Whatever the desire for a fight to the finish, concern for the civilian inhabitants of thecity thankfully prevailed and the decision to surrender was taken. Pearse tried to negotiate with the British commander,General Lowe, but confident in his own overwhelming superiority of military force Lowe offered only unconditionalsurrender. Pearse had no choice but to accept. Slowly and painfully word was got out to the other scattered units of rebelsto lay down their arms. After six days of struggle against insuperable odds, it was all over. De Valera was the last tosurrender.

The aftermath

When the captured rebels were marched off to captivity they were jeered and pelted with trash by the traumatized, hungrycitizens of Dublin. Maxwell noted this disapproval with which the ordinary people of Ireland seemed to view the failedrising and felt that in the face of such hostility to the rebels he need not take public opinion into account when he dealtwith the ringleaders. This proved to be a great miscalculation. Maxwell was swift, ruthless and brutal in his punishment.After brief courts martial, in one of which Pearse deeply impressed his British military judges with his eloquent patriotism,the leaders were condemned to death. There was no process of appeal. Quickly and quietly, in Kilmainham Gaol, theexecutions took place; Pearse, Tom Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh on May 3rd; Ned Daly, Joseph Plunkett, MichaelO’Hanrahan and Willie Pearse the following day; John MacBride was shot on May 5th; Con Colbert, Eamonn Ceannt,Michael Mallin and Sean Heuston on May 8th; Thomas Kent, who had fought in Cork, on the 9th; James Connolly and SeanMac Diarmada on May 12th. Connolly was so ill from his wounds that he was unable to stand for his execution. It didn’tmatter to the British; they tied him to a chair and shot him sitting down. Of all the rebel leaders captured, only De Valeraescaped the executioner on account of his holding US citizenship. Thousands of rank and file supporters of the IRB wereinterned and sent to prison camps in England.

Maxwell had gone too far. He had indeed put the rebellion down quickly but his repressive methods shocked world opinionand sickened the Irish people. The same people who had jeered the rebels on their capture now revered them as martyrsfor the cause of Irish liberty. Pearse and all his semi-mystical ideas of blood sacrifice was right in the end. What his smallband of rebels had been unable to do in life they were to accomplish in death. The road to Irish freedom had still a longway to go but barely had the smoke cleared from the firing squads in Kilmainham Gaol than a new stronger flame of Irishresistance was born. It was this flame that would finally see the backs of the British.

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Source A

Proclamation declaring the establishment of the Irish republic 1916

Poblacht na h-EireannThe Provisional Government of the Irish Republic

To the People of Ireland

... We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfetteredcontrol of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreignpeople and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by thedestruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to nationalfreedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms.Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we herebyproclaim the Irish republic as a sovereign independent state, and we pledge our lives and the lives of ourcomrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.

The Irish republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens,and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts,cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by analien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.

... In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline, and by the readiness of itschildren to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to whichit is called.

Signed on Behalf of the Provisional Government,

THOMAS J CLARKE,SEAN Mac DIARMADA, THOMAS MacDONAGH,

P. H. PEARSE, EAMONN CEANNT, JAMES CONNOLLY, JOSEPH PLUNKETT.

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•Dublin

Source B

1916 - Republican & Unionists perspectives

1a. ‘The Birth of the Republic’by Walter Paget, 1916 - anartist’s impression of the sceneinside the General Post Office,Dublin, at the height of theEaster Rising, just before thesurrender.

Patrick Pearse stands (hatlessand holding a revolver) on theleft of the stretcher, whereJames Connolly lies wounded.The picture was commissionedin 1916 by supporters of theRising and the artist has caughtthe ‘romance’ of the occasion inheroic style.

National Museum of Ireland

2a. Some 206,000 men from Irelandserved during the World War 30,000died, most dramatically during theBattle of the Somme, which beganin July 1916. One of the three Irishdivisions, the Ulster Divisionsuffered over 5,500 casualties in thefirst two days out of a total of15,000 men.

1b. At most some 2,000 Irish menand women took part in the EasterRising in Dublin in 1916 to set upan Irish Republic, completelyindependent from Britain. Amongthe dead were 64 insurgents,including the executed leaders, 132members of the Crown forces and230 civilians.

2b. The Battle of the Somme: avery famous painting, by JamesPrinsep Beadle, ‘The Attack bythe 36th (Ulster) Division,Somme, 1st July 1916', 1917.

Beadle, a military artist,painted scenes from theGreat War, often fromimagination and sometimeswith the help from veterans- in this instance the youngofficer with his arm raised.

Belfast City Council

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Sources C & D

Irish reactions to the execution of participants in the Rising

Source C

It is the first rebellion that ever took place in Ireland where you had a majorityon your side. It is the fruit of our life work. We have risked our lives a hundredtimes to bring about this result. We are held up to odium as traitors by those menwho made this rebellion, and our lives have been in danger a hundred times duringthe last thirty years because we have endeavoured to reconcile the two things, andnow you are washing out our whole life work in a sea of blood ...

The great bulk of the population were not favourable to the insurrection, and theinsurgents themselves, who had confidently calculated on a rising of the people intheir support, were absolutely disappointed. They got no popular supportwhatever. What is happening is that thousands of people in Dublin, who ten daysago were bitterly opposed to the whole of the Sinn Fein movement and to therebellion, are now becoming infuriated against the government on account of theseexecutions, and, as I am informed by letters received this morning, that feeling isspreading throughout the country in a most dangerous degree ...

John Dillon, Home Rule MP, speaking in the House of Commons, 11 May 1916

Source D

The executions, which followed the defeat of the Volunteers, horrified the nation ...The first open manifestation of the deep public feeling aroused by the executionswas at the Month’s Mind for the dead leaders. A Month’s Mind is the Masscelebrated for the soul of a relative or friend a month after his death. It was the firstopportunity that sympathisers of the rebels had to come out in the open. I wentwith my father to the first of the Month’s Minds, which was for the brothers Pearse,at Rathfarnham. We arrived well in time for Mass but could not get into the churchand the forecourt was packed right out to the road. I was surprised to see so manywell-dressed and obviously well-to-do people present ... I went to other Month’sMinds with my father - to Merchant’s Quay, John’s Lane and other city churches. For us young people these Masses were occasions for quite spontaneousdemonstrations, shouting insults at the Dublin Metropolitan Police who werealways around but, having learned their lesson during the 1913 strike, were anxiousto avoid trouble...’

C.S. Andrews, who witnessed the Rising and its aftermath

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Source E

Timechart - events leading up to partition

1918 December United Kingdom general election. Sinn Fein won 73 out of 105 Irish seats.Sinn Fein MPs refused to attend the British Parliament. They formed their own Parliament - Dáil Éireann.

1919 January Dáil Éireann declared Ireland to be an Independent Republic.The British government refused to accept it.Start of War of Independence.Michael Collins led the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in attacks on the police inIreland.

1920 March

July

December

British ex-soldiers - the Black and Tans - volunteered to help the police fight theRepublicans.British ex-officers - the Auxiliaries - arrived to help the police and the Black andTans.Auxiliaries and Black and Tans burned down the centre of Cork in revenge for IRAkillings.The Government of Ireland Act partitioned Ireland into two parts. The northern part, Northern Ireland, agreed to accept Home Rule within the UnitedKingdom.The South refused anything short of complete independence.

1921 December The Anglo-Irish Treaty ended the fighting.Southern Ireland became the Irish Free State and remained part of the BritishCommonwealth.

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Source F

The Anglo-Irish Treaty - some critical clauses

1. Ireland shall have the same constitutional status in the community of nations known as theBritish Empire as the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominionof New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa, with a parliament having powers to makelaws for the peace and good government of Ireland and an executive responsible to thatparliament, and shall be styled and known as the Irish Free State.

4. The oath to be taken by members of the parliament of the Irish Free State shall be in thefollowing form: I ... do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of theIrish Free State as by law established and that I will be faithful to HM King George V, hisheirs and successors by law in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with GreatBritain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the BritishCommonwealth of nations.

11. Until the expiration of one month from the passing of the act of parliament for theratification of this instrument, the powers of the parliament and the government of theIrish Free State shall not be exercisable as respects Northern Ireland, and the provisions ofthe Government of Ireland Act, 1920, shall, so far as they relate to Northern Ireland,remain of full force and effect, and no election shall be held for the return of members toserve in the parliament of the Irish Free State for constituencies in Northern Ireland, unlessa resolution is passed by both houses of the Parliament of Northern Ireland in favour ofthe holding of such elections before the end of the said month.

12. If before the expiration of the said month, an address is presented to His Majesty by bothhouses of Parliament of Northern Ireland to that effect, the powers of the Parliament andGovernment of the Irish Free State shall no longer extend to Northern Ireland, and theprovisions of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 (including those relating to the Councilof Ireland), shall so far as they relate to Northern Ireland, continue to be of full force andeffect, and this instrument shall have effect subject to the necessary modifications.

Provided that if such an address is so presented a commission consisting of three persons,one to be appointed by the Government of the Irish Free State, one to be appointed by theGovernment of Northern Ireland, and one who shall be chairman to be appointed by theBritish Government shall determine in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants, so faras may be compatible with economic and geographic conditions, the boundaries betweenNorthern Ireland and the rest of Ireland, and for the purposes of the Government ofIreland Act, 1920, and of this instrument, the boundary of Northern Ireland shall be suchas may be determined by such commission ...

Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland [Cmd 1560], 1921

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Source G

Arguments for & against the Treaty


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