Memorandum from Timothy A. Smiddy to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)¹
(L.N. 80) (Secret and Confidential)

At a Reception at the German Embassy last Friday night I conversed at some length with M. Fridrichs Vesmanis, Minister for Latvia, on the subject of the Council of the League of Nations. I mentioned that we were a candidate for the Council of the League at the Meeting of the Assembly next September, of which he was already cognisant. I said that small nations such as his would find in the Irish Free State a champion of the national interests of small States, as also of minorities. He asked if there was any other Dominion seeking election to the Council: I said no.

He mentioned that we would have the support of Great Britain and of the other Dominions for our candidature and, he presumed, the other Members of the British Commonwealth of Nations including Great Britain would consult beforehand with a view to the action that the States Members of the Commonwealth would take with reference to such election, as also to other League matters. I informed him that there was no joint understanding or discussion such as he envisaged, especially with reference to our candidature or that of any other State Member of the Commonwealth for the Council of the League of Nations. So far as Great Britain is concerned she will not on any account commit herself to the support of any member of the Commonwealth for the Council, beforehand. We, the Irish Free State, naturally seek the support of our sister-Dominions in the same way as we seek the support of any other nation, not because they are Dominions, and not on the understanding that we will in any way represent the collective interests of the British Commonwealth. We approach such Dominions in the same way as we solicit the support of any other nation who we think would consider us as a suitable member from the point of view of the interests of the League and the point of view of the individual nations concerned.

He mentioned that there is a feeling among European nations that the Members of the British Commonwealth of Nations act as a group in such matters and such a belief, he said, is apt to make these European nations slow to support a second representative of the British Commonwealth of Nations on the Council. I impressed upon him that since 1926 we have strongly opposed the idea of any such group system, as also the right of the Commonwealth as such, exclusive of Great Britain, to be represented on the Council. On the other hand, we have always strongly urged that any Member of the British Commonwealth who is a Member of the League of Nations on the same basis and understanding as any other nation has got a right to seek election to the Council, as a Member of the League, but not as a Member of the British Commonwealth. I reminded him that when the Minister for External Affairs of the Irish Free State sought a Seat on the Council for the Irish Free State in 1926, he did so on this principle: further, in September 1929 the Minister for External Affairs of the Irish Free State expressed the intention of his country seeking election at the Assembly in 1930. The Commonwealth of Australia also expressed the intention of being a candidate, and it was mentioned in some quarters that Australia had a prior claim to the Irish Free State, because she was senior to the Irish Free State in the precedence of the Members of the British Commonwealth. We strongly protested against basing a claim for candidature on any such principle, as it involved the group system and a claim on the Commonwealth, as such. However, it now happens that there is no other Member of the British Commonwealth seeking election for the temporary Membership of the Council except the Irish Free State. He said he was very glad to hear that these were the principles that actuated the Irish Free State, and that we were opposed to the group system. I drew to his notice the instances in which Canada and the Irish Free State did not vote in the same way as Great Britain did. I referred especially to the fact that the Irish Free State adhered to the Optional Clause of the Court of International Justice without reservation, whereas all the other Dominions agreed to reservations. He said he ventured the opinion that his country would support our candidature.