Memorandum from Joseph P. Walshe to Charles Bewley (Vatican City)
(E.A. 231/57) (Copy)

1. I have your general report dated 1st July.¹ To complete this report as a first general survey of our position in Rome the Minister wishes to have some idea of your relations with the clerics of Irish birth or origin.² The consolidation of this body behind the Saorstát Minister would seem to be one of the most potent means of securing our proper place in Rome.

2. The real advantage of the final withdrawal of the British Legation would be constitutional rather than political. It would give Cardinal Pacelli a very clear proof of the personal union which you have been explaining to him as the real basis of the relationship between Great Britain and the Saorstát. It is, however, conceivable that the British might effect a withdrawal without a breach of friendly relations though their method of doing so is not easy to foresee.

3. With regard to your relations with the British Legation we should like to have details in future of the actual matters relating to the Saorstát which they may pass over to you.

The Minister has no objection to your taking your annual holiday at the end of July, but he wishes to have the supplementary Report³ already mentioned before you leave Rome.