Arthur Griffith to Eamon de Valera (Dublin)

A E[amon]. a chara:-
Jones met Mr. Duggan and myself at the Grosvenor Hotel this evening.

He talked of two Parliaments with an over-ruling Parliament. We did not offer any opinion. He suggested that Curtis was an authority on this subject and would see us if we wished. We did not express any wish.

He said that Lloyd George was having a meeting of the whole Cabinet to-morrow. No such meeting had been held since the Conference started. If he got the support of the whole Cabinet he would be in a strong position to fight Craig and his backers.

He repeated that Craig's attitude was non-possumus. He had become more intractable as a result of the people he had met here in London.

He said that Lloyd George had put up to him a subordinate 'Ulster' Parliament.

I pointed out to him certain statements in the Daily Chronicle of this morning, i.e. Equality of Representation in Senate; continued representation of Ireland in British Parliament.

I said we would be responsible for neither and if there were to be representation in the British Parliament proposed we would not continue the Conference.

He denied that there was any inspiration of the Daily Chronicle article. He agreed that it is impossible to have representation in the British Parliament for an Irish Parliament.

Lloyd George proposes that a Parliament for the 26 Counties should be set up with such powers as were agreed upon between us, and that a Boundary Commission to delimit the six-county area be established so as to give us the districts in which we are a majority.

Further, he said that Lloyd George would give no further powers than what they possessed under the Partition Act to the area that remained obdurate after the Boundary Commission had completed its work, also that this area would have to bear itself its proportion of British taxation.

He asked us did we think the 'Ulstermen' would accept this proposal. We said we were quite sure they would not. He said that was his own opinion.

The move was a tactical one to deprive 'Ulster' of support in England by showing it was utterly unreasonable in insisting to coerce areas that wished to get out.

He asked us would we stand behind such a proposal. We said that it would be their proposal - not ours, and we would not, therefore, be bound by it but we realised the value as a tactical manoeuvre and if Lloyd George made it we would not queer his position. He was satisfied with this.

He said Bonar Law might come back and try Crown Colony Government on the South for a couple of months, but he (Jones) was anxious to keep Lloyd George from resigning - to keep him in power with the cry that 'Ulster' was impossibilist.