Confidential report from Charles Bewley to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)¹
(43/33)

There has been considerable interest here in the Irish question since the Chancellor's references in his Reichstag speech², and the Partition question has naturally been referred to in connection with the conscription issue.

The reference in the Chancellor's speech, as reported not only in the Irish press but also in the English, French and Italian, was to the effect that England has no more right to interfere with German proceedings in Bohemia and Moravia than Germany would have to interfere with English measures in Northern Ireland. In fact, the word used by the Chancellor was 'Ireland', not 'Northern Ireland', and it so appeared in the whole German press. I do not personally see any motive for the alteration, nor can I conjecture by whom it was made. If the Chancellor had intended to refer to Northern Ireland and said Ireland by inadvertence, the words Northern Ireland would have appeared in the German press, which received typed copies of the speech; on the other hand it is hard to see why the German authorities should have issued another version to the foreign press to that appearing in the German newspapers, and equally hard to understand why the foreign press should with unanimity have changed the wording of the speech.

Members of the Press Department of the Foreign Office have informed me that they are pleased with the reception of the speech in Ireland, and stated that they notice in the last weeks a modification of the hostile attitude of the Irish Press, which they attribute to pressure from the Irish Government, and which they wish to reciprocate by a friendly attitude towards Ireland.

An official of the Foreign Office also mentioned that they did not expect any change in the attitude of the Irish Times, as they knew that it had to take its orders from certain English and international organisations, but that they regretted particularly that the only editor in Dublin with any knowledge whatever of Germany should be so hostile³. He also added that they regarded public opinion in Ireland as less unfriendly than official circles. Finally, in referring to the episode of the Lord Mayor of Cork⁴ who refused to greet the German training ship⁵, he said that they had not wished to make too much of the discourtesy of an individual especially as they knew that, although he stated in public that his action was dictated by his Catholic sentiments, he had stated to his friends that his real objection to Germany was the suppression of Social Democratic trade unions.