Letter from Seán Murphy to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)

I am sending this letter through the H.C. London by the courtesy of the French Foreign Office.

Up to the present I cannot send you a valise or telegraph you in code. I am told that the question is under consideration and that the restriction is a military measure.

I have seen the Minister for Foreign Affairs,¹ the Director General of Foreign Affairs, the Political Director and the person in the political section who deals with Ireland amongst other countries, and who happens to be at the moment our friend Roger Gaucheron.² I found the Minister very affable and friendly and very interested in Ireland. During my interview with him, I said that I would like, now that the position between France and Ireland had been settled, to pay a visit of courtesy to General de Gaulle.³ The Minister immediately asked me if I had Letters of Credence to present and when I said no, he said that he thought it would be better if I postponed my request for an audience for the time being. I gleaned that he was not very au courant with the situation, so I left the matter like that with him, saying that I had no desire to cause embarrassment to the Government. He thanked me saying that he was very pleased that an exception had been made in the case of Ireland, a country for which he and most French people had much sympathy.

On the following day I went to see Gaucheron who I felt was probably aware of the arrangement you had made with Massigli. I told him I had understood from you that the question of credentials had been postponed for the time being and might possibly come up later on both sides. He said he too understood that was the position. I then told him of my conversation with the Minister; and pointed out that I could not well visit my colleagues and the other members of the Government, as it was normal to do until I had first been received by the head of the Government as inevitably the question of my having been received by General de Gaulle would come up in the course of these visits and I would be put in an embarrassing position vis à vis them, if I had to say that I had not been received by General de Gaulle. He quite agreed that my position would be awkward and promised to discuss the matter with the Director General and the Director Politique.

Some days later Gaucheron arranged an interview for me with the Directeur Politique. I found Monsieur Dejean⁴ very agreeable and put him the question. He said they had no intention of asking for new credentials, at least for the present and perhaps not at all. I said I understood the position in Dublin to be that M. Laforcade had been fully recognised as French Minister in Dublin immediately after the fall of the Pétain regime, and that there had been no question of new credentials on our side. He said in reply that my being received by General de Gaulle at the moment would cause embarrassment, and would be used as a precedent. My acceptance having been at Vichy, was already being used by other countries as an argument for similar treatment but the Government were determined that they would accept no other Head of Mission who had been at Vichy. I said that I had no wish to cause embarrassment to the Government but felt sure he would appreciate that the situation for me was rather difficult. With this he quite agreed and said that he hoped the whole position would be clarified in a short time and then that an audience with General de Gaulle would be arranged.

I said I was hoping to return to Ireland, if possible at the beginning of December, but that naturally my departure would be governed by whether or not I had been able to complete the contacts with the French Government and especially with General de Gaulle, which my Government were anxious should be made as soon as possible. M. Dejean then said that he thought that my departure for Ireland offered an excellent solution of the existing difficulty because on my return from leave the situation would be completely cleared and I could be received by General de Gaulle immediately. I said I was glad to know that he thought that was a solution. I hoped it would be clearly understood if that solution were adopted that the fact that I had not made the recognised courtesy visits would not be regarded as due to any fault of mine. He said that I might rest assured on that point, and repeated his belief that it was the best solution. That is how the matter now stands, and in view of the general situation and of the difficulties in the beginning, I thought it best not to push the question further. The general attitude of the Minister and of all the Foreign Office officials, most of whom I already know is quite friendly and helpful.