Joseph P. Walshe to Michael MacWhite (Geneva)

I am directed by the Minister for External Affairs to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 8th instant, enclosing copy of the letter addressed to you by the British Government concerning the Registration of the Treaty concluded between Great Britain and Ireland on the 6th December, 1921.¹

The Government of the Irish Free State cannot see that any useful purpose would be served by the initiation of a controversy as to the intentions of any individual signatory to the Covenant. The obligations contained in Article 18 are, in their opinion, imposed in the most specific terms on every member of the League and they are unable to accept the contention that the clear and unequivocal language of that Article is susceptible of any interpretation compatible with the limitation which the British Government now seek to read into it.

They accordingly dissent from the view expressed by the British Government that the terms of Article 18 are not applicable to the Treaty of 6th December, 1921.