William J.B. Macaulay to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)
(M. Spl. 135/4/25)

A Chara,

I am directed by the Minister Plenipotentiary to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 18th August, 275/300,¹ and to state that in his opinion the number of persons still shewn on the Black List solely on account of their support of the pre-Saorstát movement is exceedingly small, if any.

It will be found on an examination of the Irish names on the list that probably all of these individuals are primarily Bolshevists or Anarchists and while they may have made speeches or otherwise lent their aid in support of the Irish movement, such support was merely incidental and secondary to their real purpose of Bolshevist or anarchical propaganda. Nearing's is a case in point. This man is a notorious anarchist, and the Minister for External Affairs will no doubt agree that any Irish sympathies he may have displayed do not entitle him to claim to be regarded as one proscribed on that account alone. Mr Murphy states that Quinlan was on the list only on account of his republican activities. This has not yet been verified but he certainly has not the infamous reputation which Nearing enjoys in this country.

The British Authorities have always been found to be entirely agreeable to the removal from the Black List of the name of any person whose inclusion thereon could reasonably be regarded as solely due to his support of the pre-Saorstát movement.

The British Embassy, like every other Embassy and Legation save this one, has been in its summer quarters since June and will not return to Washington until the end of September. Upon its return His Excellency will take up the matter of the Black List directly with the Ambassador, obtain a list of Irish names and endeavour to ascertain whether any of these is included solely on account of the individuals pre-Saorstát activities. There will be no difficulty in having such names removed. It should however be noted that the Embassy is not furnished with full details of the reasons for the inclusion of names on the list; this information is in the Foreign Office and fuller information could be obtained therefrom direct by your Department.

From an examination of the Black List in New York the Minister Plenipotentiary does not consider that it is out of date. The London Passport Officer's list is, of course, quite different since it governs the issuance of passports and the British Foreign Office will not issue passports to residents of Saorstát Éireann since your Department does that. A British Subject requires no visa and none but the names of aliens appears on the Black List.

His Excellency proposes, as a rule, not to allow a visa to be given in cases where persons although known to have supported the pre-Saorstát movement are in fact Bolshevists and who used the Republican movement here merely as a means for gaining publicity and as a side issue in their real activity. The Minister is aware that there are many of this type and he does not think they should be allowed to capitalize any support they may have given to the Irish movement which they utilized, not on its merits, nor for a genuine desire to serve it, but merely as a stepping stone or a convenient instrument in an agitation with which the Republican movement had nothing in common.