Extract from a letter from Eamon de Valera to Arthur Griffith (for Cabinet) (Dublin)
(No. 1)

To U.S.F.A.
One of the main things that has made our movement a success is the simplicity of the objective and the directness of the methods, no elaborate constructive schemes, etc.

The time hasn't yet come when we should even consider the idea of sacrificing any of these to any dream no matter how attractive. League of Nations ideas are the hardest in the world to materialise, but an entente between ourselves, the Scotch, Welsh and the Overseas Dominions, as if they were nations independent of England, should be encouraged.

We will need a delicate touch in handling anything of this sort, because we must make it clear that it is as an external to the British system that we are acting, and that we are dealing with these countries as if they were also nations independent of England.