Handwritten letter from Seán Murphy to Patrick McGilligan
(Castlerock, Co. Derry)

Dear Minister

I have your letter of the 16th instant.¹ I have made arrangements for Full Power etc for the President. He and Colonel O'Reilly² are leaving by the morning boat on Friday for London where they will spend the night. They will travel to Paris on Saturday morning arriving about 6 o'c.

I quite agree that it is a pity that External Affairs is not more closely associated with the Pact. I thought over your suggestion that you might accompany the President and came to the conclusion that the fact of your being there in the capacity of spectator would not be of any real advantage from the External Affairs point of view. I think that if you were there it must be in the capacity of Plenipotentiary. I don't think there would be any justification for two cabinet ministers being present. We have shown our appreciation of the importance of the document by having it signed by the head of the Government and the presence of another Minister and especially the Foreign Minister might make us look ridiculous. I mentioned the matter to the Attorney General³ and he took the view that as we had departed from the regular procedure there was no harm in accentuating the importance of the occasion by having you accompany the President. In view of the Attorney's opinion I consulted Mr. Blythe and he agreed with me, that having two Ministers there would be overdoing it. He thought that as it had been stated that the President was going instead of you it would be inadvisable to make any change. In all the circumstances I think it would be better to let matters stand as they are. I am enclosing O'Kelly's⁴ letter⁵ with a few comments thereon. I wrote him about a week ago and told him you would not be back in town till the end of August. I said you had to go away on private business. I further said that as Joe⁶ would not be back till October and as I myself would be in Geneva for September you thought it would be best for him to postpone his visit to Dublin till the first week in October. He has replied that such an arrangement would be suitable.

I presume you will come back to Town for the Kellogg reception.

I hope you are having good golf. The weather here has been anything but good, but I suppose you feel in holiday mood so that even the weather does not damp your spirits.