Despatch from Patrick McGilligan to L.S. Amery (London)
(D.5648C) (No. 85) (Confidential) (Copy)

Sir,

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch Confidential No. 89 of the 26th February, and to thank you for having transmitted the completed instrument of ratification to our Chargé d'Affaires at Washington.

2. His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State could not accept the principle upon which the suggestions contained in paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 of your despatch are based. The general acceptance of this principle would bring about the contradictory situation that co-equality could be exercised by a member of the Commonwealth in any given instance only after the consent of all the other members had been obtained. His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State could not, for instance, have registered, in the form of the instrument under consideration, the definite constitutional fact that the approval of the Dáil and Senate and the advice of the Government of the Irish Free State were conditions precedent to the act of signature by His Majesty, if some other member of the Commonwealth wished to raise an objection. The objection in this instance would doubtless come from a remote nation of the Commonwealth in which the observance of democratic principles had not yet been extended to the domain of constitutional practice. It is not difficult to foresee the consequences of such interference, and His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State must place on record their view that modifications in forms and procedure which bring these latter into harmony with constitutional facts are exclusively within the competency of the individual Government concerned.

3. His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State, moreover, feel that in these matters an important factor is frequently overlooked. Circumstances in one part of the Commonwealth may not require the facts of the constitution to be set out in solemn form, but the vital interests of another part may imperatively require this solemn formulation. It is better to assume that each member of the Commonwealth, when considering changes in old forms, acts only after the most mature consideration. If a fuller manifestation of constitutional realities in a particular State of the Commonwealth produces greater contentment of mind in that state it must, in the last analysis, operate for the general good of the whole.

4. His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State regret that there was no opportunity to explain the purport of the modifications to His Majesty, but an opportunity will be sought as soon as possible after His Majesty's complete recovery to put their views before him.