"Our delegates are keenly conscious of their responsibility. They must be made to feel that a united nation has confidence in them and will support them unflinchingly. The delegates are aware thai no wisdom of theirs, no ability of theirs, will suffice. They indulge therefore, in no foolish hopes nor should the country indulge in these. The power against us will use every artifice it knows in the hope of dispiriting, dividing and weakening us. The unity that is essential will be best maintained by an unwaver-ing faith in those who have been deputed to act on the nation's behalf, and in a con-fidence manifesting itself as hitherto in eloquent discipline. It is no wonder that the older men among us, who remember the bitterness of political divisions thirty years ago, should be afraid of cleavage. But we who have worked together as brothers ought not to be afraid to face each other in argument, and to abide by whatever the result may be. We are asking the delegates to do what our army has been unable to do - to get the British out of the country.

"On October 25 I sent the following memo (No 7 in our documents! to the Chairman of the delegation in London: 'I received the minutes of the 7th session and your letter of October 24. We are all here at one that there can be no question of our asking the Irish people to enter into an Irish arrangement which would make them sub-jects of the Crown, or demand from them allegiance to the British King. If war is the alternative, we can only face it, and the sooner the other side is made to realise that the belter."

COPY OF THE ORIGINAL CREDENTIALS TAKEN TO LONDON BY THE PLENIPOTENTIARIES

"By virtue of the authority vested in me by Dail Eireann, I hereby appoint
Arthur Griffith, TD, Minister for Foreign Affairs (Chairman),
Michael Collins, TD, Minister of Finance.
Robert C Barton, TD, Minister of Economic Affairs:
Edmund J Duggan, TD, and
George Gavan Duffy, TD,
as Envoys Plenipotentiary from the elected Government of the Republic of Ireland, to negotiate and conclude on behalf of Ireland with the representatives of His Britannic Majesty, George V, a Treaty or Treaties of settlement, asso-ciation, and accommodation between Ireland and the Community of Nations known as the British Commonwealth -

In witness hereof, I subscribe my name as President."