"If we really meant to stand for the hundred per cent of our war programme, we should have fought on, demanding unconditional evacuation by the British. If they refused, we should have driven them into the sea, or perished to the last man and woman, in the attempt. In fact, however we did agree to a Truce, and a great many people were mightily relieved when it came. Moreover, we sent five Plenipotentiaries to negotiate, after Mr Lloyd George had clearly stated his fundamental condition.
The situation was well understood by our Cabinet, and by Dail Eireann itself. Mr de Valera made it perfect-ly clear by explaining to us in private that: "It had really booiled down to a question of what we are going to sell the cow for?" He apologised for the metaphor, saying it was crude, but expressive. No one misunderstood him. The fighting machine we had set up in Ireland and called 'a Republic' was excellent - as a fighting machine. And the outlawed Dail, with its Civil Departments and its guerilla Army, had given a very good account of itself. I do not want to be taken as blaming Mr de Valera for giving up the Republic, and more particularly when he drafted Document no 2. It is true that in public he was not so outspoken as he was with us in private.
In public he merely said: ‘We are not Republican doctrinaires, and we do not negotiate to save faces', This was the diplomatic intimation to the British that the 'cow' was for sale. It follows, therefore, that Mr de Valera's quarrel with Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith was not based on the fact that the 'cow' had been sold: It was simply a question of the price. And Mr de Valera's price was Document no 2 with its oath to recognise the King of England as Head of the Associated States, Ireland being one of these states, and its yearly money voted to the King's personnel revenue, in token of that recognition. Our Plenipotentiaries and I wish to stress that word - were unable to agree that the difference between Document No 2 and the Treaty was one for which they would be justified in plunging their country back into war against overwhelming odds-, So our Plenipotentiaries faced the facts: sometimes it takes more courage to face facts than it does to face machine guns- It became a question of securing evacuation, on terms:
The alternative was a resumption, of war against, odds with the possibility of a 'Sherman's March' of the enemy in Ireland, of which Mr de Valera "had.already warned the Dail."
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