Item 204 - Carbon copy of a letter from Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence to Eamon De Valera

1 single sheet

Congratulates him on the conclusion of the treaty between Great Britain and Eire. Refers to their previous meetings at Washington and elsewhere and to her efforts to expose the abuses of the Black and Tans. She has touched on some of these matters in her book My Part in a Changing World, which has just been published.

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Transcript

26th. April. 1938.

Dear Mr. De Valera,

May I offer you my warmest congratulations and express my great delight at the conclusion of the Treaty between Great Britain and Eire. I am very thankful that harmonious relations have been established at last between the two countries.

You will not remember me of course, but I spoke on the same platform with you in the City of Washington at a protest meeting against the treatment of Mr. MacSweeny, the Mayor of Cork, {1} in prison and I have also met you on other occasions. I followed with very great grief the horrible episode of the Black and Tans in Eire and I was the first person to get the abuses exposed in the “Daily News” becuase† I went quietly to Eire and obtained sworn statement which I was prepared to stand over in a Court of Law. I am only telling you these incidents because I would like you to know how I have followed events in your country with deep sympathy which enables me now to rejoice all the more in this happy conclusion.

I have touched on some of these matters in a book I have just published entitled “My Part in a Changing World.” {2} I do rejoice with you and my other friends, the patriots of Eire, who cherished the dream of her freedom when it seemed impossible and have seen that dream come true in their life time.

Yours sincerely,
[blank]

Rt. Hon. Eamon De Valera,
Government Buildings,
Dublin,
Ireland.

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{1} Terence MacSwiney.

{2} Closing inverted commas supplied.

† Sic.

This description was created by A. C. Green in 2020.