At any rate, in consequence of certain negotiations which took place in London in December, 1925, the President, as to whom one of his admirers at that time claimed he had won the greatest victory since Brian Boru, came back, and himself evaluated that victory, and, with his usual choice and happy felicity of phrase, stated that he had made a "damn good bargain," that had left this country with a clean slate, such as no other country in Europe possessed. In due time, the President's "damn good bargain" was written into the Statute Book in the form of an Act entitled the Treaty (Confirmation of Amendment) Agreement Act, 1925, in the schedule of which it was declared, in Article 2: "The Irish Free State is hereby released from obligation under Article 5 of the said Articles of Agreement to assume the liability therein mentioned." I should like to return for a moment to Article 5 of the original Treaty, which is referred to in the second Article of the Amending Agreement. Article 5 provided that in fixing the proportionate liability of the Irish Free State for the service of the public debt of what is called the United Kingdom, due regard was to be paid to any just claim on the part of Ireland by way of set-off or counter-claim. What just claims might have thus been advanced? Quite obviously one of them could have been and, I hope, would have been for a share in the assets of the late United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Such assets, in so far as they were tangible and real, had been created by the moneys of the taxpayer and the services of the sons and daughters of both countries. On the dissolution of the United Kingdom or other change in the political relations between them, each country which was a party to that Union was entitled to its fair share of the assets thus created. Such a fair share embraced, I hold, not only the treasure and credit of the British Treasury and the armaments in Britain's arsenals and her fleets upon the seas, but a share in every asset in her Empire, her Dominions, her Colonies, her territorial possessions, and above all, that vast, immeasurable asset, the good-will of her market in every clime and in every part of the globe. The treasure of Irish citizens, the valour and enterprise of Ireland's children had gone to the building and creation of these, and upon every one of them she had a just claim, and was entitled to a fair share. As a matter of fact, the public debt referred to in Article 5 of the original Agreement represented, in great part, the treasure which had been expended in advancing the assets and territorial possessions and trade position of the United Kingdom, and in addition to the Irish money poured out in that way, there had also been poured out Irish blood. If we were called upon by Article 5 of the Treaty to assume responsibility for the expense of defending that Empire, then equally we were entitled to share in every possession of the British Empire.
Now, the British Empire was not a bankrupt concern even when the Treaty was signed, and even at the time when the amending agreement was signed. Its assets, if they could be realised, far exceeded its liabilities and, therefore, any claim which Ireland might have advanced under Article 5 of the Treaty for a fair share of these assets, certainly would have exceeded any liabilities that Ireland might have been called upon to assume under Article 5 of the Treaty. And one of the best assets, because it had a real existence and because its real value was at least equal to its nominal value—and that could hardly be said with certainty with reference to any armaments or buildings or any other fixed assets—was this Local Loans Fund and the amounts due to that Fund on foot of the advances which had been received from it by local authorities, not only in Ireland, but in Great Britain.
Now, undoubtedly the local authorities had borrowed from that Fund, and undoubtedly, if the relations between Great Britain and this country had remained unchanged, they were bound to repay to that Fund every penny which had been borrowed and all the interest in respect thereof as it fell due. But while the local authorities had been borrowing, our taxpayers had been providing—equally with the taxpayers of Great Britain—the resources out of which the moneys which our local authorities had borrowed had been advanced. It is just possible that perhaps our taxpayers had provided even more than our local authorities had borrowed, and if, and whenever, the assets of the United Kingdom came to be divided, we should be entitled to a share of that part of those assets which might be represented by advances from the Local Loans Fund and the interest which thereunto might have accrued.
Obviously, therefore, so far as this Local Loans Fund is concerned, while this country might have liability in respect of the advances received from the Fund it has also a claim on the Fund in respect of that part of it which was represented by the moneys of the Irish taxpayer.
Let us get back to Article 2 of the amending agreement signed on the 3rd of December, 1925. The words of that Article—and I draw the attention of the House to this— whether by accident or design are very important and significant——
