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June: The British Government went ahead with their proposed Council of Ireland who were appointed from within their proposed, "Northern Ireland" the 6 Artificially Partitioned Counties from the 9 in the Ulster Province, which was now fully under the control of the Ascendancy Official Unionists and no representatives were appointed from their proposed "Southern Ireland" 26 Counties election.

June 13th: General Smuts the Prime Minister of South Africa arrived from London and was to meet with the 2nd Dail Eireann - 2nd Irish Assembly - leader Eamonn de Valera secretly to try and encourage him to reach a South African style agreement like he had after the Boer War and the contact was also made for him through Eamonn Duggan in Mountjoy prison in Dublin, and he advised Eamonn de Valera of this, and that he wanted him to make a direct approach to him personally and put it in writing.

June 14th: Sean Mac Eoin the Commander of the I. R.A. Longford Brigade in the north - west of the Leinster Province was charged before a British Court Martial who summarily sentenced him to death and it was now up to Michael Collins to work out a way to save him from being executed but all attempts in the future to free him were to fail. His sentence had been brought about due to the attempt of an R.I.C police Inspector and 10 other R.I.C police trying to arrest him while he was on his own, and it had been an insight into his ability as an individual Irish Volunteer when he initially was able to escape from their ambush but the R.I.C - Black & Tan police Inspector had been killed.

General Smuts now contacted David Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister advising him to use the opportunity of the opening of the British Government's "Northern Ireland Stormont Parliament" composed of the 6 Artificially Partitioned Counties from the 9 in the Ulster Province to announce the foreshadowing of granting Dominion status in Ireland similar to what had been done to appease those in South Africa and even included a draft of the announcement he could make.

June 22nd: David Lloyd - George, the British Prime Minister and the British Cabinet had now rearranged the geography of Ireland by Artificially Partitioning 6 of the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province that the previous English Ascendancy Governments had Confiscated and Planted on an Ethnic Sectarian basis with a majority of non - Catholics and overtime with the various Confiscations and the use of either Death or Exile this had brought about an Irish Catholic 1/ 3rd minority in their own ancient lands. This Ethnic and Sectarian Imperialism was done to appease their bruised ego and continue on with the Ascendancy, who really did not want it anyway, and under British Law it became known as "Northern Ireland" and it's Parliament was opened at Stormont in a Belfast suburb in Co. Antrim in the north - east of Ulster by George V. the King of Britain who made an appeal for Peace. Hugh O Neill was elected as their Speaker under the 40 majority Ulster Unionists while Joseph Devlin had also been elected there as one of the 12 Irish Nationalist M.P.'s. All of the Catholic Irish Bishops produced a joint statement calling for all the people of Ireland, the majority, to be given the chance to choose their own government in their own Country not one thrust on them by the British Imperial Government.

Eamonn de Valera the President of the elected 2nd Dail Eireann - 2nd Irish Assembly - was now captured at Glenvar carrying official 2nd Dail Eireann documents and taken to Bridewell were Sir Alfred Cope the British Government's Assistant Under - Secretary came to see him and had him placed in Portobello Barracks.

June 23rd: Realising that the British Government could not negotiate with Eamonn de Valera if he was in one of their prisons Sir Alfred Cope then had to persuade the reluctant Sir Neville Mac Ready the British Military Commander in Chief in Ireland to release him as David Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister had also given instructions for his immediate release as they needed him free if they were going to negotiate an Anglo - Irish Truce and eventually a settlement. He was then released and he met with Michael Collins, Cathal Brugha and Austin Stack and he now considered that his political usefulness was at an end, as it seemed the British Government was going to allow him to go wherever he wanted, but Sean O Hegarty reminded him not to forget that the Dublin Castle's "Murder Squad" were still out and about carrying out their operations.

June 24th: In the 6 Artificially Partitioned Counties from the 9 in the Ulster Province the British Kings Calvary escort was blown up and 4 Unionists were killed in Newry, a mail train was raided in the Clogher Valley and Belfast itself was under fire and riots as the population there responded to the Partition of Ireland by the British Government. David Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister was now well aware of the great loss of strength of the R.I.C. - Royal Irish Constabulary police in Ireland as their British watchdogs, and he now desperately wanted to improve relations with the elected members of the 2nd Dail Eireann - 2nd Irish Assembly - so he invited Eamonn de Valera the President of the 2nd Dail Eireann - 2nd Irish Assembly - and Sir James Craig the Ulster Unionist leader to discuss the ongoing issues in Ireland with him as per the British King's instructions guaranteeing him safe conduct. Eamonn de Valera realising that he was now officially recognized as the head of the 2nd Dail Eireann who had now "officially" gained respect, and he was not the leader of Rats, Murderers and Gunmen, as previously described by Sir Henry Wilson, set up his office in the Mansion House in Dublin. He sent invitations to the various Ulster Unionist leaders, Sir James Craig, the Earl of Midleton, Sir Maurice Dockerell, Sir Robert H. Woods and Andrew Jameson to gage their outlook prior to meeting with David Lloyd - George believing that they all needed to be aware of their differences, which should be adjusted on Irish soil hoping to find a common principle to exist in Peace.

With the official British Government's Artificial Partition of Ireland into 2 separate parts the I.R.A. began their campaign in the Ulster Province to try and bring to a quick end to the Partition there and the return of the 6 Catholic minority Counties to the other 3 there and to the whole 32 Counties of Ireland. The British Government at this point in time had a Military force of 40,000 soldiers stationed in Ireland together with the Metropolitan Police and the R.I.C. police to bolster their hold over Ireland together with the dreaded Auxiliaries who were ex - British army officers and the Black & Tans ex - British soldiers to further enforce their Military control over Ireland.

June 25th: Dr. Mulhern the Bishop of Dromore in the Ulster Province delivered a letter to Eamonn de Valera from David Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister who advised him that he wanted to hold a Conference in London with the representatives of both the 6 Artificially Partitioned Counties from the 9 in Ulster and the other 26 Counties in Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster Provinces.

June 27th: Erskine Childers was arrested by the British Government forces but he also was immediately released because of the compromises to be made to bring about an Anglo - Irish Truce between the British Imperial Government and the 2nd Dail Eireann - 2nd Irish Assembly.

June 28th: The British Government's other divided "Southern Ireland" of the 26 Counties Artificially Partitioned Parliament was now also called by the British Government but only the 4 Unionists from the Trinity College, which was a Unionist stronghold there, turned up and they had to adjourn due to lack of numbers as it was not recognized by the majority elected members of the Sinn Fein Party, which then brought more pressure to bear on David Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister, to bring about a compromise.

David Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister sent a letter to Eamonn de Valera that in return for a Truce all the Irish prisoners would be released except Sean Mac Eoin the Irish Volunteer Commander of the Longford Brigade and Michael Collins retorted that without his release also there would be no Truce. He further inferred to those around him that the Truce must be permanent as they all would be now out in the open for the British Government forces to recognize them and pick them off one by one should the Truce break down. Eamonn de Valera replied to David Lloyd - George that he could see no avenue for compromise if you deny the Unity of Ireland or set aside Self - Determination and also that there would be no Truce unless Sean Mac Eoin was also released.

+On to 1921 - 5 - July

Situated on the western bank of the Hunter River, midway between Muswellbrook and Denman the doorway to the Heart of Australia's "Horse Capital" in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales., Australia.

John & Sue Markham

RAINBOW FARMS 603 Roxburgh Road., Muswellbrook., 2333.

02 65 479 100 - Fax: 02 65 479 102 E - Mail: www.rainbowfarms@bigpond.com