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December 2nd: David Lloyd - George and the British Imperial Government gave their final proposals to Arthur Griffith and the other Irish Delegates who returned to deliver them to Ireland to which Eammon de Valera said "No."

December 3rd: The 2nd Dail Eireann Cabinet met again to discuss the Treaty and they rejected the terms for the Artificial Partition of the 6 Counties from the 9 in the Ulster Province, which it seemed were to be perpetuated, the offer of Dominion status, the Oath of Allegiance to the British King who was to be received as the head of the Irish State. Once again they wanted Eammon de Valera to go to London to sought it out but once again he refused to go, so Arthur Griffith laid it on the line to him that if he was to remain in charge he would refuse to break off negotiations over the recognition of the British Crown but still no clear indications were given to the Delegates and Arthur Griffith said right out that he would personally sign the Treaty and leave it up to the 2nd Dail Eireann to reject or except it. Cathal Brugha also objected to Michael Collins being involved in the sub - committees with the exclusion of Gavin George Duffy and Robert Barton. He further sarcastically commented, "That the Brits had picked their men well," meaning Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins to which Arthur Griffith naturally took exception but Cathal Brugha refused to withdraw his remarks. Arthur Griffith then asked for Cathal Brugha's comments to be recorded in the minutes so they were then withdrawn. Although Cathal Brugha agreed with Eamonn de Valera he would not recognize the British King as the Head of the Associated States. The Irish Delegates returned to London immediately were Robert Barton, Erskine Childers and Gavin George Duffy drafted the counter proposals and to release the tension Michael Collins and Eammon Duggan abstained from the meetings with the British Delegates. Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton and Gavin George Duffy attended the sub - committee meetings instead of him and there was a subsequent complete break down of the negotiations with the British Delegates. The British Government representatives under David Lloyd - George were not impressed with the terms agreed to by the Dail Eireann Cabinet especially the exclusion of the Crown and the omission of the Oath of Allegiance to the British King. David Lloyd - George standing on his British Imperial Empire authority stated, "That there would be immediate and terrible War with Ireland within 3 days."

The Irish Delegates because of the complete breakdown decided to return to Ireland when David Lloyd - George asked for Michael Collins to see him before they left and before he had to advise George V the British King of the breakdown in negotiations and Arthur Griffith and Eamonn Duggan persuaded him to go and talk to him. During the discussions, which were to last up until 9 p.m. Arthur Griffith was able to persuade David Lloyd - George to give him more time to reach a decision so he gave him one hour to come up with results or he will send his letter off to Sir James Craig the leader of the Official Unionists in the 6 Counties Artificially Partitioned from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, which would mean outright War with the British Imperial Government

December 5th: In depth personal negotiations began at 5 p.m. and they were to last until 2.30 a.m. the next morning with David Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister playing on the hopes of the Irish Delegates of the ending of the Artificial Partition of Ireland.

December 6th: At 2.30 a.m. the Anglo - Irish Treaty was signed after 750 years of repression and oppression by England when Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins, Robert Barton, Eamonn Duggan and Gavin George Duffy signed for Ireland and David Lloyd - George, Austen Chamberlain, Lord Birkenhead, Winston Churchill, Sir Worthington - Evans, Hamar Greenwood and Gordon Hewart signed for the British Government. Michael Collins was forced to comment that it should be viewed, "As a stepping stone to the Irish Republic," and that, "I have signed my own, Death Warrant." Under the Treaty an Irish Provisional Government was to be set up leading on to the Irish Free State Government, which was to be formed as a self - governing Dominion within the British Empire the same as Canada was constitutionally, but the M.P.s must take the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown. Only 26 of the Counties out of the 32 Counties of Ireland would be returned to Irish hands while the British Government were to remove their Sovereign powers over all of Ireland for one month. A Border Commission was to be set up to adjust the border of the 6 Artificially Partitioned Counties from out of the 9 in the Ulster Province but it was to be hoped that the government of the 6 Artificially Partitioned Counties in Ulster would become unworkable politically and there would be Unity in Ireland in the future. The Border Commission was to have One representative each from the Irish Free State, the 6 Counties Artificially Partitioned from the Ulster Province under the Ascendancy Official Unionist Stormont Government and the British Government if the 6 Counties withdrew from the Irish Free State. The British Government was to remain responsible for coastal defence and maintain naval bases in the Irish ports. The Division of Ireland by the British Government to pander to the Ascendancy sectarian interests only, was to ensure that Ireland and the Irish people especially those in the 6 Counties that were to be Partitioned would continue to find no peace in the further "Troubles" to come.

Eamonn de Valera was informed that the Treaty had been made and signed but what he read in the morning paper did not make him very happy, all though he knew full well that there was no other alternative but further "Bloody War" in Ireland, and when Eamonn Duggan, accompanied by Desmond Fitz Gerald returned to Ireland and handed him the envelope containing the Treaty at the Mansion House in Dublin he refused to read it and they could see that he was visibly and physically upset.

December 7th: The 2nd Dail Eireann Cabinet met in Dublin, which included Eammon de Valera, Cathal Brugha, W.J. Cosgrave, Kevin O Higgins and Austin Stack, and Eammon de Valera stated he would call for the resignation of Arthur Griffiths, Robert Barton and Michael Collins but W.J. Cosgrave interjected and said, "We should hear their side first," which made Eamonn de Valera realise that W.J. Cosgrave might also be in favour of the Treaty, which would give it a 4 out of 7 majority in the Cabinet, so he backed off.

December 8th: At the full Cabinet meeting Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton, Michael Collins and W.J. Cosgrave said they would recommend the Treaty to the Irish people as Michael Collins was hoping that Co. Fermanagh and Co. Tyrone would join with the Irish Free State in time as they had a high Catholic Irish population and this would leave only 4 Counties Partitioned from the 32, which would become unworkable. Eamonn de Valera was very upset and he was backed up by Cathal Brugha and Austin Stack and he stated that he personally would refuse to recommend it to the 2nd Dail Eireann and would issue a statement of his own opinion.

December 9th: Eamonn de Valera cancelled the 2nd Dail Eireann Cabinet meeting and published a letter of his own condemning the Treaty and mentioned in it that he was supported by Cathal Brugha and Austin Stack and called a meeting of the 2nd Dail Eireann for the 14th as he desperately wanted the members in the Dail Eireann to reject the Treaty but he also knew that he had to come up with an alternative so he reworked his original ideas and came up with what became known as "Document No 2" while the agreed Treaty was Document No 1.

December 12th: The Irish Republican Brotherhood - I.R.B. had a meeting to discuss the Treaty were they decided to vote for it and all their members were given freedom to vote as they wished.

December 14th: The 2nd Dail Eireann - 2nd Irish Parliament - began the Debate on the Treaty at the National University, which was to last until January 7th 1922, were Eamonn de Valera stated that the Irish Delegates had exceeded their authority and Arthur Griffith repudiated this stating that the Dail Eireann had now had the choice of either accepting or rejecting it but Eamonn de Valera kept interjecting against the speakers. He said they had no right to sign, they had betrayed the Irish Republic and he wanted no part of Dominion status or the Oath of Allegiance to the the British King but could not put forward any other measures. It was decided to go into Private Session were Dr. Mac Cartan asked Eamonn de Valera to advise everyone present of any other alternatives if he had one, which he said he would do at the next meeting. From this date until January 10th., 1922 the 2nd Dail Eireann was to hold 12 sittings to confront the thorny issues in the Treaty with some of the delegates who were against the Treaty even denying the right of the Irish people to disown the Irish Republic.

December 15th: The 2nd Dail Eireann was still in Private Session and Eammon de Valera tried to detail his "Document No. 2" to which members of the Dail Eireann said it wasn't worth going to outright War with the British Imperial Government over the differences while Sean Etchingham, Seamus Robinson and Liam Mellowes would settle for nothing less than an Irish Republic. The Irish people were to remain oblivious of any of the real facts about the Treaty for 5 days until Eamonn de Valera produced his old "No 2 Document," which he had produced earlier that contained the original conditions in the Treaty but with different phrasing.

Among those who supported the Anglo - Irish Treaty were William Thomas Cosgrave who would become the 1st President of the Irish Free State, Eoin O Duffy the T.D. for Co. Monaghan in Southern Ulster and the I.R.B Director of Organization, Kevin O Higgins, Joseph Devlin the M.P. for West Belfast in Co. Antrim in the north - east of the Ulster Province, Eoin Mac Neill, Eamonn Duggan who had also been released from interment and signed it, Ernest Blythe and Gavin Duffy who had been the last to sign it.

Those who were against the Treaty included Robert Erskine Childers who acted as the secretary to the Treaty Delegation, his cousin Robert Barton who was responsible for the Land Bank as Minister for Agriculture who had originally signed the Treaty but was to have second thoughts and repudiate it. Others where Sean Mac Bride, Frank Aiken and Countess Markievicz, Sean O Faolain who was a bomb maker in the I.R.A. from Co. Cork, Ernest O Malley an I.R.A. Captain, Sean Russell and James Larkin who had taken over the Socialist Party previously run by James Connolly, Tomas Derrig who was elected to the Dail Eireann for South Co. Mayo, Rory O Connor said that he would never yield while Liam Lynch the I.R.A. Commander on the Supreme Council was the only member of the Council to vote against it and he later on became the Irregular IRA Chief of Staff in the Civil War and also Liam Mellowes the Sinn Fein Party T.D. for Galway who would later become the Irregular IRA Director of Purchases. Austin Stack was also against it and would become the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Irregular IRA who had sided with Cathal Brugha against Michael Collins when Richard Mulcahy had tried to keep the peace between them, Helena Molony and Hannah Sheehy - Skeffington were among many others who were against it also.

December 15th: Eammon de Valera as the President of the 2nd Dail Eireann resigned when the Anglo - Irish Treaty was ratified by the 2nd Dail Eireann by 26 votes For the Treaty to 6 Against the Treaty.

December 16th: The British Parliament also ratified the Anglo - Irish Treaty.

December 19th: The 2nd Dail Eireann met in a Public Session where Eamonn de Valera withdrew his "No 2 Document" and Arthur Griffith objected to keeping the 3 day discussion of alternative proposals secret from the Irish population and moved that the Treaty be voted on, either For or Against and he was seconded by Sean Mac Eoin. Eammon de Valera moved an Amendment for the 2nd Dail Eireann to put forward a new proposal to the British Government instead of the agreed Treaty - "Document No. 1" and said he would personally bring forward another proposal himself and during the next sessions he only produced another version of his alternative proposals, which were vastly different from the ones that the 2nd Dail Eireann - 2nd Irish Assembly - had discussed in Private Session.

December 22nd: The Treaty Debate was producing no other alternatives and no results so it was adjourned until January 3rd, 1922 by 77 votes to 44 against with no public statements to be issued.

At this time the Legion of Mary was set up in Dublin, which was devoted to social work and spiritual rehabilitation to lift the spirits of the Irish people.

+On to 1922 - 1 - January

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