“I have signed a Treaty of peace between Ireland and Great Britain. The end of the conflict of centuries is at hand."

After five months of negotiations the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed by the Irish delegates, led by Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, on 6th December 1921. Under the threat of ‘immediate and terrible war’, the Irish made concessions which led to a 26 county Free State under the dominion of Great Britain, rather than a republic, as a step towards full independence.

 
HE:EWL.402: Arthur Griffith’s note to the World Press about the Anglo-Irish Treaty, 1921. It reads: "I have signed a Treaty of peace between Ireland and Great Britain. I believe that treaty will lay foundations of peace and friendship between the two Nations. What I have signed I shall stand by in the belief that the end of the conflict of centuries is at hand." 

HE:EWL.66: Death mask of Arthur Griffith, President of Dáil Éireann, who died in August 1922. 

HE:EW.1916: Anti-Treaty leaflet.