What we have just stated was made very clear in
an interview between Mr. Arthur Griffith, who apparently would be one of
the Irish representatives at the conference, and Mr. J. M. N. Jeffries of the Daily Mail which was published last Satiirdity
• "
Q.: If you entered a conference without previous guarantees or conditions, would that mean that the British Government must thereby recognize your claim to be a sovereign independent State ?
A. : It would not. We have at no time asked the British Government to recognize it as a preliminary to a conference.
Q.: Would entrance into a conditionleas conference by the Irish delegates give Ireland any fresh international status ? A.: It would not. _ Upon the fact of our entrance into the conference we base no claim to any fresh status in the world's eyes. And were the conference to break down, even that would leave us internationally as we are now. Q. : Your position is, is it not, that you are entitled to go into the conference holding your own opinions on the inde- pendence of Ireland ?
A.: Yes."
