Last week I handed the full text of An Taoiseach's recent speech in reply to the British Prime Minister to the gentleman referred to in my Secret Report No. 9 of 15th May, 1945.¹

Yesterday he called to thank me. He said that having used strong language to me about the condolences to the German Minister he felt 'it was up to' him to tell me how impressed he was by the maturity, dignity, and wisdom of An Taoiseach's speech. He had had great difficulty over here in 'keeping my end up' when the condolences were reported. He had none with those who had read the speech.

There might be a divergence of view in England, he thought, about the comparisons and the historical arguments employed, but he had encountered only commendation for the fine tone and phrasing.

I told him that I had reported fairly fully his previous conversations and I had no doubt An Taoiseach would be interested in this reaction to the speech.