The negotiations ultimately resulted in the Anglo-Irish Treaty which was signed on 6 December 1921. The agreement provided for a Dominion status "Irish Free State", whose relationship to the British Commonwealth would be modelled after Canada's. This was a compromise, halfway between an independent republic and a province of the Empire. The Treaty was signed under considerable pressure from the British. The negotiators had agreed at the cabinet meeting in Dublin that they would not sign the Treaty without bringing it back for the Dáil cabinet to ratify. But once back in London on 5 December at 7:30 pm, Lloyd George told them it was immediate signature or "immediate and terrible war" and that he had to know by the next day.Frank Pakenham, Peace by Ordeal, (1972) p.245-247 Winston Churchill recalled Collins's reaction: "Michael Collins rose as if he was going to shoot someone, preferably himself. In all my life I have never seen so much passion and suffering in restraint."Churchill, Winston (1929), The Aftermath: 1918–1922. The World Crisis, Vol. IV, London, pg 321. The Treaty was signed at 2:20 am, 6 December 1921.
The negotiations ultimately resulted in the Anglo-Irish Treaty which was signed on 6 December 1921. The agreement provided for a Dominion status "Irish Free State", whose relationship to the British Commonwealth would be modelled after Canada's. This was a compromise, halfway between an independent republic and a province of the Empire. The Treaty was signed under considerable pressure from the British. The negotiators had agreed at the cabinet meeting in Dublin that they would not sign the Treaty without bringing it back for the Dáil cabinet to ratify. But once back in London on 5 December at 7:30 pm, Lloyd George told them it was immediate signature or "immediate and terrible war" and that he had to know by the next day.Frank Pakenham, Peace by Ordeal, (1972) p.245-247 Winston Churchill recalled Collins's reaction: "Michael Collins rose as if he was going to shoot someone, preferably himself. In all my life I have never seen so much passion and suffering in restraint."Churchill, Winston (1929), The Aftermath: 1918–1922. The World Crisis, Vol. IV, London, pg 321. The Treaty was signed at 2:20 am, 6 December 1921.