From the NS archive: The “fact” of partition 2 July 1921: How to end the guerrilla war in Ireland. By mid 1921 it was clear that an end to the hostilities between the British state and Irish republicans was tangible. As the writer of this editorial put it: “The policy of martial law and ‘reprisals’ is played out. It cannot be maintained.” The prime minister, David Lloyd George, invited the republican leader É amon de Valera to London for a conference to decide how to bring the fighting to an end and map out a future for the island of Ireland. At the time this piece was written, De Valera had yet to respond. He was, said the writer, in a difficult position, not least because he was not a “leader of outstanding intellectual distinction or moral authority”. Furthermore, he needed to weigh up conflicting messages coming from London – some adamant, others conciliatory. Above all, were peace to be achieved, the republicans needed to accept the fact that “‘partition’ is no longer a policy, but a fact”. The South could have self-determination but a united Ireland was a different matter. In December that year the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State, was signed.