A History of Ireland in International Relations. Owen McGee

nor anyone else’s ideas of economic development were likely to be implemented any time soon.18 Russell himself would later write for Foreign Affairs that Ireland was the only country in Europe ‘where there is neither fear nor envy, but only gratitude’ for America’s growing influence in international affairs. He also argued that the claim in Foreign Affairs by unionist propagandist Stephen Gwynn that there were two, mutually hostile, Irelands (north and south) was incorrect, and that the eclipse of partition, by means of a new federal political arrangement,19 was likely in the near future.20 This belief of Russell’s (a native of Ulster) that the partition of Ireland could not last reflected the fact that the existence of Northern Ireland had no legal, political and cultural antecedents in history before Westminster’s unilateral passing of its Government of Ireland Act in December 1920. The official title of the United Kingdom itself would not change to include Northern Ireland until 1927.21 Its existence could not be ignored, however, while it was also clear to critics and supporters of partition alike that ‘the “Ulster” problem’ was ‘the crux of the whole situation’ in determining whether or not the fledgling Irish Free State could possess sufficient financial solvency to survive.22