Richard
It divided Ireland - 32 counties, into 2 parts - it partitioned a whole country, the vast majority of which wanted total independance from Britain, had fought a war on that basis, and went on to fight another war on the question of partition. Surely the wishes of the whole of the country are paramount and not that of those chosen by a manipulated border? The new state created a situation where a substanitial minority of the population had no say in its running and was subjected to constant persecution. Even if the partitioning of any country by another nation could be considered right (do you think it right? Imperialism at it's worst as far as I'm concerned), the well being of ALL the population should be safeguarded, free from any form of oppression, with a guarantee of a voice in the running of the state - it wasn't. They altered the voting sysytem to make sure this didn't happen.
Anyway, a treaty forced through under a specific threat of violence cannot be said in any way to have been negotiated fairly - recipe for disaster from the beginning.
Jim Carroll