890E.00/249: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:04 p.m.]
8157. Reference Embassy’s 8145, November 21, 5 p.m. A discussion with the Foreign Office on the Lebanon has brought forth the following points:
Although the situation has become somewhat better because of the release of the President and the Ministers, the Foreign Office believes that the situation is still potentially dangerous. Should the Ministers not be reinstated, they would presumably remain at liberty and might very well incite the populace to further disturbances. Should they be reinstated, however, without any understanding with them, they might again take measures which would inflame the French.
At the present time, Spears is working on the Ministers to get them into a reasonable frame of mind and to convince them they must take no aggressive action if they are reinstated, and Macmillan is working on the French Committee to persuade it to reinstate the Ministers.
The British Cabinet has decided that it cannot yield on the status of the Ministers and instructions to this effect were sent last night to Macmillan as Catroux apparently has said that the question of the reinstatement of the Ministers rests with the Committee in Algiers.
In the same cable, the Foreign Office also informed Macmillan that [Page 1044] the British Government believes that negotiations for a modus vivendi (see the Embassy’s 8050, November 18, 7 p.m.) should begin within 24 hours of the release of the President and the Ministers. Macmillan has been instructed to say that the 48 hours’ delay in the institution of martial law should not be taken lightly and that the British will take this action if necessary.
The Foreign Office told Macmillan that the Committee might find the word “reinstatement” difficult and that any restitution to the Ministers of their authority could be simply on the basis of their resumption of the functions which they were unable to fulfill while under arrest. Certainly they are legal Ministers duly chosen under constitutional methods and therefore have never been deprived of their rights by any constitutional action. The British believe that all the Arab States will think along these lines and that it is therefore essential that the Ministers be reinstated to authority. Should the President be forced to choose other Ministers the question of personalities would be injected and they would, of course, have to be acceptable to the Committee. The Foreign Office said that such action would naturally delay the negotiations for a modus vivendi which, as already indicated, the British consider vital for a settlement of this question.
Repeated to Cairo, Beirut and Algiers.