840.70/12–2844: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 28—5:25 p.m.]
11500. From EITO Delegation. ReDepts 10735 of December 27.38 We have informed the British of the Department’s objections to attaching reservations to signatures to the EITO document and of the suggestion in the first paragraph of the Department’s wire that an appropriate amendment be embodied in the text of the agreement. [Page 929] They replied that they will give us their response as soon as their legal adviser has had an opportunity to consider the proposal.
ReEmbs 10778 of December 6 and 11159 of December 16.39 With respect to the suggestion in the second paragraph of the Department’s 10735 that the inland waterways annex can be worked out after the signature of the agreement we doubt that this would be acceptable to the Dutch who have indicated that they would have to have adequate assurance that the powers principally concerned with inland waterways would adhere to it as a condition to their adherence to the main agreement. France of course is one of the powers. Massigli today advised the British that French inland waterways experts would arrive here shortly for the purpose of considering the matter with the Dutch and he somewhat minimized the extent of their objections to the Dutch proposal.
ReEmbs 11467 [11464] of December 27. Noel-Baker and Ronald have both informed us today that HMG is not prepared to take any further action or make any decisions as to procedure until the outcome of Obydin’s recall to Moscow for consultation is known. They both state that Massigli indicated to them this morning that the attitude of the French Government would be the same.
Except for the above statement by Massigli which was very definite it seems that he was extremely guarded in his conversation this morning with Noel-Baker and Ronald at which they discussed all the aspects of the EITO situation including the Foreign Office proposal reported in the Embassy’s 11309 of December 20. [EITO Delegation.]