Presidential Correspondence, lot 66 D 204, “Churchill Correspondence with Eisenhower”
No. 1183
Prime Minister Churchill to
President Eisenhower
My Dear Friend: I look forward to a good talk about Egypt when we meet in Bermuda. Meanwhile, I think I must send you at once my first reactions to the new formula suggested in the message which I have just had from you.1
In the hope of reaching agreement with you and your predecessor we went over all this ground before and agreed to make a number of concessions to the Egyptian point of view. Our object in these discussions was not to obtain military or financial aid from the United States, but only their moral support in what we hoped would be a joint approach to the Egyptian dictatorship. However, you decided to defer to Egyptian objections to your representatives, including General Hull, taking part in the discussions. Since then we have been disappointed not to receive more support particularly in Cairo from your Government in spite of the numerous far-reaching concessions which we made in our joint discussions with you.
[Page 2095]We went forward alone, having made clear to you that we did not seek United States mediation or arbitration. The Egyptian dictatorship presently “washed their hands” of the discussions, timing it no doubt to fit in with Mr. Foster Dulles’ visit. We are quite ready to resume the talks if they should intimate a wish to do so. This could be no humiliation to them as the meeting place is under their roof. Nothing however has happened: the campaign of threats and abuse of the most violent character to which we have been for many months subjected has not been followed up by any action except a few murders. Latterly there has been a decline in the campaign of threats and abuse, and this no doubt is due to the fact that the Egyptian people have lost faith in its sincerity and considered it all bluff for political purposes, or are hoping for some help from the United States. We propose to await developments with patience and composure. If a futher approach is made to us to resume discussions, we shall comply without, however, any change in principle in the terms on which we had decided and to which we understood you had in the main agreed. I should have no objection to your advising the Egyptians to resume the talks, provided of course they were not led to believe that you were whittling us down or prepared to intervene in a matter in which the whole burden, not nineteen-twentieths but repeat the whole burden, falls on us, and about which I thought we were agreed. After all there are other bases conceded for mutual security in other countries not even established by formal Treaty, for instance yours in the United Kingdom.
If at the present time the United States indicated divergence from us in spite of the measure of agreement we had reached after making so many concessions, we should not think we had been treated fairly by our great ally, with whom we are working in so many parts of the globe for the causes which we both espouse. If as the result of American encouragement at this juncture or a promise or delivery or arms, Dictator Naguib is emboldened to translate his threats into action, bloodshed on a scale difficult to measure beforehand might well result, and for this we should feel no responsibility, having acted throughout in a sincere spirit for the defence not of British but of inter-allied interests of a high order.
As I have said I look forward to talking these matters over with you in Bermuda. Meanwhile, I watch the progress of events with the closest attention.
I asked General Robertson, who with our Ambassador has been conducting the negotiation and is now in London, for his opinion. I [Page 2096] send it* to you although it was not drafted for your eye, and I wrote my own message before seeing it.
Kindest regards,
- Transmitted in telegram 7841 to London, Document 1179.↩
- See Annex. [Footnote in the source text; annex not printed here.]↩