740.5/8–1854
The Secretary of State to Prime Minister Churchill 1
My Dear Sir Winston: I returned yesterday from a weekend vacation and found your kind message.2 I am honored and heartened that you occasionally follow the low-level of the Foreign Office and not merely the summits.
I am glad that we are following a common line as regards Mendes-France. I agree with you that it is time to bring this chapter to an end. I hope that it will be an EDC ending. I am not clear in my mind as to any alternative which will be both practical and not subject to another succession of parliamentary wrangles.
Our papers fully report the Attlee-Bevan excursion with many pictures. From our standpoint they do not make a helpful exhibit. I fear we can only exchange condolences on the subject of your last sentence.