Cablegram 141 MOSCOW, 25 April 1947, 8 p.m.
IMMEDIATE
Your telegram 69.
The following reply has been received from the United States Secretary of State:-
‘The Secretary of State acknowledges the personal message of Dr.
Evatt and is giving it careful consideration. The Secretary regrets that Dr. Evatt believes that there is danger that the latest United States proposal on voting will merely reproduce the friction and misunderstanding of the Paris Conference. The Secretary has grave doubts that it will be possible, as Dr. Evatt suggests, to induce the Soviet Union to depart completely from the pattern [of a] [1] preliminary text of the treaty prepared by the Council of Foreign Ministers and for that reason has endeavoured to secure for other Allied States a more active participation in the preparation of the preliminary text. As Dr. Evatt is undoubtedly aware, the United States has given aggressive support to the desire of Australia and other Allied States to participate in the actual drafting of the peace settlement and has joined Mr.
Bevin in this effort’.
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1 A sign here indicates ‘mutilated’.
The Council of Foreign Ministers ended their Moscow meetings on 24 April without reaching agreement on any major issues. The next series of meetings began in London in late November.
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[AA: A1068, E47/15/5/2/6]