Cablegram 534 LONDON, 8 October 1939, 11.24 p.m.
FOR PRIME MINISTER MOST SECRET
Prime Minister of Canada [1] has sent cable to United Kingdom Government suggesting that ‘the United Kingdom and France should put their own positive programme of basis upon which war could be terminated, framed in such broad terms as to win the support of the United States and other neutral countries’.
Difficulty I see is that it is impossible to see what terms we could lay down for immediate negotiation save ones so drastic as to be absurd without creating the impression that we were weakening. We would also open door to counter-proposals which might lead us into an impossible position. In considering this point, however, my view military appreciation, which not yet received but expected tomorrow, essential.
BRUCE
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1 W.L. Mackenzie King.
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[AA: A981, WAR 45B, i]