-2- #2897, May 24, Midnight, from London.
with the British in which the latter were to promise
to support claims relating to the Finnish and
Rumanian frontiers.
Up to noon yesterday both parties to the
negotiations had apparently come to the conclusion
that agreemement was improbable.
The Russians had explalned that even if a treaty was not arrived at,
good had come of the negotiations, and eden had
suggested a substitute trraty which made no reference to
however the frontiers. Late yesterday afternoon,
Russians began to recede from their
original position, and Eden called me at six o,clock
tonight to say that the negotiations had gone so far that he would have a proposal to make to the
Cabinet tomorrow afternoon. He went on to say that:
(0ne) The Russians had withdrawn their demands
affecting Poland.
(Two) They had compromised on the protactive
clause but only to the extznt of allowing minorities
to withdraw, i.e. Poles from Lithuania. This, Eden
acknowldged, did not help much.
(Three) The idea of a secret agreement was
abandoned but they asked that a clause be
inserted which the British would recognize that
had spscial