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I was distressed to learn that the Prime Minister and Eden 
      interpreted our telegram no. 9738 of November 18 in a way totally 
      different from our intention. I am all the more concerned that 
      from the tone of your telegram to the President you apparently 
      shared this interpretation. This telegram did not refer to the 
      meat contract but to the question of the general programming 
      of other British imports from and exports to Argentina. You may 
      recall that we telegraphed you in August and September to make 
      inquiries of the Foreign Office on this subject. We have not 
      even yet received a reply from the Foreign Office. Our telegram 
      no. 9758 dealt with a proposed shipment which is for the reasons 
      set forth in that message a matter of great embarrassment and 
      concern to us. We intended our message to be in the nature of 
      an inquiry on a matter of common interest. We did not intend 
      it to be in any sense a threat. In explaining this orally and 
      informally to the appropriate British authorities I hope that 
      you will tell them that we are still most anxious to receive 
      their reply to our inquiries submitted in August and September 
      in regard to the question of programming imports from and exports 
      to Argentina.