240. Editorial Note
In an April 15 letter to President Eisenhower, Prime Minister Macmillan wrote:
“It was a great grief that Bobbety Salisbury felt unable to agree to let out Archbishop Makarios. I am bound to say I don’t much like letting him out, and he will be a great nuisance when he gets to Athens, and still more when he comes to London. I expect he will turn up in New York and Washington too. But I don’t quite see how we could have kept him in Seychelles indefinitely, and the break in the EOKA morale seemed a very good moment to throw this fish back in the sea.
“As for the long term solution of Cyprus, we are working hard on this, but it is not easy to find just the right thing to do. However I am quite hopeful that we shall be able to have a definite plan and I would like to write to you about it as soon as I can.” (Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204, Macmillan to Eisenhower Correspondence 1957–1958 Vol. II. On March 29 Salisbury resigned because of the decision to release Makarios.)
President Eisenhower responded to Macmillan’s letter on April 28 as follows:
“I share your disappointment that Lord Salisbury resigned because of the release of Makarios. While I think that the latter is far from a statesman and can probably stir up quite a bit of mischief, still I think that Britain, as a great country, is in better position in the matter than she was with him as a prisoner. Certainly you have taken away from demagogues one of their chief arguments against you. … To conclude—I hope that Lord Salisbury comes back into the fold.” (Ibid., Eisenhower to Macmillan Correspondence 1957–1958, Vol. I)