868.01/228
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Fletcher)
Mr. Chilton, of the British Embassy, called today to say that as a result of our conversation of a week or so ago, with reference to the diplomatic situation in Athens the Embassy had received [Page 150] a reply from the British Government stating that their confidential reports showed that the Constantine Government was weakening, and that they proposed (and this was told in strict confidence) to transfer their Minister, Granville, to Copenhagen, and send to replace him a diplomat with the personal rank of Minister, but who would function as Chargé d’Affaires, and suggested that in case of any change in our diplomatic representation the same procedure be followed. I explained to Mr. Chilton that it might be that the President would wish to send a man from civil life to Athens, and that in this event it would be hard to explain the situation in a satisfactory manner to a man not accustomed to diplomacy, but that I did not think there would be any immediate likelihood of a change; that I had made the former inquiry in order that the Department might be in a position to advise the President as to the exact diplomatic situation there, in view of the new appointments now being made to our diplomatic service. Mr. Chilton left, in a very courteous way, the impression that our recognition of the present Greek Government by sending a Minister there would be unwelcome to the British Government.