"They will have to release him. They always do. After all, they had to release Gandhi, Nehru and Nkrumah before they could get a solution." This has been the argument hurled at Britain's Tory government ever since March 1956 when the Eden Cabinet, without the formality of a trial, exiled Archbishop Makarios to the Seychelles Islands for his dealings with EOKA, the Greek Cypriot underground. Last week, in a major gesture of conciliation, the British government accepted this argument. In doing so, it suffered the loss of one of its ablest statesmen and found itself in hotter water at home than ever.
Three weeks ago, when EOKA offered to suspend its two-year-old campaign of terrorism if Britain would free Makarios. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's Cabinet renewed a longstanding offer to end the Archbishop's exile provided that he publicly urge his countrymen to abandon violence. Makarios' reply was that of a man who clearly felt he held the stronger hand. Said he: "I appeal to EOKA to declare the cessation of all operations, provided that the British government show a spirit of understanding by simultaneously abolishing the present state of emergency [in Cyprus]." He also insisted that negotiations about the island's future should be directly between Britain and "the Cyprus people," i.e., Makarios himself.
Broken Bonds. The Archbishop's answer split Macmillan's government down the middle. Ted Heath, chief Government Whip in the House of Commons, flatly warned the Cabinet that he could not guarantee the support of Tory right-wingers if Makarios were released on these terms. The Marquess of Salisbury, 63-year-old scion of the Cecil family, who have advised England's monarchs since the days of the first Queen Elizabeth, was even more adamant. Inflexibly, the tough-minded elder statesman pointed out that Makarios had "deliberately refrained" from meeting Britain's conditions for his release. To free the Archbishop now, he insisted, would be an act of disloyalty to Turkey, a trusted ally who had stood by Britain throughout the Suez crisis and who regarded Makarios' goal of enosis (union of Cyprus with Greece) as a direct threat to its security. Cyprus, which lies only 40 miles off the Turkish coast, is the only major island on the sea approaches to Turkey that is not already in Greek hands.
Few men carry more weight with the Tory Party and with Macmillan personally than the sibilant, stern Lord Salisbury. Besides being relatives by marriage, Macmillan and Salisbury have been political allies ever since 1938 when Salisbury, along with Anthony Eden, resigned from Neville Chamberlain's government in protest at British appeasement of Mussolini. When Suez and ill-health drove Eden from No. 10 Downing Street last winter, it was Salisbury, together with Sir Winston Churchill, who persuaded the Queen to name Macmillan Prime Minister instead of "Rab" Butler (who had once supported Chamberlain's appeasement).