The size of the force arrived at on that basis was about 100000 men, i fully armed and equipped, and plans were made so that the force should begin to reach Scandinavia in March, the whole of it to arrive before the end of April. This was not necessarily the last force. Questions of reinforcements depended on developments in fighting.
The Finns were informed of these plans in the second half of February, said Mr. Chamberlain, and it was suggested to them that they should make a public appeal for assistance not later than March 5.
"After that public appeal we pro-ourselves to make a fsm; appeal to the governments of Norway and Sweden to allow the passage el the expedition, and we hoped that the result of the appeal from Finland would be that the two governments concerned would not stand dish Government could not agree to the passage of regular armed forces.
"That was very discouraging news for us, but we did not discontinue our preparations for the dispatch of this force. We hoped that Norway and Sweden might change their minds, face the consequences, and allow us to give Finland the aid we had ready for her," the Prime Minister recalled.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.