Evening star., 1943-07-15
Martinique Joins Up

1t was eminently fitting that
Bastille Day should witness the shift
OF the French West Indies from the
Vichy camp to that of the United
Nations. On that symbolic date
Admiral Georges Robert handed over
the reins of government in Marti-
nique and its sister island, Guade-
loupe, to Henri-Etienne Hoppenot,
accredited representative of the
French Committee of National Lib
Grafton. Thereby, the Vichy taint
is expunged from the last bits of
Frances overseas empire, and only
the homeland remains under Axis
influence or control.
Thus happily ends one of the most
curious and perplexing episodes in
modern diplomatic history. When
France collapsed and became sub
servient to the Axis in June, 1910,
Admiral Robert, then High Commits
sioner for the French colonies in the
Caribbean, proclaimed his unquali-
fed adhesion to Marshal Petain's
new government with its policy of
Axis collaboration. Although the
United States was officially neutral
in the European war, it acted
promptly under the principles of the
Monroe Doctrine and Pan-American-
ism to avert the possibility of the
French West Indies serving as Axis
bases. Admiral Robert was con-
strained, under threat of military
occupation, to give assurances Of
strict neutrality and to permit the
presence of American naval observ-
ers to check on his actions.
That, for the time, suff1ced to safe
guard American interests. But the
Admirars stiff-necked Vichyism pre-
sented chronic difficulty and pre-
vented us from incorporating the
French Antilles in the system of
hemisphere defense. When the
United States entered the war, Mar
tinique's position became less and
less tolerable. After our landing in
North Africa and breach with Vichy
last November, the situation became
impossible.
Washington could solve the prob
lem in one of two ways. The first
was by force. That would have been
quick and physically easy, because
the French Antilles could have put
up only a token defense. Yet even
a minimum of bloodshed would have
produced unfortunate complications,
especially in Latin America. So the
State Department decided on a
slower and less spectacular method.
This was economic pressure. The
French Antilles are vitality depend
ent on imported foodstuffs and other
necessities. Already they had been
strictly rationed in those respects,
to prevent them from building up
surplus. Now, they we're blockaded,
and soon suffered from hunger and
other privations, which caused popu-
lar discomfort and undermined Rob-
erts authority. Washington gave
another turn to the screw when it
broke all relations with Robert last
April. BY this time the islands were
seething with incipient revolt and
the Admiral saw the handwriting on
the wall. Accordingly, last month
he notified Washington that he was
ready to negotiate his abdication.
After our observers had checked up
and found that nothing had been
sabotaged or destroyed, the deal was
made and the change of regime was
accomplished.
Technically, Monsieur Hoppenot
stands in Admiral Roberts official
shoes. His appointment does not
commit Washington to recognize the
Algiers Committee of National Lib
Grafton as a provisional Govern
ment; neither does he or it gain
control of the vast gold stock, valued
at nearly $300,000,000, which remains
in trust for the future Government
of liberated France. But the French
warships and feet Of merchant YES