Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-03-16
Giroud's Appeal for Unity

The address delivered last Sunday
by General Henri Honore Giraud,
civil and military commander in
chief for French North and West
Africa, is a notable event. The i'm
mediate occasion was a meeting of
the Alsace-Lorraine Society to pro-
test against the incorporation of
those provinces into the German
Reich. But General Giraud went far
beyond condemnation of that &C
ton. He declared all legislation en-
acted by the Vichy regime null and
void promised the reinstatement Of
local elected bodies abolished by
Vlchy, declared for an unfettered re-
constitution of liberated France by a
provisional government" formed in
accordance with the constitutional
laws OF the republic" and ended with
ringing plea for unity of all pa
triotic Frenchmen in the task OF
beating the common Axis enemy.
This appears to go long way
toward establishing a common basis
on which the diSunited French fac
tlons may effectively cooperate. Yet
the dogmatic differences between
those factions are profound. This
applies especially to the platform of
the Fighting French organization
headed by General Charles De Gaulle.
The Eiobtino L'rapoh ncpfopJ
the Third Republic is still theoreti-
cally intact, that the armistice signed
with the Axis should be ignored, that
the Vichy regime established under
the armlStlce never had legal exist
ence, and that they themselves, or
gained under the title of the Ma
tlonal Committee, are the true repre-
SentativeS and cuStodians of France.
On the very eve of Giraud's address,
the National Committee presented a
memorandum to him maintaining
that French unity required the merg-
ing Of North and West Africa with
the territories now under Fighting
French control. This means that
De Gaulle has not budged from his
stand that all French factions must
unite with his organization and I'M
der his terms, which include the dis
mlSSal OF all officials connected with
the Vlchy regime. General Giraud
obviously did not meet those terms,
| and the Fighting French note that
! fact with diSpleaSure, their London
| spokesman stating that the speech
! tended TO leave the situation just
/ about where it was" General de
/ Gaulle, however, expressed general
/ satisfaction with the speech.
Still, the fact remains that Giraud
and De Gaulle have not been recon-
| ciled. Yet this does not exclude the
| possibility Of effective cooperation
between them, even though technical
| fusion should prove impracticable
| For one thing, Giraud's attitude OBJ
ViouSly pleases London and Wash
ington, and it should be remembered
that, in the last analysis, both Giraud
! and De Gaulle are dependent for
their very existence upon American
and British backing Now that
Giraud has decisively repudiated
Vlchy and all its works, the practical
gap between him and De Gaulle has
certainly narrowed to bridgeable pro-
portions, even though 1t has not been
theoretically abolished With the
war in a crucial stage and the poten-
tial liberation OF France itself In
sight, all Frenchmen save those most
ridden by factional antagonisms
should inStinctively feel the urge to
fight shoulder to shoulder for that
supreme goal. For, until the home
land Is freed from Axis domination
all programs for French reconstruc-
ton are mere idle speculation
Glraud has certainly extended the
olive branch, not merely TO the
Fighting French but also to mino4
clements like Admiral Robert al
Martinique and Admiral Godefroy