Evening star., 1944-06-25

IWeEII Jl16 1tt1SllCdi government
the French Committee of National Lib
Grafton which appears to hold con-
siderable danger of disunity and diff
culties in running the civil affairs OF
freed French territory.
1t was with a hope of solving this
problem, presumably, that Gen. Charles
de Gaulle, head of the committee,
which now calls itself the Provisional
Government of France, recently sug-
gested a visit to President Roosevelt.
While the Chief Executive replied that
he would be glad to receive Gen. de
Gaulle, the Frenchman's latest message
to washington implies some uncertainty
as to whether he will come here.
Some diplomatic observers believe
there would be little point to the gen.
dent is prepared to yield on policies that
seem to be firmly fixed. Briefly, the
position of the United States, as an
nounced by Secretary of State Hull, is
that while this country recognizes the
French committee as the de facto
authority on matters affecting French
territories, it is not the government,
even Professionally, of Metropolitan
France, and that while Gen. de Gaulle's
cooperation in administering civil af-
fairs in liberated areas is welcomed, the
final authority for such administration
rests, during the period of military op-
erations, in the Allied commander in
chief, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Resents Eisenhower Power.
Gen. de Gaulle, on his side. appears
to resent the authority placed in Gen.
Eisenhower, and is seeking the recogni-
ton of his group as the Provisional
Government of France.
Relations between Washington and
the De Gaulle committee, already
strained, were worsened during invasion
week by the generals refusal to permit
a corps of several hundred French Of
ficers, trained for the purpose, to ac-
company American and British forces
into France Great reliance had been
placed on them to make contact with
local French leaders, and their failure
to carry out this mission was held to
have endangered the success of the AL
lied operations.
Subsequently Gen de Gaulle added
fuel to the fires of Allied resentment
by denouncing the invasion currency
which had been prepared with the
knowledge of his aides for use in France
and also by his arbitrary action in nam
ing commissioner for the liberated
territory in the Normandy area.
Late this week the situation ap-
peared to be eased slightly by Gen.
oe Gaulle's reported agreement to al
low French officers to do iason work
In France under control of Gen. Eisen-
hover. But the arrangement, accord
ing to an Associated Press report, was
on a day-to-day basis, and its perma-
nency was not assured.
Gen. de Gaulles political position has
been strengthened somewhat recently
by the fact that Poland, Belgium,
CZechoslovakia, Norway and Luxembourg
have recognized his group as the Pro-
visional Government of France How
ever. the British government so far has
stood by the United States in refusing
to grant this recognition, and despite
press speculation to the contrary from
London, officials here find every reason
to believe that the British will persist
in this policy
Still Far Apart.
1t is recognized here that unless some
accommodation is reached with Gen. de
Gaulle, the complicated and dangerous
work of maintaining order in France
will be made very difficult for Gen.
Eisenhower. But due to the seemingly
fixed positions of both the President
and the French committee, the form
such compromise might take is not
apparent.
A clearer picture of the present dis
pute may be gained by brief sketch of
the history of the French commit
tees relations with Great Britain and
the United States, history that in
cludes some stormy chapters.
After the capitulation of France to
Germany in June, 1910, Gen de Gaulle,
who was then in England, placed him
self at the head of French forces which
had escaped capture and called on his
countrymen to fight on against the en-
emy. He promptly was given British
political and financial support.
On September "a, 1941, the French
National Committee was established III
London as the political and military
control group for Frenchmen who were
still waging war-called at first the
Free French and later the Fighting
French. In decree issued at that
time, Gen. de Gaulle announced that
the committee was taking over the
management of public affairs of Free
France" until the French nation could
hold proper elections.
The group promptly was recognized by
the British. The United States delayed
for some months before taking any Of
fetal action, but on May 81, 1912, Secre-
tary Hull announced that this country
recognized the French National Com
mittee as the organization representing
French resistance in the war situation
Protested by Petain.
Meanwhile, the United States had
taken several practical steps to imple-
ment Gen. de Gaulle's authority in
French possessions where his group was
in actual control OF affairs. On Febru-
ary %, 1912, the American Consulate in
New Caledonia had issued statement
recognizing the French committees au-
thority in the Pacific islands. Two
months later, in April, the United States
set up consulate in Brazzaville, French
Equitorial Africa and recognized the