The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-07-01

france, which ten days ago SEEM
ID to have sunk to their lowest
md meanest point, have taken al
lecided, and it may even be, al
'adical turn for the better. Though
We had been unable to reach a
.ormula of agreement with Gener-
ii de Gaulle and the French Com
nittee, agreement is developing
out of the necessities and the in
of the situation itself.
For as matter of fact the civil
government of liberated French
territory is in the hands of the
of the committee,
and the famous Fighting French
general, Joseph Pierre Koenig, has
been recognized by General Els
enhower as the commander of all
the resistance behind the German
lines.
The importance of these develop
ments can be measured when we
remember what was the most CO.
gent reason given for not agreeing
in advance to these arrangements.
1t was that we had intelligence re-
ports that inside of France there
were organized resistance groups,
indispensable to the invasion, who
did not recognize and would rp-
pose the leadership Ct General de
Gaulle and the authority of h e
committee. These reports, of which
much has been made in Washing
ton, were never given sel<ous cred
it by the British and other govern
ments which operate older n d
more experienced intelligence serv-
ices in France than we, who are
still amateurs in h matters,
have been able to improvise.
General Eisenhower cannot af-
ford to be misinformed on mat
ter OF this sort. He has for his
use the combined intelligence serv-
ices of all the United NationA He
has, moreover, had nearly three
weeks to judge the military i'm
portance of the French resistance.
1t has played a telling part, at
frightful risk, in obstructing tn e
German effort to bring up new di-
visions to attack the beachhead. In
accepting the de Gaullist general
as the commander of all French
resistance, General Eisenhower
has judged that there are no active
patriot forces which are incapable
of working with General de Gaulle.
That being the case, then the civil
Of liberated terrific
ry can be placed nowhere else but
Under the direction of the commit
tee-working, as it is now working
in Normandy, in close and friendly
co operation with the Allied @oin-
mander.
A wise man has said that we
must not open a quarrel between
the present and the past, lest the
future be imperilled. If we take
that injunction to heart in Wash
ington, in Algiers, and in London.
we can still hope to raise the 20
litical relations of France. Britain
and America to plane which is
worthy of the heroism and h
grandeur of their combined action
We can do away with the brood
ing and envenomed suspicious, the
smears and the ISLANDERS, which
are a disgrace to our common
cause. We can do away with them,
and we can then go forward to-
gether through France into Ger
many. For if we can work in har-
mony where the danger is great
est, it is unbelievable that we
should not be able to agree in the
security of Washington and of AL
giers.
Let the pedants and the meta
physicians argue whether the au-
thority which directs the French
resistance and administers liberat-
ed territory is or is not recog'
nized provisional government. Il ii
is not, then it is something much
more important, whatever we
choose to call it and whatever il
chooses to call itself. 1t is great
historical force; it is, as Mr.
Churchill has said, the fourth great
est power in arms against the enc
my. We cannot afford to go or
quarreling with this power, or il
with us, nor can we afford to be.
come more and more estranged