To the Editor of the "Nonru-Cuta Dany News"
Sm—At a few hours' interval have read in your today's issue:—
In private cofversition Marsha! Palain'is" suid fo "have shown ome Becsimism and expressed "the. doubt people Would and in today's'"Noon Bulletin" a report of some "Anti-Darlan demon-given by. the French population. in. Beauvais "Is eloquent, enough and should put, rest any doubts the Marshal is ported to have expressed on the. sub-Jeet, it he ever had any. The matter might well "be left at ihat, if other political points which recently. turned Up did not, require some clarifeation in the minds of a good many exatriated Frenchmen.
In a recent radio. message the Marshal asked all Frenchmen to follow him "sur ta route de Vhonneur, jusqweu pout" The, reason Is, as usual. that entire unanimity and discipline of the French people is. necessary if France is to be saved. The appeal. in ite military brevity. is touching and there are no sacrifices that most Frenchmen have not made and are ready to make again to reach Ghat goal, especially when the appeal comes from the old Mfarshal. (o whom there are practically no Frenchmen refusing that respect due to, his per~ sonality and. past: services. wonder what honour the old Marshal can possibly perceive "on. such @ road and In' such company. even when it is invested with. the pompous name of "collaboration." or even with the no less pompous but more misleading one of "New Order." Are the traitorous labours of all our "Quislings". what renders the' road more honourable?
And "collaboration" at what price? That we are not allowed to know. The greatest discretion surrounds the sousendealings add the epithet at our choice) of Messrs. Darlan. Otto Abetz. de Brinon and lesser lights in Paris: No discussion is permitted, no information, even neutral Is given oF wanted. Maybe If we are "sages" we shall be allowed to see later on. to the utter moral and economical degradation to which the French people will have been led. eyes covered, the end of the road of the "New Order." degradation to screen which '$0 many paing are taken at present, "Another point which also requires @larifteation for "a food many of us) is the following:—Recently German planes have used Syrian airports tu, the course of military operations against British troops. How is this made. to 9 with a previous de-fe are. in honour. bound I, many others, under~ siond that helping to fight ts equival.
to Aighting, otherwise there would have been in said declaration a re-have the British naval" atlacke at Mers-el-Kebir and Dakar. the reputed anil-British sentiments of Admiral Darlan. cancelled this solemn promise? 'If' so, why not proclaim open!
Why did the General High Com-$5 missioner in Syria, after having tried pose the whole affair sous silence, advance the ridiculous excuse thal "sixteen German planes. out of a number itt transit over Syria. wore compelled to make n forced landing?" Tu other times a functionary, however high his rank. not having more self-respect and courage than to utter Such a) shameful Tie. (I wanted to while "error." but let us be frank and call things by their names) would "have been discharged immediately. Since he has not been. Wt that he was acting "under order?"
That it was a lie was clearly shown by the subsequent explanation that "the terms of the armistice convention have granted the German Alr Forces, the use of all French alrfielda" This. no doubl. refers to terms in the same category as those concerning Alsace Lorraine and the North Depariments. terms which have never been pub: lished so far og T know. However, the airfields in question being situated in Syria. one would have thoughi that they were not included In. the term "French alrfelds." It they were, what about all the other alr-Aelds in Tunisia. Algerin. Morocco. Senegal. and in fact all other French colonies and protectorates? No reason that they be not included also. Then T understand why some. other countries. which had remained friendly to us even after our detent: begin to open their eyes and act accordingly.
We Frenchmen are told. are given to understand, semi-offclally if not 'oMiclally, that if we behave well towards Germans (nothing said about aly. specially), la other "words if we accept to "collaborate" without too much grumbling, France will be. permitted 19 retain its: colonial empire nearly intact, that is" to say. minus only the ante-last-war German colonies. as the Cameroons. which are to be relumed to the previous} owners, the populations, of cour selling just as much consideration as cattle are used to.
On the other side we can read daily, in the German. papers. elaborate reports of the opening of new colonial. schools in German (I think three since last June, not counting Jone in Brussels) staffed with all kinds of Herren Professoren. These new schools, we, are told, are organized and staffed with German. thoroughness, with the best, colonial experts be found. and should be able to turn out u good: many hundreds of new. selected young. administrators within as: short a time as possible. Well, if our- colonies are left to. us. we "would Like to enow which colonies these young administrators fre going to administrate., The. ex-British eolontes, to be sure. "But here am_afrald not, taken as yet. Looking at. tlallan Somaliland Abyssinia has now been restored, to lits righttut owners). It would seem that the "acquiring" business 1s going the other way. the wrong way.. and that It is the British who are taking care of fOr has a "deal": been Struck between our Quislings and the Germans at the expense of: smalter vielims.. Belgium and Holland, for instance? 'The French people refuse fo be party to such dirty' business to "save" their own colonies., It savours too much of robbing the feebler man.
Well, pour revenir anes moutons:
mean coming back to our colon! or more properly to. the: colonies which we will be permitted 1o retain, we have a' glorious example under our very eyes, not so! far from us, in Indochina and' Tonkin. The colony. ig left to us, officially, for the present at least, about under the same' conditions in which a snake does not Sevour its viellm at a gulp, because ho cannot conveniently do it. So we
partnership, for roils. in Kind please the dominant, enses and troubles' attached to the hamiaistration, but, on the condition only that most of the profits go into the dominant, partners, through "treely"((why not. Joyously?) sub: scribed: so-called. "commercial conventions." Yes. the same. kind of free decision offered at, midnight in deserted street to the unarmed passenger by a gunman.
Before closing let me nda that whatever may be said or thought of them, Hitler and. his henchmen, be they' still In Germany', or sampling fa breath of Scotch air in the hope that it may be more wholesome than, the "home" brand. as Herr Hess doing, have never been' Quisling they. never "were "quitters." 'They' never, 4n the most sombre times, ac-Kenowisdged defeat. They," never thought that it was by bleaking ko, sheep. with a kind of sadistic satis: faction, in. season and out' of season, "Mais aptes tout, il ne faut' pas oublier que nour avons ete vain cus" oF in "collaboration". with their con~ uerors that they would and could Felnstate Germany. In energy left only. in Britain or in such occupied countries in Burope as Norway. Belgium. Holland, Greece, Cx0- choslovakla, Poland, whose "populations." though subjugated momen. tarily, porter to suffer the worst trealtment' "rather" than freely" "col. iaborate?" "Laicklly we Know' that nolo and that no amount of foelal Yeading" wil be able. to change. French. blood to water,' even, it''the last drop of It has to be facrifleed. Monsieur lo Marechal, joost non, avec regrets. pour votre personnel, mais. sans hesitation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.