June 3.
The declaration by Admiral Francois Dar-lan, Vichy Vice-Premier, in which he dered the stand which Vichy and that part of ice that follows them intend to take in relation to Britain and to Germany, has not made the powerful impression upon the British that Vichy and Berlin obviously hoped. It has been dismissed as "bluster and threats." If Admiral Darlan persists in the direction he is going, he will not be saving the French Empire' but merely turning it into a German colony. In view of the fact that ninety per cent, of Frenchmen in unoccupied France and one hundred per cent. of Frenchmen in occupied France are pro-British, Admiral Darlan's speech called for Some courage. Or is the explanation that he was goaded to desperation by his Nazi masters, and bribed with the promise of the re-Tease of 5,000 old prisoners of war, with Some wounded and crippled men as well? All this girding against Britain, with its dis-tertian of the facts, and at times blunt untruths does not sound Frenchman, but ra which Goebbels and his ilk have made the world familiar during the last two years. His accusation that Britain left France in the lurch during the twenty years preceding the war is so much akin to the Nazi slogan that the British were ready to fight to the last Frenchman, that there can be no doubt as to Its origin, The Ministry of Economic Warfare has effectively spiked Admiral Darlan's guns $0) far as his accusations regarding British seizures of French ships is concerned. Admiral Darlan alleged that Britain had illegal seized 792,000 tons of French chipping, but the Ministry points out that Admiral Darlan himself admits that of this 36,000 tons was Free French; 142,000 tons was immobilized by order of President Roosevelt—with which Britain had nothing to do—and 86,000 tons was sunk while in the direct service of the Germans. Tt was officially admitted by Vichy that 250,000 tons of French shipping was seized by Germans in occupied territory. The Ministry's statement thus goes on to show that no more than 271,000 tons could have fallen into British hands. Against this, and in conformity with Nazi orders, the Vichy government ordered the seizure of 200,000 tons of British and Allied shipping which was in unoccupied French ports, in North Africa, and in the French colonies. Thus is Admiral Darlan refuted out of his own mouth and out of the mouths of his colleagues.
Admiral Darlan could not have made Vichy's position clearer than when he declared: "I am working so that France should recover her place as a power in Europe and the world. This implies that 1 am participating in the construction of a new. order, this implies that I am trying to hasten the hour of peace......At any rata, Tam determined to do my duty." Has he forgotten that Hitler- and his minions have openly declared for years that France must be totally destroyed? Hitler at one time Sought for an alliance with Britain, with some sort of idea that Britain might be tempted from the side of her French ally by some gigantic scheme for partitioning the world. France and the French empire were to be the victims of this suggested alliance, which Britain rejected with contumely. Has Admiral Darlan forgotten that Germany has already reduced France fo something less than a second class power, by means of requisition, an enormous sum in payment of the upkeep of an army of occupation, and by exploiting everything that the nation had that was worth exploiting? The Germans have got the French people, as a result of Need for strong measures by Britain in Syria since the infltratdon of Germany into that French-mandated territory assumed ever-increasing proportions thas been expressed in many quarters recently. There is no doubt that Jsuch measures are needed, and that they must be taken as speedily og possible if Britain is not to be faced with another Axis fait accompli jin that part of the world. German common] of Syria, which the Vichy Government appears to be backing. more or less openly, these days, would give the Germans a fine base from which to aflack Iraq with its valuable oil supplies, to threaten Palestine and to. blud~ geon an almost surrounded Turkey into agreeing fo any demands that Hitler might put forward to the government of that country, Now that the French authorities in Syria have shown their hand it is time for the British to do Ukewise, The collapse of the [iragt revolt hag Weakened Hitler's hand somewhat in the struggle for supremacy in the vital all regions of Iraq and Iran but, with Syria as a base in which to assemble a vast army and air force, his hand would be strength-fened tenfold. The German victory at Crete has given Hitler air bases considerably nearer {to Cyprus, to Palestine and to Iraq and Iran than he possessed before and from this island he could also launch attacks on Alexandria and the 'Suez Canal, while his troops and planes, work-{ing from Syria, would be able to launch' a full-scale attack on British positions from that country. There is no doubt that the turnabout fof the Vichy Government in Syria has added [considerably othe problems solved by the British command. but there is mo evidence to support reports that German infiltration into that territory has assumed dangerous proportion, yet. If Syria is left alone it will assume very dangerous proportions and will endanger the position of the British forces that part of the world as well as cutting off Turkey from the south. Of the fact that Hitler {intends to use Syria as a base there can be doubt. It is up to the British High Command fo forestall that occupation and forestall it they can with prompt and severe action,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.