The world is watching with close attention trials of certain former leaders of France on charges of "war guilt." That may be one reason why the government at Vichy seems to be preventing any real news about these trials from getting to the public; it may be that a sense of shame would prefer to have these indecent proceedings buried. But they will not be forgotten. By the outcome of these trials will the sincerity of the Petain regime be judged. M. Edouard Daladier, M. Paul Reynaud, and General Marie-Gustav Gamelin are at present in a French chateau awaiting their turn to appear before the tribunal; while the Vichy decree of July 23 denationalizing Frenchmen who left France without permission during the days of the surrender has been extended to include a number more patriots. These actions have been taken, without a doubt, under the orders of Germany. Under M. Daladier France went to war, to fulfil the obligations which previous French Governments had undertaken. Under the dynamic M. Reynaud, France continued the war, though faced with almost certain disaster. It was M. Reynaud who declared the French determination to fight on, even though the war had to be carried on from colonial possessions. His declaration, at a time when the Germans were pushing rapidly into the heart of his country, was strikingly reminiscent of the speech made by Mr. Winston Churchill. the British Prime Minister, in which he emphasized that Britain was prepared to fight on "if necessarily alone." The inclusion of General Gamelin in those to be indicted for wishing to fight on is interesting. On his super cession as commander-in-chief, General Gamelin dropped surprisingly out of the news. As genera issimo he was, of course, technically responsible for the defeat of his armies, and the world leaped to the conclusion that he was being disciplined accordingly. It now appears that General Gamelin, in spite of the widespread impression that he was one of those who preached he doctrine of safety behind the Maginot me, was one of those who favoured continuation of resistance. If this is so, the millions of persons all over the world who had idolized him before the débácle, will be glad. He will have proved worthy of the trust formerly reposed in him, though possibly guilty of errors of judgment and over-confidence. The trial of men of the calibre of these three, who acted faithfully according to the dictates of their conscience in the defence of their country and of the principles of international morality, is in reality ihe trial of the "men of Vichy." The verdicts found by the court at Riom will be regarded by the world outside Nazi domination as a judgment on the men who gave them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.