PEOPLE OF FRANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 July 1941, Page 5

PEOPLE OF FRANCE

SHOULD NOT BE CONFUSED WITH VICHY MEN WHO HAVE BETRAYED THEIR COUNTRY. EVENTS THAT WILL BRING RETRIBUTION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, July 1. Tlio people of France, “who always are and always will be one of Ihe finesl and bravest peoples of this world,” should not he confused with Hie Vichy Government which has misled them. This plea was the substance of a broadcast by the Secretary to the Minister of Information, Mr Harold Nicholson, M.P., in which ho contrasted the machinations of “a few oil buccaneers and a few private politicians" with the true and undying spirit of the French nation. This clique. Mr Nicolson said, had seized power when the French people were reeling half unconscious from a staggering blow. “In the hope of gaining respectability, they found a venerable figurehead for their intrigues, and they have since maintained themselves by using the German police and military to intimidate their own fellow citizens, crush French courage and murder truth.” Mr Nicolson continued: “Don’t let us lose our natural sense of fairness and tolerance about the French. I de not ask any to feel tolerant about people such as Darlan Baudouin or Laval. I may myself one day find it impossible in my heart to forgive Vichy their surrender, and though 1 shall always fail to understand why they did not send their whole fleet int< the Atlantic and continue to fight in Africa, I may forgive that since it was due to an error of judgment. “But there are two things I shall never forgive Vichy for. The first is that they have handed over to the Gestapo refugees who managed to escape from the Nazi tyranny. Another thing is that Darlan is prepared to sacrifice the interests of his own people and. in fact, all mankind, rather than admit he made a mistake.

“A year ago Darlan was convinced that Britain could not hold out for another month. We have held out for 12 months; our strength today is greater than ever before, and our strength tomorrow will be overwhelming. Darlan knows that the next few months will prove him not a fool merely but also a coward.

“But what has France to do with all this? France has no power at present to resist. France can only mumble an imprecation under her breath, or find relief as, every Sunday, the Bretons find relief, in heaping flowers upon the graves of the British airmen who cross to bomb our common enemies. The French can watch, wait and trust us. Their day will come."