"I, Alone ..."

General Charles de Gaulle sent word to the fuming, frustrated Consultative Assembly: gladly would he confer with them about his Ministers. Into his presence trooped some three dozen leaders of France's advisory parliament.

Politely the General listened. He had heard their complaints before. Justice Minister Franc,ois de Menthon was too reluctant in purging collaborationists, too lax in setting up adequate tribunals. Food Minister Paul Ramadier was too slow in allaying hunger, too inefficient in building up a distribution system. Information Minister Pierre Henri Teitgen was too partial in distributing newsprint, too sluggish in breaking up the paper trusts. The Government had not removed these men. Gravely Assembly Speaker Felix Gouin observed: "Our deliberations are useless if no heed is paid to them. . . ."

The General smiled ironically. He gave the impression of laughing a little inside. "You are not elected," he replied. "And neither am I. You, like my own Government, represent something not quite definite. Therefore we must do our best and just try to get along until popular suffrage has decided for us all."

Then he added, pleasantly: even if the Assembly unanimously condemned one of his Ministers or one of his policies, he would not necessarily make a change. And if the municipal elections, scheduled between April and June, showed that the Assembly did not represent the political character of the country, he would enlarge its membership accordingly.

Leftist Assemblyman Pierre Villon commented: "We are in a most awkward position. Popular opinion holds many of us responsible for the failures of the Cabinet."

The General smiled his most pointed smile. "All right! I have no objection to making a public statement that Monsieur Pierre Villon is in no way responsible for what my Government does or does not do."

Next day, as good as his word, the General publicly declared: "Until universal suffrage shall be operating, I, alone, am responsible before the country."

The Assembly went back to talking in a vacuum. What else could they do in the face of the General's integrity, prestige and stubbornness? Full well they knew that they could carry their point (or lose it altogether) only at the polls--and that there could be no general election until the 3,000,000 Frenchmen now prisoners in Germany had come home.

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