From the Outside

Unlike Anthony Eden, France's Socialist Premier Guy Mollet had to answer no cries of national conscience over the Suez landings. For Mollet there was no Archbishop of Canterbury reading lessons in simple Christian morals or Labor opposition demanding his head: the French Assembly, except for the Communists and Poujadists, was united behind his invasion of Egypt.

His real pressures came from outside: from U.S. Ambassador Douglas Dillon calling three times during the week to urge the Premier to heed President Eisenhower's advice for a ceasefire. And they came from Anthony Eden, who by telephone from London asked Mollet for a joint cease-fire--and by midnight. Mollet wanted the cease-fire delayed for 36 hours, so that allied forces could take the whole Suez Canal. Eden refused. How about an extra 24 hours? No. Twelve hours? No. Six hours? Impossible, replied Eden. Mollet turned back to his ministers and shrugged: "We can't do anything without the English."

There were only a few grumbles. Jacques Soustelle, Gaullist ex-governor of Algeria, pronounced his verdict: "Nasser wins only because he hasn't lost." Mollet entered an Assembly dissatisfied by partial victory. He saw his chance when a Poujadist Deputy, going too far, complained: "Our paratroopers died for the Queen of England." Wrapping his fingers around a floor microphone, Mollet shouted: "Never forget that if we are able to sit on these benches and speak as free men it is because from 1940 to 1941 the British held on alone." Every Deputy but the Poujadists and Communists gave Guy Mollet a standing ovation.

That was all he needed. In a quick, impassioned speech far different from his dry, schoolmasterish recitations, Mollet said: "Nasser has lost. What has become of the bogus hero now that his army has refused to fight for him?" Without stopping to answer he rushed on to the new questions that Anglo-French aggression had created: "The repercussions of the measures we took have revealed the real situation in the Near East, the ambitions of the Soviet Union. They have made evident the absolute necessity for the three great Western powers to coordinate their policy." Next day Premier Mollet accepted the mandate of the Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee to call for a meeting of Big Three leaders, and hoped it would be in Washington, and soon.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.