DE GAULLE SPEAKS TO ALGERIA:

IN the name of France and of the Republic, by virtue of the power granted to me by the Constitution to consult its citizens--and if God lets me live and the people listen to me--I pledge myself to ask the Algerians in their twelve departments what, when all is said and done, they wish to be . . .

As for the date of the vote, I will fix it in due course--at the latest, four years after the actual restoration of peace . . . The ensuing period of time will be devoted to resuming normal existence, to emptying the camps and prisons, to permitting the return of exiles, to restoring the free play of individual and public liberties and to enabling the population to become fully aware of what is at stake . . . But what will this political destiny finally be?

Either--secession, in which some believe they will find independence. France would then leave the Algerians, who had expressed their wish to become separated from it . . . I am convinced personally that such an outcome would be incredible and disastrous. Algeria being what it is at the present time, and the world what we know it to be, secession would carry in its wake the most appalling poverty, frightful political chaos, and, soon after, the warlike dictatorship of the Communists. But this devil must be exorcised, and by the Algerians themselves.

Or else--complete integration with France . . . Algerians would benefit as regards salaries, social security, education and vocational training, from all measures provided for in Metropolitan France; they would live and work wherever they saw fit throughout the territory of the Republic; in other words, they would . . . become part and parcel of the French people, who would then, in effect, spread from Dunkirk to Tamanrasset.

Or else -- government of Algerians by Algerians, backed up by French help and in close relationship with France as regards economy, education, de fense and foreign relations . . .

I proclaim that [the rebel leaders] will have the same place as all others --no more, no less-- the hearing, the share, the place granted them by the votes of the citizens. Why then should the odious strife and fratricidal murders that are still drenching the Algerian soil with blood continue, unless they be the work of a group of ambitious agitators determined to establish by brute force and terror their totalitarian dictatorship? The future of Algeria rests with the Algerians, not as thrust upon them by knife and machine gun, but according to the will which they will express legitimately through universal suffrage. With them, and for them, France will see to it that their choice is free.

I intend to address myself personally to the task . . .

The decision is taken. The contest is worthy of France.

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