FRANCE'S FUTURE

Grey River Argus, 2 August 1940, Page 8

FRANCE'S FUTURE

Supreme Court TO INVESTIGATE WAR GUILT VICHY, July 31. The Havas Agency says: It is with a desire to appease public opinion, upset by the terrible consequences of the war which the nation had not wanted, that the Petain Government has created a Supreme Court of Justice to establish the responsibility , which may lie in the political, diplomatic, or military sphere. Constitutional acts of the Petain Government abrogate the previous laws, vvhich determined the conditions under which the Senate might constitute itself as a High Court. The new Supreme Court’s competence is wider than that of the High Court. It can be summoned after a Cabinet decision. The penalties do not differ from those of the common law. There will be no death penalty, which cannot be imposed in France for political crimes. There will be no reprieves, and no appeals. BERLIN, July 31. . The official “Diplomatische Correspondenz” says: “The Petain Government’s efforts to determine the war guilt are evidently misdirected. They should be directed towards the discovery why French politicians djd not respond to the Fuehrer’s repeated peace offers. The men really guilty of the war are those who encouraged hate for the Germans, and unloosed the sadistic treatment of prisoners. LONDON, July 31.

The Rome radio reports that the Fope has sent a message to high churchmen of France saying that the true greatness of a nation lies in its ability to recognise truth and apply the powers of wisdom in times of adversity. France was so vast that she would not await the conclusion of peace to resume her march on the path of honour and justice. General de Gaulle, broadcasting to the French colonial empire, appealed to all Frenchmen to continue the war alongside free Frenchman and their ally. General de Gaulle said that the armistice terms adopted by the Vichy Government might have been justified if the terms were limited to a military convention and applied to the metropolitan area of France. The armistice could not be justified in relation to the French colonies, which were still intact but had been handed over to the enemy.

THE FRENCH FLEET. (Received August 1, 9.10 p-m.» NEW YORK, August 1. The “New York Tinues” Vichy correspondent states: The .French navai authorities claim that the of th e French Fleet is as follows:— In England there are the warships Paris and Courbet, one torpedo-boat, one dispatch boat, and several auxiliaries. At Alexandria there are the warships Suffren, Duquesne, Tourville, Buguaytrouin, and the aircraft-car-rier Beran. At Casablanca there are the Jean Bart, the Maneluk, and -the Triumphant. At Dakar there is the Richelieu. At Toulon there i> the Casque. It is indicated that the warships Bretagne and Rigault De Genouilly are the only French warships to have been sunk. The warships Provence, Richelieu, and Strasbourg were slightly damaged. There is no information regarding the damage done to the Dunquerque by the British Navy. HITLER TO MEET PETAIN. (Received August 1, 7.0 p.m.). LONDON, August 1. “The Times” says: Herr Hitlei; is expected to meet President Petain-i soon. Probably it will be in Paris. The initiative has come from Herr Hitler, who has expressed his readiness to have a personal talk with] President Petain in the latter’s capacity as the French Chief of the General Staff.