LEBRUN A RECLUSE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24633, 14 June 1941, Page 10

LEBRUN A RECLUSE

BELIEF STILL FIRM FRANCE SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT ON i Pacing the grounds of the beautiful chateau which he refused to accept as a gift from the nation is France's loneliest ■r, man—ex-President Albert Lebrun, a man whom the world has forgotten since he handed over his office to Petain on July 15 of last year, says a special Sunday Dispatch correspondent. He and his wife have been living since then within a few yards of the chateau, at the home of his son-in-law outside - the village of Vezilles. . r Although completely at liberty, Lebrun seldom leaves the immediate neighbourhood, and is seen in the nearby town of Grenoble only on rare occasions. . , , , ' He appears to be weighed down with sorrow and bewilderment. When his Republic fell, with- six years of his scond term still to go, he “did not know when he was beaten,” and remained at Vichy until it was strongly hinted that he was no longer wanted last July. „ ' He refused the Governments offer of the chateau at Vezilles for his retirement, but fell in love with its spacious grounds, and when he came to‘Vezilles to' live he obtained special permission to use the grounds, There he actually spends the greater part of his free time. He is still in many ways “the man who does not know when he is beaten.” He is still firmly convinced—and he makes no secret of it—that the Government should have gone to North Africa.