VICHY FRANCE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 63, Issue 4463, 13 August 1941, Page 7

VICHY FRANCE

REPERCUSSIONS ON BRITAIN. “ With the flagrant readiness of Vichy to accept its satellite role and the change of policy at Washington, it is surely possible for British policy to throw off any inhibitions with regard to Vichy-France. Only one deterrent remains the fear that an open clash might alienate the people of France. But the people of France are less sophisticated than their selfappointed leaders. For th’em the German, in occupation of two-thirds of their dear country, is a more evident enemy than the British who fight to defeat the German. Every report from France gives fresh evidence that, whatever the failures of thair Governimient, the people of France are neither discouraged nor fearful nor corrupt. On the contrary, a m,ise-au-point between Britain and Vichy, far from harming Britain, might well have a fatally damaging effect upon Vichy’s prestige. If there is any excuse for Vichy, it is that it is sparing a section of the French people the horrors of war. If by joining Germany Vichy ensures that these horrors are again unleashed, the average Frenchman may well ask on what mandate the men of Vichy abstained from W ; ar for just long enough to bring their country in on the wrong side.”—The Economist, London.