What, essentially, was the charge against Pierre Laval, a charge
which, owing to his own subtle manoeuvring and the incompetence of the judge and jury, was not made apparent during his trial? He was not accused of personal dishonesty, although the vast fortune which he had amassed, and the fact that his house, the Villa Said, had long been a mart of political corruption, furnished full grounds for such an assumption. He was not accused specifically of collabora- tionism, since even to that grave charge he might have answered that he believed erroneously in a German victory and wished only to spare his country the worst consequences of defeat. He was accused essentially of treason against the Third Republic and of aiding the enemies of France. It is irrelevant to consider whether Laval really did believe that the interests of France would best be served by appeasing Germany and by seeking, at the cost of a rupture with Great Britain, to establish a Latin block with Italy and Spain. Such a belief might have been excused as a mistake of political prescience and judgement. It was not in regard to his opinions that Laval was indicted, but in regard to his acts. It could have abundantly been proved that he sought, with the aid of Petain and Darlan, to overthrow the constitution and to establish a dictatorship on totalitarian lines. It could have been proved that it was he, more than anyone else, who was responsible for preventing President Lebrun from going to Africa ; and that it was he who devised the dastardly trick by which those who wished to continue the stiuggle were inveigled into embarking in the S.S. "Massilia " and were arresied and interned upon their arrival in Morocco. It could abundantly have been proved that when, after his dismissal, he was reinstated in power in April, 1942, that reinstatement was due to a German ultimatum. It could have been shown that it was Laval thereafter who decided to assist Germany by deporting labour from France. And, above all, it could have been proved that it was Laval who was the creator of Darnand's militia, thus providing himself with a private army with which to maintain, by the utmost brutality of method, his own dictatorship.
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