29 MAY 1941, Page 2

Admiral Darlan-'s Treachery

The people of France who listened to Admiral Darlan's broadcast last Friday found little enlightenment about the advantages derived from his conversations and agreement with Hitler. What had Darlan received? What had he given away in his decision to " co-operate " with the magnanimous victor? The answer was given in the form of a series of revealing negatives. He denied that Hitler had asked or that he had consented to deliver the French fleet to Britain's enemies. He denied that the Chancellor had asked for any colonial territory, —yet at the very moment he was speaking German aeroplanes were making full use of French aerodromes in the territory of Syria for attacking the British in Iraq. Nor had he been asked or consented to declare war on Britain. Yet he has put the resources of French colonies, French shipping and French industry at the disposal of the German war-machine, and is consenting to rectifications of frontier between occupied and unoccupied zones which will facilitate the transport of German troops. It is clear enough that he has already gone far beyond the Armistice terms in acts of submission to Germany and betrayal of Britain, yet he unblushingly assures his compatriots that " France chooses freely the path she wishes to follow." He appealed pitifully to the indescribable debacle of last year, attributing it to the errors of a succes- sion of French Governments, to legalised indolence and dis- order and to the sapped spirit of the nation which, apparently, he proposes to restore by winning Hitler's thanks for help against Britain. France was indeed defeated, but her honour was intact until she tolerated the puppets of Vichy.