The Voice of France
The meeting of a provisional constitutional assembly at Algiers shows that the French movement is making progress in the spirit of the agreement between General de Gaulle and General Giraud. At present there is no possibility of creating a French Constitution or setting up a Government with constitutional.powers. The Com- mittee of National Liberation itself came into being by a wise arrangement between the leading French personalities outside France, and makes no claim to be more than a provisional authority till such time as the people can be consulted. Similarly the Consultative Assembly now convened makes no claim to constitutional representa- tion of France, and its functions .do not go beyond deliberation and the tendering of advice. If it were nothing else, it would be valuable as affording opportunities for public debate and criticism. But in fact it is much more. A large number of its 84 delegates have recently come from France, and no fewer than 40 are the nominees of French resistance movements; these 4o moreover appoint 12 other delegates representing former resistance movements out- side France. Twenty are members of the French Parliament chosen from among themselves by available members and there are 12 representatives of local authorities in free or liberated French territory. The upshot is that More than half of the assembly speaks for the leaders of resistance within France, a fact which will confer on them some moral authority. It is no small thing that the executive should seek to ally itself with a body capable of speaking inde- pendently and pretty certain to do so. The voice of France will not be really articulate till the Germans have been swept out of the country and elections have been held. It is natural that General de Gaulle, in his opening address to the Consultative Assembly, should have dwelt with some bitterness on the fact that a place has not so far been found for the French National Committee in the Three-Power European Council to be set up in London. But realities must be faced, and the difference between the French National Committee and the Governments of Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union recognised. The full restoration of France is pledged, but it has not yet been accomplished.
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