The French at Algiers
It is doubtless due to the deliberations of the Consultative Assembly in Algiers and the influence of representatives of resist- ance movements in France that changes have been made in the Committee of National Liberation and anomalies removed which were due to the temporary need of compromise. General Giraud with great public spirit has given up one of his two functions, resigning from the Committee in order to give his whole time to the duties of Commander-in-Chief, thus bringing to an end a situation in which he and General de Gaulle presided on alternate days, and removing the military command from an active share in civil power. This, along with other changes in personnel which will make the Committee more representative of active French opinion and put the break with Vichy beyond question, undoubtedly enhances the authority of the Committee and brings it into a sound working relationship with the Consultative Assembly. The Com- mittee has been showing its determination to uphold to the full the claims of France among the Allies, and indeed has even exceeded the bounds of its competence in its attitude to the Moscow Con- ference. While declaring its pleasure at the result of the Conference, it has also stated that France will not consider herself bound by decisions taken regarding Germany in which she does not take part, thus implying that it considers a French representative should have been at Moscow side by side with the British, Russian and American Foreign Ministers. This opinion overlooks the fact that at the Conference only those • Powers were represented which are at the moment in direction of the war, because their forces are bearing the brunt of it and because they have the unquestioned mandates of their respective nations. The French National Committee, as Mr. Churchill said, are not the owners but the trustees of the title deeds of France, whose freedom remains to be achieved.
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