A Sinister Canard
It is to be hoped that the truth and all the truth about the origin of the canard published by the Paris journal Le Monde, which is virtually a successor of Le Temps, regarding an alleged statement by Admiral Fechteler on the probable result of a European war will be relentlessly probed. The story— to the effect that war before 1960 was inevitable and that Britain would be obliterated as a military base by atomic bombs—is of course calculated to play straight into Communist hands, by causing France to think that military preparations are useless and that the only prudent policy is the neutralism for which Le Monde has come more and more to stand. The most categorical repudiation not merely of such a statement but of any such views by Admiral Fechteler has not shaken Le Monde's insistence on the accuracy of its story, which is com- manding no credence except in Communist circles and must seriously damage Le Monde's journalistic repute. But a further consideration is involved, which is put forcibly by M. Remy Roure, the chief political writer on Le Monde, who has resigned his position on the paper as a protest against the publication of such a report, whether well-founded or not (as to that M. Roure knows nothing) at a time when "peace is too fragile and the solidarity of the free nations too precious" to be imperilled in this wanton way. The fact that the publica- tion was timed, whether by accident or by design, for the day on which the European Army treaty was being initialled is another aspect of the affair that urgently needs investigation. The possibility that something has been deliberately planted on • Le Monde cannot be excluded. One healthy symptom is the universal condemnation of Le Monde by all the non-Communist French Press.
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