NEWS OF THE WEEK
HE political situation in North Africa remains as static as the military, and signs of progress are as much to be desired in the ne field as in the other. Mr. Macmillan has by now had time find his feet, and it is very much to be hoped that his influence n the spot, and other influences in London and Washington, may effective in securing a practical working understanding between e supporters of General Giraud and General de Gaulle. Nor are hey the only Frenchmen who have a part to play in a reunited ranee. Much in the political situation in North Africa is highly nsatisfactory, but criticism in some cases has ranged distinctly too ar. It would be preposterous to proscribe permanently everyone vho ever had any part in the Vichy administration. France collapsed n 1940. That is a historical fact which has to be accepted as a new tarting-point. Some government had to be carried on in Un- cupied France, and to damn anyone who accepted responsibility or carrying it on in that desperate emergency would be utterly un- air. Take the case of M. Peyrouton, who has just been appointed overnor-General of Algeria, in place of M. Chatel. Whatever may e said against M. Peyrouton, who has not a particularly engaging ersonality, no one doubts that he is an improvement on M. Chatel. hat is known of him is that he has always been vigorously anti- erman and anti-Laval. As Minister of the Interior he put Laval nder arrest in December, 1940, when that black-avised quisling was emoved from the Cabinet. Darlan, however, soon got rid of him and he went as Ambassador to Argentina, resigning his post there when Laval returned to power in France in April, 1942. The papers that told of his appointment to Algeria told also that the Vichy Minister in Stockholm had resigned to join the Fighting French. It IS irrational to express satisfaction at the latter move and dissatisfac- tion at the former. A strong hand is needed in Algeria, as in Tunis and Morocco, and M. Peyrouton possesses that—with all its advan- tages and disadvantages.
