M. MENDES-FRANCE FLIES HOME
M. Mendes-France has been waiting for many years for the chance to show what he could do for his country. He came within an ace of getting that chance just after the Liberation, and lost it because General de Gaulle was bored by economics. . the French Premier we have the spectacle of a man heaving formidable obstacles of foreign policy from his path in order 11"'-e turn his energy to problems of domestic rehabilitation to International he has long believed he held the key. His impact on the had scene has been impressive. His methods have 'Iliad a nervous force which is new to contemporary diplomacy, htld it has been personality as much as policy which has kept r,is c'wn and his nation's name in the forefront of events. The ‘2,ceneva deliberations on Indo-China were galvanised by his u,' dge, with a time-limit, to end the, conflict or resign. The side of the Saar chess-board. In Washington there has been a touch of panache in the wager that this time prance will ratify, followed by the proposal for a Big Four meeting which puts logic into the Premier's talk of ` parallelism ' in ratification and negotiation and keeps the French colours flying bravely. What he brings back to France may be no more positive than his previous international successes; there is no definite American guarantee of the Saar settlement, no clear solution of questions in Indo-China, no solid gesture of American support in North Africa. On the other hand he has improved his own standing in the United States without giving much of a handle to anti-Americans at home. Confidence is his special secretion, and his political glands are still working well.
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