That old melodrammer The Perils of Marianne went into a new chapter last week. With France being sucked into the buzz saw of bankruptcy, strikes threatening the mortgage on the old homestead, Premier René Mayer had one of those ideas which come only to topflght scenarists and agile politicians. Picking up the transatlantic telephone, he asked Washington: What about a Big Three international conference? The answer was: it's on the way (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS).
Back in the Assembly the deputies were debating Mayer's demand for special powers to make budget cuts. The government was tottering; the Gaullists who had helped Mayer to...