FRANCE The Providential Man Out of the kaleidoscopic confusion of events in France emerged two arresting facts. In his first seven days in power Charles de Gaulle had managed to give his country firmer government than it had known in the preceding seven years. And in the process the stiff old soldier from Colombey-les-Deux Eglises had displayed precisely the two qualities his critics insisted that he lacked—a talent for conciliation and a mastery of political maneuver worthy of a Talleyrand or a Tammany sachem.
The first glimpse of the new De Gaulle came early in the week when the National Assembly, in a characteristic bit of legislative haggling, attempted to tie the general's hands by proposing that if he wanted to change the French constitution, he would have to have Assembly approval before his plan could be submitted to popular referendum. The manner in which De Gaulle beat off this threat—he rushed over to the Assembly and threatened to resign on the spot—was out of his old bag of tricks. He got his powers at 12:30 a.m., and by a 350 to 163 vote. Since this was a three-fifths majority, he was free to submit his new constitution directly to the people.
The Final Proof. What was novel about his performance was his willingness to save the Assembly's face by entering into the parliamentary game. He answered questions skillfully. When one right-wing speaker compared him to Robespierre, who started the Terror and in the end died by it, De Gaulle (according to Figaro Littéeraire) turned to Minister of State Guy Mollet and murmured, "Curious. I always thought I was Jeanne d'Arc and Bonaparte. How little one knows oneself."
In a brief speech De Gaulle paid tribute to opponents (such as ex-Premier Pierre Mendeés-France) "to whom I remain attached by bonds which held firm in the past and which will, I think, hold firm in the future."
When he was questioned as to the Assembly's prospects for survival under his regime, De Gaulle's answer brought involuntary roars of laughter from the Deputies, all of whom are keenly conscious of his deep-seated contempt for their past shenanigans. Purred De Gaulle: "The final proof that I have no intention of depriving myself of an Assembly elected by universal suffrage is, dear sir. the pleasure and honor that I find in being among you tonight."
With Parliament under control—it went on a four-month "vacation" the following day—De Gaulle faced to the most overriding threat to public order: the continued defiance from Algiers. For four days, both in Paris and Algeria, he maneuvered endlessly to bring the 500,000 soldiers and 1,000,000 European civilians in Algeria back under the authority of the central government. (The general's only nonofficial appointment during this period: a brief chat with naval Lieut. Commander Philippe de Gaulle, *a gangling carbon copy of the Charles de Gaulle of 30 years ago.) By a virtuoso's blend of compromise and judicious pressure (see below), De Gaulle succeeded in restoring some degree of discipline in the army, thereby nullifying the civil war threat of the right-wing civilian ultras of Algiers.