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But the proposal is quickly contested by non-Gaullist "Companions." "De Gaulle in his quality as general?" asks Pflimlin. "No one has the right to interpret a silence," snaps Popular Republican Maurice Schumann in sardonic reference to De Gaulle's refusal to commit himself. Muses Peasant Party Deputy Henri Dorgeères-d'Halluin: "I would first wish to give a last chance to our existing institutions."
So far as anyone can tell, the time has not yet come when most Frenchmen are prepared to throw France's democracy overboard and give a free hand to De Gaulle or anyone else. But neither has the time come when they are prepared to confront the implications of the fear confessed two weeks ago by Socialist Robert Lacoste, outgoing French proconsul in Algeria. Said Lacoste to a French newsman: "Why is all the world against France? You believe it is because we are not in the current of history? Yes, you believe it. I also."