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Pflimlin's doubtful candidacy resumed as if there had been no news at all. At last, unable to contain himself longer, Communist Floor Leader Waldeck Rochet leaped to his feet and shouted: "In Algiers General Massu has sent an ultimatum to the President of the Republic!" With a roar of rage, right-wingers began to shout "Budapest, Budapest" and "Algeria is French!" Hoarsely, Rochet persisted: "This is the creation of an illegal and insurrectionist government!"
White with anger. Speaker Le Troquer. a Socialist, pounded for order. Said Pflimlin: "It is true that grave events are taking place in Algiers, but it is not for the Communist Party to save the Republic and Algeria. I demand suspension of the session so that those who are responsible for the maintenance of Republican order can face up to the situation."
With that, tight-lipped Pierre Pflimlin hustled out of the Assembly to the Hotel Matignon, official residence of France's Premiers, for a four-hour series of conferences with a parade of ex-Premiers. By the time the Assembly reconvened at 1 :20 in the morning, it had gradually been borne in upon the contentious parliamentarians of France that they had better form a government fast. In dead silence the Deputies listened while Pflimlin, his voice trembling with emotion, declared: "You must realize that we are on the verge of a civil war." Then, with the 135 Communists abstaining and the right still stubbornly opposed, Pierre Pflimlin was invested as Premier of France by the unimpressive vote of 274 to 129.
Taking No Chances. At 4 a.m. the new Premier called his first Cabinet session. Already, while the Assembly was still passing on Pflimlin, Lame Duck Premier Felix Gaillard had moved to prevent any link-up between the insurgents in Algeria and their sympathizers in France. He shut down all but official communications with Algeria, and froze at their docks all ships loaded with supplies. By midnight police had already begun to round up 40 right-wing extremists throughout France. These precautions spoiled the plans of at least one Poujadist Deputy to join Massu, and delayed the arrival in Algeria of a far more potent threat to the government -Gaullist Deputy Jacques Soustelle, who somehow eluded a "protective" guard of eight policemen, and at week's end turned up in Algeria spouting fire.
The new Premier, taking no chances, summoned to the capital hard-bitten Garde Mobile units from the provinces and from West Germany. Then, in a shrewd attempt to force a quick decision on General Raoul Salan, the decision-avoiding Indo-China veteran who is nominally in command of all French forces in Algeria, Pflimlin got on the phone to Algiers and charged the wavering Salan with maintaining the Republic's authority there. And at dawn 76-year-old President Rene Coty, who sat in on the Cabinet meeting, made an unprecedented broadcast to the army: "General officers, officers, noncommissioned officers, corporals and soldiers serving in Algeria. I appeal to your patriotism and your good sense not to add division in the face of the enemy to the trials of the fatherland."