851.01/3864
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Stettinius) to the Secretary of State
The Secretary: I think you will be interested in the following comparison of the recent statements by the Prime Minister92 and Mr. Eden93 in the House of Commons on the French Committee.
In his speech on Wednesday the Prime Minister said:
“The reason why the United States and Great Britain have not been able to recognize it as the government of France, or even as the provisional government of France, is because we are not sure it represents the French nation, in the same way as the governments of Britain, the United States and Soviet Russia represent the whole body of their people.
“The committee will, of course, exercise leadership in the matter of law and order in the liberated area of France under supervision, while the military exigencies last, of the supreme Allied commander in chief. But we do not wish to commit ourselves at this stage to imposing a government on any part of France which might fall under our control without more knowledge than we now possess of the situation in the interior of France.”
In the House of Commons Mr. Eden said the Allied Armies would deal with the Committee in all matters affecting Metropolitan France as “The French Authority which will exercise leadership in France as the liberation progresses.”