Two-Edged

France's newly recognized Government grappled with a double-edged problem last week--what to do about the Spanish Maquis who have been raiding into Spain from France, had seized the Spanish consulates in several French cities, were calling for another Spanish civil war. One sharp edge of the problem was domestic: the Spanish Maquis received voluble support from their French comrades within the F.F.I. If General Charles de Gaulle did not support them too, he could expect harsh words, perhaps harsh acts, from the Left. The other sharp edge of the problem was international: Russia, and antifascists throughout the world, were voluble in shouting that the time had come to topple Franco.

This might be desirable. But, in a world at war, was it expedient? Apparently Britain, which is chiefly dependent on Spain for iron ore and certain other metals, thought not. Whatever the French Government thought, it acted with discretion.

Said the Quai d'Orsay: France has diplomatic obligations to Spain. The French Government had ordered all Spanish Maquis in the F.F.I, to withdraw ten miles from the Spanish border. Spanish consulates in France, occupied by Spanish Maquis, would be returned to Franco's consuls. There were reports that France and Spain would resume diplomatic relations.

But France also had moral obligations to the Spanish Maquis. Through the League of Nations the French Government was seeking legal status* for some 50,000 refugees from Spain. Did this mean that Spanish exiles would henceforth be allowed to carry on political activities in France? Said the Qua! d'Orsay: "It is not yet certain."

Spaniards in France meanwhile laid plans for an anti-Falangist meeting in Toulouse, 60 miles from the Spanish frontier. Purpose: to decide upon "the best methods" of overthrowing the Franco Government.

* Including the right to an international passport, as in the case of such "stateless refugees" as White Russians, German Jews.

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