Wedding Day

Pierre Mendes-France nearly had it in his hand. Before he could grasp it, he was thrown out of office. Last week Mendes-France's successor. Premier Edgar Faure. closed his fingers on it: a settlement between France and Tunisia which, if carried out by men of good will, may bring an end to bloodshed and revolt in Tunisia, and diminish the despair and desperation in neighboring Morocco and Algeria.

For nearly eight months, through the fall of one French government and the emergence of another, French-Tunisian negotiations have ground on in Paris, sometimes almost grinding to a halt. In the climactic stages. Premier Faure himself headed up the French negotiators. The nominal head of the Tunisian delegation was portly Premier Tahar Ben Amar, a wealthy pro-French landlord. But the real Tunisian string-puller, behind the scenes, was handsome, saturnine Habib Bourguiba, exiled leader of Tuisia's nationalist Neo-Destour Party and an authentic political genius.

By the terms of his lenient exile, Bourguiba was allowed to live in France, but was supposed to stay out of Paris. Actually, in recent weeks, Bourguiba has spent much time in Paris, and the French government has winked at it. At the Hotel Continental, where Bourguiba stayed, the help referred to him in whispers as le grand fellagha. His moderate counsels have unified his people. Through all the years of French bad faith and broken promises, he held Tunisian nationalists together, so that the French were unable to divide them (as in Morocco) or the Communists seriously to infiltrate them.

Tunisia, poorest of France's three North African territories, is a land where 250,000 Europeans seek to preserve their privileged status in a land of 3,000,000 Arabs. By last week the points at issue between the two sides had narrowed down to two minor ones: the French insisted on equal French representation in the municipal governments of five towns, and that the Tunisians were unwilling to grant; and the French wanted military control of the Libyan frontier (to prevent Arab infiltrators coming in from the east), and that Premier Ben Amar was unwilling to yield. Faure was about to give in, when an irate lobby representing French planters (the colons) and civil servants in Tunisia brought their powerful pressure to bear.

The lobbyists, led by one of Tunisia's two Senators, Antoine Colonna, held a press conference crackling with angry voltage. Dr. Jean Tremsal, top municipal officer of Tunis, declared: "Frenchmen in Tunis do not recognize any agreements which dispose of their fate and their future and that of their children and grandchildren." Cried another lobbyist: "We cannot accept. We will defend ourselves, we will defend France in spite of herself."

The Rescue. But at this critical moment Edgar Faure had a trump card to play: Habib Bourguiba. That afternoon, obviously at Faure's invitation, the swart Neo-Destour leader stalked into the Hotel Matignon, the Premier's residence. After being closeted two hours with Faure, Bourguiba came out smiling broadly, and issued an optimistic statement. Much heartened, the Premiers of France and Tunisia got to work again, and at 1:25 a.m. gave out the joyful word: they had reached agreement. Almost choked with emotion, Premier Ben Amar said: "This is our wedding day." Said Premier Faure: "We must wipe the slate clean of past grievances and consider the future." As a reward for Bourguiba, all restrictions on his movements were taken off: he was free to return to Tunisia.

Highlights of the agreement:

P: France will continue to handle Tunisian defense and foreign affairs.

P: Arabic will be the official language, but French will be the "working language."

P: Towns can elect French members, subject to confirmation by the Bey of Tunis. But in no case will French representation be more than three-sevenths.

P: The French Resident General will become a high commissioner, and will hand over control of police to Tunisians within two years (but in large towns one-third of the police will be Frenchmen).

P: France will keep military control of the Libyan border, the naval base at Bizerte, and Bizerte's auxiliary supply base at Ferryville.

P: Tunisian courts will take over entirely within 20 years. In the interval, mixed courts will try cases involving both French and Tunisians.

P: French and Tunisian schools will continue as separate institutions.

This was about as close to granting Tunisian autonomy as France was ready to go at present. Many Tunisians were jubilant, though some preferred to wait and see. Premier Faure well knew that there were some road mines ahead, since details remain to be settled by the two governments, and the French National Assembly--where the North African colons are powerful--may make trouble. Nevertheless Faure was triumphant. "Some people," he said, "have reproved me for being an immobiliste. What kind of immobilisme is this?"

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