No Doubts

As a student of French history, Charles de Gaulle knows well Talleyrand's admonition on the art of government: "Above all, no zeal." But last week, when he appeared on television to defend himself against mounting criticism, the old man seemed to be telling the French nation that he had changed the motto to "Above all, no doubts." To get his message across, though, he ignored French history and resorted to a metaphorical invocation of Faust.

"In the celebrated drama of Goethe," said le vieux Charles, "Mephistopheles described himself thus: 'I am the spirit which denies all.' Then, in listening to the advice of Mephistopheles, the unfortunate Dr. Faust went from mis fortune to misfortune until final damnation. Frenchwomen, Frenchmen, we will not do that. Pushing aside doubt, the demon of all decadence, we will follow our way. It is that of a France which believes in herself and which, because of that, is open to the future."

Frenchwomen and Frenchmen had rarely seen their President so agitated. His hands darted and swept to punctuate his thoughts; his shoulders pumped with energy as he dismissed his critics by calling them "apostles of decline," men who belong to "what one must call the school of national renunciation."

Once more he repeated his oft-heard theme that only Charles de Gaulle can lead France to "independence, progress and peace." His opposition to the U.S., to the war in Viet Nam and to British entry into the Common Market, he explained, is all "appropriately French." He applied the same phrase to the curiously irresponsible call for a "Free Quebec" that he issued during last month's state visit to Canada.

De Gaulle was obviously bothered by his falling popularity. The latest public-opinion poll shows that only 55% of the French electorate approves of his policies--a sharp drop from 65% in June. It was understandable that his speech touched only lightly on two of his more recent decrees, which hold no promise of improving his standing. To bail out the nation's cumbersome social security system, which is $600 million in the red, French workers, he said, will now pay more taxes and receive fewer benefits. In addition, he announced, he has imposed compulsory profit sharing on all French companies, a measure rejected by labor as meaningless, opposed by big business as ruinous, and considered by most of his Cabinet members to be frivolous and unworkable. Both decrees may well lead to a general strike when French workers return from the beaches in the fall.

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