FRANCE " GIVE US SOME SOUS " AS DAWN ROSE OVER PARIS 
EARLY ONE MORNING LAST WEEK, A VOLLEY OF RIFLE SHOTS ECHOED 
THROUGH DANK, GRIM IVRY FORT . DEAD BEFORE THE FIRING SQUAD 
SANK EX-LIEUT . COLONEL JEAN-MARIE BASTIEN-THIRY, 35, CONVICTED RINGLEADER OF LAST 
SUMMER'S ABORTIVE ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE CHARLES DE GAULLE IN THE PARIS 
SUBURB OF PETITCLAMART AS HE WAS MOTORING TO HIS COUNTRY HOME 
AT COLOMBEY-LES-DEUX-EGLISES. THOUGH DE GAULLE SPARED TWO OTHER PLOTTERS, HE PRESUMABLY 
ORDERED THE EXECUTION OF BASTIEN-THIRY TO DISCOURAGE OTHER TERRORISTS FROM FURTHER 
ASSASSINATION EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF THE DREAD SECRET ARMY ORGANIZATION . 
BUT DE GAULLE'S MOST PROMINENT FOE, EX-PREMIER GEORGES BIDAULT, NOW A 
RANKING S.A.O . CHIEFTAIN, WAS AS PUBLICLY DEFIANT AS EVER . 
HE COULD AFFORD TO BE, FOR HE WAS NOW HOLED UP 
IN SOUTHERN GERMANY, WHERE, AFTER A NERVOUS BRUSHOFF BY CHANCELLOR KONRAD 
ADENAUER, HE SOUGHT POLITICAL ASYLUM FROM THE STATE OF BAVARIA . 
BATHED IN PUBLICITY AND SURROUNDED BY POLICE, HE OBVIOUSLY WAS NOT 
DOING HIS RESISTANCE ORGANIZATION MUCH CONCRETE GOOD IN A DISTANT GERMAN 
VILLA . BUT WHEN HE CALLED REPORTERS IN FOR INTERVIEWS, BIDAULT 
INSISTED THAT HIS POLITICAL ACTIVITIES WERE FAR FROM OVER . " 
I AM THE LEADER OF THE NATIONAL RESISTANCE COUNCIL . I 
AM THE BOSS OF IT ALL, " HE BOASTED . IN 
FRANCE, THERE WAS ONLY OFFICIAL SILENCE . FACT WAS, THE FRENCH 
GOVERNMENT WAS DELIGHTED THAT THE TROUBLEMAKER WAS IN GERMANY, WHERE HE 
WAS UNDER CONTINUAL SURVEILLANCE, AND WAS BABBLING A LITTLE TOO MUCH 
TO THE PRESS TO ENHANCE HIS REPUTATION . WITH BIDAULT ON 
ICE, DE GAULLE TURNED HIS ATTENTION TO THE CONTINUING, CRIPPLING STRIKE 
OF 188,000 MINERS IN THE NATIONALIZED COAL FIELDS OF NORTHERN FRANCE, 
WHO WERE DEMANDING WAGE SCALES ON A PAR WITH WORKERS IN 
PRIVATE INDUSTRY . RUMORS CIRCULATED THAT S.A.O . MEMBERS, DISGUISED AS 
COPS, WOULD ATTACK THE STRIKERS TO PROVOKE THEM TO VIOLENCE AGAINST 
THE GOVERNMENT, BUT THE ONLY TOLL OF THE STRIKE SO FAR 
WAS ECONOMIC . THOUSANDS OF STEEL AND NATURAL GAS WORKERS WENT 
OUT ON A SYMPATHY STRIKE, AND A 24-HOUR RAIL WALKOUT CREATED 
A TRANSPORTATION TIE-UP ALL OVER FRANCE . INTO PARIS DROVE A 
342-CAR CONVOY OF SOME 2,000 LORRAINE IRONWORKERS CHANTING : " GIVE 
US SOME SOUS, POMPIDOU . " THOUGH FURIOUS AT THE CONTINUED 
INTRANSIGENCE OF THE STRIKERS, DE GAULLE KNEW HE MIGHT HAVE TO 
GIVE IN. AT A CABINET MEETING IN PARIS, HE ORDERED STUDIES 
DRAWN UP COMPARING WAGES IN PRIVATE AND GOVERNMENT-OWNED INDUSTRY, WITH AN 
EYE TOWARD MAKING ADJUSTMENTS . BUT HE WAS STILL RANKLED AT 
THE MONETARY SUPPORT GIVEN THE STRIKERS BY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
IN THE NORTHERN COAL AREAS . ASKED WHERE THE FUNDS WOULD 
COME FROM TO PAY FOR ANY WAGE HIKE, HE SUGGESTED WE 
COULD ALWAYS TAKE UP A COLLECTION IN THE CHURCHES THESE DAYS, 
WITH TIGHTER POLICE SECURITY, DE GAULLE USUALLY MAKES THE TRIP BETWEEN 
PARIS AND COLOMBEY BY HELICOPTER . ESCORTED BY A HEAVY POLICE 
GUARD, HE DRIVES A FEW MILES DOWN THE HIGHWAY TO AN 
ISOLATED, PREDETERMINED SPOT ON THE ROAD . THERE, AS SHOWN WITH 
MME . DE GAULLE IN PHOTOGRAPHS RELEASED THIS WEEK (SEE CUTS), 
HE LEAVES HIS CAR, ENTERS THE WAITING HELICOPTER, AND MAKES HIS 
JOURNEY . FOR ONE THING, LE GRAND CHARLES WAS DOUBTLESS AWARE 
OF THE LATEST REPORT OF THE FRENCH INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC OPINION, 
WHICH REVEALED THAT DE GAULLE'S RATING HAD PLUMMETED NINE POINTS OVER 
THE PRECEDING MONTH, WITH ONLY 55 PER CENT OF THE FRENCH 
POPULACE NOW " SATISFIED " WITH HIS CONDUCT OF THE PRESIDENCY 
. IT WAS DE GAULLE'S LOWEST READING IN 14 MONTHS . 
