FRANCE A MAN OF EUROPE FLAGS FLEW AT HALF-MAST IN BRUSSELS OVER 
THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE COMMON MARKET . THE TRIBUTE WAS IN 
HOMAGE TO THAT GRAND OLD EUROCRAT, ROBERT SCHUMAN . HIS DEATH 
LAST WEEK AT 77 REMINDED THE WORLD THAT THE NEW EUROPE 
WHICH CHARLES DE GAULLE SO GRANDLY PURPORTS TO HEAD OWES MUCH 
OF ITS IMPETUS TO OTHER FRENCHMEN WITH BROADER HORIZONS . REARED 
IN LORRAINE WHILE IT WAS UNDER THE KAISER'S RULE, SCHUMAN WAS 
A GERMAN FOR THE FIRST 33 YEARS OF HIS LIFE . 
WHEN THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES RETURNED LORRAINE TO FRANCE AFTER WORLD 
WAR I, HE BECAME FRENCH (ALTHOUGH HE NEVER LOST HIS GERMAN 
ACCENT) AND WAS ELECTED A DEPUTY . EDUCATED IN THE LAW, 
LEAN AND TALL WITH A TOOTHBRUSH MUSTACHE, THE ASCETIC SCHUMAN WAS 
A NATURAL FOR THE FINANCE COMMISSION, WHERE HE SERVED FOR 17 
YEARS . HE ATE CHEAP MEALS, PROWLED HIS OFFICES SNAPPING OFF 
LIGHTS . A LIFELONG BACHELOR, SCHUMAN ONCE ANSWERED THE DOOR OF 
HIS PARIS APARTMENT WEARING A MAID'S APRON ; HE HAD BEEN 
DOING HIS OWN DUSTING . LONE LOSS . BUT WHEN IT 
CAME TO HIS DREAM OF THE FUTURE EUROPE, SCHUMAN WAS A 
LEADER AMONG EUROPE'S POSTWAR GENERATION OF CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC RADICAL INTEGRATIONISTS . 
AFTER HELPING FOUND THE CATHOLIC M.R.P . AND TWICE SERVING AS 
POSTWAR PREMIER OF FRANCE (FROM NOVEMBER 1947 TO JULY 1948, AND 
FOR ANOTHER BRIEF PERIOD LATER IN 1948), SCHUMAN TOOK OVER THE 
FOREIGN MINISTER'S POST . IN 1949, AFTER HELPING DRAW UP THE 
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY BLUEPRINT, HE SIGNED THE HISTORIC NATO PACT ON 
FRANCE'S BEHALF . IN 1950, IN LEAGUE WITH ANOTHER FRENCH EUROCRAT, 
JEAN MONNET, HE PROPOSED THE " SCHUMAN PLAN " FOR THE 
EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL COMMUNITY, WHICH PROVED TO BE THE FORERUNNER 
OF THE SIX-NATION COMMON MARKET, AND OF THE EURATOM POOL FOR 
PEACEFUL NUCLEAR RESOURCES . IN 1954 SCHUMAN LOST HIS ONLY MAJOR 
BATTLE A DRIVE FOR AN ALL-EUROPEAN ARMY (EDC) . NO ORATIONS 
. IN RECENT YEARS SCHUMAN LIVED IN SEMIRETIREMENT AT HIS FAMILY 
ESTATE, PORING OVER HIS RARE BOOKS (AMONG THEM THE HANDWRITTEN SCHOOL 
MANUSCRIPTS OF LOUIS XIV) AND PENNING HIS MEMOIRS . INTIMATES SAY 
HE WAS " VERY UPSET " BY DE GAULLE'S OPPOSITION TO 
BRITAIN'S ENTRY INTO THE COMMON MARKET ; BUT HE KEPT HIS 
SILENCE . LAST MONTH, FELLED BY A CEREBRAL THROMBOSIS, SCHUMAN RALLIED 
WEAKLY, BUT REMAINED BEDRIDDEN . WHEN NEWS OF HIS DEATH WAS 
ANNOUNCED, MESSAGES OF EULOGY POURED IN FROM POPE PAUL, PRESIDENT KENNEDY 
(HE " COMBINED VISION WITH REALISM " ), AND FROM DE 
GAULLE, WHO ACKNOWLEDGED " THE HIGH CONSCIENCE WITH WHICH HE SERVED 
. " AT WEEK'S END, WITH NO ORATIONS (AT HIS REQUEST), 
ROBERT SCHUMAN'S FUNERAL SERVICE IN THE METZ CATHEDRAL WAS ATTENDED BY 
FIVE FORMER FRENCH PREMIERS. EVENTUALLY HIS BODY IS TO LIE IN 
A SPECIAL MAUSOLEUM TO BE BUILT FACING EASTWARD ACROSS THE RHINE 
. AFTERWARD THE FIVE ANTOINE PINAY, GUY MOLLET, PIERRE PFLIMLIN, RENE 
PLEVEN AND RENE MAYER WERE INVITED TO LUNCHEON AT THE METZ 
PREFECTURE BY DE GAULLE'S REPRESENTATIVE, MINISTER OF STATE LOUIS JOXE . 
BUT THE EX-PREMIERS DECLINED THE INVITATION WHEN THEY LEARNED THAT SCHUMAN'S 
OLD FRIEND JEAN MONNET, WHO WAS ALSO PRESENT, HAD BEEN LEFT 
OUT OF THE PARTY . 