FRANCE SPARKS ACROSS THE CHANNEL FOR A MAN SO INSISTENT ON HAVING 
HIS OWN SENSIBILITIES TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT, CHARLES DE GAULLE HAS A 
GARGANTUAN CAPACITY FOR BEING INDIFFERENT TO EVERYONE ELSE'S . LAST WEEK, 
HAVING STOOD FRANCE'S FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS ON THEIR EARS, DE GAULLE 
TRIUMPHANTLY SURVEYED THE SCENE FOR THE BENEFIT OF SOME 120 NEWLY 
ELECTED NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEPUTIES IN A RECEPTION AT ELYSEE PALACE . 
DE GAULLE, WHOSE ATTITUDE TOWARD ECONOMICS IS VAGUE AT BEST, LOFTILY 
EXPLAINED TO THE DEPUTIES WHY THE U.S . WANTED BRITAIN IN 
THE COMMON MARKET : " THE AMERICANS ARE GIVING AWAY THEIR 
PRODUCTS TO THE SOUTH AMERICANS, THE AFRICANS, AND EVEN THE ARABS 
. THEREFORE THEY MUST TRY TO SELL THEM IN EUROPE, WHICH 
CAN PAY FOR THEM . " THIS WAS WILDLY INACCURATE : 
U.S . SALES TO JAPAN AND CANADA ALONE IN 1962 TOTALED 
ALMOST TWICE AS MUCH AS ITS $3.6 BILLION IN EXPORTS TO 
THE COMMON MARKET . WITH BRITAIN'S EXCLUSION, SAID LE GRAND CHARLES, 
THE U.S . IS NOW " MAKING USE OF ENGLAND " 
TO CREATE " A VAST NEW TRADE THINGAMAJIG WITH THE IRISH, 
THE ICELANDERS, AND SO FORTH . " THEN DE GAULLE TURNED 
HIS REMARKS TO THE WEST GERMANS, FOR WHOM HE HAD SOME 
ADVICE ON HOW TO GOVERN THEMSELVES . " WHAT IS NEEDED 
IN GERMANY, " HE DECLARED, " IS A CONSTITUTION THAT WOULD 
PERMIT IT TO FACE MODERN CONDITIONS . " (GERMANY'S CONSTITUTION WAS 
DRAFTED AND ADOPTED IN 1949.) CHANGE OF TONE . DE GAULLE'S 
MOST DERISIVE COMMENTS WERE AIMED AT HAROLD MACMILLAN AND HIS COUNTRYMEN, 
WHO " ALWAYS MANAGE TO SEEM SO RESPECTABLE . " DESCRIBING 
THE PRIME MINISTER'S TALKS WITH HIM AT RAMBOUILLET LAST DECEMBER, HE 
RELATED : " MR . MACMILLAN CAME TO TELL ME WE 
WERE RIGHT IN MAKING OUR FORCE DE FRAPPE . " WE 
HAVE OUR OWN, TOO,' HE TOLD ME . " WE SHOULD 
TRY TO ASSOCIATE THEM IN A EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK INDEPENDENT OF AMERICA.' 
ON THIS, HE LEFT ME FOR THE BAHAMAS . " THERE, 
ACCORDING TO DE GAULLE, MACMILLAN BETRAYED HIM BY AGREEING INSTEAD TO 
ACCEPT POLARIS FORCE FROM THE U.S . AND THEN TO COMMIT 
IT, ALONG WITH BRITAIN'S OWN NEW NUCLEAR BOMBERS, TO A MULTINATIONAL 
NATO NUCLEAR FORCE . SHRUGGING THAT THIS " NATURALLY CHANGED THE 
TONE " OF THE JAN . 14 PRESS CONFERENCE AT WHICH 
DE GAULLE GUTTED BRITAIN'S HOPES OF JOINING EUROPE, DE GAULLE ADDED 
TESTILY : " MR . MACMILLAN, WHOM I LIKE, HAS HAD 
THE BRITISH PRESS COMPARE ME TO HITLER AND EVEN TO NAPOLEON 
. " IN LONDON, IRATE BRITISH OFFICIALS WERE OFFENDED AT THE 
IDEA THAT MACMILLAN COULD DICTATE FLEET STREET'S LINE, EVEN IF HE 
WANTED TO . PERHAPS, THEY SUGGESTED ACIDLY, HE WAS CONFUSING BRITAIN'S 
FREE PRESS WITH FRANCE'S, WHERE DE GAULLE'S SIDE PRONOUNCEMENTS AND LITTLE 
WITTICISMS ARE FED TO THE PARIS PRESS BY THE PALACE GUARD 
. A GREAT MANY TALKATIVE DEPUTIES HAD HEARD DE GAULLE'S COMMENTS 
AT HIS PALACE RECEPTION, AND THE STATE-OWNED NEWS AGENCY HAD SENT 
THEM OUT ON THE WIRE . NONETHELESS, WHEN THE REVERBERATIONS BEGAN, 
THE PALACE GRANDLY ISSUED A WARNING THAT THE PUBLIC " ONCE 
AGAIN BE ON GUARD AGAINST THE PUBLICATION OF SO-CALLED DECLARATIONS OF 
GENERAL DE GAULLE . " SEVEN REASONS . IN LONDON, BRITISH 
OFFICIALS PRODUCED THEIR OWN MINUTES OF THE RAMBOUILLET TALKS, WHICH CONTAINED 
NO HINT THAT MACMILLAN HAD EVER PROPOSED A DETERRENT " INDEPENDENT 
OF AMERICA . " THE PRIME MINISTER, THEY SAID, HAD INDEED 
AGREED THAT DE GAULLE SHOULD PUSH AHEAD WITH HIS FORCE DE 
FRAPPE, BUT HAD POINTEDLY EXPRESSED HIS HOPES THAT IT WOULD EVENTUALLY 
BE ASSIGNED TO NATO . SNAPPED ONE OFFICIAL : " THE 
FRENCH HAVE NOW GIVEN SEVEN DIFFERENT REASONS WHY DE GAULLE TURNED 
DOWN BRITISH MEMBERSHIP . THE ONLY THING THEY HAVEN'T CLAIMED YET 
IS THAT IT WAS BECAUSE SCOTLAND BEAT FRANCE 11-6 AT RUGBY 
. / THE REAL REASON WHY DE GAULLE VETOED BRITAIN, RETORTED 
FOREIGN SECRETARY LORD HOME, WAS THAT " TWO VISIONS OF EUROPE 
HAD COME INTO HEAD-ON COLLISION . ONE WAS OF EUROPE SO 
ORDERED THAT IT WOULD BE A THIRD FORCE, PROTECTED, EXCLUSIVE, NARCISSUS-LIKE 
IN ITS SELF-GLORY . THE OTHER, A EUROPE OF EQUAL, POLITICALLY 
MATURE NATIONS IN COMPLETE PARTNERSHIP WITH AMERICA AND DOING THEIR DUTY 
BY THE WHOLE WORLD OUTSIDE . " WITH ANGLO-FRENCH RELATIONS IN 
SUCH AN IRRITABLE STATE, BRITAIN ANNOUNCED THAT THE PLANNED VISIT TO 
PARIS OF PRINCESS MARGARET AND HER HUSBAND, LORD SNOWDEN, FOR THE 
MOVIE PREMIERE OF LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, HAD BEEN CANCELED " ON 
THE ADVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT . 