“All my life I have thought of France in a certain way,” DeGaulle wrote in the famous first paragraph of his memoirs. “This is inspired by sentiment as much as by reason. The emotional side of me tends to imagine France, like the princess in the fairy stories or the Madonna in the frescoes, as dedicated to an exalted and exceptional destiny. Instinctively, I have the feeling that providence has created her either for complete successes or exemplary misfortunes. If, in spite of this, mediocrity shows in her acts and deeds, it strikes me as an absurd anomaly, to be imputed to the faults of Frenchmen, not to the genius of the land. But the positive side of my mind also assures me that France is not really herself unless in the front rank; that only vast enterprises are capable of counterbalances the ferments of dispersal which are inherent in her people; that our country, as it is, surrounded by the others, as they are, must aim high and hold itself straight, on pain of mortal danger. In short, in my mind, France cannot be France without greatness.”

A lot of people were thinking of those words this week as the spectacle of French appeasement unfolded at the United Nations. Even against the backdrop of the history that DeGaulle imputed to the faults of Frenchmen, it is hard to think of a betrayal as abject as that of the emissary of the Quai D’Orsay, Villepin, against Secretary Powell. It will be remembered for years to come, and Mr. Powell, who risked so much in a bet on France, was understandably in a fury when he returned to Washington. Though Mr. Powell was mocked for being on the defensive, he will no doubt recover. Still seething, he was reported at mid-week to be swinging into the war camp. The recovery will not be so easy for Mr. Villepin or, for that matter, President Chirac. The mediocrity DeGaulle warned of has been personified. Messrs. Chirac and Villepin will be remembered, after all, not so much for how they betrayed us Americans but for how they betrayed DeGaulle’s idea that France is not really herself unless in the front rank. Its genius may have carved the Statue of Liberty, but the monument is in America for a reason.