The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-09-23
I:ov Alssce was lost 10 GERMANY.

Germany lost AiSace and Lothringis by
the tteaehery and weakness of her rulers.
The .irst cities lost were Metz, Tull (Toul)
and NTten (Verdun), all three, n,Yerthe-
less, national French cities, through the
treason of the EIector Moiitz of SaXony.
They were ceded to France at the peace of
Westphelia, after attempts had beon made
by tho German Emperor to win them
back. Germany docs not desire these
cities again; they are French in language
and character. and as such they may re-
main. But with Alsace and German 10th
rineia, Germany will do her best to win
back these lost possessions. Alsace was
lost thus: During the Thirty Years War
Germany was the battlefield for all
Europe The Catholic Emperor brought
Spanish and Slave soldiers; the Protest
ants w,re aided by Sweden, the Danes and
the Fro. n. At the peace of Westpbalia
France demanded, as compensation for
the aid dyen, the entire German Asace-
theAgpnrely German the peace docu-
inont reads: ''The House of Austria cedes
the city of Breisach, the landgraviates Up
per and Lower Alsace, the Sundgau, and
the jurisdiction over the ten free cities in
Alsace. namely: Hagenau, ColmaT, Schletts-
tadt, Weissenburg, Landau, Oberehnhiem,
Bossheim, Munster, Kaisersberg and Turk
helm. All shall be Incorporated with the
crown of France, and the Emperor and
Empire (German) shall have no 1Urther
claims upon this land"
The ten FREQ cities, however, lOsbtheir
freedom Immediately, for IN 1874, in time
of peace, France took them by force OF
arms. Colmar was taken after great resist
ance; In 1877 Labrosse plundered the city
of Weissenburg; soon afterwards he laid
Hagenau in ashes, burning up with the city
women and children. Thus one city and
tho other was burned; and thus they were
made French, in spite of their desire to
remain German. The rest of Alsatia fell
prey to the rapaciOus Louis XIV, in the
year 1851, in time of profound peace
Strasburg was one of the last Alsatian
cities to give in the French be-
sieged the city with forty thousand men;
Leopold l., who then sat on the German
throne, being threatened by the Turks,
could render no assistance; and finally the
city gave mp further resistance. Louis
XIV. had promised 10 allow the StrasbuTg-
eTs TO retain many of their liberties; but
his first acts were to rob the Protestants
of their churches. and to give the cathedral
to tho Bishop of Zab-rn, one of the great
est traitors to his country. Thus the whole
Of Alsace was lost. Lothringia soon fell
prey to France. Only the northeastern
portion is now inhabited by Ger
mans. In 1873 the land was given to the
Polish King Stanislaus, the father-in-lsw
Of King Louis XY., who resided until 1866
in Nanzig (Nancy) and Lunstadt Uune-
ville). After his death it fell to the French
empire. Thus the two entire provinces
were lost through treachery and force of
arms. The Germans wished 20 recover
these lost territories ct The end of the wars
of liberation, but Russia and Austria in.
tervened in favor OF France, and only Ian
daU, with a few other places, were given
back by the treaty Of 1915.
GERMANs AND FRENCH IN ALsACE.
There thus fell into the hands OF the
French, exclusive of the French popula-
tien, two hundred and thirty square Ger
man miles of purely German district, con-
tanning 1,3GO, 900 German inhabitants "a
district as large as the present Grand
Duchy OF Baden. And though over cen
tury has gone since Alsace aRd Lothrineia
gssE-s entirely lost to Germany, the ce!ebrat-
ed statistician Bokh Tin "Dsr DeGtschen
YolksZahl md Sprachgebiet in den Euro
paisehen Staten" Berlin, 1862 calcu-
lates that in these lands, previously Ger
man, there are still living 1,3lS, 9GI Ger
mans. II is fact that the
French language, notwithstanding that
ever since 1857 il has been the language Of
the schools, has made no real progress.
The large cities, wherever the railroads
and the official departments are found,
have naturally been Frenehified; but, in
the villages, and especially among the
valleys CT the Vosges, German Is still the
language which the people use in their
own homes. The AlsatiOn peasant does
mt speak French to his wife, and his
children do not know a word of it until it
is forced into them at school. Even
in Strasburg, itself, as every traveller
knows, the people are half German in their
habits. In the cities the feeling towards
annexation with Germany Is hostile. In
the valleys, among the villages and the
peasants, there is also real dislike to
Germany, though the traveller would hard
ly know that he was outside of Bavaria or
Baden. This dislike of Germany is his
torical, Alsace was lost to Germany at a
period when the effects of the Thirty
Years War were oppressive to Germany;
the empire had been cut up into multi
luO6 OF petty bNdltS, INC IuAcIS VI WHICH GA-
ercised almost absolute power within their
own territories The Alsatiana made up
some of the bravest among the troops OF
Louis XIV, and soon began to share the
glories of their new kingdom. Under the
German Empire the peasants had been
little better than serfs; while un-
der France they attained to nu-
merous privileges they had pre-
viously not known, and in this respect
were better off than the peasants of the re-
manning departments of France. Alsaee
furnished the bravest contingent to Ma
poIeon's army. Kleber, Lefebre and other
renowned generals were her children, and
shared in the glory of the French arms till
the fall OF Napoleon. Germany during
this time was split up into numerous prin-
cipalities, aud was at the lowest stage in
her history; while Napoleon had been tax
ing care in the intervals of war to Develop
the industries of all parts of his country.
THUS were various influences at work con-
stantly estranging Alsace from the mother
country, producing finally the feeling that
is now met with in this previously German
iand. N 7. Post.