The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1870-08-20
Boundary Lines Between France and
Germany. &


Startling as it may appear, the
historical lact of a Rhine frontier
is l, 400 years old. 1t came in
with the Franks when they over.
ran the Roman province of Gaul,
In the filth century; it was estab.
lished by Clovis, the first Of
Fran kish Kings; it was restored
and then overleaped by Charlem-
agne, the Emperor of the West"
three centuries later; the great
Philip Augustus made, in the be-
ginning of the tbi rteenth century,
forty years reign, glorious by
ruling over q territory that ex-
tended from the Rhine to the Py
renees. Louis, the Saint, retained
the Rhine boundary, and added
Provence and Languedoc, with
Louis Puatorze, 'the great mon
arch, " par excellence, convulsed
Europe at the end of the seven
teenth century by his efforts to re-
gain the provinces on the left
bank OF the Rhine, which had
been wrested from his predeces-
sors. Napoleon L, only fulfilled
national aspiration, when he made
Flanders, Luxem bourg and other
territories between the Rhine and
the sea, an integral portion Of the
First Empire, and Napoleon III. is
perfectly aware that he would GOV
err his name with imperishable gIo-
ny by making the Rhine. the Py-
renees, the Alps, and the ocean,
the boundaries of modern France.
1t needs but superficial glaace
at the map to perceive that there
is q species of territorial fitness in
this much coveted Rhine frontier.
Beginning at the Mediterranean,
France is separated from Italy by
the Var ana the Alps; from Swift
erland by the Rhine and the noun
tains Of Juar, and finally, from
the Grand Duchy of Baden, By the
Rhine. Just at tie angle which
the Lauter forms by falling into
the Rhine, the natural boundary
seaces, and an imaginary line
commences, which runs to the
North Sea-. Taking this line as
the base of q triangle, and the
further course of the Rhine and
the sea-coast as the two sides, we
haze a territory, one half of which
is occupied by the Kingdom of
Belgium, and the other by Rhen-
isll Bavaria, Rhenish, Hesse, Rhen,
ish Prussia, and small slice of
Holland, comprehending a super
fetal area which may be rougly
stated at "a 900 square miles, oc-
cupied by population which
probably numbers .9,000. geo. In
language, not over 3 .0O0, 900 of
these speak French, the remains
der using their Flemish. Dutch or
German, with an occasional ad-
mixture Of patois, compounded out
of some two of these four Ian
guages. So far as national sym-
pathies go, the German population
and the Flemish sections Of Bel
GUM have an intense aversion to
France, while the avowed parts
ans Of an extension of the Empire,
only exist in some of the large
cities of Belgium, and even there
have but little power or influence.
Tue Independence OF Belgium
is guaranteed by Russia, Prussia,
Austria, and England, as well as
by France. On the partition of
Europe in 1915, it was given to
the King of Holland, and after the
successful revolution in 1880, the
same Powers that had consented
to the Treaty Of Vienna, conclu-
ded fresh agreement in London,
which made the maintenance of
the newly crested k;agdoEn, short
ly after accepted by Leopold of
Sake Coburg. question which
each and all of them would be
obliged to support by force OF
arms.-[New York Times.