New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-09-15
THE BASES OF 4 TRUE PEACE.

IL is natural that our people should warmly
sympathize with the French in their sudden
and overwhelming calamites, since they have
shaken off the rule of the usurpinS depot who
so recklessly dragged them into an unjust and
desolating war. We ardently wish them good
deliverance from the grave perils that environ
them; but this must not lead us into injustice
TO Germany. And we are unjust to her II we
demand that she shall surrender the cOnquests
that have cost her so dearly, and retire from
France without indemnity for the past or Sc
curity for the future. Should we be likely to
do that if we stood in her shoes9
Leaving the question of pecuniary indem-
nity wholly out of sight, let us give due con-
sideration to the German claim of territorial
protection against another such assault as has
lust been so overwhelmingly repealed.
The natural physical boundary between France
and Germany is the crest of the VOsges Noun
tains, and not the River Rhine These noun
tains, which are great natural barriers, formed
the actual boundary, until France, under Louis
XIV, about $50 years ago, by conquest, an
nexed the German provinces of Alsace and
Lorraine (or as they were then called, Elsass and
Lotlnringen), in war which had no other ex-
cuse than the French monarchs ambition.
Napoleon /. followed this up by cOnquering
and anrexing the present Rhenish provinces of
Prussia, which were restored to her when that
disturber of the peace of Europe was over
thrown. OF these provinces, France had pos
session only for thirteen years; yet, ever since
she was compelled to give them up by the
settlement of her boundary by the other ma
tons of Europe, she has been constantly
4, Grtn had ,V.,l
and inherent right to them. This preposterous
claim which has no foundation except in ma
tional vanity and ambition, has been stimulated
in every conceivable way by Napoleon iii.
during the whole period of his reign, until the
French people have been brought to believe
that they have really a right to this territory
and to the Rhine as a boundary and the last
card played by the now fallen Emperor for the
preservation of his dynasty was the Inaugural
ton of popular war for the acquisition OF It,
That he was right in suppOsing that such a
war would be popular among his people, appears
from the fact that all classes in France have
united in giving it support There has rarely
been an instance of more marked unanimity in
any scheme of conquest on the part of any
people than was exhibited in this instance from
the very outset, if we may judge from the fact
that no voice in France was raised against il,
and the statement Of the Emperor himself,
recently, that he was driven into the war by
the popular sentiment of France. Germany,
and especially Prussia has had reason TO know
and appreciate the danger of this insa-
tiate desire of the French to augment
their power by the conquest and annex
alton Of German territory. 1t is not an affair
of tO-day--it is two centuries old. In 17l4,
Prince Eugene of Savoy, the distinguished
general and statesman, expressed his views in
language which has since become prophetic.
81 know" he said, "Only too well that hence
q. forth the political peace of Europe will be
constantly endangered; that a peace Nth
France rW nerer be sure; for it may easily
abe supposed that hereafter France will go
"still further, and claim the Rhine IA a
"bOundary." No one felt the danger of this
aggressive spirit on the part of the French
more deeply than Frederick the Great, and his
| political aud strategcal view as 4 statesman aud