Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1870-11-02
Macarthur, ,NOvember.:2, 40.
A Thousand Years Ago.
Alsace and LOrraine--H1s-
tory Repeating Itself.

It is certainly one OF Ihe
greatest curiosities in history
that exactly one thousand
years ago, in the year of our
Lord $40, the people of France
and Germany fought under
their ings upon the soil, that
of Lorraine, for very nearly the
same reason, and with the same
result. This happened as fol-
lows: The empire of Charlie
magne and that of his son who
succeeded him, Ludwig I, call
ed the Pious, was divided by
his three sons, the grandsons
Of Charlemagne, in S43, at the
Congress of Verdun, between
themselves in snch a manner
that Lothaire received, besides
the title of Emperor, Italy and
what was then called Middle
Franconia, a strip Of land run
ming from the Forth Sea to the
Mediterranean, and there join
ing Upper Italy, a broad strip
of land containing modern
Hollond Beluium, the Lor-
raine, the Alsace, and all that
part of Southern France lying
between the Rhone and Saone
and the Alps on the east
Ludwig received Eastern Fran
coma, which was from that
time called Germania or Ger
many, and from which he, as
Germany's first King, was call
ed Ludwig the German.
Carl, who was called the
Bald, from his bald head, re-
ceived Western Franconia,
from that time called Franco
MIA or France. Lothaire died
in S55, and again subdivided
his empire amongst his three
sons. To the oldest, Ludwig,
he gave Italy and the crown
and title of Emperor; to the
second, Lothaire, the northern
part of his dominion, compris-
ing a part of Holland, Belgium,
and the province called up to
this day Lorraine Of Lothar-
ingen, the Alsace, and all the
land extending down to the
Saone. TO the youngest, Carl,
he gave all the land South OF
the Saone to the Mediterranean.
under the title Of Kingdom Of
Provence.
In 500 Lothaire died with
out heirs, after he had previous
Iy become possessed also of his
brother Carl's Kingdom OF
Provence, and it was then that
Carl the Bald, King Of France,
stepped forward to take sole
possession of his nephew's king.
dom, comprising all the east
ern part of modern France, and
extending from the .Meuse to
the Rhine, and from the Rhine
to the Alps, and from the
North Sea way down to the
Mediterranean. He was COM
pletely successful, for his
nephew Ludwig,the emperor of
Italy, and his brother Lud.
wig, the King Of Germany, had
both their hands too full to
claim their share Of the rich
inheritance. But q year later,
in $40, just one thousand years
ago, suddenly large and we'll
appointed German army cross
ed the Rhine, broke into
France, and defeated Carl the
Bald and his armies at once,
and so completely that he was
compelled to sign a treaty of
peace in the same year (870, }
by which he ceded to his broth
er Ludwig, the German, all the
eastern part Of those lands
which he had appropriated
from his nephew, and compris-
ing the modern provinces of
AIsace, Eastern Lorraine, and
the territories around the cities
of Trier or Treves, Cologne,
Mdstricht aud Utrecht, down
to the mouth Of the River
Rhine.
The first grand fight for the
Rhine provinces on the part OF
France, and the Alsace and
Lorraine on that Of Germany,
which is, after all, if not the
sole cause, certainly one Of the
principal causes, Of the present
war of 1870, took place conse.
nnentlv inst one thousand