The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-06-28

without exception either local patriots de-
voted to France, or national celebrities like
Gambetta or Jules Fayre, The Germans,
although they did not interfere with the
voting, prohibited all canvassing OF any pub
lication Of lists Of candidates; othat il was
impossible to regard the result of the cleo
tions as the work Of an active French clique.
IL was the expression of the intense desire Of
tl5 Alsatians to be French, and of their reso-
luton to make their real wishes known to all
the world at the very moment when IL was
obvious they were about 6rally to cease to
be French. One Of the deputies they
elected. popular provincial, who had
been Mayor of Strasburg at the time
of the siege, happened to die
at Bordeaux. His remains were
brought to Strasburg, and his
funeral afforded the Alsatians last oppor-
tunity of showing their persistent sympathy
with man who had never faltered in his
attachment to France. He is recorded to
have declared shortly before his death that
although he saw how great would be the
material advantages to Alsace in becoming
German, and although he recognized the con-
summate skill of the Germans in administra-
ton, yet there was to his mind something in
France which was more to him than all that
Germany had to offer. 1t is perfectly legiti-
mate that Frenchmen should glory in such
utterances France, impoverished, humiliated,
torn by civil war, has still an undefnable
charm, and can still appeal to the hearts and
imagination of men. In order to estimate
rightly the place Of France in Europe, it is as
necessary to bear this in mind as to dwell on
the gigantic blunders it has recently
committed, and on the national short
comings indicated by the events of
the war, and by the sad story of the reign
and the suppression of the Commune. No
one knows better than Prince Bismarck how
great are the difficulties which the love of
Alsace for France throws in the way of Ger
man statesmen; and no one can be more
anxious that what he sees all Germans should
see also. He has recently strained his great
personal influence and authority to the
utmost, in order to induce the German Par
lament to abstain from subjecting the new
provinces too quickly and vigorously to
German Government of the usual type. He
has obtained liberty to manage them exactly
as he pleases until the beginning of 1878. He
has begun by accepting the payment of
portion of the first instalment of the French
indemnity in notes of the Bank of France, in
order that he may have immediate funds for
the wants of Elsass and Lorraine, where these
notes are familiar to the people. On
the other hand, an edict has been
issued enforcing universal compulsory
education, after the German pattern, on
every child above the age of six years. The
two instruments of government to which he
trusts are the bestowal of material advan-
tages on this generation and the training of
the next generation. Above all, he looks to
the working of the conviction that the fate of
Elsass is fixed, and that nothing that can be
said or done will make it anything but Ger
man. How far he may succeed no one can
say as yet, but it is evident that, unless a
success almost beyond hope attends his
efforts, Elsass and Lothringen will long be
as much estranged from the German Father
land as the Poles of Posen are from Prussia,
or the Czechs of Bohemia from Austria.