New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-10-10

BY this time the Alsatians would have be-
come 80 far rcconcilcd TO the new order OF
things a. to submit 10 il rather than sever all
the ties that bind people to their homes and
to their associations, and sacrifice comfort
and personal interest 10 their patriotism;
yet here we have their practical reply to such
suggestions; and though those who have
emigrated, constitute but a fraction of the
population of Alsace, there have been given
sufficient indications of the spirit by which
the majority Of those people are animated, to
leave no doubt that much larger number
would follow in the same track If circum-
stances did generally allow men to choose
or change their abode according to the sug-
gestions of inclination and desire.
Their case is clearly one Of the many re-
suits Of the great evil Of monarchical Govern
nent. In the days when the personal will
of the monarch was almost absolute, Louis
XIV. obtained Alsacc by intrigue and treach-
cry and annexed it to France. The people
themselves had no choice left in this trans
action, and were consulted no more than the
cattle that are sold with the soil on which
they arc pasturng. Probably the change
was then highly unwelcome TO them. Ofpure
German stock, and cmphatically German in
manners, customs, dispos ition, and language.
largely Protestant, moreover, these people
were not drawn by any natural affinity to-
ward the nation Of which they were made TO
form part and up 10 this day, far from being
absorbed by it, they have retained the pecu-
liar features OF their nationality in singular
strength. IN their feelings, however, they
have undergone complete change. In the
course of two centuries they have become
| thoroughly French in their patriotic sympa-
thies 10 such a degree as to consider them
selves an integral part Of the French nation,
whose disasters and trlumrhs they have
shared during the most cyentful period of its
history. During the late war they were most
| intense in their devotion to France they
were indignant al the surrender Of Strasburg
notwithstanding tho terrible sufferings Of the
inhabitants, and refused to believe in the
imposslblity Of further resistance. In their
hostility to the Germans, they were quite as
bitter as the majority of the French generally;
yet they, together with the people of Lor-
raine, arc once more torn from the country
without their consent, and entirely against
their wishes, by the will of the conqueror.
Whether in fact they lose much by the
change, is question difficult to answer. 1t
would seem that the Napoleonic misrule, to
which they were subjected eighteen years,
bod bop I'D than, 10 o.,
to make them look back upon it with any
regret, nor has the Republic, with its press
laws, its executions and odious restrictions,
thus far come up to the mark of true Re-
public, though on the other side, the great
German empire, with its efficient and honest,
but strict and conservative Governmental
must be admitted--is not particularly apt to
attract and win over a liberty-loving people.
There is further the terrible obligation Of
military service, under which the Alsatians
might possibly be compelled some day to fight
against their former countrymen, although,
in itself 1t seems hardly as odous as the old
CONSUMPTION.
Conceded, however, that all the material
interests Of the people render annexation to
Germany highly desirable, that even polltl-
cally they will be none tho worse, and that
before long they will be reconciled to Ger
man rule, their case furnishes nevertheless a
glazing evidence Of the pernicious working of
monarchical rule, and yet their losses, their
heart-pangs on account OF the painful dilemma
in which they are placed, are but the smallest
part of the terrible sufierings that the Grim
inal inlatuation of one man has inflicted on
nearly whole country.