Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-07-25

and historian, declares that
such was the case
A half century after Alsace had been
united to the crown Alsace contained
Sc 900 Protestants. 1900 OF whom were
Calvinists. in Il population of 2o' 90"
\ letter from Louvois
found in the archives of Bischweiler,
shows that Louis XIV had no intention
of prosecuting Protestants in Alsace
II do not know" Louvois says. "on
what is founded the inquietude which
you show over what is passing in
France. His majesty has no intention
of troubling the r p. II. treligion pre-
to he reformed) in Alsace.''
This letter is addressed 10 two Swiss
at Strasbourg. important furnishers OF
he French army. and is dated Novem-
Der IL, 1855
$: :
The schools in Aisace under the
French regime were administered with
marked paternsl kind
Educational ness and lberality. The
rn, University of Strasboure
ioAiSAa' was allowed to con-
tinue Protestant. as well that German
the language of instruction.
The administrative language was Ger
man until 1720-indeed. until 1889
when the official reports of magistrates
were written in that language. There
was no constraint employed either in
the administration or schools. Auger-
villier. intendant from 1916 to 1874.
formulated French policy thus: Labor
that the people are not too much cn-
veloped by German tastes and habits;
but the people should not be worried
uselessly." The instruction in the insti-
tutfons at Colmar. Wissembourg and
Belfast was in German.
Alsace. under the ancient regime. was
not subject to any military obligations
and that immunity contributed greatly
to the popularity of France in the coun-
try. 1t was neither the schools nor bu-
reaucracy that achieved the moral con-
quest of Alsace-conquest. il should he
added. which was made on the eve Of
the revolution. Germany, 1t Is under
stood. did not exist at the time that
Alsace was German. The Holy Roman
German empire was but vague as
semblage of peoples in which the ele-
ments were vitality different and where
each element was separate and apart
from the other.
During the thirty years war German
princes made alliances with France
against the emperor. if not directly
against the empire. In Alsace many
Erandees had the habit of recourse to
the protection of the King of France.
either German patriotism or Alsatian
patriotism. Germany did not know
where Alsace finished Colbert de Crois-
ssy. in his memoir of 1863. indicated the
frontier as at Lauter. lie Pelletier de
la Houssaye avowed in 1909 that "the
real limits of Alsace on the German
side had not been traced; it was France
that fixed the limits"
Alsace. weakened by centuries Of
wars. was reconstructed under the
French regime. A census
Population in detail in 1895. under
Increased the orders OF vauban.
gave $4,000 Inhabitants
An official report of 1887 speaks of S24,-
900. In less than a century the popula-
ton of Alsace had more than tripled.
After subtraction Of the territories OF
Brisach and Brisgau. restored by the
peace of Ryewick, there appeared to be
only $4,000 inhabitants.
The France of Louis XIV enjoyed a
prestige to which no one refused to
render homage; the German princes
initiated the manners Of the great
king" and this title was not contested
even by his enemies Even under Louis
XIV, when France was in decadence
from military and political point OF
view. her intellectual priority was not
contested. The great Frederick fiat
&.
sided in Paris. and finally forgot his
maternal language. Anacharsis Cioots.
a Prussfan baron of good birth, .re-
called with sarcastic humor that the
school of cadets of his generation
were ignorant Of German. !.
* 4 81;
Alsace. in becoming French became
also Alsatian, which she was not for
merly. Her moral per-
Personality sonality was set free by
neveloned the fact of her entry
F into French unity The
princes who held possession of prop
erty in Alsace in the eighteenth cen
fury were most unpopular. Their lands
were exempt from taxation and con-
tributed neither directly nor indirectly
to public charges. and for this they
were acutely criticised, and on the eve
of the revolution they were openly ac-
cused on all sides of taking money
from Alsace without any good to the
country"
After the night of August 4. 1887. the
princes possessiones," as they were
called, possessiones because possessing
lands. protested against'the abolition OF
their feudal rights, and thus empha-
SlZeu tHelT Qudllty Oh pdTdSileS Inc
intervention of the emperor in their
favor was one of the causes of the war
between the revolution and Europe. and
it is why Alsace could see with reason
in that national war a war which was
somewhat war of her own, where she
combated for her proper cause.
The t'possessiones'' in IT'S, having no
contact with the people and still resid-
ing outside of the country. prepared
thus the ratification of the country.
unification to which they were the
necessary to establish the districts ac-
cording to the royal edict of June %.
1887, which organized provincial as
semblies, state lines were abolished
and the states merged pell-mell into
the new territorial subdivisions pro-
vided by the edict. Thus were swept
away the imperial and feudal anarchy
which had existed under the empire.
The work of the unification of Alsace
that all France was celebrating French
unity at the "Fete of the Federation"
at Paris on July IA, 1890. Alsace uni
fed entered freely and joyously into
French unity. in the bosom of French
unity" wrote NJ. Charles Pfister. AL
satan unity was accomplished"
Alsace thus terminated her evolution
not by a treaty. but by her free ana
voluntary action. Alsace became
French without being made so by the
employment of force. Alsace was not
assimilated: she never ceased to be
Alsatian and became even more so.
Napoleon said of the Alsatians at VAL
my: They speak in German, but they
saber in French
Such was the end of the process of
crea ton of French Alsace, a process IN
a