New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-13
Alsace-Lorraine


question of Alsace-Lorraine, indicating the
decision of France to make no peace until
that portion of her territory, torn from
her in 1871, was recovered. 1t is matter
of very great Importance now that Anreri-
cans should understand the question of
Alsace-Lorraine, because it is one of the
greatest Of the problems to be settled In
the next treaty Of peace.
A very good way of illustrating the
Alsace-Lorraine question is to find posi-
bic parallel. If, after a successful war in
the wear 1899, Great Britain should annex
the State Of Maine to Canada, the tenn
poral circumstance of the German course
in 1871 would be recalled. If Great Brit
ain in doing this should rest her claim
upon the fact that Maine had been por-
ton Of the British Empire prior to ITS
and the people in that state spoke the
same language as the majority in England,
the German justification would be re-
peated
In some respects, however, the British
claim to the State Of Maine would be far
better than the German to Alsace-LOr-
raine. for portions of Lorraine, including
the city of Metz, had been French for Sl9
wears when Germany took them in 1871,
and the people Of Metz and the surround
ing district, numbering several hundred
thousand, spoke French and not German.
Metz itself was quite as much French
town as Orleans or Tours.
We may assume that the people Of Maine
would protest as a unit against such
forcible annexation and that they would
rest their protest upon their right to de-
eide their own sovereignty and point to the
unanimous will of the citizens Of that
state to be citizens Of the American Re
public rather than subjects Of the British
Empire. This is exactly what the people
Of Alsace-Lorraine did in 1871.
Let the American people understand this
that the annexation Of Alsace-Lorraine
II 1871 was an act Of violence, made pos
sible by the defeat Of French armies in
war; that it was accomplished in the face
of the unanimous opposition of 100000
citizens Of Alsace-Lorraine, and that it
was justified by the argument that the
larger portion Of Alsace-Lorraine had be-
ionged to a former German Empire 223
years before, while other portions had be-
;onged 20 a SPANISH Austrian Empire 319
years before.
By annexing Alsace-Lorraine Germany
established in the world for the time being
the doctrine that German necessity was
above the law and that the German people
were a superior race which had the right
to override the will of other peoples. The
American theory that just governments
derive their authority from the consent of
the governed was set aside. 1t was an ap-
pication Of the doctrine of 1871 when
Frederick the Great stole Silesa and parti-
toned Poland. 1t is the fundamental doc
trine Of the Prussian. which has subSe-
quently been revealed in the case of Bel
GUM and of Serbia
Every moral right justifes and demands
The return Of Alsace-Lorraine TO France
The moral side of the French case rests
on the doctrine proclaimed in all Ameri-
can public policies and was set forth by
President Wilson in his address to Con-
gress. As long as Alsace- Lorraine re-
mains in German hands Germany will have
successfully repealed the foundation prin-
ciple Of democracy and maintained her
claim that her own interests are supreme
and the rights Of other peoples non-exist-
ent when they lie across her pathway.
In the present war more than mill
ION Frenchmen have died to prevent the
extension Of the German doctrine ex-
pressed in Alsace-Lorraine. If Germany
succeeds to-day, she will transform Bel
GUM into another Alsace-Lorraine and
create in Poland a similar subject state.
Americans should see clearly that the de-
struction Of this Prussian principle can be
achieved only when Belgium is freed, Po-
land restored and Alsace-Lorrane re-
turned 10 France.
On the material side II is manifest that