New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-01
The Wish of Alsace-Lonaine
1t Was and Is TO Remain Member of the French Nation as an
Eternal Right Against All Usmpers
from The Bulletin Of The AiGones Frdncai,e)

tffom inc DuHcHH ~
In the programme Of peace which they
exposed at Stockholm the German majority
Socialists expressed themselves in the fol
lowing manner on the subject OF Alsace-
Lorraine:
As regards Alssce- Lorraine. we must hrst OF All
declare that II cannot be considered rs an ihde-
pendent national state or. In any way AS ha.ins
distinct nationality. Ethnographicnlly nine-tentts
OF its inhabitants are Of German origin Only z
per cent Of It's population makes use OF the rsnaA
language Besides It should be ehno
Of the war. With the exception OF very 'maii
region, it has remained under the German comma
ton. Belonging first Of all to Germany. ethho-
prapbicaIy and POLITICALLY the territories OF Alsace-
Lorraine were in the of the ages, separator
from Germany by France by means OF forced an,
nexaton At Frankfort, in 1871. they were restored
once again TO Germany II 1. therefore absolutely
un Just speak OF Frances historic rights. Inc
return OF Alsace Lorraine TO France would be eqnVa-
lent to an annexation the part OF the iater ma
ton And IL must in consequence be repudiatsd.
conform,bly to the principle OF peace without an
nexations.
That is the doctrine Of official Germany,
the doctrine which the German historians
have sought TO impose and which the North
Germany Gazette" recently took up again
with great display of erudtion. II Is
summed up thus: Alsace-Lorraine Is Ger
man by ethnography, by language and by
history. 1t was torn from Germany by
force. France has no right to it.
We feel no difficulty in following the
Germans upon the historical ground We
will even appeal to much more recent his
tory which they deliberately pass over in
silence.
1t is perfectly exact that German invaders
crossed the Rhine fifteen centuries ago and
installed themselves in the Gaul OF that
time. 1t is impossible to say to-day to what
extent they may have modified the old sub
stratum Of Celtic population, Romanized by
tho conquest. They were never able to i'm
pose their language except on part Of the
country The town Of Metz and its neigh
borhood have always been Roman in lam
guage. 1t matters little, after all it is
neither the language nor the race which
makes nations.
What of the Holy Roman Empire!
II is perfectly exact that after the dislo-
cation of the empire of Charlemagne, Lor-
raine and Alsace were finally attached to
the Germanic Holy Roman Empire. This
empire stretched much further even toward
the west. II went beyond the Meuse and
the Rhone. Lyons and Marseilles were in
cluded in IT, as were Burgundy, the Low
Countries, Switzerland and the greater part
of Italy. Would that be sufficient argu-
ment for annexing these countries to Ger
many to-day? And is 1t not playing upon
words TO confound the Germanc Holy Ro-
man Empire with the present Germany such
as il was constituted in 1871? For where,
in this aggregate of peoples, was the COM
mon tie which forms nations? They were
disnuting in Alsace in the sixteenth century
upon the question whether the country was
French or German.
I, is perfectly exact that Alsace and Lor-
rsine almost in their entirety were attached
TO France by conquest. But all mocern
states have been given birth by conquest.
Is it possible that Prussia may have forgot
ten her own history? They were easy con-
quests. moreover, which were made without
much resistance, for these countries had
long been open to French influence. Metz
had been In Frances possession since l552,
Alsace since 1913, Strasburg since 1881 The
duchy of Lorraine, declared independent IN
1912 at Nuremberg lber ct non ncorpora-
bills ducatus), became officially French only
in 1876. at the death Of Stanslas Leczinski,
who had received it in usufruct, but It may
be said that for century, except at snort
intervals. it had been constantly occupied
by France.
Yes, all these countries were conquered, as
we're conquered one by one all the provinces
which make up French unity. But what
the German historians do not say is that
they accepted the conquest very quickly and
willingly gave themselves 10 France. The
French Revolution, by the great breath OF
liberty and of idealism which II caused to
pass through mems souls, effaced the last
recollections and the last regrets. DO you