The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-07-20
ALSACE LORRAINE.
 MUST BE GIvEN 3 TO FRANCE AGAIN
T. P. 0'Connor, Member of Parliament Makes Elo-
 quent Appeal
esy 7. P. o,Connor, M. P.)

< s-y =. P. o'Connor. M. P.)
 . .>w Sundays ago I stood before S<s statue of strasburg .n the Place de la Concorde. and there realized the dream of Al years; the dream that some day or other it might be given to me to do something for the liberation of Alsace-Lorraine from the yoke of Germany. I remember with a poignancy that has never relaxed. the feeling of horror and almost de- spair the moment when this crime was committed against the fundamen- tai right of every population to choose its own government and its own jcoun- try. If at the time England had not been under the domination of Ger man influences I cannot but believe even now that we should have made a protest against such violation of g fundamental law of liberty and na- tional right; but we made no pro test and France resented and justly resented for a generation afterwards our abandonment lof her fn this hour of her impotence' and despair. We committed the crime of desertfng AL sace- Lorraine once; we must not re- peat the crime a second time.
 I have been so haunted by this rec ollection of the tragedy of these two lost provinces that I have twice vis- ited them: and everything saw and heard only confirmed tenfoId my old anguish and my old convictions. When any of the people realized that as an Irsshman and an ardent friend they could not trust me they told me eau tiously the maintenance of their love for France. of their batred of their rulers and oppressors. But it was not till read book by Miss Betham Ed wards, ssHearts of Alsace." and still more 1t was not till made the ac- quaintance of M Paul Helmer, that I realized all the nobility. all the mag nificence, all the splendid tenacity of the struggle in both provinces for the rnaintenance of their French national ly. I hmake bod to say that there is no more heroic struggle for liberty in the whole history of the world. And yet 1t is one of the tragedies of Alsace that there is no story so little known.
 There are two causes for this. The first cause was the compulsory silence of France; the second the still more compulsory silence of Alsace.> Gam betta, in one of the last speeches of his life gave the word to F. lnce as to the true attitude she should take upon the question:: r persons tou- jours; men parterons jamais: Be 1t ever In our thoughts; never on our lips. It was a wise saying; for France required nearly half century of pre- paratior before she could be in a posi- tion. ever. to face the successful and powerful bully that had thus torn her provinces from her bleeding side. It was th51 policy dictated as it was thought by prudence which Fwas fol- lowed by all the successors of Gam betta in the government of France. A few ardent patridtsth late M. Paul Deroulede at their head--insisted on keeping the mem0ry of the lost prov-E inces alive. and yearly made their sol emn pilgrimages and their eloquent protest at the base of Strasburg from which I spoke the other day: but they were regarded as impudent and premature.
 On the other hand. silence was com pulsory on tho Alsatians Surround cd on all sides by German immigrants who had been brought into the coune- try, to replace those children of France who had left the country, they were surrounded by the ubiquitous German spy. and every imprudent word was calculated to land them in gaol.
 Now 1t is this silence on both sides of the frontier that has hidden the truth from the world Something like 2 thick veil has been spread between the lost provinces and the world. One might even say that the Alsation Lor- rainers were forgotten by the world; and above all. some of them might inn agine that they were forgotten by France It is this fact that adds such spIendour to the tenacity, the; cour- age,a and the nobility of their resist ance. The people of these provinces epeciafly the Alsatjans. have some thing ef the dour characteristics. of the Boer The Boer never talked of the resistance he was prepared to give to defend the liberties of his country till the fateful hour came in the mean time he drilled his men, he bought his big cannon, he stored his ammu- milton. and it took the most power ful Empire in the world three years to beat two little Republics with less population than two of our great towns Similarly the Alsatian Lorrain- CT held his peace; and thought his owh thoughts in the secrecy of his heart within the. closed doors of his hon1e: If ever there were a glowing example of what heights and depths passive resistance can reach, it was given by these two provinces.
 Neither in public nor in private would either the Alsatain or the Lor- rainer recognize even the existence of the hated ruler If the Germans gave a concret no Alsatian or Lorrainer was there. If the Germans frequented. a park no Alsatian or Lorrainer was there. No German was admitted to an Alsatian or Lorraine home. If any one of the population accepted any office or other from the German, quietly, without any publication of the fact and yet inflexibly as. the swish of the guillotine he was expelled from all association with the people he was held to have desedted and betrayed Nay, it was carried to this length; ti,a- If . young girl yielded to the se-. auctions of a German beau sabreur and married him quietly without any public notification, as inflexible again