Evening star., 1928-06-03

Alsace Lorraine Of today in rough, 7
| outlines. to his son Lothaire. BY the
| treaty Of Westphala, Louis XIV en-
| nexed Lorraine in l645-but he did not
/ annex her either in language or re-
/ lieion. And the border provinces were
/ still stanchly Catholic and still clun@
/ TO their own Gernanic dialect when
/ the Franco -Prussian War transferred
/ them into the German Empire in 1871.
/ It might have bGen supposed since
! this was true, that the Alsatians would
! have been content in becoming Ger
! mauscised. But the eternal paradox in
! Alsace Lnrraine-and it is Just as trGc
/ today as it ever was--iS that Alsace Is
! German without being German and
/ French without being French. II n
That fact which gave rise to autono-
mism in Alsace so years ago under Ger
many. and which finds it as aggreSsiVely
alive today under France. These border
people have always been Alsatians flr*j
Of all In large majority, so it seems,
they remain so today.
X x *
ERENCH historians blame their own
people with a most serious blunder
in regard to Alsace-that. from the time
of Louis XIV French rulers during
more than 200 years never seriously at
tempted to transform the Alsatians. III
language and institutions, into the true
French mold Some Of these experts
today bitterly point out that perhaps
il il nov too late that Alsace viii
never be changed. Which is tacit ad-
mission that the Gerrnanic influence
will always remain.
Yet in the lST0s the paradox OF the
Upper and Lower Rhine held true. Alter
having chung 10 her Oermanic language
for Two centuries under French rule.
Alsace was immediately dissatisfied as
a part of the German Empire. She hHs
been dissatisfied ever since-and pos
slbly always will be,
In Modern Europe there has been per-
haps no closer parallel to Ireland's pro-
longcd battle for independent home gov
ernment than in Alsace-Lorraine. For
60 wears now the Alsatians have strug-
gled and fought for home rule OF one
sort or another. just as the Irish stru2-
gled. And in both cases the religious
issue has played large part. II mas
been interviewer and welded to the po-
lltical issue. In addition, the Alsatians
like the irish, have been dissatisfied
with anything less than home rule.
It would be folly to attempt to ex-
plain "le melaise Alsacien" without an
alyzing the Alsatian. The man explains
ltlc f1al8GN dt lSdSJ 4l pal
A curious mixture OF GeTmanic anu
Latin races. a border people for cen
turies tossed by fate az a stop gap be-
tween two great conflicting racial civtli-
zations--the Alsatians naturally reflect
their environment In their character
istics. They are renowned for their
stubbornness. Instinctively they resent
being fcrced-whether the forcing Is be-
ing done by Germanysor France.
Because they have never been entirely
free. freedom Is the dearer 70 them.
French critic has said that the Alsatian-
among an extraordinary abundance OF
temporal goods. has an astonishing In
capacity for being happy" Just another
way Of saying he is almost always dis
satisfied. And as a third strong char
acteristic. his critical sense Is highly
developed. Pride may be added TO the
lot and you explain why the people OF
Alsace- Lorraine are first Of all Alsa-
tians, regardless Of language or geo.
graphical alliance or iong dominion b.
one side of the Rhine or the other.
Let US. very briefly. bring Alsace's
history up to date. Agitation after the
Franco -PrlIssisn war forced the German
Empire to grant It's newly acquired
province partial home rule In 1877.
when the Landesausschuss was inaugu-
rated, empowered 70 initiate local legIs-
Iation. In 1911 this was replaced By
the Landtag but the demand for greater
home government grew rather than sub
sided In October. 1913. certain oppres-
slons BIZ German lieutenant precipi-
tated the Incident of Eayeyne" and
with that street nrawis and a spirit OF
revolt throughout Aisace So much sc
that von Jagow declared Alsace 'prac-