Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-29
BY FRANK III. SIMONDS.

1NHE withdrawal of the French
army OF occupation from the
Rhineland, which will be prac-
Il t1cally completed by the date
this article is printed, Is some
thing more than the final act in the
World War; it represents the visible
termination of nearly three centuries of
French struggle for the natural from
tier" From the Thirty Years War to
the Paris Peace Conference the aSpira-
ton to restore the Roman frontier of
Gaul and place the Rhine barrier be-
tween the German world and the Latin
mas been at the back of the French
mind.
The treaty of WeStphalia which gave
France its first foothold on the Rhine,
was followed by the long series of set
Elements extending from Louis XIV to
the French Revolution, by which France
successfully acquired Strasbourg and
the other cities of Alsace-Lorraine with
Nancy; the free city of MulhouSe, and
finally, by the treaty of Luneville. the
whole of the left bank of the Rhine
from Switzerland to the sea.
Retreat Begins With Napoleon.
With Napoleon begins the retreat
His first abdication marked the sur
render Of all but Alsace; his second was
followed by the loss of the region today
i
Prussian War and the third Napoleon
cost AlSace-Lorraine. But this final
loss was redeemed in the World War,
while the treaty of Versailles gave
France the chance by plebiscite to re-
cover the Sarre Basin. But it definitely
denied to France the Rhine boundary
from Cologne to the Lauter, and, as
time has demonstrated, held out only
an illusory hope as to the Sarre.
in frn HNl
nshed after his death, describes the
long struggle in the Peace Conference
with Foch and with Poincare behind
Foch, who sought to insure at least the
permanent military occupation of the
Rhineland. Mangin, the first COM
mander of the French troops on the
Rhine, unanswered to that end Poin-
care, as prime minister. gave tacit aid
to the abominable intrigues which
aimed at setting up an independent
Rhenish republic. The occupation of
the Ruhr was the last stage in this
enterprise.
Legend Proved Empty Memory.
But this same occupation of the Ruhr
demonstrated to all reasonable French
men that there was no desire on the
part OF the Rhinelanders to abandon
the German sovereignty. The old legend
OF revolutionary days, when the French
armies had been welcomed on the
Rhine, the legend believed and dissem-
mated by Maurice Barree, was proved to
be but an empty memory. The uniflca-
ton OF Germany had been a real fact,
the work of Bismarck survived. France
had to choose between creating a new
and far greater Alsace-Lorraine and
recognizing once for all that the dream
of the Rhine was dead.
Recognition came very rapidly. The
defeat of the Nationalist in the cleo
ton of 1924, bringing the Left in
France briefly to power, was marked by
the making of the Dawes plan at Lon
don, which temporarily adjusted the
reparations question:; by the historic
conference at Locarno, which won from
Germany the voluntary recognition of
the French possession of Alsace-Lor-
raine. and by the 1926 session of the
League of Nations at Geneva, which saw
the entrance of Germany into the
League and her return as a European
Estate
Five years after Locarno the French
troops are going home, and during
these five years they have remained not
"a so much as guarantee against fresh
German invasion as an insurance of
reparations payments. With the max
Ing OF the Young plan, this end is also
attained. Moreover, in supporting the
Young plan in the French Parliament
Tardieu bluntly told his fellow coun-
trymen that even should German pay
mentS fall. new occupation of the
German Rhineland would not take
place.
Sought Advance to Berlin.
Events have moved SO quickly that 1t
Is now difficult to recover the state of
mind of the period, almost IL years ago,
when American, British, Belgian and
French soldiers moved across the ruins
OF the devastated area to occupy
Cologne, Coblenz and Mayence Then |
the allied world, incredulous as to the |
fact Of the sudden and complete COL
lapse OF Germany, fearful of a swift |
renaScence of the armies which for four
years had more than held their own |
against the world in arms, saw in thed
German surrender only a snare. in the |
Y9cupation of the Rhineland only an |
Spadequate insurance, and clamored in
many capitals for the advance to Berlin. |
1t took almost a decade to convince
the allied public of the reality of the |
German revolution, Of the disappearance |
OF the German menace, of the fact that |
Germany after 1918, like France after
1871. was bound in the very nature of
things to devote long years to national |
reorganization and reconstruction It
seems only yesterday that the press
still talked suspiciouSly of a new Ger
man war OF revenge and stuck to the
legend OF Germany indicated and
behind a veil preparing vast military