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THE LOST PROVINCES.

MUST BE RESTORED. ENGLAND'S DEBT OF HONOUR. WHY IT MUST NOW BE PAID. A few Sundays ago I slood before the statue of Strasbourg in the Place de la Concorde, and there I realised the dream of 47 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 ppignancy that has never relaxed, the feeling of horror and almost of despair the moment when this crime was committed against the fundamental right of every population to choose its own government and its own country. If at that /time England had not been under the domination of German influences I cannot but believe even now that we should have made a protest against such a violation of a fundamental law of liberty and national right; but we made no protest, and France resented and justly resented for a generation afterwards our abandonment of her in this hour of her impotence and despair. We committed the crime of deserting Alsace-Lorraine once; we must not repeat the crime a second time. A Twofold Silence.

I have been so haunted by this recollection of the tragedy of these two lost provinces that I have twice visited them; and everything I saw and heard only confirmed tenfold imy old anguish and my old convictions. When any of the people realised that as an Irishman and an ardent friend they could trust me, they told me cautiously the maintenance of their love of France, of their hatred of their rulers and oppressors. But it was not till I read a book by Miss Betham Edwards, "Hearts of Alsace" and still more it was not till I had made the acquaintance of M. Paul Helmer, that I realised all the nobility, all the magnificence, all the splendid tenacity of the struggle in both provinces for the maintenance of their French nationality. I make bold to say that there is no more heroic struggle for liberty in the whole history of the world. And yet it 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. Gambetta, in one of the last speeches of his life, gave the word to France as to the true attitude she should take up on the question: Y pensons toujours; n'en parlerons jamais; Be it ever in our thoughts; never on our lips. It was a wise saying; for France required nearly half a century of steady preparation before she could be in a position ever to face the successfid and powerful bully that had thus torn her provinces from her bleeding side. It was the policy dictated as it was thought by prudence which was followed by all the successors of Gambetta in the government of France. A few ardent patriots— Hie late M. Paul Deroulede at their head—insisted on keeping the memory of the lost provinces alive, and yearly made their solemn pilgrimage and their eloquent protest at the base of that statue of Strasbourg from which I spoke the other day; but they were regarded as imprudent and premature. On the other hand, silence was compulsory on the Alsatians. Surrounded on all sides by "German immigrants who had been brought into the country to replace those children of France who had left the country, they were surrounded by the übiquitous German spy, and every imprudent word was calculated to land them in gaol. A Noble Resistance. Now it is this silence on both sides of the frontier that has hidden the truth from the world. Something like a thick veil has been spread between the lost provinces and the world. One might even say that the Alsatian Lorrainers were forgotten by the world; and above all, some of them might imagine that thev were forgotten by France. It is thfs fact that adds such splendour to the tenacity, the courage, and* the nobility of their resistance. The people of these provinces, especially the Alsatians, have something of 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'meantime he drilled his men, he bought his big cannon, he stored up his ammunition, and it took the most powerful Empire in the world three years to beat two little Republics with less population than two of our great towns. Similarly the Alsatian Lorraincr held his peace, and thought his own thoughts in the secrecy of his heart; within the closed doors of his home. If ever there were a glowing example of what heights and depths passive resistance can reach, it was given b> these twoprovinces. Neither in public nor in private would cither the Alsatian or the Lorrainer -recognise even the existence of the hated rider. If the Germans gave a concert 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 Lor-

with his satellites in a superb motor car, after announcing that Kamcnef would not come, after all. Not to Be Ignored. Cnn one deny the influence of Lenin, Zinovief, and Kamcnef? Within a few weeks they obtained by subscription from their readers 200,000 roubles, with which to buy a printing press for Finland. Crews of cruisers, regiments, and thousands of factories sent along their obol. The garrison of Kronstadt, capital of the "independent" island of Kotlin, recognises Lenin only as its prophet. The "Pravda's" polemic weighs heavily on the Council of Workmen and Soldiers, because it impresses the Fxtreme Left and intimidates all the members. This little group and its organ a'e exercising a deleterious influence on the child-like minds of the Russian masses, which are totally void of judgment and experience, preoccupied chiefly with immediate material interests. Still is would not require a very great deal to react against Hi is poison, and those men of stout heart who are trying to counter this evil action will very probably succeed.

raine 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 deserted and betrayed. Nay, it was carried to this length: that if a young girl yielded to the seductions of a German beau sabrcur and married him, quietly, without any public notifieaiion, as inflexibly again as by the swish of the guillotine, she was expelled from all intercourse with the .people she had abandoned. Greatest Boycott in History. The boycott, in fact, was carried to such a length that even in the big apartment houses, where the different flats were occupied by Germans or Alsatians or Lorrainers, the two passed each other by without a word, without even a bow. What a terrific example of the silent, inflexible, ruthless, impregnable revolt of a nation against an oppressor. No such stern boycott exists in history. And be it remembered that everything was done to break it down. The army was everywhere, and ready—as at Zabern—to sabre any manifestation of the silent revolt The offices were all open to the Alsatian or the Lorrainer that proved recreant. Terror tried its worst; bribery tried its best—all in vain. Every expedient, refined or brutal, was attempted to tear up the obstinate French nationality from its very roots. In the school the child had compulsorily to learn the language of the conqueror; he was sent when he came of military age for three years to the German barrack—to be trained to take arms against the country he loved for the country he . hated. And yet the French language not only survived, but even grew stronger. M. Paul Helmer told me this story of the Alsatian resistance last week several times over. If ever the history of a national struggle or a national temperament were written on the face of any man, these thincs were to be read in the face of M. Helmer. He is just over 40 years of ageTbut his hair is white. There is a strange, almost Quaker tranquility in the face; the light blue eyes speak of gentleness; there is a suggestion in all of bitter suffering, of hope deferred, of incessant and painful conflict against overwhelming odds; but all this is accompanied by the "soft invincibility" of which Carlyle wrote on the tomb of his wife: A Battle For Liberty. He is a resident of Colmar and an advocate by profession. The Bar has been in many oppressed countries the forum on which the baffles of liberty have been fough/t. O'Connell in Ireland. Gambefta in France, lias each in his turn brought down tyrannies by the voice of fhe lawyer; j this is fhe part M. Helmer has played I in fhe life of Alsace. It was he who ' appeared before fhe merciless tribunals of the Germans to plead the I

cause of the Abbe Wetcrle, of Hansi, the caricaturist, of every true Alsa'ian who had brought himself within !he wide sweep of the German system. And his speeches have been ihe appeals to the continuance of the struggle for freedom, and helped 'o strengthen and perpetuate it. Two lays before the war he left Colmar; if he had remained he would now, like so many of the other ardent uatriots of his city and country, be in a German prison.

Such, in epitome, is the case of Alsace and of Lorraine. I can regard with nothing but contempt any British democrat who would contemplate leaving this noble people without the liberation for which they have struggled so long.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNCH19170904.2.40

Bibliographic details

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1112, 4 September 1917, Page 6

Word Count
1,660

THE LOST PROVINCES. Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1112, 4 September 1917, Page 6

THE LOST PROVINCES. Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1112, 4 September 1917, Page 6

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