LIBERATION OF ALSACE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1919, Page 2

LIBERATION OF ALSACE

ENTRY OF FRENCH PRESIDENT, REJOICING IN ETRASBURG. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY’S DECREE. The demand by Germany that the fate of Alsace-Lorraine should be settled by a plebiscite was answered by the National Assembly, the members of which were elected under the German administration in October, 1911. It met in Strasburg on December 5, and unanimously voted a solemn declaration as follows: “The National Assembly, anxious not to allow the least doubt to subsist in France, or among the Allied nations, neutrals, or the enemy as to the true and actual sentiments of Alsatians or Lorrainers, places it on record that the neutralise agitation was the work of a minute minority of German agents, and declares solemnly that, as the faithful 1 mouthpiece of the abiding and irreducible determination of the populations of Allsace and Lorraine, already expressed in 1871 by their representatives at the Assembly at Bordeaux, it regards for ever as inviolable and imprescriptible the light ,of Alteatians and Lorrainers to remain members of the French family. The National Assembly esteems it to be it duty before adjourning to proclaim in its turn that Alsace and Lorraine are once more under the aegis of right, and are indisputably and deflrnitely /united with France.”

SOLDIER AND STATESMAN. Marshal Foch entered Strasbourg on November 25. He was followed on December 9 by the President of France. The enthfisiasm and the emotion with which these ceremonial visits were welcomed by the inhabitants are described by a correspondent of th© London Times The day began at the railway station, where the Mayor formally presented the President of the Republic with tho historical keys of the city. From there to thfe Place Kleber, where the President laid a largo bunch of roses at the foot, of 'the Marshal’s statue, behind which were drawn up a strong contingent of? Alsatian veterans wearing the black and green ribbon of the medal of 1870,( and from there on to the Hotel ; d;e Ville, and then -to the Cathedral and the Protestant Church and the Jewish f Synagogue, the cheering and happy. ! laughter and the waving of thousands ’of handkerchief and the tears that dimmed, thousands of eyes as the long procession of motor-cars filed past, were wonderful to see and to hear. Stras- ' bourg hag now been in a, state of the 1 deepest emotional feeling for many days, and this morning it seemed as if j every heart in the masses that everyS where greeted the President was filled i to overflowing.

'‘FRENCH ONCE MORE.” i Th© chief event of the morning was a veiy fine speech delivered by M. Poincare from the balcony of the Hotel do’ Ville, to an audience which filled the whole of the big square in front. On his righ;, hand stood M. Clemenceau, looking to-day a very soft-hearted “tiger,,” blinking his eyes, and continually nodding his head as phrase offer phrase that exactly suited the mood of the Alsatians before him came' clear and emphatic and splendidly vigorous and determined from the lips of the head of the State. , On either side were the Presidents of the two Chambers and the new Mayor of Strasbourg, and modestly behind them —for the functions in the morning, were all civilian in character— Foch and Joffre and Retain and Sir Douglas Haig and Gouraud and’ Pershing, and a few others. “The plebiscite has been taken,” fiaid the President. “Alsace in tears has thrown herself upon the breast of the mother she has found again. To-day all the tyork of hate and lies which Germany built up in older to hide from the world the uselessness of her efforts has pitiably collapsed. You are saved; you are free; and to-morrow you will be French once more.”

END OF A NIGHTMARE. j It is difficult always just now to reaI lige how in these scenes in (the two liberated provinces w© are living through the consummation of one of the most glorious and sad and now profoundly happy chapters in the whole history of ‘ France. As M. Poincare spoke, some- ; times with the precision and swift driv- ’ ing force of a soixaate quinze, -Bom©- ! times with the tenderness of the Mother | Country opening her arms wide to her | moat loved children, always with tho j strength and thankful pride of the chief representative over the barbaric oppressor and robber of the enslaved j provinces, it was not only the eyes of ,M. Clemenceau that; were, wet with tears. Hundreds of those who could hear the President’s speech were like him in that. They were all one at heart. They were as French, as the President told them, a® the people of Brittany. They had been slaves; they have been liberated. A new life has begun for them. “Chassong maintenant,” he said, “les fantomea du passe.” That they are doing through every minute of thee general rejoicings; but they cannot forget them all at once, even an their new-found liberty, after all these years l , Take only one of these bitter memories of the past, afresh in their mind's — th© cruel suffering of th© Alsatians who, with French blood in their veins and the love of France in their heart®, have been forced by the enemy to shed their own blood, and the blood of their brothers in the French armies, fighting in the uniform and on the side -of hated Germany. Is it any wonder that many : of them were quietly crying, as tho President, in moving word® of just anger and confident triumph, drew th© picture of the sufferings through which they have passed, and in effect handed over to them their charter of liberty. The nightmare is over; the dream of many years has become a fact, but the one cannot, blot out the other. The past still lives to nerve them for the future.