The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1918. ALSACE-LORRAINE RESTORED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17032, 13 December 1918, Page 6

The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1918. ALSACE-LORRAINE RESTORED

None but a French heart can sound the full depth of the emotions produced by tho official entry into Strasburg, but even the brief cabled summary of the proceedings will give deep satisfaction to all who understand and appreciate French aspirations. A few moving sentences which will be remembered for all time give the.modern history of Alsace-Lorraine. On March 1, 1871, the representatives of AlsaceLorraine in the National Assembly at Bordeaux declared: "We proclaim to be for ever inviolate tho right of Alsatians and Lorrainors to j remain part of the French nation, and we swear for ourselves, for our constituents, our children, and their descendants to vindicate that right eternally and by every means, against all and any usurpers." Having said this, the Alsatian members filed out of the Assembly hall. A few days before the protest was J made a message was sent to the representatives of Alsace-Lorraine, signed by members of tho Left in the National Assembly as follows I "Whatever betide, we declare that the citizens of Alsace-Lorraine will remain our citizens, fellow-country-men, and brothers, and the French Republic promises to them eternal vindication." Forty-seven years later the President of France stands in Strasburg and proclaims that the dream of many years has become a fact. " A plebiscite has, in effect, been taken and Alsace, weeping for joy, has thrown herself on the breast of the mother whom sho has found again." Among those who signed tho message to AlsaceLorraine in 1871 was' M. Clemenceau. Among those who listened to the President's speech in Strasburg on Tuesday was M. Clemenceau, now the only survivor of the signatories of 1871, and Premier of a victorious France. Observers state that his eyes were dim on both occasions. But what a difference! Those > tears express the whole gamut of human emotion. The grief of 1871 has changed to the joy of 1918.

" M. Poincare's specific announcement that Alsace-Lorraine is to' return to France without a plebiscite was anticipated, but it iB none the less satisfactory as an evidence of allied unanimity and determination to achieve the objects for which the war was fought. The armistice terms clearly foreshadowed the disannexation of these provinces. The enemy were given a fortnight in which to evacuate the invaded countries of Belgium, France, Alsace-Lorraine, and Luxemburg, while a further period of eleven days was allowed for the evacuation of the Rhineland. Moreover the conception of Alsace-Lorraine as already French was shown by the provision that Germany was made re- \ sponsible for the cost of the maintenance of the troops of occupation in Rhineland, but not in AlsaceLorraine. A plebiscite would, under the circumstances, have been a weakness, an admission of doubt where there is no room for doubt. It is not that France fears the result of a plebiscite. So good an observer as the Swedish Socialist leader, M. Branting, recently declared that a referendum would give a great majoritywfor France. The objections to a plebiscite are that it would be almost impossible to hold one under fair conditions, that Germany permitted none in 1871, and that there is no question of the sentiment of the provinces. In language, in spirit, and in sympathy Alsace and Lorraine are French. Even the enemy claim that historically they are German fails to bear examination. It is true that' AlsaceLorraine was early over-run by Germanic tribes, and did not pass to France till the seventeenth century. But why commence Alsatian history' at the time of the migration'? Why not go back over the preceding centuries s when Alsace-Lorraine • was undoubtedly Gallic, or why not go to the time of Julius Csssar, when the Rhine was the undisputed boundary between Germans and Gauls?

An appeal to history in respect to lands which were conquered and changed hands again and again leads nowhere. The moral claim of France to Alsace and Lorraine dates from the time of the revolution, which was as enthusiastically supported in these provinces as elsewhere, and established a union between Alsatians and Lorrainers and Parisians which has never been broken. On March 18, 1700, the people of Strasburg met in the principal square and passed the following resolutionln this square, where our fathers gave themselves to France only with regret, we have come together to cement with our oaths our union with her. We have sworn, and we swear, to give the last drop of our blood to defend the Constitution." This passion for constitutional liberty is the real bond between Prance and Alsace. It explains why the Alsatian deputies proclaimed in 1871 an eternal right to remain French, and why the provinces are still French in spite of every effort to Prussianise them. Although the French language has been forbidden, it is more generally employed than ever. Although French newspapers were prohibited, the younger writers drew their inspiration almost wholly from French literature. Although the German . Government tried to submerge tyie French population under a flood of German immigration, the children of the new settlers were French in sympathy. France

claims Alsace-Lorrainc not because it was French, but because it is French. The people of the provinces have been in perpetual revolt against the absolutism of the Hohenzollerns, and tho cruel military government which sought to change the character of their very souls. In their triple triumph they have witnessed tfic dethronement of the tyrant and the overthrow of militarism, and have found union with the nation whose ideals they share and whose political institutions they admire. It is a simplo act of justice righting the wrong of 1871, and a happy omen for the other oppressed nationalities whoso shackles have fallen from them, and who now await tremblingly the decision of the Peace Conference, which is to bind up the wounds of centuries and restore to life and freedom millions of men who were born to sorrow under tho shadow of the liohenzollerns and the Hapsburgs.