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History.—There is no need, after the World War, in considering the rights of France to Alsace-Lorraine, to refer to the treaty of 1648, or to embark upon any misty historical researches in the period before the Treaty of Verdun of 1843. Documents and facts since the end of the Franco-German War of 1870 are sufficiently illuminating. Bismarck, on May 2 1871 that is to say, eight days before the signature of the Treaty of Frankfurt, declared: " We could do nothing but take these territories with their powerful fortresses within the framework of Germany, so as to make of them a glacis of Germany against France." On Nov. 30 1875, he again gave expression to this idea of the glacis, saying to the Reichstag: " We have conquered these territories in the interest of the empire, in the course of a good war, and a defensive war, in which we had to save our skins. It was not for Alsace-Lorraine that our warriors shed their blood, but for the German Empire, its unity, and the safety of its numbers. We have annexed these provinces so that Wissemburg shall not be the jumping-off place of the French in the next attack which they are planning, and which may God delay as long as possible. We have annexed these provinces so as to have a glacis …"

This brutal glacis-theory is also expressed in a confidential autograph letter, written by the Emperor William I., on Oct. 25 1870, in which the writer says: "After having made immense sacrifices for her defence, Germany wants to be certain that the next war shall find her better prepared to beat back the attack which we will have to expect as soon as France has recuperated her strength, or found allies. It is this side consideration alone, and not the desire to aggrandize my country, which is big enough, which forces me to insist upon territorial cessions which have no other aim but to push back the starting-point of the French armies which will attack us in future.' German writers and historians have declared that Germany fought in 1870 in order to regain the "old German land" of Alsace-Lorraine, which desired to return to the Germanic fold. The truth is much more simple, and is to be found in the words of Bismarck and the letter of his sovereign. The people of Alsace-Lorraine were treated as pawns, because the new German Empire wanted a glacis. The inhabitants of the two provinces protested through their elected representatives against the treatment to which they were subjected. On March 1 1871, the deputies of Alsace and Lorraine raised their voices against separation from France. In the solemn declaration made at the Assembly of Bordeaux they said:—"We have been handed over despite all justice and by odious abuse of force, to foreign domination, and we have one last duty to fulfil. Once again we declare that we consider as null and void a pact which disposes of us without our consent. The vindication of our rights shall forever be open to us in the form and measure dictated by our conscience. Your brothers of Alsace-Lorraine, now separated from the common family, will keep for France, banished from her hearths, filial affection until the day when France again returns to take her place." On Feb. 1 1874 elections were held in the Reichsland, and all the candidates who protested against the annexation were returned. On Feb. 18 they made a protest from the tribune of the Reichsland, in which they said:—"On behalf of the inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine we protest against the abuse of strength of which our country is the victim. Although in distant and comparatively savage days the right of conquest may have sometimes become an effective right; although to-day it may still be justified when it is a question of ignorant and savage peoples, nothing of the sort can be justified with regard to Alsace-Lorraine. Germany has conquered us at the end of the nineteenth century, a century of light and progress; and the people which she has reduced to slavery is one of those in Europe with a most highly cultivated feeling for right and justice. Our heart is irresistibly drawn towards our French fatherland. In electing us our constituents have above all wished to proclaim their sympathy with France."

France signed the Treaty of Frankfurt, and although she always refused to accept the justice of the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, she continued to honour her signature. The inhabitants of the two provinces, however, were bound by no signature, and their protest against their lot passed through three phases: active protest, 1871-87; passive protest, 1887-1900; legal protest, 1900-14. France took no official part in these movements, and it may be said that the rights of France to Alsace and Lorraine were kept alive by the inhabitants themselves. Germany crushed the country under a system of dictatorship until May 1902; and it was not until 1911 that Alsace-Lorraine was given a constitution, which, moreover, failed to satisfy any political party. Outwardly the situation was accepted, the inexhaustible riches of the country, especially the underground wealth, had been exploited by the Germans; industry, making a bound forward, had brought prosperity; but the relations between the inhabitants and their conquerors were governed by a purely utilitarian spirit which did not conceal the unbridgable gulf between them.

In 1871 Alsace-Lorraine was considered as a glacis for the defence of Germany, and this same theory again found utterance in a different form on Oct. 9 1917, when Baron von Kühlmann, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, declared that Alsace-Lorraine was the shield of Germany.

The feelings of the inhabitants towards France were abundantly clear at the moment of the Armistice of Nov. 1918, and during the entry of the French troops to the capitals. On Nov. 12 1918, the Parliament of Alsace-Lorraine, elected by universal suffrage in 1911, transformed itself into a national assembly, and on Dec. 5 1918 the deputies, meeting at Strasbourg, made the following declaration: " The deputies of Alsace and Lorraine greet with joy the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France. The National Assembly, faithfully interpreting the constant and unalterable desire of the people of Alsace-Lorraine, already expressed by its representatives at the Assembly of Bordeaux in 1871, solemnly declares that it holds as inviolable and indefeasible the right of the people of Alsace-Lorraine to be made members of the family of France." The president of the Assembly, the Abbe Delsaur, when the full declaration had been read, exclaimed " Le referendum est fait!" Four days later the President of the Republic, adapting M. Delsaur's historic remark, closed his speech by saying " Le Plebiscite est fait!" A year later, on Nov. 16 1919, the people of the restored provinces took part as Frenchmen in the general elections. These elections really constituted a plebiscite. All the different political parties had included in their programmes a statement with regard to the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France. The Socialist election declaration said: " To-day in complete agreement with the whole population of Alsace-Lorraine, the Socialist party firmly and without restrictions supports the return of the country to France. The people of Alsace-Lorraine are, and intend to remain, French." The Radical proclamation contained this phrase: " We are French, France is one and indivisible, we are a part of France, we are flesh of her flesh." The Catholic and Democratic parties, in their Joint manifesto, stated: " This electoral demonstration must be a resounding echo of that made by your fathers in 1871. To Europe and the world you must solemnly renew the expression of your firm and unshakable desire to be, and to remain, French."

ALTMAN, BENJAMIN (1840-1913), American merchant and art collector, was born July 12 1840 in New York City, and died there Oct. 7 1913. As a young man he became interested in early European paintings and in Oriental art. His collection of Chinese porcelains was among the finest and his Oriental rugs were remarkable. Of the works of Rembrandt,