THE FREEDOM OF ALSACE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 84, 2 January 1918, Page 9

THE FREEDOM OF ALSACE

FRENCH VIEWS ON RESTORATION OF LOST PROVINCES WHAT THE PEASANTS THINK (By Norman Hapgood, in the Mow York "Evening Post.") Paris, October 6. Among tlio territorial questions involved in all plans for ;i future pence probably no other has as much hearing on the duration of thn war as thai, or Alsace-Lorraine. Jt is uasy to gather the arguments of public men and journalists, but not at all easy to obtain a clear idea of the feelings of che populace, since it is to the supposed interest of all sides to the controversy to misrepresent them, though often it is done in good faith.

There is little doubt in my mind that the French peasant, whether living .in Alsace-Lorraine or in any other part of France, has less political prido and more profound desiro for permanent peace than the upper classes. He is more interested in the coal that keeps his family warm and the quality of the bread on which they have to live than he is in boundaries. Therefore let me quote first a very intelligent and observant peasant woman who has just been home to spend a month in Alsace. Her village is near the border, and it happens to contain, in addition to its own inhabitants, all the non-fight-ing inhabitants from another .vllngo, on the German side of the line, who were moved hack hy the French when they reconquered forty Alsace villages in. this war.

For Independent State. "All my friends and acquaintances are in favour of having Alsace-Lorraine independent, belonging to wither France nor Germany," she said. ''They think that will be the safest arrangement for the future. The French, in Alsaco, tho part that was not taken by Germany, favour it for another reason also: because they do not get on veil with the Alsatians who nave been under German rule. Those who liavo been brought into our village from tho reconquered district go to Mass in tho same church as we do, but if they happon in at a time when the Mass is being celebrated by one of our priests they go right out and wait utotil it is the hour of one of their o.wn priests. Also the soldiers who are down there change frequently, so that I liavo seen men from all over France, and they are all in favour of independence rather than either retaking Alsace-Lorraine , or letting Germany keep it." A.; point of view'similar to this is frequently expressed also by peoplo writing to the , .Swiss newspapers. I do not say it is the whole story,'hut in the interest of the future it ought to be seriously considered. Down in Lorraine I threw away a Russian newspaper. It was at onco picked up .by a big French poilu. Thus, wood that came from the forest of Finland was changed into a medium for expressing the quieter liberal ideas of Moscow (if was the "Russkoye Slovo); it did its_ part towards impregnating an American mind; and then it started along a possible further career of influence. •■• ■

The President's Declaration. And that little incident is a just symbol. It is not difficult to seo the connection between the stormy days of March in Petrograd and the President's reply to the Popo in August. It is not to be assumed that the President's most clarifying and influential statement was mado without consultation with his Allies. Indeed, a short time before it appeared there was a meeting in Paris if high functionaries of England, Fiance, aud Italy. Profound decisions were reached. War aims were modified, especially with re■gard to Turkey? Why? Exactly because of thoso stormy days in March and the steady diplomatic insistence of Russia since. The story is not ended. Kerensky and the Socialists may yet bo repressed by Miliukoff, the Cadets, and the Army chiefs, but if that split is avoided and the present war aims hold, the programme of the Allies is a most direct outcome of tho Revolution.

A few of my readers may remember that many months ago I Baid that some of the best-informed British statesmen believed a better solution might be found by saving Turkey's face than by undertaking to extirpato hor as an empire; and I went into the method by which a financial commission could rule Constantinople. Since then it has become not improbablo that lor tho rest of Turkey also, including Arabia, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Palestine, some kind of an international rule with nominal Turkish sovereignty may be the outcome. Tho meeting I refer to in Paris hatl particularly to do with the war aims of Jfingland, Trance, and Italy in tho Near Bast, but the same principles are as applicable to Austria, and the President's use of the word dismemberment applies at least as much to her. Here again is found a most intimate connection between what happens in different spots in the mighty whirl. What is to happen to Austria is affected not only by what happens to Russia, but by the fight between the German despotism and the majority in the Reichstag. If Russia succeeds in maintaining her advanced liberal government, tho programme of federation rather than dismoinberment for Austria inevitably gains. It gains also immeasurably if Ijermany takes steps towards liberalisation, because with such stops disappears the fear of Mittel Europa, the compact threatening group under Prussian leadership that would force the rest of the world to sleep on its arms. I uover hear a French common soldier talk of Alsace-Lorraine. It is always ending the lnennoe that ho talks of. The settlement of subordinate questions will be engineered by tho leaders, though no doubt the average man will be affected all his life by the idea that France has won or lost, and AlsaceLorraine will figure in that question. However, if you get really to tho ordinary Frenchman you find very much what you find in the American boy, as far as scepticism about the necessity of this exact change or that is concerned, and its effect on a future in which prophecy is so impossible. Ho is fighting to.save France, now and in generations to come, but it will not be no whose pride would lead to any arrangement that, however glorious for tho moment, wouIU be tho source of future discontent.