LORRAINE AND ALSACE.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 741, 18 October 1870, Page 4

LORRAINE AND ALSACE.

[SYDNEY MORNING IIEIIALD.] The Fiench (or at all events the great and powerful war party in France) are represented to have been much exasperated at the openly expressed determination of the Prussians to wrest from the French empire two great Provinces on the north-eastern corner of France, formerly connected with Germany, and in which the German tongue— -in a more or less corrupted form— still remains the vernacular language of a large proportion of the people. These "two Province" (popularly known by their ancient names, Lorraine Alsace) arc moro separated by their history, quasi-national character, and natural boundaries, than might be surmised from any cursory glance at ordinary maps of France — in most of which they appear as they were subdivided into several departments at the great French Revolution. It may, therefore, be not uninteresting, at the present time, to devote a few minutes to consideration of these "Provinces" in their topographical and historical aspects. If we speak of the departments of the Moselle, the Bas lihin, or the Meuse, it must be obvious that there is such a vagueness of expression — at least, to the English reader — that it does not always convoy a very distinct idea ; and so, topographically and historically, we may, doubtless, be occasionally, if not fre quentl/, at fault. The following particulars have been carefully compiled from authentic sources. Wo shall b^gin with the largest and most westerly of these two Provinces— Lorraine. I. Lorraine, the German name of which is Lothringen (anciently " CEiterroich," l 'Austrasia" and " Lotha-ringia ") is sin old province of great extent, on the N.E. corner of France — subdivided since the French Revolution towards the close of the last century — into the four departments of Vosges, Meurthe, Moselle, and Meuse. It is bounded on the north by the southern frontiers of the Duchy of Luxembourg and Rhenish Prussia ; its eastern limit being the Vosges Range, or Wasgau Mountains, which divide it from the sister province of Alsace. On the wG3b and on the south it is bounded by ancient France. Its length is about 115 miles from north to south ; it 3 breadth from east to west, being, in its northern part, 130 miles, and in its southern part about 70 miles. Its area is stated (in the Penny Encyclopaedia) to be about 6730 square miles ; but it is evidently much larger, the probability bein* that this estimate does not include the ancient bishopric of Metz, the old feudal Duchy of Bar, and other territorial divisions properly to be included therein. An idea of the entire area of the four departments which are now included in Lorraine may perhaps be most readily arrived at by comparison. (1.) The department of Vosge is as large as the conjoined areas of the English counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland. (2.) The department of Meuse is as large as the conjoined areas of Hampshire and Berkshire. (3.) The department of Meurthe is about the size of conjoined areas of' Kent and Surrey. And (4) the department of the Moselle is about the size of Norfolk. According to a more recent and reliable authority (Chambers), Vosges contains 2230 square miles, and (in 1852) a population of 427,490 ; Meuse contains 2364 square miles, and a population of 328,657 ; Meurthe contains 2322 square miles, and a population of 450,423 ; and Moselle contains 2034 square miles, and a population of 459, 68 i. This estimate gives to Lorraine an area of 8050 square miles — considerably larger than Wales, and about the size of the pastoral district of the Macleay. This account also declares the population of Lorraine, in 1552, to have been 1,666,173 souls. Its population is now, in all probability, not far short of two millions. Speaking of Lorraine historically, it may bo remarked that under the Romans it formed part of the Belgic division of Gaul ; and at a later period (under the successors of King Olovis) it constituted the kingdom of Austrasia. It was afterwards, in the ninth century, united to the empire of Charlemagne. Subsequent to that epoch it was erected into a duchy — was afterwards possessed by the House of Austria, and, with the duchy of Bar, was long annexed to the dominions of that Crown. Late in the seventeenth century, it wa3 seized upon by Louis XIV., and was held by the Grand Monarque, more or less absolutely, and with greater or les3 success, for several years. Ultimately, by the treaty of Vienna, in 1730, the Duchies of Lorraine and Bar were exchanged for that of Tuscany ; and, by the arrangement agreed to between the two great contracting powers, it was then (in 173 b") "ceded in life-rent" to Stanislas Loczinski, the ex-King of Poland — the father-in-law of Louis XV. At tho death of Stanislas (the late Sovereign, Duke of Lorraine), on the 23rd of February, 1760, the Duchy passed to the Crown of France, and has since formed an integral portion of that Slate. Lorraine owes much of its present prosperity to the wise and paternal government of its last G) and Duke Stanislas' a soverrigu whose memory is still respected in this territory. A German patch is much spoken of in the northern portion of the province. In the south of Lorraine, at Domremy, near Vancouleurs, was born the greatest heroine of the middle ages, Joan of Arc, whose patriotism may be said to have erected the French into a nation. Its chief cities are Metz, 172 miles east by north from Paris; and Nancy, 177 miles east of tho same city. The population of Metz in 1852 was 43,484 ; and that of Nancy, 38,700. Metz, the most ancient capital of Lorraine, is 172 miles in a direct line east by north of Paris, or 191 miles by the road through Chateau Thierri, Chalons sur Marne, and Verdun. In the year 1552 Met/ claimed the protectorate of France, and ceased to be free. The Emperor Charles the Fifth of Germany made a great effort to recover it in the same year, but was compelled to abandon the siege. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, on the 24th of October, .1685, by depriving Metz of many of its best and most industrious citizens, inflicted a severe blow upon this city, from which it has never recovered. Towards the close of the existence of Lorraine as a sovereign power the capital was Nancy, in the cathedral of which many tombs of the Grand Dukes are yet to be seen. 11. Alsace— the German name of which is Elsass, and tho Latin designation Alsatia— is another quasi-Germanic province of France, separated from the ancient duchy, or province of Lorraine, by the Vosges Range, or Wasgau Mountains— { forming its western frontier. A continuation Jura ehai» divides it from Switzerland on the south ; and, on the north, it

extends to the southern frontier of Germany — west of the Rhine. Alsace, since the Great Revolution, has been subdivided into two departments, the Haut Rhin and the Bas Rhin— the "Upper R-hin " and the ' ' Lower Rhin." The Bas Rhin is about the size of thp English county of Nortlmmberhnd, and the H;mt Rhin is about the size of Kent. The length of the Bas Rhin Department is 60 miles from north to south ; with an average breadth (from east to Avest) of 22 miles. The length of the Haut Rhin Department, is 55 miles from north to south, with an average bread th of about 30 miles from east to west. Thus it will be seen that this comparatively narrow slip of country (Alsace) lies between Lorraine and the upper portion of the river Rhine. The area of this province (or two Departments, as now officially styled) is 3325 square miles ; and the length, 115 miles. Estimated population in 1852, 1,081,580 souls. Alsace was, by the treaty of Munster in 1648, ceded by Germany to France — at least, by far the greatest portion of it. What was not then made over was ceded by Germany to France by the Peace Ryswick, in 1G97. German is still the common language of a large proportion of the people, amongst whom are numerous Protestants. The Alsatians are an industrious, prosperous, and order-loving people ; well affected to France, although they are, like the Welch, strongly attached to local ideas. In the south of Alsace the small districts of Montbelliard and Muhlhusen, adjoining Switzerland, are all that remains to France of the large extent of teritory acquired by her immediateJy after the great revolution. The conjoined area of Lorraine and .Alsace is 12,275 square miles ; the population, in 1852, amounting to 2,747,753. Its population must now be not less than three millions five hundred thousand souls.