The problem of Alsace-Lorraine began with the Treaty of Frankfort made
between the German Empire and the French Republic, May 10, 1871.
Beaten by the German armies, France, at the mouth of the cannon, was
forced, notwithstanding the solemn protests of the inhabitants, to
give up part of her territory.
The Alsace-Lorraine problem has a three-fold character. It concerns
Germany, France, and the World.
France not having stipulated in the Treaty of Frankfort any clause as
to the treatment of the people of Alsace-Lorraine now become German,
the German Empire alone had the formal right to decide their fate, and
it is _vis-a-vis_ to Germany that Alsace-Lorraine must make its
claims.
The question of the rule of Alsace-Lorraine became a problem of the
internal policy of the Empire, and therefore a purely German affair.
The French Government has always scrupulously respected the Treaty of
Frankfort, but the French people have never given up the hope of
redressing the gross wrong of 1871, and all the French policy has been
based on the necessity of protection against renewed German
aggression. In vain did Germany declare that no Alsace-Lorraine
question existed; not only does this question exist, but it has become
the principal obstacle in the way of political reconciliation between
France and Germany. Whether one wishes it or not, it is _the_
Franco-German question _par excellence_. At the same time it has an
_international_ character of the highest importance. The form of
alliances, the bidding for armaments, the terms of armed peace, these
were the natural consequences of this state of things. France never
would have undertaken, and Alsace-Lorraine never would have demanded,
a war of revenge to secure the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France.
But since the horrors of war have been let loose upon the world by the
criminal folly of Germany, the problem of Alsace-Lorraine has become a
_world problem_ of the highest importance.
From the beginning of the war, the president of the French Republic,
the president of the Senate, the president of the Chamber of Deputies,
the president of the Council, and all the heads of government who have
succeeded one another, and recently Parliament itself, the Senate, and
Chamber of Deputies, all have in accord with the whole French nation,
manifested the unshaken determination not to end the war without the
assurance of the return of Alsace-Lorraine to the mother country.
Alsace-Lorraine has constituted a striking example of the denial of
the principle of the right of the people to govern themselves, but now
the question has become actually of great practical importance. Being
the principal object of France in the future peace treaty, it is quite
natural that all the nations, and above all the belligerent ones,
should be obliged to give to it very particular attention. Even for
the United States, who will have a most important role to play in the
Congress of Peace, the question of Alsace-Lorraine is one which they
cannot treat as being of interest only to France and Germany. In its
nature and from the fact that it is the corner-stone of the first
claim to be made by France, it concerns right and justice.
It is consequently opportune that even those who up to the present
time have had no special reason for interest in Alsace-Lorraine should
come to know certain facts about this little country in order to be
able to form for themselves a just and trustworthy opinion of the
disputed question.