t belonged to Switzerland and, at the end of the 18th
century, during the French revolution, the town, after a referendum,
decided to become French. A delegation was sent to Paris, to the
French Parliament, then called the _Conseil des Cinq-Cents_, and the
delegation expressed publicly, officially, the desire of Mulhouse to
be part of the French territory. There was a deliberation, and
unanimously the _Conseil des Cinq-Cents_ voted a motion couched in the
following terms: "_The French Republic accepts the vow of the citizens
of Mulhouse._"

A few weeks later the French authorities, among scenes of unparalleled
enthusiasm, made their entry into the town, and the flag of Mulhouse
was wrapped up in a tricolor box bearing the inscription: "The
Republic of Mulhouse rests in the bosom of the French Republic."

Alsace--the rest of Alsace--became French in 1648, more than two
centuries before the war of 1870. It became French according to a
treaty. The treaty was signed by the Austrian Emperor, because Alsace
belonged to the Austrian Imperial Family. And it is not without
interest to quote an article (article 75) of the treaty:

The Emperor cedes to the King of France forever, _in
perpetuum_, without any reserve, with full jurisdiction and
sovereignty, all the Alsatian territory. The Austrian
Emperor gives it to the King of France in such a way that no
other Emperor, in the future, will ever have any power in
any time to affirm any right on these territories.

When today one reads that treaty, one has the impression that more
than two centuries ago the Austrian Emperor had already a sort of
apprehension that later on another Emperor would interfere in the
matter and create mischief!

Fifty-three years after that treaty, the Prussians, who dislike seeing
anything in some one's else possession, tried to recover Alsace. Their
own ambassador tried to dissuade them, and in 1701 Count Schmettau,
ambassador of Prussia in Paris, wrote to his king:

"_We cannot take Alsace, because it is well known that her inhabitants
are more French than the Parisians_...."

Could anything answer better the affirmation that "Alsatians are of
German tendency?"

Lorraine became French in 1552, more than three centuries before the
war of 1870. Lorraine became French not after a war and as the result
of a conquest, but according to a treaty signed by all the Protestant
Princes of Germany, in which we find the follow