Schleswig remains Danish and resists the Germanising process with a
force of energy at least equal to that of Alsace-Lorraine. The Danes
of Schleswig are still Danes, they have not bowed the knee in
admiration of German _Kultur_, any more than the Alsatians, Schleswig
says: "Let them ask us by a _plebiscite_ and they shall see what we
want, what civilised men have the right to ask: light and air and the
right to dispose of themselves." The people of Alsace-Lorraine say:
"If you would know what Alsace-Lorraine, which was never consulted,
thinks of the Treaty of Frankfort, ask her."
I blush, and my soul is filled with shame, when I think of the
degradation of French patriotism contained in the utterances
of . . . ., of those words which, to our lasting sorrow, evoked in _the
Centre_ of the Chamber an outburst of enthusiasm. May our patriots
never forget this cowardly session of the French Parliament! Thus,
then, twenty-seven years after the war, when we have spent countless
millions on the remaking of our army and navy, when every Frenchman has
bled himself to the bone to make France so strong and independent that
she might cherish the brightest hopes, a President of the French
Council has the unutterable weakness, from the tribune, to threaten
France with the German cane, should she dare to follow any other policy
than that desired by Berlin!
And French deputies have applauded these shameful words, that are
reproduced, with such joy as may be imagined, by the whole German
Press! That Press has every reason to be delighted and to find in
these words clear proof that the official class in France has always
looked upon the Russian Alliance as a show-piece, never relying upon
it, and that since the Berlin Congress (how often have I said it!) this
official class has never ceased to gravitate towards Germany.
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