As regards the open country, the linguistic frontier between French and German shows very slight changes since the Middle Ages, when it was fixed in each region by the relative preponderance of the Latin-speaking Gauls or of the Teutonic invaders. Slight advances of German in the Middle Ages and of French since the sixteenth century are traceable at certain points, but are relatively unimportant. The present line of division has never been absolutely determined, but a local study was made by C. This in 1886 and 1887 on the basis of personal examination, and his results have been generally accepted by both French and German scholars. The line follows the political frontier, here the crest of the Vosges, only for about sixty miles in Upper Alsace. In the south it includes two districts to the east, Eteimbes and Montreux, while it dips still farther to the east in the upper valleys of the Weiss and the Breusch and the middle valley of the Liepvrette, all of these districts speaking French. In Lorraine the linguistic frontier lies well to the east of the political boundary, running in a zigzag fashion from Mount Donon to the northwest across the open country through or near Sarrebourg and southwest of Thionville to the Luxemburg boundary. About 6 per cent of the area of Alsace and about 46 per cent of the area of Lorraine thus contain a French-speaking majority.
It must not, however, be supposed that the cleavage is adequately described by any such line. In towns the influence of commerce, education, government, et cetera, often forms a considerable class whose speech differs from that of the surrounding country. In the long period of French occupation a French-speaking class was in this way created in Strasburg, Colmar, Mulhouse (notably), and many other towns of Alsace. After 1871 the large immigration of soldiers and officials to Metz made it appear as a German town in the official statistics (78 per cent German-speaking in 1910). The German majority in Metz has disappeared automatically with the withdrawal of the German garrison and civil government, but the French-speaking element in Alsace showed extraordinary persistence and vitality in the face of every measure of repression. In spite of the compulsory study of German in all schools and the official support of their language by all the agencies of the government, the official German returns show no significant diminution in the percentage of the French-speaking population since exact statistics have been kept:
| 1900 | 1905 | 1910 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Alsace | ||||
| German | 95.77 | 95.77 | 95.80 | |
| French | 3.72 | 3.61 | 3.80 | |
| Upper Alsace | ||||
| German | 93.31 | 93.42 | 93.00 | |
| French | 5.59 | 5.66 | 6.10 | |
| Lorraine | ||||
| German | 70.59 | 71.30 | 73.50 | |
| French | 25.87 | 23.78 | 22.30 | |
| Alsace-Lorraine | ||||
| German | 86.79 | 86.80 | 87.20 | |
| French | 11.60 | 11.03 | 10.90 | |
No map of the distribution of language, however exact, would tell the whole story. Community of language is undoubtedly an important influence in producing that ‘consciousness of kind’ upon which nationality rests, and in facilitating the common life of the modern state. We prefer our neighbors to speak our language, however indifferent we may be respecting the shape of their skulls. Community of language is not, however, a necessary basis for a sound national life, as appears in such countries as Belgium and Switzerland. The distinction must also be noted between the local patois and the general national language taught in schools, for in many European countries these are quite different. Thus in Italy a north-Italian cannot understand a Sicilian speaking the local dialect, and there are also regions where French and German are spoken. In Germany there are marked differences between the official High German and the Low German dialects, not to mention the languages of the subject populations. In France languages quite distinct from French exist in Brittany, Provence, the Basque region, and the Flemish territory around Dunkirk, without weakening French nationality or destroying French unity.
In the case of Alsace-Lorraine, it is of fundamental importance to recognize that sympathy for France or Germany did not follow linguistic lines. While few of the French-speaking population were attracted to Germany, there was a very considerable element among the German-speaking population which favored France. Even German observers found French sympathies far more widespread than the French language. It is a well known fact that the anti-German movements of recent years have been more pronounced in Alsace, especially Upper Alsace, than in Lorraine with its larger French-speaking population.
Moreover, language, like race, is a two-edged sword for Germany. If Alsace ought to be part of the empire because it speaks chiefly German, so ought the German-speaking portions of Austria and Switzerland. And if France ought to have given up hope of Alsace because of its German-speaking population, Germany should make no complaint over the parallel renunciation of Prussian Poland or Upper Silesia. Germany cannot ask to apply the principle in the west and reject it in the east.
As a matter of history, the linguistic frontier between French and German has rarely coincided with the political frontier. The national lines, so far as national lines have been drawn, have been drawn by other forces. Language is an important element in national life, but it is not the only element, and in Alsace-Lorraine it has been subordinated to other considerations. Alsace, in spite of its German speech, was reasonably contented under French rule. It never became fully reconciled to German rule, in spite of a large measure of community of language. The causes for its aspirations and sympathies lie deeper than dialect. Although surer and clearer than race, language proved an illusory and insufficient basis for solving the problem of Alsace-Lorraine.
When we come to the historical tradition and affinities of the district, we find that German writers urge the long membership of Alsace and Lorraine in the mediaeval Empire down to 1648, the place of Alsace in the history of German literature, and its affinities with the German culture of the valley of the Rhine. The French bring out certain connections of Alsace and Lorraine with France before Louis XIV, but they urge especially the transformation of these provinces during the French Revolution into a people profoundly imbued with the French conceptions of liberty and democracy, in contradistinction to the political and social traditions and organization of Germany.
Arguments of this sort are by their nature less specific and tangible than those based upon the concrete facts of language and race, and judgments in relation to them are likely to be subjective. At certain points, however, they admit of objective analysis, particularly as regards political affiliations.
There is, in the first place, no question that both Alsace and Lorraine formed part of the mediaeval Empire from the tenth century on. It is also equally clear that the Empire of the Middle Ages was in no way comparable to the national states of modern Europe, but was a loose union of tribal duchies which were later dissolved into a mass of petty feudal states and free cities. The Emperors never succeeded in establishing a strong monarchy or real national unity, being, by virtue of their imperial title, often more interested in asserting a shadowy supremacy over Italy and the valley of the Rhone. In the broader sense the Empire covered at one time or another a considerable part of Europe, as, for example, central and northern Italy and eastern France; in the narrower sense the German kingdom comprised under its loose and ineffective sway the territory of modern Holland, eastern Belgium, a good part of Switzerland, Austria, Bohemia, et cetera. As time went on, the principalities and towns became more rather than less independent, until the treaty of Westphalia (1648) recognized the territorial sovereignty of such princes as had not already established it. Membership in so large and unconsolidated a body would not establish the German character of any particular member, else it would be necessary to incorporate many parts of Europe which have long enjoyed complete independence of Germany.