ments 



19133 Alsatian Homecoming 



that " le retour d la France a ete unaniment salute 

 comme juste, legitime, et en parfait accord avec les vceux 

 de la population" J 



In the return to the Motherland, however, certain 

 difficulties naturally arise, to be removed by time and 

 patience. The loss of a separate status is a matter of 

 some regret, and the over-centralized system which 

 prevails in France has irksome features. Submerged New 

 therein as three departments or judicial districts - 

 Haut-Rhin, Bas-Rhin, and Moselle - - the combined 

 province has lost somewhat of its cherished individual- 

 ity. As already stated, 2 early in the last century the 

 French government obliterated the old provincial 

 lines, creating ninety "departments" devoid of polit- 

 ical significance. It is certain, however, that no 

 freedom-loving Alsatians look back with longing to 

 their connection with Germany, for under the 

 Prussian system discipline was always a matter of 

 caste control, painful in the highest degree to men 

 who have tasted freedom. 



1 "The return to France has been unanimously welcomed as just, legitimate, 

 and perfectly in accord with the will of the people." 

 8 See Chapter xxvn, page 66. 



3 



