ian government had written lies brought England
into the World War and assured the defeat of Germany.

Poorly prepared, France could not stand long against the Prussian war
machine. After a sharp conflict lasting about six months, the French
National Assembly at Bordeaux was forced to ratify the unfair treaty
which required her to pay a great indemnity in money and to give up the
coveted provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, with the exception of
Belfort. The beautiful country which had been the home of Jeanne
d'Arc, the sacred heroine of France, was to be given over to rough and
haughty bands of soldiers such as she had given her life to expel from
her beloved France. But France had to choose between losing a small
portion of the country, or meeting with complete destruction in war
against greatly superior forces who had already destroyed the French
military power.

[Illustration: Jeanne d'Arc, rising in her stirrups, holds on high her
sword, as if to consecrate it for a war of Right. This inspiring
statue, located near Grant's Tomb on Riverside Drive, New York City,
overlooks the Hudson, where it bade Godspeed to all the American
soldiers and sailors going overseas to deliver France from the Hun.]

One morning in that fateful year of 1871, a notice was posted in the
towns and villages of Alsace and Lorraine telling the people that the
next day these provinces would pass from French into German hands. In
anticipation of this, petitions from these provinces had continually
been sent both to France and Germany declaring deep loyalty only to
France. For the last forty-eight years these glowing words have been
true.

"France cannot consent to it. Europe cannot sanction it. We call upon
the Governments and Nations of the whole World to witness in advance
that we hold null and void all acts and treaties . . . which so consent
to the abandoning to the foreigner all or any part of our Provinces of
Alsace and Lorraine."

And their plea, drawn up and signed by the fifteen representatives to
the Reichstag, is still kept at Metz. Some one has well said that it
is "one of the _scraps of paper_ against which the strength of the
German Empire has been broken."

The Germans after hearing innumerable petitions became exasperated.
They imprisoned many of the inhabitants, censored the press, and
established such a strict system of passports that "a veritable Chinese
wall was raised around the annexed country."

And more tha