Verdun—the last occupied bit of French soil—ought to be evacuated
to-day, and in all probability will be ; but there was a hitch at the last moment, owing to a demand of the Germans for a million francs (£40,000) for the cost of the administration of the Post Office during their occupation. It is said that they declared they would prolong the occupation till it was paid. Luckily the demand did not get abroad, or there would have been a riot at this last mortification, and the Versailles Government promptly telegraphed that the £40,000 should be paid. The Germans ought, therefore, to be out to-day,—just three years and a fortnight after Sedan,—with a comfortable conscious- ness that they have made a very neat thing of it, both in glory and in cash. The occupying army has lived for three years at French expense, and made besides £200 per head or more, for every soldier who ever crossed the frontier,--of whom, allowing for relays, there must have been near a million.
