The French are busily discussing a plan for making Alsace-
Lorraine a separate Principality. They say they would be con- tent with that, as there would then be a complete barrier of neutral States between them and Germany. The scheme is, we fear, entirely in the air. The Germans hold Lorraine for strategic purposes, which would be baffled if Metz were neutral, and regard Alsace as "old German property" which they are bound to keep, even if its people hanker after the union with another State. No German agrees to the proposal, or at heart believes that in serious emergencies the neutrality of such a State would be respected. To make the scheme even appear practical, Alsace-Lorraine should be made the westernmost canton of Switzerland. Switzerland, if pressed too hard, can take oars of her own, and, besides, attracts her population. We should not wonder, supposing the next war to end in a French defeat, if Switzerland were allowed to grow into a con- siderable State. Her system allows not only freedom, but freedom to retain a separate language ; yet she is strong enough to be dangerous to invade.
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