The German first stared and then threw himself back with a good-natured laugh.

“Then indeed there’s nothing to be done.” (Dann ist ja freilich gar nichts zu machen!)

The tone was that of a strong man’s patience with a dreamer; so confident did the Germans feel in their possession of the “Reichsland.”

But whatever chance the Germany of Bismarck and William II. might have had of winning over Alsace-Lorriane—­and it could never have been a good one—­was ruined by the daily and tyrannous blundering of the German Government.  The prohibition of the teaching of French in the primary schools, the immediate imposition of German military service on the newly-annexed territories, the constant espionage on all those known to hold strong sympathies with France, or views antagonistic to the German administration, the infamous passport regulations, and a hundred other grievances, deepened year by year the regret for France, and the dislike for Germany.  After the first period of “protestation,” marked by the constant election of “protesting” deputies to the Reichstag, came the period of repression—­the “graveyard peace” of the late eighties and early nineties—­followed by an apparent acquiescence of the native population.  “Our young people in those years no longer sang the ‘Marseillaise,’” said Dr. Bucher.  Politically, the Alsatians despaired and—­“we had to live together, bon gre, mal gre.  But deep in our hearts lay our French sympathies.  When I was a young student, hating my German teachers, the love for France beat in my pulses, like a ground wave” (comme une vague de fond).

Then after 1900 the Germans “changed greatly.”  They became every year richer and more arrogant; Germany from beyond the Rhine developed every year an increasing appetit for the native wealth and commerce of Alsace; and the methods of government became increasingly oppressive and militarist.  By this time some 400,000 native Alsatians had in the course of years left the country, and about the same number of immigrant Germans had taken their places.  The indifference or apathy of the old population began again to yield to more active feelings.  The rise of a party definitely “Anti-Allemand,” especially among the country people, made itself felt.  And finally came, in Dr. Bucher’s phrase, the period of “la haine” after the famous Saverne incident in 1912.  That extraordinary display of German military insolence seemed to let loose unsuspected forces.

“All of a sudden, and from all sides, there was an explosion of fury against the Germans.”

And as the Doctor spoke, his sensitive, charming face kindling into fire, I remembered our slow passage the day before, through the decorated streets of the beautiful old town of Saverne, in the wake of a French artillery division, and amid what seemed the spontaneous joy of a whole population!