Among more than 650,000 inhabitants, there were in 1918 less than 100 French.
The Saar district has been German for more than 1,000 years.

Temporary occupation as a result of warlike operations on the part of the French always terminated in a short time in the restoration of the country upon the conclusion of peace.

During a period of 1048 years France has possessed the country for not quite 68 years in all.

When, on the occasion of the first Treaty of Paris in 1814, a small portion of the territory now coveted was retained for France, the population raised the most energetic opposition and demanded 'reunion with their German fatherland,' to which they were 'related by language, customs, and religion.' After an occupation of one year and a quarter, this desire was taken into account in the second Treaty of Paris in 1815.

Since then the country has remained uninterruptedly attached to Germany, and owes its economic development to that connection." The French wanted the coal for the purpose of working the ironfields of Lorraine, and in the spirit of Bismarck they have taken it.