Insult In France Angers Germany.

New York Times 100 years ago today, April 16, 1913:
Government Demands Investigation of Abuse of a Party of Visitors at Nancy.
NEWSPAPERS ARE VIOLENT
Foreign Secretary Tells Reichstag Machinations of French Chauvinists Cause Misgivings.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    BERLIN, April 15.— The German Government has called upon the French Government to investigate an incident that occurred at Nancy on Sunday night and which has created a painful impression here.
    Reports of the affair differ, but it appears that a party of German men and women who were visiting Nancy were violently insulted at a place of entertainment there, that afterward they were subjected to even worse insults in a restaurant, and that, finally, they were practically driven out of the town by a crowd of jeering Frenchmen, who did not cease their abuse until the train carrying the Germans away started from the station.
    Foreign Secretary von Jagow informed the Reichstag this afternoon that the German Ambassador in Paris had been promptly instructed to take the necessary steps to obtain an investigation.
    In case the unofficial reports prove true the Ambassador is "to make representations in regard to the inadequate protection afforded to Germans in France."
    The Reichstag greeted the Foreign Secretary's statement with demonstrative approval. Herr von Jagow said:
    "Up to the present hour our information concerning the Nancy incident has been confined to press dispatches. If the news is confirmed to the full extent of what is unofficially reported I should certainly describe it as highly regrettable. It would, moreover, be sad proof of how much the machinations of French chauvinists, of which the Imperial Chancellor recently spoke in the Reichstag, must give rise to misgivings."
    Even sober newspapers like the Lokal-Anzeiger and the conservative Kreuz Zeitung are publishing violent articles denouncing the conduct of the crowd at Nancy in unmeasured terms and insisting that the German Government must not shrink from sharp measures to insure that Germans shall not be victims of similar incidents in the future.
    The organs of the War Party are exploiting the affair to the full. The Berliner Neueste Nachrichten, the mouthpiece of the Navy League and the armorplate interests, declares that the French have affronted the "honor" of Germany, and that the Imperial Government cannot refrain from demanding adequate reparation. The Lokal-Anzeiger, which is sometimes the mouthpiece of the Government on such occasions, refers sarcastically to the "Knightly nation," and adds:
    "If Frenchmen's sense of decency and politeness with regard to Germans keeps on degenerating it will be impossible for our Government to avoid taking far-reaching measures to insure for the German name that respect on the other side of the Vosges which is its due. The French Government will do well at once to see that the behavior of the Nancy Sunday crowd is not soon repeated elsewhere by 'patriots' of the same ilk." The Kreuz Zeitung says: "We hope that the instructions sent to the German Ambassador at Paris are unmistakable and imperative, so as to make it impossible for the French Government to misconstrue the gravity and emphasis with which the German Government views this wild orgy of Germanophobism.

Special Cable to The New York Times.

    PARIS, April 15.— What is described as the "Nancy incident" is greatly exaggerated by the German press. The French press regards the affair as regrettable, but preserves a calm attitude and suggests that the Pan-German press has eagerly taken up the incident as a means of retaliation for the Zeppelin mishap.
    The Petit Parisien says: "It is much ado about nothing. The Pan-German organs are seeking to embitter Franco-German relations."
    The Temps calls it a "pothouse trouble," and says the disproportion between the true story of the incident and the comment of the German press is "stupefying."
    A preliminary report received at the Ministry of the Interior from the central police authorities at Nancy says:
    "Three Germans, accompanied by two ladies, were present at about 10:30 o'clock on Sunday evening at a performance in the Casino. Some coarse remarks were addressed to them by a party of students, and there were some hisses from the gallery. The incident, however, passed unnoticed among the public.
    "The five strangers left the Casino shortly before 11 o'clock and went to the Brasserie Lorraine. Five or six students followed them to the cafe. The incident at the Casino was repeated here, and the proprietor of the establishment requested the students to keep quiet. This they did, and without recrimination. When, however, the house closed the same students, escorted by about fifty onlookers, accompanied the five persons in question to the station and resumed once more their jests. Then, at nearly 1:30 A.M., a dozen manifestants succeeded in making their way to the platform and continued the demonstration until the train started for Metz. The three Germans were not officers."
    The inquiry into the incident is still proceeding. It appears to have been the deed of excited young men who did not realize the bad taste of their attitude.
    In French Government circles a painful impression has been caused by Herr von Jagow's speech in the Reichstag this afternoon. "It is incomprehensible," said a high official, "that the German Secretary of Foreign Affairs should make such reflections on France without waiting for confirmation from us and before receiving the report of the diplomatist who called at the Quai d'Orsay on behalf of the German Ambassador to ask if we had reliable information regarding the incident."