Under the restored kingdom of the Bourbons, orderly citizens knew how to command respect in their new country without sacrificing in the least their democratic and republican ideals. A prefect of the Upper Rhine registered in his report of 1818: "All are submissive, but none are royalist." De Serre, an elector of the Department wrote: "Ultra-royalism is not the spirit which actuates my constituents." The prefect, Puymaigre, candidly complains in 1821 of the advanced ideas of the citizens: "They give faith," said he, "with a most deplorable credulity, to all the most dangerous political systems." The same year, after his tour in Alsace, General Foy expressed himself as follows: "If all that is good and generous in the hearts of the inhabitants of ancient France ever becomes enfeebled, they must journey over the Vosges and come to Alsace to renew their patriotism and energy." The monarchy of July marks a period of uninterrupted prosperity for Alsace. The return of the tri-colour was hailed with joy. The democratic idea grew and was represented chiefly by the _Courrier du Bas-Rhin_ which influenced public opinion. After 1815, the reactionary persecutions abated against the Germans who were liberal minded and they received an hospitable welcome to Alsace. With their innate absence of tact, many of them tried to convince their hosts that Alsace was still a German province, and in this way they forfeited all sympathy. The Alsatians desire there should be no misunderstanding as to the nature of the sympathy shown to unjustly persecuted refugees, and the international courtesy practised by them even towards the Germans. In 1842, when the German delegates to the Scientific Congress of France were received at Strasbourg, the mouthpiece of the Alsatians spoke of the sympathies of his countrymen for Germany; but to avoid any mistake he added: "But if we gaze toward her, it is not with the eyes of a child torn from the paternal home, but rather, if you will permit the comparison, with the affectionate look with which the young wife greets once more her mother's house, happy under the new roof which shelters her, and with the name of her husband which she bears with pride."