The cirhenane republic was an actual project, but it was decided to simply annex the territory as 4 departments (partly due to the treaty imposed by Bonaparte on Austria which recognised it as part of france). The middle class and a majority of the peasants were glad for the abolition of feudal rights but had trouble with the occupation and "contribution" to the war effort.
An autonomous republic would have been quite faithfull to France and served as a buffer zone between it and the prussians. --Marcpasquin 19:20, 6 Aug 2005 (UTC)