FRANCE EN FETE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 312, 26 September 1908, Page 11

FRANCE EN FETE.

A GLORIFICATION OF THE ARMY.' The National Festival of July 14 is & memorial: of .many things besides the destruction, of the .Bastille, (writes the Paris correspondent of the . L9iidon "Daily News ). ■" But if there be one thing more than r another which.it celebrates in these latter days it is the army. Tho Frciich are the most pacific nation on tho ' Continent j but they worship their army. Their favourite expression', "Nos petits. soldats," ' means/far'more to a Frenchman than'the colloquial" expression, "Tommy Atkins," does to' an' Englishman. Any' expression' of disrespect hurts . the Frenchman in a tender point, and is sure to rouse tho old Adam in him. • So on July 14 "Vive l'Armeq!" resounded in the streets of Paris and in the parade ground .it. Longchamps, whero the pick of tho" ■ infantry, cavalry, and- -artillery;, had passed in review before the President of tho Republic, tho two Houses of Parliament, ' the foreign Ambassadors, the tary Attaches of foreign and- at least 200,000 citizens of- the capital r 'and provinces. .A ' superb spectacle it was, 'the inarch past of three infantry divisions, -yi Tho French soldier is tho best marcher in Europe. Tho Bulgarians come nearest to him, • and they may perhaps be bracketed. The artillery, sweeping past at . the trot,'was splendidly in hiind —the perfection of .precision.. Then came the cavalry squadron, whose final charge at full gallop brought them, to-.a dead stop within 7'5 yards of : the President's tribune, and terminated tho military part of the national festival. ""Vive l'Armee!" shouted the enormous multitude at Longchamps. .. ■ ' The Clerical and anti-Republican papers used to predict a' few years ago tho decay of'the July 14 festival. They were'mistaken. .Both as a military fete and as a social festival this year's celebration is the most :striking of the last five years, .tho youtlv of the entente. • ' *:»& Whilst the military review [..was taking place Paul Deroulede, President of ; th'e .League of Patriots, held his usual demonstration in.front of the Strassburg statue, on the Place de la Concorde. , The Patriots surrounded him in their hundreds., A : vast crowd of sightseers thronged, the. beautiful square. A strong force' of police, was there to prevent , disorder, but- there was no-[dis-order! . Wreath after wreath was placed oil the monument,' arid when the last had'been deposited '. Paul Deroulede, ' quivering. with excitement, and waving his. silk hat wildly in tile air, shouted to the multitude, '.'.Let us send a salute to our soldiers in. Morocco I Vivo.'l' Alsace Lorraine francaisc!" The response., was instantaneous, tho. vast Place, do laConcorde ringing with : enthusiastio cheers..; ' ' .' ' ,' ;,' Oil,a signal from Derouledo .tho band of the' Patriots' League then played "God Save tho King." More chcers. After that 'camo tho Russian National Anthem. Still "lnoro .chebris: "'".Then, amid a veritablo storm'of cheers, Derouledo led the way to the Jeanne d'Arc . statue in the Ruo deltivoli, where similar demonstrations took pla'ce. Derouledo is a: fervent admirer of . King Edxvard, whom'.lie regards as tho greatest diplomat iii 'Europe... : In tho afternoon there wore the usual fr.eo performances at tho theatres, for which crowds had gathered at the doors from ; the early .hours of the morning. Tho Seine, which is usually visited by thousands, wa-s deserted, owing to tho continued boatmcii's striko, 'which efforts made at tho last moment by tho Minister for .Public Works'had not been able to settle, the'men still insisting on their demands.' ' At . night there 'wcro displays of fireworks in many of the oi>en spaces , in tho capita! and throughout tho country. Open-air balls, organised by each municipal council, gaily whirled away tho last hours of tho three days' rejoicings—an almost. unprecedented holiday for many Frenchmen of the working classes. "L'Huiuanito" oelobratcd the day by publishing a list, a column and a half in length, of persons who have been condemned to. imprisonment for "provocation and disobedience", in tho army and similar political offencos Binco tho accession of'tho Clemcneeau Government in January, 1906. ■