BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1602, 20 November 1912, Page 4

BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

MONUJIENT TO A'ICTOR, :aiJGO. For 'ihe first' time in history.' AVatoTloo battlefield was on September 22 conii-ecied directly by telegraphic wires with Brussels, Paris, and Lomloii, on t-'fto occasion of the laying of the foundation-stone of. the A r ictor Hugo monument and the inauguration of tho ossuary covering the last cofiinless skeletons unearthed within the last few years. . The laying of. the'first s;one of the Victor Hugo cock-crowned column opened the proceedings. . The spot chosen for the memorial at Ploncenoit is such that the Gallic cock, symbolising the genius and'everlasting hopes of the French race, will exactly face Geromc's . "Wounded Eagle," symbolising, the fall and despair of Napole&n in 1815, Tho great Belgian poet, I iron Gilkin, discoursing, on this, theme on behalf of the Belgian intellectual circles, laid special stress on the fact that this was the very first time poetry and art were being glorified oh a field of sanguinary military action. The warriors of the four nations had' displayed most, magnificent patriotism and bravery oil this very spot ninety-seven years ago. Yet literature such as A r ictor Hugo's prose and verse on the AVaterloo fight in "Les Miserable®/' "Les Chatiments," and "L'Annee Terrible/ 'and Lord Byron's in "Childe , Harold's • Pilgrimage" had glorified the giants' fight in such a way as to make poetry look as great as military valour, and perhaps greater, us poetrv finally aimed at pacifying thoughts and at the serene enjoyment, by all races and nations, of life's intellectual beauties and artistic delights. He concluded by saying, that he hoped that the Belgian national motto, "Union fait la force," would ultimately become a universal motto and mako fresh AVaterloos impossible. This speech, interspersed with quotations, from Hugo's AVaterloo stanzas, was greeted with loud cheers. Afterwards, M. Heotor Fleischmann spoke on behalf of the Franco-Belgian Committee'which raised the subscription for the Hugo monument. He protested that this was neither a Bonapartist demonstration nor a ceremony of mourning, over the French defeat—"a mere historical accident which surprised victors and vanquished alike." It was, on the contrary, a demonstration showing. that France rose superior to her reverses and could serenely come to the'scene of a military misadventure to crown one of her great songsters, in whom,was incarnated the undying force of French ideas and intellectuality. M. Camille Le Senne, the well-known French writer, spoke, in his turn, on behalf of the French subscribers to tho Hugo monument. He delivered a fine panegyric of Victor Hugo, "who showed that the might of the pen was great as the might of the sword." After the Hugo portion of the ceremony had thus ended, .autos, carriages, anil other means of locomotion conveyed crowds to the Carlton fern for the inauguration of the new ossuary, which is : an ample and artistic stone and iron | building, inscribed with the Latin dedi- j cation: "Pro imperatore saepe, pro natria semper." JI. Heotor Fleischmann here delivered another speech, the principal feature of which was an exhortation to bury old international sores in face of • a monument which blended together in j the harmony of death the remains of < French, English, German," Diitch, and Belgian heroes alike! 'The recital by Jtadam Laura Mourct of Victor Hugo's beautiful "Hymn tc the Dead" ended the ceremony..in a most impressive manner. The Hugo monument and the new ossuary bring uo to fifteen the number of the memorials'' bearing witness of.' the great-AVaterloo fight on the battlefield itself.- No European "cockpit" has so ninny; and vet mofe ' are to be raised for 'the centennial of' the, wonderful struggle on June 18, 1915.