NAPOLEON'S CENTENARY.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLII, Issue 1808, 5 May 1921, Page 5

NAPOLEON'S CENTENARY.

CELEBRATIONS IN FRANCE.

[By Electric Cable—Copyright.] [Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] (Received Wednesday, 5.5 p.m.) PARIS; May 3.

Intenso interest is being taken in tho Napoleon centenary on May sth. The State has made itself responsible for the celebrations, the keynote of which is a desire not to honour a victorious general, but a man who shed immortal glory upon France, whose mighty intellect and personality created a bond, not only between Frenchmen, but between nations. Tho commemorations will not be confines to Paris, but all the chief towns will tako part in them. An outstanding event will be Solemn Requiem Mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral ou Wednesday. It will bo held then, because the funeral Mass cannot be celebrated on Ascension Day. Marshal Foch will deliver a memorial address on Thursday at Napoleon's Tomb at the Invalides, followed by a march of troops past the Arc de Tiromphe, at which a detachment of regiments which won renown in the Napoleonic wars will pay homage tV> their fallen comrades, and unknown soldiers of tho World War. Throughout the day minute guns will be fired at St. Helena, also 11 guns at eleven minutes to six, to mark the moment of Napoleon's death. There will also be civil and religious ceremonies at Waterloo and in Corsica. There is a great output of Napoleonic books and prints, and many exhibitions of Napoleonic relics. French and English newspapers are publishing long special articles.