FRANCE IN MOURNING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21131, 14 March 1932, Page 9

FRANCE IN MOURNING.

M. BRIAND'S FUNERAL. CHURCH GIVES ABSOLUTION M. TARDIEU'S ORATION. STATESMAN'S LAST WORDS. WAR BATTLES RECALLED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received March 13. 5.5 p.m.) PARIS, March 12. Hundreds of thousands of people assembled iri the bleak March sunshine today to watch the late M. Briand laid to rest. Cardinal Archbishop Verdier, in tlie presence of the Papal Nuncio and clergy, in Notre Dame Cathedral, gave absolution to a statesman who had hern excommunicated for separating the Church from the State. Die scene was the black-draped court room at the Quai D'Orsay, the only witnesses being the President, M. Doumer, and the relatives and closest friends of M. Briand, with members of the Cabinet. 1 lie occupants of the stands outside gazed silently while the coffin was placed in a catafalque draped with the Tricolour. After that the Prime Minister, M. Tardieu, delivered a funeral oration. He saluted the dead statesman in the name of France and said that M. Briand's last words were: "The Marne, Salonica and Verdun," which were names inseparable from his own.

M. Tardieu's final tribute was to M. Briand as the guide and philosopher of the League of Nations, in which he interpreted the most powerful aspirations of this age of suffering. Hence the people would mourn him as an apostle.

The coffin was transferred to a hearse escorted by detachments of the republican Guard and 300 poilus. It was followed by carriages piled with wreaths. Then came the members of the Cabinet and Ambassadors, including Lord Tyrrell, who represented King George. 'llie procession crossed the spacious Place de la Concorde, where thousands of lamps were veiled in crepe. Between the flanking guards and the silent populace the hearse and its attendants passed slowly up tlie Champs d'Eiysee to the Arc de Triomphe, where glows for ever the light M. Briand did so much to kindle. The official section ot the procession halted at the Trocadero. Only intimate friends of the dead statesman accompanied the coffin, to the quiet little cemetery at. Pasfy. There the remains of M. Briand will rest until they are removed to C'ocheril for permanent interment.