Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Friday 16 July 1915, page 7


"THE MARSEILLAISE"

TRIBUTE TO COMPOSER. SPEECH BY PRESIDENT.

"We Shall Avenge Our Dead."

The remains of Rouget de Lisle, the author of the "Marseillaise," which were originally buried at Choisy le Roi, were on Wednesday disinterred and conveyed to

Paris.

On arrival at the Arc de Triomphe, the cortege halted while the vast assemblage

sang the famous national hymn.

The President of the French Republic (M. Poincare) and Cabinet Ministers then joined in the procession, which moved on to the Hotel des Invalides, where the re-mains were placed in a tomb next to those of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Hundreds of thousands of people thronged the streets, and 25 aeroplanes were circling

above us the coffin passed.

At a given signal all the French troops at the front, from the Vosges to the North Sea, who are forming an impenetrable bar-rier to the German invasion, sang the

"Marseillaise." The effect was astound-ing.

President Poincare, speaking at the Hotel

des Invalides, said:

"We are the innocent victims of a most brutal, savage, and pre-meditated aggression. Since we have been compelled to draw the sword, we have no right to sheathe it before we have avenged our dead, and before the victory of the Allies permits us to guard effectively against a periodical recurrence of these provocations. Don't let our enemies deceive themselves. It is not in order to sign a short truce before a more terrible war that France has risen thrilled by the 'Marseillaise.' "