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shanghaiceltic
Board Royalty
Joined: Sep 20, 2005
Posts: 7619
Location: Perth WA
Status: Offline
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 Posted:
Dec 10, 2007 - 01:37 PM |
 
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| Post subject: French want Napoleon the 3rd back.... |
Only if the French give us back Aquitaine....
'Unworthy' France pursues Napoleon III
By Peter Allen in Paris
Last Updated: 2:15am GMT 10/12/2007
France will today request the return to French soil of the remains of its last emperor and first president, Napoleon III.
After lying ignored in a crypt in an English abbey for 120 years, the exiled emperor's ashes are suddenly the subject of a French ministerial delegation intent on repatriating them to the republic he helped bring about.
Christian Estrosi, the French secretary of state for overseas territories, said: "This trip will be for me an occasion to send a clear message to the British, to thank them for all they did for the imperial couple in exile, but also to remind them that we have some rights over them."
But Mr Estrosi, who will visit St Michael's Abbey, Hampshire, to request the return of the ashes, may receive a frosty reception from the abbey's Benedictine monks. They say the French disowned their former leader and continue to ignore his legacy.
In a statement to the French people, Abbot Cuthbert Brogan, who runs the abbey, said: "Unlike the English, who are very interested in the memory of your last emperor, not a single French person comes and meditates at the crypt where his remains lie.
"I hope that your overseas minister is coming to ask for forgiveness.
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"It's the least he can do in terms of politeness because you, the French, attach great importance to politeness."
Commenting on Mr Estrosi's intention to spend 10 minutes in silent reverence by the tomb, the abbot went on: "Ten minutes for a silence of 120 years! They are not interested in the remains at all.
"What do you think of someone who has shown no interest in someone for much of his life and who suddenly claims, more than a century later, that the body belongs to him?"
Born in Paris in 1808, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, and lived just as colourful a life.
After a number of foreign adventures, his forces were roundly defeated in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, prompting him to flee with his wife, Empress Eugenie, to Chislehurst, Kent, where he remained in exile until his death in 1873.
Despite the ignominy of his later years - especially the crushing defeat by the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan - France owes much to Napoleon III.
He had a huge hand in turning Paris into the elegant city so loved by tourists today - he replaced its unhygienic medieval streets with wide boulevards, created sewage systems and built parks and impressive apartment blocks for the masses.
The French, who want to reunite Napoleon III with his uncle's body in Les Invalides, in Paris, can also thank him for their railway network, and for creating a modern economy modelled on that of Victorian Britain. |
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I have parrallel bars at home, one for gin and one for whiskey |
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BS
Reacher
Joined: Sep 12, 2007
Posts: 238
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| Posted:
Dec 10, 2007 - 01:55 PM |
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| Post subject: Re: French want Napoleon the 3rd back.... |
| shanghaiceltic wrote: |
| In a statement to the French people, Abbot Cuthbert Brogan, who runs the abbey, said: "Unlike the English, who are very interested in the memory of your last emperor, not a single French person comes and meditates at the crypt where his remains lie. |
This venerable abbot simply cannot fathom that the French have to face more pressing issues than anything spiritual or deferential for their common past/present. Surely, he could suggest a plan to this Estrosi, to offer 5 additional RTT to these workaholics, provided that they meditate at least 5 minutes at the crypt (although it would likely result in a strike over such an ignominious blackmail. |
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