UNION JACK FOR AMIENS.

CATHEDRAL CEREMONY.

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. AMIENS, Tuesday. Amiens, eloquently reminiscent of the great struggles in 1916 and 1918, a city of sad memories for many British people who journeyed post-haste from England, to visit their wounded sons, a starting-off place for pilgrims to the Somme battlefields, was to-day the scene of a ceremony which was not without touches of emotion. In the grey cathedral of the city, for a long time a target for German bombs and shells, of which the demolished property in its immediate vicinity bears witness, the mighty effort of the British Army was consecrated by an act of solemnity, simple and touching, which will for ever mark its shining heroism and its heavy sacrifices. It was the presentation by the British Government of a Union Jack to the cathedral. And it was fitting that the flag should be presented by the general whose military genius, put to severe tests, prevailed and saved this fair city of the Somme on which the German army had long fixed covetous eyes – General Lord Rawlinson.

Mindful of the British effort and all that it meant for them, the people of Amiens invested the touching ceremony in the cathedral with an atmosphere in which the notes of eternal remembrance and gratitude found full and eloquent expression. How could it be otherwise? Two years ago the streets of the city resounded with the tramp of British soldiers; its suburbs bear London street names at every turn; there are souvenirs of the war and the part the British Army played in it. So the people of Amiens hailed the coming of General Rawlinson, and crowded at the station to await the arrival of the train from Calais. The general is on his way to India to take up his command there, and the train was stopped specially at Amiens to permit him to hand the Union Jack to the cathedral. Accompanied by Lady Rawlinson and Major Lund, his aide de camp, he was welcomed on the platform by General Phillipot, commanding the Second French Army Corps, Generals Mathieu and Nurthy, and other high officers of the French army; M. Morin, Prefect of the Somme; M. Caumartin, Mayor of Amiens; General Sir Charles Sackville-west, Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Paris; and Colonel Vivian, Assistant Military Attaché. There were presentations in the stationmaster’s office, which was tastefully decorated with the Tricolour and the Union Jack, and flowers and plants, and outside the station a guard of honour from the 72nd Regiment, with band and colours, was drawn up. Here a large crowd had assembled. Trumpeters blared out “Aux champs.”

Then the band played “God save the King” and the “Marseillaise,” and after the inspection of the guard of honour the party entered carriages and drove to the cathedral, where another guard of honour was formed. On the steps of Notre Dame were Monseigneur de la Villarabel, Bishop of Amiens, and his clergy. The Bishop gave a hearty welcome to General and Lady Rawlinson, what time the organ struck up a triumphal march, and the clergy led a procession through the packed cathedral to the high altar, where the ceremony of presenting the flag took place.

BISHOP’S TRIBUTE.

It was short, deeply impressive, and marked with colour, eloquence, and plaintive melody. In his address the Bishop gave an historical résumé on the associations of the Royal families of France and England with the cathedral and a detailed, picturesque, and at times thrilling, narrative of the military operations in the Somme. The bishop is in eloquent speaker, and his voice rang with accents of admiration and gratitude when he recalled in vivid language General Rawlinson’s part in the great struggle. “By the work of your Army the great deliverance was effected,” he said. “You drove the Germans back, back, and still back, and on Sept. 10, 1918, you had to report a great victory. You were the conqueror. You and your Army have given us an abiding souvenir. Amiens will never forget the British Army, its head, the great figure of his Majesty King George, and its victorious generals.” General Lord Rawlinson, visibly affected by the Bishop’s eloquence and heartfelt encomiums, rose and presented the silk Union Jack to the Bishop. It was an impressive moment. The Bishop and the General shook hands in silence, and then the latter handed the Union Jack to a figure in black, his breast barred by the Cross of the Legion of Honour and several war decorations. He was M. Lamy, Superior of the Seminary, who fought in the war, was several times wounded, and had been a prisoner in Germany.