PARIS (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron, in an unusual gesture, has marked the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon, the warrior-emperor who famously bequeathed to France its civil code but whose legacy is tarnished in the eyes of many. Macron said Wednesday that Napoleon Bonaparte’s reinstatement of slavery was a “betrayal of the spirit of the Enlightenment.” But in his speech, he said that “Napoleon is part of us” and that France “must look our history straight in the eyes.” With such distinctions, Macron refused to cede to those who would refuse any honor to Napoleon, who is among the most important figures of French history and adored by some members of the right.
