Show Great Column o of Freedo arks arks' arks'S L Spot S of In Paris Where the cg kwe c e r 1 I. I some Bastile Once I 1 JI t I 1 igI ig J I J 7 ti 4 d t I oc ff 4 1 I 1 iJ f l- l J I l r I b t n t i C t. t l lLo 7 rC r- r tel l if g M v W- W e i h hh h w y TALL shaft today marks the spot in France where liberty was born This shaft marks the site of the Bastille that black medieval prison l. l which was demolished yea years s sago ago by revolutionists who like the AI Americans at Lexington caring 2 more for liberty than life unorganized unorganized and poorly armed dared to challenge the tyranny of a king The stirring events which culminated In the taking of Frances France's fortress of feudalism were In motion early in July 1789 and two great characters characters characters char char- in the history of France and the United States were in the French capital at that very time The Marquis de Lafayette after consulting with Thomas ThomaS' Jefferson the author of the Declaration Declaration Declara Declara- tion of Independence presented to the tile national assembly a bill bUl of rights Had the French acted ten days sooner as there were many Indications Indications' that it might a common birthday might now now be observed by the sister nations The traditions of the American colonies and those of France differed so widely that to sense the true meaning of the Bastille it is ne necessary essary to trace the origin of that gloomy pile pUe Jn in the Faubourg Faubourg Faubourg Fau Fau- bourg St. St AntoIne For centuries the edifice was the sign of the divine right of kings Before the storm of the French rench revolution broke there were CO GO such prisons In France for bastille signifies signifies sig sig- nUles merely a fortified building As the years went by so Infamous became which stood on the banks banks' of ot the Seine and was usually known as the Castle of Paris that It took to k unto itself the embracing all title of The Bastille Like the Institution of monarchy of which it was the symbol the structure was the development development development develop develop- ment of centuries The original edifice consisted of a n pair of ot towers and was a n part of th the sto stone e barrier against the medieval medle Huns Charles V about 1369 commissioned Hugues then provost pro of Paris to enlarge the old fortification having in mind the extension 0 of the feudal power made It both fortress and Jail jail Various additions were made by the kings king of France As a fort tort it was considered impregnable as the main walls at their base were 40 feet thick and beneath the battlements feet above the pavement the light struggled Into the cells through narro narrow windows piercing nine feet of solid soUd masonry Cannon were set In Jn the fhe he deep em em- and there were portholes from which archers and once sped the shafts of death To the peasantry and the common people the Bastille was all that was formidable and forbid forbid- ding A grim and mysterious stronghold it it earned year by year rear its evil name name Kings Rings with power of life and death over their subjects used It as the Instrument with which to punish all who opposed them The They spared neither the high nor the low In the days of absolutism the monarch could commit prisoners to the Bastille Bastille Bas Bas- tille without any other process of law Jaw than a warrant warrant warrant war war- rant which became known as a lettre de cachet This document bearing the royal seal was often in blank Many 1 lettres de dt cachet were obtained obtained obtained ob ob- by unprincipled persons who either used them to punish their enemies or sold them to those who had sinister ends In view The monstrous mon mon- abuses which grew out of this practice were a blot on European l history story Courtiers charlatans and courtesans courtesan found a II away away way to sate their grudges The life or the liberty of ot no man in all the kingdom was secure Even Een Evenin in the eighteenth century notable personages might be thrown into prison because some relatives relatives rela rela- I tives thes coveted their estates In the reign of ot Louis LouisI XV 1 lettres de were J issued n His I i. e 10 hii successor Louis Louts XVI credited with being an amIable amiable amiable am am- ruler sent forth on their missions of ot oppression It might well have been written over the entrance entrance en en- trance of the Bastille Bastille- He who enters here leaves hope behind The place realized the darkest darkest darkest dark dark- est visions of Dantes Dante's Inferno Separated from the toe streets of the city by a moat feet wide and 25 feet deep and accessible only by a drawbridge draw draw- drawbridge bridge It was like an Isle of ot the Dead In Its noisome dungeons abominable cruelties were visited upon unfortunate prisoners who were condemned to the rack and the boot and the wheel or chained to pillars and flogged There were circular cells with conical tops In which the inmates could neither stand erect nor sit nor lie The roll of the sufferers of the Bastille Is a long longone one Various degrees of punishment were meted out to the prisoners according to the whims of ot the sovereign Some of them like the Man with the Iron Mask for a time a prisoner In the Bastille Bastille Bastille Bas Bas- tille were treated with consideration They had bounteous meals and were assigned to rooms in which there was a fair amount of ot light and were even permitted to walk in the garden They had sc scant nt enjoyment however however for for they never knew when they would be doomed to the fate of their less favored fellows Men lived 50 and even 60 years In the Bastille until they lost all connection with the world beyond the moat In that world toward the close of the eighteenth eight century mighty changes came to pass The line of the Louis had so impoverished the nation that the national credit was imperiled When Louis XVI came to the throne a debt of had been piled plIed up and it continued to pyramid The common people had been footing the bill and now came the proposal strange in those days that the nobility and the clergy the privileged classes should share the burden with the Third Estate It was was' wasa a day of ot questioning and hearkening and soul searching The words of Voltaire Rousseau and Did were sinking deep Into the national I consciousness Hence assemblies to talk over these proposals In vain ain were the prisons filled fined with agitators and the sent into exile exlIe The storm was vas gathering If It the monarchy was wa to be sustained in its extravagance and feudalism to be bp upheld the mailed fist must do its work But there was more to deal with than murmuring serfs and a handful of The soldiers of France who were expected to uphold the eld regime showed that they were unwilling UD to kill their fathers fathers fathers fa fa- fa- fa the the-rs and br brothers like dogs The people of Paris ransacked their city until they found found arms or the material for making pikes The time had come when the rights of men should prevail and men who are starving under tyranny are easily recruited As the forces of ot the new new order grew they thought with one ac nc- accord cord of the the hated symbol of ot that galling oppression oppression oppression sion which was the cause of all their suffering The cry To the Bastille I rose from a hundred thousand throats Men and women armed with weapons as effective effective tive the as popguns would be against a moved against the ancient stronghold Bullets pattered and flattened against the massive walls The defense defens was only half hearted and the French guards on the battlements were soon waving way way- ing tag flags of truce A force greater than all the munitions ever made was at work work work-a a public sentiment sentiment senti senti- ment meat which had become a resistless torrent D Dauna Delaunay Delaunay De- De launay auna the governor of the Bastille trembled b before before be be- fore it and surrendered Down came the creaking creaking creak cren- ing drawbridge and across it rushed the Infuriated Infuriated infuriated citizenry The tide flowed In and out of the dim corridors corridor and md searched out the narrow Ct cells As soon a as there was the semblance of government government government govern govern- ment arrangements were made for removing tile the Bastille The work took the contractor nearly n year although he employed a large force There TherA was wa a thriving business in its relics for hundreds hundred of the blocks of stone were carved caned into models of the prison and sold as mementoes Locks and bolts were distributed all over the world as DB souvenirs Although the demolition of the Bastille itself proceeded the thing for which it stood was was was' not so 80 easily swept Feudal Germany and Austria blocked the road to liberty We of this day with the perspective of a n century and more of history and belon belonging belonging- ng g- g to a nation which Is even now in arms against the powers which sought Bought to foist the yoke of serfdom once more ore upon the people of France may may see more clearly than even the able publicists of that period that the excesses ex eY of the French revolution grew out of des des- The Huns as now were spinning the webs of Intrigue The then as now living still in the middle ages domineering mean and sordid was determined that France should return to slav slav- ery Louis XVI VI under the influence of his beautiful beautiful beau beau- wife Marie Antoinette was dominated by Austria AustrIn His court was filled with German spies and Prussian emissaries When he found that he could not conquer his people with French artillery lie fie pretended to a aced ac accede accede ac- ac cede ced to their demands and waited for fo the help of th the German war lords Escaping from Paris i he had got within a few miles of the border before he was Intercepted at Varennes It was his Intent Intent intent In In- tent to get Germany to send her armies to compel his subjects to accept his feudal rule Nations become accustomed to changes of ot government government government gov gov- slowly when they have been ground down under the Iron heels of despotism Reckless and blind as was their king the people of France felt that In some way he was their father and and that It would be a calamity it if he should turn his face from them In the months which followed when these children of the new order knowing far 1 I lass ss how to govern themselves than Louis and Marie Antoinette knew how to rule wisely over them found their country invaded ed by Austrians and Prussians they gave way to their rage roge They had been willing to retain even so poor a aking aking aking king as a constitutional ruler and he had already put upon his head the red cap Had he been firm enough of purpose to resist the Intrigues of ot the central powers he might still sUll have saved his face and and his his' head Those were vere the days when tyra tyranny my was everywhere spreading Its nets and snares George GeorgeI I of England w was s elector of Hanover speaking German on the British throne and knowing no English addressing his ministers in dubious Latin George II could talk lamely In the tongue of the people wh whom lm he professed profess d to to go govern rn George HI m was more German If possible than his predecessors They had realized that Great Brit- Brit aln ala had a constitutional government and left eft affairs affairs affairs af af- af- af fairs largely to the ministers He nn an exemplar of a middle age outlook took the advice of his German moth mother r George be a king His obstinacy lost to Great Britain her American American American Ameri Ameri- can colonies A German he gave aid and comfort comfort comfort com com- fort to Fran France e In seeking to make her yield to the demands pf of her Bourbon king His kinsman the duke of Brunswick leading Austria and Prussian Prussian sian sinn armies invaded France and served notice upon her National Guard that they were liable to the death of traitors In their exasperation the citizens of an nn Impoverished Impoverished impoverished nation then guillotined the king who was taking no steps to meet the for foreign foe and was waiting the of the n Hun n to subject them m again to Bourbon tyranny Hence the Commune and the Reign of ot Terror and those dark hours in iq which a nation In the throes s was endeavoring to adjust Itself to the problems which followed the overthrow of the Bastille France came up out of much tribulation into a n republican form of government She was Vas enjoyIng enjoying enjoy enjoy- Ing peace and plenty when the Hun nun again crossed her Iler borders to Impose upon her a yoke which Is the same as that for which stood the dark stronghold stronghold strong strong- hold on the Seine long since destroyed |