| Show wh 01 ay nr or great column of freedmn Freed Mj ra V M R ap 0 t in R ar ets some bas tile once atoo T N P vaa IN U i I 1 19 E M 4 64 4 11 W 14 TALL shaft today marks s the spot in france where lib liberty erfy was b born arn this shaft the site of the bastille that black medieval prison which was ed years ago age by revolutionists who like the f tind nt hi caring v v more for liberty than life iffe unorganized and poor poorly armed arnfeld dared to tb foa challenge we life tyranny of a king V 1 1 the stirring events event which culminated abed lif in the of frances fortress of feudalism were yere in motion early in jury 1789 and two great characters in the history of france and fit the united states ties were in the french capital at that very timp time the marquis do de lafayette after consulting with thomas jefferson the the declaration of independence presented io to tile the national assembly a bill of rights had alad me french acted ton ten days sooner as there were cilny many indications it might inight a common birthday might now be observed by the sister nations the traditions of the american colonies tind those hose of france differed so widely that to sense the true meaning of the bastille it is is necessary to trove the origin of that gloomy pile in the fau bourg st antoine Ant olne for centuries ithe bie edifice was the lie sign of fit the divine right of lang before the alie storm of tha the french revolution broke there were 50 such prisons in france por bastille alg nines merely a fortified building j A As the Y years cars went bys infamous became that flint one lie alich on the banks of the seine and nv a a tilly known as the castie of parts paris that flint it took unto itself alie thc all embracing title of tile the bastille 4 liellie like LIN llie institution of monarchy of chIt it was the symbol the structure wa was the mcnut of centuries the original edifice consisted of it pair of towers and was it part of the afie stone shohe ann ter against the medieval huns buns charles chaides V about 1369 commissioned IIii guca An andriot Aubr briot lot then provost of parly parl to enlarge th the e ota oti Aubri Aubr oF lof having in mind the ex extension of ofa the feti it mini thil power ninde made it both fortress and nd jail various additions were were made by the kings of an fn nce As a fort it was consi considered derea impregnable n ni tile the main walls at their bitse were 40 feet thick and bane beneath aali the battlements feet above tile lie pavement ohp light struggled into anto the cells through gh n narrow arrow vi windows piercing nine feet of solli in masonry asony cannon were set in the he deep ein cm and there were por portholes port holes from which archers and cross bowmen once sped the shafts of death I 1 to the lie peasantry and thi common people tb tho I 1 1 was all that was formidable and forbid ding A grim and Iny mysterious sterl our stronghold it en earned ailed riled year ven r by ven year r DS I 1 I 1 q el R VII I 1 balue kings j 1 jigs with power of and death over their subjects 11 used kedit it as the instrument avith waith which to pul dullish lish all ail who opposed them they cirei eil neither fit lie illg hiigli h nor the low in tile days of the ila idonar monarch r h could coula con commit linit pris prisoners to tile has tilla without vil hout 1 any other process of ina iino than haa a war rw r w beening known as a lettre de cachet 0 U tills document bearing the royal seal was often in blank many lettres de cachot cachet were obtained by unprincipled persons who either used alu in to fi punish enemies or sold them to 1 those illos who hal had sinister ends in view the inon baroa abuses which grew out of tills filla practice werta lilot European on i courtiers charlatans and co courtesans courte urte sans found a n baff their rudgett grudges tile the life or or the liberty ann mail nall t ajo kingdom was secure even in ihu eighteenth century notable personages ile he wn into prison because P soa soine rela livek ovied covet ted their ier states 11 in the reign XV I 1 lettic chechet ch clI achet were issued ills J w successor success orp louis XVI credited with being tin an amiable ruler sent forth on their missions of epim oppression esaf it might well have been written over the entrance of dr the bastille ile he who enters here leaves hope belil behind lid the place realized lazed the darkest visions of dantes inferno separated separated from the streets of the city by a mont moat feet wide find and 25 feet deep and accessible only by a drawbridge it was like an isle of the dead in its noisome dungeons abominable cruelties cruel ties were visited upon unfortunate prisoners who were condemned to the rack and the booth boot and the wh wheel ea orchal or chained ned to pillars rs and flogged there N were ye re circular cells with conical tops in which the inmates s could could neither stand erect nor sit nor lie lid tue the roll of th alie sufferers ers of the bastille Is along one various degrees of punishment were meted out to tile the prisoners rs according to the whims of he sovereign Soi neof them ll ketlie manewith man with the file iron mask mash for a time a prisoner in the bastille wore were treated with consideration they had bounteous meals and were assigned to rooms in 14 which there thee was vas a fair amount of light had and wore were even permitted to walk in the garden they had scant enjoyment however for they never knew gnei when they would be doomed to the fato fate of their less favored fellows men lived 50 and even CO 00 years I 1 in the Bust austille Bu stille lIle until they lost all connection with the world beyond the moat in that world toward the close of the eighteenth century mighty changes came to pass the line oatlie of the louis had so impoverished tile nation that flint the n national credit was as imperiled when louls louis XVI came to the throne tin one a debt of had been aen plied piled up arid and it continued to pyramid pyra bild the common people had been footing the bill and now came tile pro proposal postil strange in those days that flint the nobility and tile the clergy the privileged classes should share the burden willi the third estate it was a iny of questioning and 11 hearkening and smil searching the words ak ll land and didelot were mere sinking deep into hito tile the national consciousness hence assemblies td talk over these pr proposals opo 1 in were the prisons filled with and the T s sent into ex exile lle tin tho storm was gat gathering bierin fi erin g if the was to be sustained 40 aps exira nuance and feudalism to ile be upheld the mailed fist must do ih its iwo work ik but there was wore more to il deal cal with than mur inuring serfs and and a it adful of s the soldiers of prance france who were to tip uphold bold the of old regime 0 showed alia that t they hav were cre unwilling to kill thear fa and Inot brothers liers alk 0 doffs tile the people of parts ransacked their city until they found arms or the material for mahltig pikes the time luid had come when the rights of nien men should pr prevail evall and men inen who are starving u under tyranny are easily recruited As the forces of the new order grew they thought with one accord of of the listed symbol of that galling oppression which was tile the cause icausi of all their suffering tile the fry cry to the he I 1 I 1 rose roi rom jia a hundred thousand throats men anal and women armed with weapons re apons as eff clicc C five its as popguns would ile be against a fi ight moved ii against kallist th the nt st staid sid bullets p lr jere 1 and the inas massive sive I 1 the sp mas ivas only half hearted ind and it the b e guards or ori the battlements were soon liiv waving ing flags of truce A force gi cater abit the lie munitions ever made was at w a send meat which arii m beunie a resistless torrents torrent deb daunn th li governor of tae bastille d be e bom for it and nr down alm ilm nine atie lie cieli ing drawbridge all and across it rushed the OW infura abed citizenry the ti ie tide flowed in ond ut of the dim corri corridors dois and searched out tile tit irrow cells As soon poon ji as there was the hie semblance of kovers ment arrangements were made for r te le bastille the alio work toot tool ana contractor nearly a year although lie he empIo employed a large larga force there was a thriving business td ia its relics for hundreds of the blocks of stone were eniver carved into lato inboden of the prison ah and sold na as mementoes locks lock and holts bolts wore were distributed nil aa avor the world as aa souvenirs Ai although though the demolition of the bastille itself proceeded led tho thing for which lt lb stood was rint not so easily cisily swept aside nolde germany ermany i ti and nd austria blocked the road to liberty we of this day with the perspective of a century and more of history and to n nation which Is ev even e now in arms against the powers powers which sought to lo folst foist the yoke of serfdom once morn upon fit thea 0 people of france may see more mora clearly than even the able publicists of that period that the excesses of the french revolution grew out of desperation despe pe ration the ilens as now were spinning the webs of intrigue tiie the then as now living still in the middle ages domineering mean and sordid was determined that F france rance should return to slavery louis XVI under the influence of his beau ticul wife marle antoinette was dominated by austria ills his court was filled with german spies aples and prussian emissaries when lie he found that lie he could not conquer his people with french artillery he pretended pie tended to accede to their deni demands ands and wat waited for the help of the german war lords escaping from paris he had got AvI within thill a few miles of the border before lie was wag intercepted at varennes etwas it was ills his intent to get germany to send her armies to compel comp ea ills subjects subject sto to accept ills his feudal rule dawns beckin bee ume e accustomed to changes of government slowly when ahen they have been ground down dow tile the iron heels of despotism reckless and blind as was their king the people of france felt f e it that oi 1 itt in fit come way lie he was theli father and por and that it would be a calamity if he should turn ills face from them in tile the months which followed when these children chil dien of the new order knowing far I 1 ss how low to govern than louis and marle maile Antol antoinette netie knew liow bow to rule wisely over them found their country invade edba austrians Aust lans rians and prussians they gave way to tg their rage they had been willing to retain eyen so poor a king as a constitutional ruler and lie he had already put upon his fits head tile hie red cap had he peen been firm enough of purpose pui pose to resist ali alie in intrigues of the central powers he might still have saved saed his face and his head bead those were the days when alien tyranny was everywhere spreading its nets and snares george I 1 t of england was elector of hanover r speaking german on the british throne and knowing no Engli english sli addressing his ministers in dubious latin george 11 could couff talk lamely in the tongue of the people whom lie brof professed essed to govern george III was wore more german if possible than his predecessors they had realized that great britain had a constitutional government and left affairs largely to tire the ministers ile he in an exemplar of a middle age outlook took the advice of his german in othor Oc george orge bea be a king ills his bb lost to great britain her amerl american colonies A german he gave aid and comfort to france in ill seeking to make her yield to the hie det demands fiands of her bourbon king his kinsman the dule of lining lck and anderus prussian sian ralles aigles madell fra france nee and served notice upon her national guard that they were rable liable to the dejuli of traitors in their exasperation the ibe cl cuzzens tt zens of an impoverished eds bed nation then guillotined guillo tined the king who was aang no steps to meet the foreign foe and was waiting the of the hun to subject gilpin ham again to bourbon tyranny tia riny hence the commune and the reign of 0 terror and those clarl hours in which a nation in the throes was endeavoring to ad adjust just itself to to the pin bleus leLas which followed the overthrow overt hiow of the bastille franco france came cam e up out of much tribulation into a republican form fonn of government nt she was enjoying peace and all plenty when the hun again crossed cro aed lier her borders to impose upon her a yolo yoke willell which la Is alio alic same sam e as that for which stood the dark stronghold I 1 on the seine long 1 ong since destroyed |
