Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-04-22
miscellaneous 8eabing|
SKETCH OF THE BAsTILE.

common people had peculiar interest from
the fact that the prisoners confined in it were
generally understood to be persons of rank,
who had fallen under the displeasure of the
reigning sovereign. The mode of incarce-
rating prisoners was by letters de catchet,
that is to say, by warrant professedly signed
by the king, but the were generally the pro-
duct of his favorites, who, by using the
kings signet, consigned any one to the pris-
on whom they pleased, and thus rose the
oppression and the terrible associations of
the Bastile. No family of responsibility ex-
listed in France conscious of being politically
obnoxious, that did not dread the letters de
catchet, and all, innocent and guilty, felt
that their evil influence might at any time
consign them to the Bastile. L'Hermit,
who was Governor of the Bastile. and a
friend of the monster, Louis XI, so far as the
prisoners were concerned, was himselfjudge,
witness and executioner. He caused the
victims sent to him by the king, to beplaced
upon trap-door, through which they fell,
striking on wheels armed with sharp points
and cutting edges; others he stiAed by clos
ing up all air to their dungeons, or tied
stones about their neck, and made them walk
into deep filthy pool he had provided for
the purpose. 1t is known that the monster
put to death more than four thousand per-
sons in these execrable ways.
The Bastile, at its foundation, 1869, was
the entrance of Paris, at the suburb st.
Antonio, and originally consisted of two
towers, probably commanding each side Of
the highway, and was more especially intend
ed to provide against the attacks Of the En-
glish. Two towers of retreat were erected
directly in the rear of the first, so that the
road passed over a draw-bridge between
them. Charles VI, finally caused four more
towers to be erected, with the spaces left by
their insolvent position to be filled up by
walls of solid masonry, in which he built
apartments, the bridge was taken away, and
the road turned outside. Thus originated
the historically interesting building known
as the Bastile.
The time the description from which we
quote was written, was in the days of Louis
XVI, and displays things just as they were
when Benjamin Franklin was in Paris, sup.
plicating the French monarch to aid his
countrymen in their struggle for liberty
The walls, which united the towers into one
building, were ten feet thick, and had in
many places, cells for prisoners built within
them. These towers had different names,
and on their tops were terraces solidly con-
structed, on which occasionally prisoner,
with two guards, was allowed to walk. There
were also thirteen pieces of cannon, which
were fred on days of solemnity or public
rejoicings 1t would be impossible to give q
detailed description of the entire interior;
We must confne ourselves to the most strik-
ing particulars.
In the corner of each cell was camp bed,
formed of iron bars, soldered into the walls,
with some planks laid upon them, with a
little straw for bed; two doors, each seven
inches thick, studded with bolts, bars and
locks, shut up these dens. There we're five
ranks of chambers, only differing one from
the other in its horrors. The most dreadful
we're those known as the iron cages, six feet
by eight, composed of strong wood and lined
with iron plates. These were invented by
Louis XII, who had two built at Loches, in
which Loudoxico, Duke Of Milan, was con-
fined, and in which he ended his days.
Louis XII, while Duke of Orleans, was al
so confined in one of these iron cages. The
second rank of chambers for cruelty, were
in the top of the towers; in these rooms a
man could not stand upright, and the win.
dows admitting light and air were pierced
through three feet walls, and were obstruct'
ed by several rows of CRATES. In many
eases, the outer window CRATES were covered
with cloth, and also darkened by window
shutters, fixed in such a manner that all
view was intercepted from the prisoner
These dungeons in summer, we're insuffer
ably hot, and in winter piercingly cold.-
Human ingenuity, aided by 6ends, never in
vented more terrible places for the torment
of human beings.
The early customs Of the Bastile continu'
ed down to the latter days of its existence
Long after the necessity of cruelty and per.
secution ceased, they were in vogue from the
force of long habit in those who were chain.
ed in the prison. The business of the off.
cials was to interrogate and annoy the prison.
ers, to lay snares for them, and by the mean.
est artifce entrap them into confession
They pretended to have proof of crime,
would exhibit papers, but would not let their
unhappy victims see them. Their own
questions andexpressions were always vague,
but everything the prisoner said and did,
even his secret thoughts were imagined, and
brought in judgment against him. They
were continually annoyed by interrogations,
with caresses and menaces; often they were
insulted in the grossest manner, and every
infiction was put upon the proud and spirit
ed that human nature could bear. 1t was
this insupportable torment, continued day
after day, the false and equivocal promises,
inexhaustable and constantly deceitful hopes
of release, exhortations of patience and
blind conjectures, that drove the unhappy
victims insane, if death in a more sudden
form did not come to their release.
The dungeons under the tower were filled
u -