Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1858-04-09
Sketch of the Bastile.

the common people mad peculiar Ihter-
est from the fact that the prisoners con-
fined in it were generally understood to
be persons of rank, who had fallen under
the displeasure of the reigning sovereign.
The mode of incarcerating prisoners was
by letters de catchet, that is to say, by
warrant professedly signed by the king;
but they were GENERALLY the product of
his favorites who, by using the kings |
signet, consigned any one to prison whom
they pleased, and thus rose the oppres-
sion and the terrible associations of the
BastiIe. No family of responsibility ex-
listed in France conscious of being polit-
ically obnoxious, that did not dread the
letters de catchet, and all, inocent or gull
ty, felt that their evil influences might
at any time consign them to the Bastile.
l. Hermit, who was Governor of the
Bastile, and a friend of the monster,
Louis NJ, so far as the prisoners were
concerned, was himself judge, witness
and executioner. He caused the victims
sent him by the king to be placed on
trap-door, thro' which they fell, striking
on wheels armed with sharp points and
cutting edges others he stifed by clo-
sing up all air to their dungeons, or tied
stones about their necks, and made them
walk into a deep filthy pool he had pro-
vided for the purpose. 1t is known that
the monster and his master put to death
more than four thousand persons in these
execrable ways.
The Bastile, at its foundation, 1869,
was the entrance of Paris, at the sub
urb St. AntOnine, and originally consis-
ted of two towers, probably commanding
each side of the high way, and was more
especially intended to provide against the
attacks of the English. Two towers of
retreat were erected directly in the rear
of the first, so that the road passed over
a drawbridge between them. Charles
VI, finally caused four more towers to be
erected, with the spaces left by their in
ISOLATED position to be filed up by walls
of solid masony, in which was built APP
partmentS, the bridge was taken away
and the road turned outside. Thus orig
mated the historically interesting building
known as the Bastile.
The time, the description from which
we quote was written, was in the days 0
Louis XVI, and displays things just a:
they were when Benjamin Franklin wal
in Paris, duplicating the French monarch
to aid his countrymen in their struggle
for liberty. The walls which united tn
towers into one building, were ten fee
thick, and had, in many places, cells 70
prisoners built within them. The tower
had different names, and on their top
were terraces solidly constructed, o
Which occasionally prisoner as great fs
vor was in company with two guards, a
lowed to walk. There were also thrice
pieces of cannon, which were fired on day
of so!emnity or public rcjoicings. 1t woul
be impossible to give detailed descriI
ton of the entire interior; we must col
ts fine ourselves to the most striking pa
ticulars.
In the corner of each cell was cam
bed formed of iron bars, soIdered into ii
walls, with some planks laid upon ther
with little straw for a bed; two door
each seven inches thick, studded boil
bars and locks, shut up these dens.-
There were five ranks of chambers, on
differing one from the other in its ho
rors. The most dreadful were tho
known as the iron cages, six feet by eigl
composed of strong wood and lined wi
, iron plates. These were invented
Louis XII, who had two built at Loeb
in which Loudovico, Duke of Milan, "
confined and in which he ended his da,
IAN Louis XII, while Duke of Orleans, "
y. 8 also confined in one of these iron Gag
wall The second rank Of chambers for crue
lree were in the top Of the towers; in the
tiles rooms a man could not stand upright, a
hick the windows admitting light and air W,
ltes. pierced thrO' the ten feet walls, and w
429 obstructed by several rows of CRATES.
was many cases the outer window CRATES W.
lar covered with cloth, and also darkened
,;qb window shutters, fixed in such mani
sill that all view was intercepted from
Of in prisoners. These dungeons in SUNNI
en- were insuferably hot, and in VIII
The piercingly cold. Human ingenuity,
,bers ed by fends, never invented more teri
pre- places for the torment of human bein
yates. The early customs Of the Bastile
thens tinued down to the latest days of its
$685. istance. Long after the necessity Of
tenn city and prosecution ceased, they wei
} rich vogue fIom the force Of long hab