Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-06-29
The Kew to the aaatiIIe,

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| The Key to the 8astiIle.
/ In glass case, in the passage of the man
sion at Mt. Vernon, hangs memorable relic
+ placed there by Washihgton himself TIL
Key, of the Bastille.a 1t was a gift from La
fayette. - ,,.s r.-o+ ....,ff ~, e-- yr,i,.
! On July the 14th, 1889, the Parsans storm
/ ed and took the Bastille, and thereby may bt
said to have eommeaced the first French revo
luton. The Marquis de Launay, Governor of
| the hated fortress prison, with his Leutenafs-
and some soldiers, were killed, after a gallant
| defence worthy of a better cause as Mr.
Fhackeray would say. Their heads were cui
of, and stuck upon pixies, paraded through the
! principle streets of Paris. The great iron key
IF the BastiIle was taken to the II otel de Viile
| The demolition of the prison was ordered By
the National Assembly, and the stones oi
which it had been built were subsequently
used in the construction of the Pont de la Cor
corde. The eommad Of the National Guard
was given to Lafayette, and, as special com
| iment, the key of the Bastille placed IN
his hands. He determined to present it to his
friend George Washington.
lii that agreeable and Instructive volume,
Benson sJ:si1ossiug g Mount Vernon and its
Associations we. inde a detailed account OF
the manner in which the Key came into Wash
ingtoE's hands ..s,...-- ....-.--. .s4
From this we learn that, in March, 1890,
Lafayette sent the Key, together with small
pencil drawing of the destruction of the Bas-
tile, to Thomas Paine, than in London, to be
forwarded to Washington and that he enclosed
tbn,,i a haitian tn W aS,iurton dafa6 Mach
II, 100, letter in which occur the following
sentences: Give me leave, my dear General,
to present you with picture of the Bastille,
just as it looked few days after l ordered lis
demolition, with the main Key of the fortress
Of despotism. 1t is tribute which l owe as
Il son to my adopted father-as an aid-de-camp
to my Generals a missionary of liberty to
its patriarch"
After some considerable delay, probably
caused by the difficulty of finding safe person
to convey them to the United States, the key
and drawing were sent to Washington by
Paine, who wrote a letter expressive Of his
qualification at being the medium of transmit
ting such a present, and his regret that he
ahould be unable, from his detention in Eu-
rope, personally to place them in Washing
toms hands, and adding that he had per
mitted no drawing to be made Of the key or
sketch.
Washington wrote TO Lafayette, on August
18th. 1890 acknowledging the receipt Of the
letter and gifts, which last he described as "the
token OF the victory gained by liberty over des-
potism.' The key and the drawing, botL
OF which are represented i'll Mir. Lossng's !
book, were placed by Washington's own
hands i'll that part Of the Mansion of Mount
Vernon which they continue to occupy
Directly opposite hangs the spy-glass which
Washington used throughout the Revolu-
tion.
If there be one thing whose identity is al |
most more certain than another at Mount Yer
non, it is the Key Of the Bastille, which reach
ed Washington SO directly from Lafayette
Yet, in the illustrated London Ne1os of May |
26th, we have long article in which the
claims of another key are set up. s3-a
Among many curious relics, this article tells |
US, which will shortly be sold by Messrs. |
Chinook & Galworthy of London is The Key
Of the principle gate and stone from the centre
to the Bastille.' The stone is OBJ
long, and around it, cut in capitals is the in
scription "CETTE PIERRE WENT DE cAcHoTs DE
LA CASTILLO, EoNNEE NJ. MoREAu ST. MER-
KY, president DEs ELEcTEuRs, 1899. PAR LIE
PATRIoTE PALLoY, Ian 4e." This stone,
coming from the dungeons of the BastlIe, was
given to NJ Moreau ST Merry. President OF
Electors, 1889, by the Patriot Pailoy, in tbe
fourth year of the Republic1
Accompanying it is the original letter to NJ.
Palloy, from Bailly, the Mayor of Paris. thank
ing him for the stone aud inviting him to din
ncr.
On considerable portion of the stone. with
in the above inscription, is carved obelisk,
by flying Fame Tor victory.
aud near the apex of the obelisk is cut a me
daion portrait. The obeisk stands upon a
base, on which is cut what SCENE to be plan
of the Bastille. Underneath, in space occu-
pying about one-fourth of the stone, is a large
Key, fastened there by iron hooks driven into
wood plugs let in to hold it. The tradition is
that this is the identiclc key of the principle
gate of the Bastille.
To account for there being a duplicate-it
being undeniabe that the veritable Key of the
Basiille was given to Lafayette and sent by
him to ashington-iti is asserted that there
were tWo keys of the great gate of the Bastille
-OlC III AllC pOoSCcSlOQ vi LtiS lllS vi t EduCe
himself and the other in that of the Governor
Of the prison. The possessors of what passes in |
England for the Key, do not deny or in any way
impugn the authel ticity of the Key which has
hung in the entranc shall of Washington's |
house at Mt. Vernon for the last seventy years.
But they affirm that it was the Kings Key |
which fell into the hands OF General Lafayette |
and that their Key is that which was in the
custody of the Marquis de Launay, Governor
Of the Bastille. . T. .
To us it appears more probable that Lafay-
cite, who personally assisted in the storming Of
the Bastille, and who was extremely popular
and distinguished in Paris, on account of the
gallant services which he had rendered to the |
cause of Liberty in America. should have been
presented with the Key actually captured when
the prison was taken, than that he should have
become possessed of the duplicate (if such |
there wers,) beid by the King Of France,