The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-14

cachet, by which people OF influence
might use the prison for their family af-
fairs and private vengeances, that most
enraged the people of Paris against 1t.
The kings lettre de cachet ran:
Monsieur lie Mqis. de Jumilhac. This
letter is to tell you to receive in my
Chateau of the Bastile --, and to
there detain him (or herr until new order
from me
Monsieur lie Mqis. de Jumilhac 7 pray
God that He will have you in His holy
keeping
written at Versailles, the - day Of
(Signed) Louis"
And below the name of the minister.
They have even tried to prove that the
lettre de cachet was seldom abused"
Ravaisson the compiler of the Archives
de la Bastle declares that extreme
care was taken to avoid errors and
| abuses" The great safeguard was that
each lettre de cachet was signed by the
king himself and countersigned by one
of his ministers" ca These same closed
letters were nevertheless the intruments
OF imprisoning thousands in whose affairs
| neither the king nor his ministers had
the slightest interest, whose names they
had never heard During the reign of
Louis XIV alone 10000 lettres lie cachet
were issued. The king wrote his name
on the blank forms, a hundred at a time,
on rainy afternoons He and his ministers
distributed them among their friends.
Wives obtained them against their hun
bands. husbands against their wives,
| fathers against their children. debtors
against their creditors, opera dancers
against lovers who had sighted them.
| Persons who had never been convicted
| of any crimes remained in the Bsstile
mot because anybody I'm particular is
| anxious they should remain, but because
| they happened to be there. They have
| been forgotten. and there IS nobody TO
ask for their release" as Mirabeau wrote
| in his thunderbolt. 'Lettres de Cachet."
Mirabeau's Pamphlet.
The great tribune, while still young
| man, had been imprisoned on the order of
| Marquis de Mirabeau, his father, whose
| lifelong jealousy of his brilliant son is
matter of history. In the course of his
| life the marquis procured no less than
| Atty lettres de cachet against members
| of his own family While lying in prison
| Mirabeau wrote his great pamphlet
| against this abuse. He wrote on scraps
| of paper torn from books on pieces of
| linen, even, torn from his shirts. Though
| often searched, he concealed the grow
| ing work with wonderful ingenuity. Later
on Its publication was to electrify France
| and prepare the revolution.
The Historian Ravission says that
| only two kinds of torture were applied
| in the Bastlle-the boot and the torture
| by water. The ordeal of the boot" needs
| no description; in it the leg was crushed
| by successfully driven wedges. For the
| torture by water the victim was bound
| on a trestle and water was poured down
| his throat by the gallon until his suffer
| ings became uncomfortable. Torture was
| practiced in the Bastile quite up to the
revolution, in spite of the well-advertised
edict of Louis XVI. The mutiiated ar
chives themselves contain the full re-
lation Of the questions ordinary and
extraordinary applied to a man named
Alexis Danouilh, as late as the year 1888.
His Head pike.
On the morning Of July IA, 1889, this in
solent private prison of the king and his
| nobility proudly hoated its flag seemingly
as secure as 1t had ever been. On the
morning OF July Is its doors were open.
it's prisoners released. it's interior sacked.
its archives thrown into the moat. it's
garrison killed and the head of De Lau-
nay, it's governor, was promenading Paris
on the end of a pike. In spite of certain
generous efforts to save him, this man
was literally torn to pieces by the crowd.
In the Cabinet DIES Estampes of the Ma
tionaI Library there is shown a part
of the sketch book OF the artist Girodet.
who, young man Of twenty. mixed with
the mob that day to make sketches like
a modern newspaper illustrator There
you will see his quicklymade sketch of
DeLaunays head. with flowing hair and
staring eyes. borne on a kind OF pitch
fork Other heads were cut off that day,
not by the guillotine, but by swords or
axes, the head of the State Councillor
Foulon and that of Berthier de Saudlgny,
intendent Of the palace. II was the be-
ginning.
AS to the Bastlle. not even its bare
walls survived to see the revolution that
had already begun. On July II an inn
posing body of mobiles. deputies and bust
ness men of Paris mounted TO the upper
platforms of the Bastle. where they made
speeches. In a movement of enthusiasm
these generous mobiles and citizens. pick
and crowbar in hand, themselves began
the demolition OF the old pile. Aided by
workmen. each noble loosened single
stone and dumped 1t over the parapet
Inviting the French people to continue
the good work." as the account runs.
ssthey retired