The Washington times., 1901-07-15

| stronghold oil tyranny, ana insisted on IT'S
| complete destruction: yet they sent small
| models of the prison. made cut of Bastile
| stones, to each of the eighty-three de-
partments. Some of the stones were used
| in the construction of Pont Louis XVI.
now Pont de la Concorde; others We're
set in rings and in brooches; pound
| weight of these cost ''as much as a
pound Of good meat and the Chevalier
| pounds to Lord Stanhope. The key OF
that robber den,' said Carlyle, shall
cross the Atlantic; shall lie on Washing
| tons hall table
| Instead of razing the Bastile to the
ground, would it not have been better to
have preserved it, like the Tower of Lon
| fault with the blind fury of the Parisians
in 1883 The philosopher" he wrote.
| finds food for reflection in the ardor
| with which a number of wretched ar
/ tisans exposed their fives In order to
| destroy a monument of tyranny which
was used only to punish their oppressors.
In 1896 Henry Swinburne wrote in his
courts of Europe. Il have been at the
site of the Bastile, now a timber yard.
As there have been fifty-seven new pris-
ons instituted in Paris, think l may say
/ that the Parisians have uselessly de-
stroyed an ornament of the town"
| In September. 1883. Horace Walpole
/ wrote to Miss Hannah More: Il con-
graduate you on the demolition of the
| functions. For the poor old soul itself
! had no Ill will to it; on the contrary,
| 1t was curious sample of ancient
castelar, dungeons, which the good folks,
| the founders, took for palaces. Yet
have always hated to drive by II, know
{ ing the mysteries it contained Not
many in the reign of Louis xv.l OF itself
1t did not gobble up prisoners to glut its
| nav, but received them by command.
| The destruction of it was silly and agree
able to the ideas of the mob, who do not
| know stones. and bars, and bolts from
! a lettre de cachet. If the country re-
mains free. the Bastile would be as tame
as a ducking STOOL now that there is no
| such thing as a scold. If despotism re-
ashesi-recover L fear it will.
| Every crowned head must ache at pres
! ent, and the frantic and barbarous pro-
| ceedings in France will not ameiiorate
I the stock of liberty"
! A few years ago what relics of the
| Bastile could be found were placed in
| the Hotel Carnavalet, where they form
! a separate museum. Among them may
( be seen one of the stone models. the
: ladder made by Latude, swords and pixies.
! lettres de cachet, pictures of the period:
and plan of the Place Louis XVI, dated
| I7S5. For four years before the place
was captured by the mob, Louis XVI had
| approved of the demolition of the Bastile,
! the site of which was to be turned into
| a public garden.
In England there is at all events one
| Bastile. In September. 1890. Vanburgh,
poet dramatist. architect, was arrested
| as a spy and committed to prison in the
| Kings Castle" where he is supposed to
/ have written one of his comedies. He
was released in 1892, and on his return
! to England he built at the top of Maize
I Hill, Greenwich a miniature Bastile in
red brick, and there 1t stands unto TINS
day to witness IL i lie.
| The site of the old Bastile is now oc-
cupied by a column raised TO the memory
days of July when Charles y was driven
| from the throne. The first proposition
was to erect on that site statue OF
! H.. rFra of u H.
| er.y," the Oldest brother of the monarch
| expelled in 1880. So wags the world; A
| colossal female figure. representing lid
erty. for while occupied the spot w~here ~
{ the statue of Louis XVI was to have been
erected and this was replaced by an
| enormous elephant-or the model OF one
about eighty feet high, but when some
person or persons unknown painted II
green IL was taken down. and for forty
years the Place de la Bastile renamed
a sort of desert in summer ana a swamp
| in winter. -,
The old Bastile was armed with naval
| and other guns, meant for firing salutes,
| and with ''playthings of Marshal SAKE.
When the Bastile was captured there was
| tunate Major White. He was from Aber-
deenshire, served in the army of Prince
Charles Edward, and after the battle OF
| Culloden fled to France. when Tor some
| political crime he was thrown into prison
He was probably out OF his mind when
Louis XVI came TO the throne. or he
would have been released. The nrst thlIg
he did on recovering his liberty IN lIS9
was to ask for lawyer. probably with a
view of suing for damages. Eventually
he was taken to England by Lord keith,
and what then became OF MIN seems
doubtful Charpentier. who saw him at
Charenton "a lunatic asylum) shortly
after his release, said: Thls prisoner
speaks such good English that he is be-
lieved to be an Irishman- And he was
Scotch. The other prisoner found was
Tavernier. who was confined for having
conspired against the life of Louis Nv
He too was out of his mind. The only
other prisoners found In this stronghold
| of tyranny when it fell were the Comte
de Soiages. confined at the request of his
family, ana four men committed for
| forgery and awaiting their trials as Of
| tenders against the common law.
Bassompierre, formerly Governor of
| the Bastile, was confined in the Bastile
memoirs, which are still consulted by
| historians Veltaire was confined in 1t
| twice. Here he wrote his ''Oedipe. and
| his ''Henriade, and from whence he was
released on the promise of going to Eng
| land. Latude and Allegro effected their
escape by means of rope ladder 800 feet
| long with 20s rungs. which they had taken
| eighteen months to manufacture Litude,
| it is said was dissatisfied with his neither
garments. The major of the Bastile. in fact.
reported, This prisoner is obstinate, and
has up to the present time refused to
wear the breeches made for him by NJ. de
Rochebrune, which are well-lined. have
silk garters, and are got up in the best
style" What Latude wanted was TO be
measured for his trousers. and 1t was
against the rules for tailor to enter the
Bastile
There were the cells in which the Able
! Moreliet composed his treatise on the
liberty of the press, and that in which
General DoumurieZ had leisure to study
| the classics But of all the cells the one
which evokes the most interest is that in
which the mysterious Individual, called
the Man in the Iron Mask" or rather
velvet mask, was confined. He was
first taken to the Bastile in 1913, was re-
moved in 1914 to Pignerol, thence to
EXiles, next to the Isles OF the Mar
guerite, then, in 1898, back to the Bas-
tile, where he died in 1903.
The regulations show that the nrisonNrs
were not treated with wilIful neglect Tho
governor haG to be Informed OF All COM
plants, and If a prisoner were i'll the
doctor had to send in frequent reports.
In the event of dangerous Illness the
Minister and lieutenant general of police
were communicated with, and those au-
thorities had to give their permission be-
fore Il confessor could be called in or
the last sacrament administered. Burials
always took place at night and a gem
eral rule the family name of the deceased
was kept secret.
On arriving at the Bastile the prisoners
were first taken to the council chamber,
where they had to give up everything
about their person. They were not search
ed unless they excited distrust. All the
articles taken from them were restored
when they left prison.
AS regards orders for incarceration the
greatest care was taken TO prevent errors
or abuses. Each lettre de cachet had to
be signed by the King and countersigned
by the Minister. who every day received
a report concerning the prisoners.
When a prisoner was arrested by order
of the King police agent touched him