The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-08-31

more IOr liberty imam lie, unOr-
ganized and poorly armed, dared to challenge the
tyranny of a king.
The stirring events which eliminated in the
taking of Frances fortress Of feudalism were in
motion early in July, 1889, and two great char
acters in the history of France and the United
States were in the French capital at that very
time. The Marquis de Lafayette, after consulting
with Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declare
ton of independence, presented to the national
assembly a bill of rights, Had the French acted
ten days sooner, as there were many indications
that it might, d common birthday might now be
observed by the sister nations.
The traditions of the American colonies and
those of France differed so widely that to sense
the true meaning Of the Bastille it is necessary to
trace the origin of that gloomy pile in the Eau
bourg st. Antoine. For centuries the edidce was
I the sign of the divine right of kings. Before
the storm of the French revolution broke there
were 80 such prisons in France, for bastille sig
nifes merely a fortified building. AS the years
went by so Infamous became that one which stood
on the banks of the Seine and was usually known
as the Castle of Paris that it took unto itself the
all-embracing title of "The Bastille."
Like the institution of monarchy, of which 1t
was the symbol, the structure was the develop
ment of centuries. The original edihce consisted
of n pair of towers, and was a part of the stone
barrier against the medieval Huns. Charles V
about 1869 commissioned Hughes Aubriot, then
provost of Paris, to enlarge the old fertilization.
III v III Ailhu N"S ANNhoAC w. NN
feudal power. made 1t both fortress and Jail.
Various additions were made by the kings OF
France. AS a fort IL was considered impregnable,
as the main walls at their base were 40 feet
thick, and beneath the battlements, 100 feet above
the pavement, the light struggled into the cells
through narrow windows piercing nine feet OF
solid masonry. Cannon were set in the deep en-
brasures, and there were portfolios from which
archers and c~rossbowmen once sped the shafts of
death.
To the peasantry and the common people the
Bastille was all that was formidable and forbid
ding. A grim and mysterious stronghold, 1t
earned year by year its evil name.
Kings with power of life and death over their
subiects used it as the instrument with when 10
nunisb all who opposed them. They spared neither
the high nor the low. In the days of absolunsm
the monarch could commit prisoners TO the bas-
title without any other process Of law than a war
rant which became known as a lettre de cachet'
This document, bearing the royal seal, was
often in blank. Many lettres de cachet were OBJ
tanned by unprincipled persons who either USED
them to punish their enemies or sold them 10
those who had sinister ends in view. The mon
strous abuses which grew out OF this practice
were q blot on European history.
Courtiers, charlatans and courtesans FOUND a
way to safe their grudges. The life or the liberty
of no man In all the kingdom was secure. EVEN
In the eighteenth century notable personages
might be thrown into prison because some reia-
tiyes coveted their estates. In the reign OF Louis
Nv 10000 lettres de chachet were Issued His