Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-09-06

successor. Louis XVI, credited with being am
liable ruler, sent forth 1880 their missions of
oppression.
1t might well have been written over the en-
trance of the Baste, HE who enters here,
leaves hope behind" The place realized the dark
est visions of Dante's Inferno. Separated from
the streets Of the city by a moat 125 feet wide
and 20 feet deep. and accessible only by draw
bridge, it was like an Isle of the Dead.
In its noisome dungeons abominabe cruelties
visited upon unfortunate prisoners, who
were condemned to the rack and the boot and the
wheel, or chained to pillars and logged. There
were circular cells with conical tops, in which the
inmates could neither stand erect nor sit, nor lie.
The roll of the sufferers of the Bastille is long
Various degrees of punishment were meted
out to the prisoners according to the whims OF
the sovereign. Some of them like the Man with
the Iron Mask, for a time prisoner in the Bas-
tile, were treated with consideration. They
had bounteous meals, and were assigned to rooms
in which there was a fair amount OF light, and
We're even permitted to walk in the garden.
They had scant enjoyment, however, for they
knew when they would be doomed to the
fate of their less favored fellows. Men lived 80
and GO years In the Bastille. until they lost
all connection with the world beyond the moat.
In that world toward the close of the eighteenth
century mighty changes came to pass. The line
of the Louis had so impoverished the nation that
the national credit was imperiled. When Louis
XVI came to the throne debt of SSOOOOO,OO0 had
been plleu up, ana IL continued TO pyramid. Inc
common people had been footing the bill, and now
came the proposal, strange in those days, that
the nobility and the clergy, the privileged classes.
should share the burden with the Third Estate.
1t day of questioning and hearkening and
soul searching. The words of Voltaire, Rousseau
and DidSrOt were sinking deep into the national
consciousness. Hence assemblies to talk over
these proposals.
In vain were the prisons filled with agltators
and the Voltaires sent into exile. The storm was
gathering If the monarchy was to be sustained
in it's extravaganza and feudalism to be upheld
the mailed fist must do its work. But there was
more to deal with than murmuring serfs and a
handful of encyclopedias. The soldiers OF France
who were expected to uphold the old regime
showed that they were unwilling to kill their IA
theirs and brothers like dogs.
The people of Paris ransacked their city until
they found arms or the material for making
pixies. The time had come when the rights OF
men should prevail, and who starving
under tyranny are easily recruited. AS the forces
of the order grew they thought with one
cord OF the hated symbol of that CALLING oppres-
sion which was the cause of all their suffering.
The cry "ro the Bastillev' rose from hundred
thousand throats
Men and women armed with weapons as enec-
tive popguns would be against dreadnaught
moved against the ancient stronghold Bullets
battered and hatened against the massive walls.
The defense was only half hearted and the
French guards on the battements We're soon way
ing flags of truce. force greater than all the
munitions made was at wOrk-a public senti-
ment which had become resistess torrent. De-
launay, the governor of the Bastlle, trembled be-
fore II and surrendered, Down came the creaS-
ing drawbridge and across II rushed the infuri-
ated ctizenry. The tide flowed in and out Of the
dim corridors and searched out the narrow cells.
As rs there was the sembance of govern
ment arrangements were made for removing the
Bastille The work took the contractor nearly
year. although he employed large force There
was thriving business In its relies for hundreds
of the blocks of stone carved into models
of the prison and sold as mementoes. Locks and
bolts distributed all the world as
souvenirs.
Although the demolition of the Bastille itself
proceeded. the thing for which II stood not
so easily swept aside. Feudal Germany and
Austria blocked the road to liberty. We OF this
day, with the perspective OF IA century and more
of history and belonging TO n nation which is
now In arms against the powers which sought to
fost the yoke OF serfdom once more upon the