Sentence:  They were easily led to consider the flames that were consuming France, not as a warning to protect their own buildings (which were without any party wall, and linked by a <WSD>contignation</WSD> into the edifice of France,) but as an happy occasion ... 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The act or process of framing together, or uniting, as beams in a fabric.