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 KEY3 OF THE BASTILLE, 
 

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 KEYS OF THE BASTILLE 
 
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 H, S, Howell, 
 
 GALT, ONT., CANADA, 
 
 1887. 
 
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 The Keys of the Old Bastille 
 
 BOUT seven years 
 ago — I think it was 
 in October, 1879—1 
 noticed an editorial 
 paragraph in the To- 
 ronto Maily stating 
 that the keys of the 
 celebrated Bastille of 
 Paris were in the 
 possession of a St. 
 Louis locksmith, he having purchased them of a young emi- 
 grant named Lechastel. It appears that when the great 
 prison -fortress fell, in 1789, the Governor — the old Marquis 
 de j-<aunay — was dragged out into the street and there de- 
 spatched ; while the mob surged into the building to put an 
 end to the Swiss Guard and the Invalides, (had they not 
 surrendered) and to search for trophies. Among the first who 
 entered the courtyard of the Bastille was one Carwin 
 Lechastel by name, and when the draw-bridge fell he secured 
 a bunch of keys from one of the fleeing gaolers. These he 
 stuck on the end of his pike and carried through the streets. 
 Those who took part in this event were considered heroes by 
 the Parisians at that time, and Lechastel kept the keys in his 
 possession as a great trophy of the Revolution ; and they 
 remained in the family until 1869, when a descendant of his 
 emigrated to America, taking the old keys with hinf. Not 
 long afterwards he found himself in very reduced circum- 
 stances in the city of St. I^ouis, Mo., and having gone through 
 what little money he had he resolved to sell the old hekloom. 
 At first he was unsuccessful ; few believed his story, and he 
 could speak but little English, but one day his attention was 
 
 iHi 
 
^ 
 
 *. 
 
 directed by the sign of a *' great golden key," hanging outside 
 the locksmith's shop, belonging to Mr. John Hamilton, on 
 Morgan St., and be went in and made him understand what 
 he had for sale. I do not know what he asked for the old 
 relics, but Mr. Hamilton bought them and placed them on 
 exhibition in his shop, at the theatre, in newspaper offices, 
 and various places during the last twenty-five years. After 
 fruitless endeavors to communicate with the *' Keeper of the 
 Keys," I went to St. Louis in September, 1886, for the 
 express purpose of tracing up these antiquities, and after a 
 great deal of trouble I found them. The owner would not 
 part with the curiosities at firsi;, as he had kept them so long, 
 and had refused many offers for them, but eventually I 
 arranged to purchase the keys and brought them home with 
 me to Canada. Here they are, five in i^ umber, the largest 
 looking old enough to have been used by Hugues Aubriot, 
 the Prevost of Paris, who built the Bastille in 1369. It is 
 nearly twelve inches long and very heavy. The smallest is 
 of fine workman-hip ; it is made of steel and the socket is 
 shaped like the clover-leaf or Jleur-de lis. This key is sup- 
 posed to have belonged to the treasure-room — for Henry IV. 
 of France kept his valuables in the Bastille. One of the keys 
 has a heavy beveled head and is six inches in length ; and the 
 other two are about ten inches long and seem to have been at 
 one time plated with brass — traces of M'hich are still to be 
 seen. 
 
 The Keys of the Bastille ? What strange traditions 
 cluster round these old pieces of iron ; and what weird 
 thoughts are conjured up by the very sight of them ! They 
 seem to speak to us ; each telling the same sad story of the 
 glories and the horrors of the past. '* Vanished is the 
 Bffcstille," says Carlyle in his French Revolution. *' What 
 we call Vanished : the body or sandstones of it hanging in 
 benign metamorphosis for centuries to come, over the Seine 
 waters as Pont Louis Seize^ the soul of it living perhaps still 
 longer in the memories of men." 
 
18 
 
 Oh, what Hcenes of anguish and agony took place within 
 the eight stern towers, witnessed only by the Governor, 
 the gaoler (and his keys) : for many a poor prisoner sent 
 thither hy lettres de cacHtt or Madam de Pompadour was never 
 lieard of after he ci ossed the fatal draw-bridge ! It is said 
 that Aubriot was not only the first Governor, but was also 
 the first min to be imprisoned in the stronghold ! The place 
 was besieged very often. When Charles VII. re-took Paris, 
 the English and their allies shut themselves up in the Bastille, 
 but capitulated in 1436 ; and when the Due de Guise took it he 
 confined the whole Parliament there in 1588. 
 . That notable subject of controversy and mystery of the 
 C-ourt of Paris, *' The man in the iron mask," was incar- 
 cerated here after his imprisonment at the He Ste Marguerite, 
 in the Mediterranean. Many writers have endeavored tc 
 solve the problem of his identity. Some assert that he was 
 the Duke of Monmouth, nephew of James 11. , others maintain 
 that he was Count Matthicly, but the majority are of the 
 opinion that he was the "twin-brother of Louis XIV. born two 
 hours after the royal infant had received the homage and 
 acclamations of the courtiers." An heir to the throne tf 
 France was hailed with the greatest joy. It had been pre- 
 dicted by two astrologers, several months before, that France 
 would he torn by dissensions and by civil war, caused by the 
 rivalry of two claimants t( the throne. When the birth of 
 the second twin-brother, therefore, was announced to 
 Richelieu and to the King, the prediction seemed fulfilled. 
 The law of France recognizes the last born twin-child as the 
 hdr. " One of the twin-children had already been publicly 
 proclaimed as the Dauphin, the heir to the French throne. 
 Gloom and dismay seized upon the king's mind, which 
 Richelieu sought to dispel by arranging that the lasit-bom son 
 could be sent away and brought up far from the precints of 
 the court." He was placed in the hands 6i some faithful 
 person, and when he grew up Captain St. Mars took him to 
 the Fort of Pignerol. Th« " iron aiask " was fastened on his 
 

 
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 face, and he was condemned.to wear it day and night, waking 
 or sleeping, /or the space of upward, of forty years 1 It is 
 affirmed that his likeness to his inother-Anne of Austria-, 
 and to his twin-brother, was so manifest that he would at 
 once have been recognized. 
 
 The old Marshal Richelieu himseK was an inmate of the 
 Bastille at one time. 
 
 Louis XL, fiend incarnate, made use of the dungeons of the 
 Bastille for some of his most horrible deeds of cruelty • and 
 when the place was torn down his ouhliettea-iton cagesland 
 - monstrous stone-blocks with padlock chains" were unearthed 
 by the workmen, and skeletons found walled up wer** brought 
 to light. State secrets and correspondence were discovered 
 m the archives and given to the winds ; and many a letter 
 reached the outside world for the first time. Here is one 
 dated at the Bastille, Oct. 7th, 1752 :— 
 
 "If for my consolation Monseigneur would grant me for 
 the sake of (;iod and the Most Blessed Trinity, that I could 
 have news of my dear wife ; were it only her name on a ca.d, 
 to show that she was alive, it were the greatest consolation I 
 could receive, and I should forever bless the greatness of 
 Monseigneur." '^ 
 
 t 
 
 Alas ! poor writer, how often has thy heart seemed to stand 
 still at the sound of the gaoler's keys in the rusty lock ? And 
 the answer never came. Yes, many, many times the grating 
 of these cruel keys has been listened to with a shuddering 
 srnse of some st-ange impending horror, by the victims of 
 brutal tyranny ; buried alive, far from the sight of day, the 
 sounds of Me. to perish by inches-or by the hand of the 
 midnight executioner. 
 
 In one history of the Bastille, the author says in speaking 
 of It when the infamous L'Hermit was Governor :- 
 
** Human ingenuity, aided by fiends, never invente<l more 
 terrible places for the torment of human beings. ♦ ♦ ♦ • 
 He caused the victims sent htm by the King to be placed on 
 a trapdoor, through which they fell, striking on wheels armed 
 with sharp points and cutting edges ; others he stiiled by 
 closing up all air to their dungeons, or tied stones about their 
 necks and made walk into a deep and filthy pool he had 
 provided for the purpose. * * * ♦ There were five ranks 
 of chambers, only differing one from the other in its horrors. 
 The most dreadful were those known as the * iron cages.' six 
 feet by eight, composed of strong wood and lined with iron 
 plates. These were invented by Louis XI., who had two 
 built at LocheS; in which Ludovico, Dnke of Milan, was con- 
 fined, and in which he ended his days. Louis XIL, while 
 Duke of Orleans, was also confined in one of these iron cages. 
 The second rank of chambers for cruelty were in the top of 
 the towers ; in these rooms a man could not stand upright, and 
 the windows admitting light and air were pierced through 
 the ten feet walls, and were obstructed by several rows of 
 grates. In many cases the outer window-grates were covered 
 with cloth and also darkened by window-shutters, fixed in 
 such a manner that all view was intercepted from the prisoner. 
 These i,n eummer were insufferably hot, and in winter 
 piercing cold. The dungeons under the towers were filled 
 with mud, from which exhaled the most offensive odors, and 
 which were over -.run with toads, newts, rats, and spiders. " 
 
 " With spiders I had friendship made. 
 And watch'd them in their sullen trade, 
 Had seen the mice by moonlight play, 
 And why should I feel less than they ? 
 We were all inmates of one place. 
 And I, the monarch of each race. 
 Had pow T to kill — yet, si*'ange to tell ! 
 In quiet we had learned to dwell — 
 My very chains and I grew friends. 
 So much a long communion tends 
 To make us what we are." 
 
T^ 
 
 8 
 
 Ssc. 
 
 It was in these dark and loathesome places that the tyrant, 
 Louis XI., imprisoned those whom he was desitj^us of destroy- 
 ing by protracted sufiferings. Here, in dungeons, the bottoms 
 of which were covered with sharp cones, that their 
 feet might have no resting place nor their bodies any 
 repose, were placed the Princes of Armagnac, who were taken 
 out twice a week and scourged in the presence of the Governor 
 of the Bastille. The eldest of the Princes went mad under 
 this treatment; a^id the yonTiger was released by the death ot 
 Louis. " It vras from the petition of the Princes, published in 
 1483, that these dreadful truths were obtained, and could 
 not have been believed or imagined with a less convincing 
 proof. " 
 
 The details of De Latude's escape from the Bastille in 1749 
 rival Monte Cristo's wonderful adventures at the Chateau 
 l)'If ! 
 
 > The early customs of the Bastille continued down to the last 
 days of its existence. Long after the necessity of cruelty and 
 persecution had ceased — if it ever was necessary — they were 
 in vogue from force of habit in this horrible State prison. 
 
 ***** Necessity, the tyrant's plea. 
 Excused his devilish deeds." 
 
 The occupation of the officials was mainly to interrogate 
 and annoy the prisoners, to lay snares for them, and by the 
 meanest artifices entrap them in^.o confessions. They pretended 
 to have proof of crime, would exhibit papers, but would not 
 let their unhappy victims see them. 
 
 They were continually insulted in the grossest manner, 
 caressed and menaced ; every infliction was put upon the poor 
 unfortunate creatures, until the once proud spirit became 
 cowed and weak, and ready to snatch at any chanee td say or 
 do that which might be the means of gaining its dear liberty. 
 *' This torment went on from day to day, frequently ending 
 in insanity or death." 
 
9 
 
 How terrible must have been the feelings of the accused 
 courtier — called perhaps from some state banquet, or from the 
 midst of his dear ones — "by order of the King,'' on alighting 
 from the carriage or chair, to find himself before the awful 
 portals of the dread Bastille ! 0, the unspeakable despair ; 
 the crushing knowledge of all hope bereft ! 
 
 Sometimes the Sovereign would pay an official visit to the 
 Bastille, and go through the farce of inspecting that which 
 really would not bear inspection. We can imagine Mary 
 Queen of Scots — " our " Mary — attending one of these State 
 visJts, on the arm of her young husband, that precious 
 gallant — Francis II. 
 
 *• Ho, there ! way for their majesties !' Ah, fair majesty, 
 if these old keys could have but whispered in thine ear the 
 word *' Fotheringay " perchance thy prophetic soul mifi;ht have 
 taken the warning from its aoi?rce alone. 
 
 On the l4th July, 1789, a Parisian mob, numbering about 
 one hundred thousand and aided by the soldiers of the guard, 
 stormed the Bastille. For four hours the conflict raged, till 
 at length the garrison, exhausted, surrendered. Then followed 
 a scene of butchery, many of the defenders being put to the 
 sword or hauged ; among whom were the Governor and 
 Lieutenant. 
 
 The historian tells us that : — " De Launay, discovered in 
 grey frock with poppy-coloured riband, is for killing himself 
 with the 8 word of his cane. He shall to the Hotel-de-viile, 
 * * * * through roarings and cursingp, hustlings, clutch- 
 ings, and at last through strokes ! Your escort is hustled 
 aside, felled down. — Miserable De Launay ! He shall never 
 enter the Hotel-d« ville : only his bloody * hair-queue'. The 
 bleeding trunk lies on the steps there ; the head is off through 
 the streets ; ghastly, aloft on a pike. Rigorous De Launay 
 has died ; crying out, * 0, friends, kill me fast !' Merciful 
 De Losme must die. ♦ * * One other officer is massacred ; 
 
I 
 
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 10 
 
 one other Invalide is hanged on the lamp-iron. Provost 
 Flesselles. stricken long since with the paleness of death 
 must descend from his scat, ' to be judged at the Palais Royau' 
 -a as to be shot dead, by an unknown hand at the turning 
 of the first street. * * * Along the streets of Paris circu- 
 late seven Bastille prisoners, borne shoulder high ; seven 
 
 heads on pikes; the Keys of the Bastille and much else * * * 
 evening sun of July, how, at this hour, thy beams fall slant 
 on reapers amid peaceful woody fields ; on old women spinning 
 m cottages ; on ships far out on the silent main ; on baUs at 
 the Orangerie of Versailles, where high-rouged Dames of the 
 Palace are even now dancing with double-jacketed Hussar- 
 officers ;-and also on this roaring hell-porch of a Hotel-de- 
 ville !* 
 
 That gallant regiment, the Swiss Guard, bore the brunt of 
 
 i^L^^^u^"*'''''' ^"^ ""^^ ^"^"y completely annihilated in 
 1792 These noble soldiers defended the King and the royal 
 family m the Palace of the Tuilleries, against hordes of the 
 maddened furies of Paris- -- of the basest and most degrading 
 wretches a great capital hides from the eyes of the better 
 inhabitants, but nourishes in the darkness till some great 
 convulsion exposes the hideous brood to the light of day " 
 History records no more striking example of loyalty 
 valor and self-sacrifice ! In the town of Lucerne, in Switzer- 
 land, the most interesting attraction is the «' Lion Monument •' 
 an immense sculpture carved out of the solid rock, 28feetloni 
 and 18 feet high. It represents a dying lion-pierced by a 
 spear-protecting the shield of the Bourbons ; and commemo- 
 rates the heroism of the illustrious Swiss Guard. 
 
 «' A thousand glorious Actions, that might claim 
 Iriumphant laurels and immortal Fame." 
 
 Nothing remains of the Bastille, the great towers aod 
 bastions have all disappeared ; the " ashlar stones " being built 
 into bridges, or broken up into paving stones. In the centre 
 of the Place de la Bastille stands the Colonne de JuilleL a 
 
11 
 
 bronze column, 154 feet high, erecteJ in honor of the "heroes " 
 of the Revolution of July, 3830. But the artizan, passing 
 along the Rue St. Antoine to and im from his work, seldom 
 thinks of the grim battlements that once looked down in place 
 of this gilded monument,— a la gloire des citoyens. 
 
 It was on that beautiful spot, the Place de la Concorde, that 
 upwards of 2,800 persons perished in **the reign of terror.' 
 
 Here, in the days of Louis XIV.— the " Father of New 
 France "—the nobility and aristocracy would congregate and 
 sun themselves in the presence of the Grand Monarch ; while 
 stupid plebeians craned their necks to catch a glimpse of 
 Royalty, only to have their shock-heads shoved aside by 
 attendant outriders and postillions. Wait, wretched canaille, 
 a day will come when other heads are to be " shoved aside, '» 
 and your ill-shod feet will dance a merry jig— a la 
 carmagnole ! 
 
 Two handsome fountains ornament; the gardens, but 
 Chateaubriand once remarked that " all the water in the 
 world would not suffice to remove the blood stains which 
 sullied the place." 
 
 To-diy it is one of the fashionable resorts of the Parisians ; 
 gay crcwds assemble here to listen to bands of music, and 
 watch the flashing equipages whirling by ; decorated officials 
 strut around, and little children play about the splashing 
 waters. At night the scene is even more brilliant ; thousands 
 of coloured lamps illuminate the place, along the pathways 
 and in among the trees ^ the gas-lights ascending the Champs 
 Elysees as far as the Triumphal Arch, form, apparently, ' ' an 
 interminable avenue." 
 
 But the historiaL>, or antiquarian, sees not the giddy throng ; 
 he looks back to the ** dismal days " when the guillotine 
 reared its sanguinary form on this fair spot, which had become 
 the "throat of the tiger !" " 
 
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 •^ 
 
 Dumas gives a very graphic description of some of the 
 scenes which were enacted at that terrible time : — 
 
 ** Every day tvj^enty-two were regularly shot. By this 
 time, the fear of life rendered death sweet. Girls, men, 
 children, prayed that they might be shot with their parents. 
 Sometimes they permitted this, and little boys and girls were 
 shot holding their father's hands. 
 
 Women who were seen to shed tears at executions were 
 shot. 
 
 Mournintj was prohibited under pain of death. 
 
 One lad of fourteen, says, * Quick — quick ! You have killed 
 papa ! I want to overtake him !' 
 
 One De Rochefort was accompanied by a son to the butcher- 
 
 g ground, whither he went with three relatives. The men 
 fell — the boy aged fifteen, remained standing. 
 
 The execiiitioner hesitated — the people murmured. 
 
 * God save the King !' cried De Rochefort. 
 
 A moment — a rerort — he fell, shattered to death. 
 A lovely girl, fourteen, is brought before the judge for 
 refusing to wear the national cockade. 
 
 * Why do you refuse to wear it !' asks the judge. 
 
 * Because you do /' replied the child. 
 
 Herbeau.y, rather than justice, pleading for her, a sign 
 was made that a wreath should be put in her hair, the emblem 
 of liberation. 
 
 She cast it upon the ground. She died. 
 
 A man came to the Hall of Justice. 
 
 * You have slain my father, my brothers, my wife — kill me. 
 My religion forbids me to destroy myself.' In mercy, kill me.' 
 
 In mercy — they killed him. 
 
 A girl of seventeen, and much resembling Charlotte Corday, 
 was accused of having served as an artillerist in the trenches 
 of the forces f pposed to the national forces. , 
 
 ' What is your name ?' 
 
 * Mary ; the name of the mother of the God for whom I am 
 about to die.' 
 
 ■iuUi 
 
J 
 
 13 
 
 ' Yotir age ?' 
 
 * Seventeen ; the age of Charlotte Corday.' 
 
 * How ! — at seventeen, fight against your country !' 
 
 * I fought to save it.' 
 
 * Citizeness— we your judges, admire your courage. What 
 would you do with your life if wo gave it you ?' 
 
 * Use it to kill you !' 
 
 She ascended the scaflfold, alarmed at the crowd of people 
 —fearless of deatji. She refused the executioner's help— 
 cried twice, * God save the King !'— and lay down to die." 
 
 Such was.the Revolution which immediately followed the 
 fall of the Bastille. 
 
 La Fayette secured the key of the main entrance— Porte 
 St. Antoine— and sent it to General Washington, and it is now 
 to be seen at Mount Vernon. — (See Note.) 
 
 As the Bastille was an immense building, with innumerable 
 cells, corridors and dungeons, there must have been a great 
 number of keys in use ; and very likely there are many in 
 existence at the present time though scattered and perhaps 
 unknown. 
 
 The authorities at Paris have already collected together 
 twenty-seven of the keys of the Bastille, deposited in the 
 "Archives Nationales." 
 
 Valuable as they are now— as curiosities—they wee price- 
 less a hundred years ago and more. A king's ransom could 
 not buy them ; for had they not the keeping of many a royal 
 minister whose knowledge of kingly doings was far too 
 complete to be allowed to go unchecked. 
 
 If certain inanimate objects could be endowed with power 
 of speech what wondrous tales we should hear,— beside 
 which the magnificent fiction of the '* Arabian Nights " would 
 fade into insignificance. And yet, if so, what could be found 
 that could narrate a life story more thrilling than the Keys 
 of the Old Bastille of Paris. 
 
i 
 
 U 
 
 Note. — After my letter appeared in the Toronto Mail (Oct. 
 9th, '86), I received many communications from historical and 
 antiquarian societies, and from private individuals. Amongst 
 the latter were letters from Mrs. E. B. Washington, a lady 
 well-known in literary circles, and a great grand-niece of 
 Gen. Washington. This lady is a member of the Mount 
 Vernon Association, of the United States, representing the 
 State of West Virginia. The tomb and home of Washington 
 are owned by this Association, which has for its Executive 
 Directors — one chosen from each State ; and they meet annu- 
 ally to supervise and direct the affairs of the Association, and 
 see personally that the superintendant and employees at 
 Mount Vernon properly carry out their trust. From her 
 acquaintance with the key which La Fayette had sent over 
 to "his friend and comrade," Mrs. Washington expressed a 
 wish to see the keys which I had succeeded in obtaining. 
 So I went up to London, Ont., — where her son is the U. S. 
 Consul — and took my old treasures with me. Mrs. Washing- 
 ton was very much interested in them, and said that from the 
 strong likeness between my keys and that at Mount Vernon, 
 there could be no doubt of their genuineness ; time has 
 stamped them alike with the hall-mark of aj?e, and the 
 exercise of their employment is only too evident in the bent 
 and twisted handles. 
 
15 
 
 Large photographs— registered according to Act of Parlia- 
 ment of Canada—of the Keys of the Bastille (exact size), 
 with letter- press description, have been sent to : — 
 
 The British Museum. 
 Musee de Cluny, Paris. 
 Bibliotheque National, Paris. 
 Bibliotheque Carnavalet, Paris. 
 Numismatic and Antiq'n Society, Montreal. 
 Museum of Melbourne, Australia. 
 Society of Antiquaries of London. 
 Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 
 Canadian Institute. 
 Mount Vernon Association. 
 Buffalo Historical Society. 
 Harvard College. 
 University of Michigan, etc. 
 
 These institutions have acknowledged and accepted the 
 photograph, and I received a letter from Her Majesty's 
 Librarian at Windsor Castle thanking me for the very inter- 
 esting photograph of the Keys of the Bastille. ** It has been 
 shown to the Queen and will be placed in the Royal 
 Library. " 
 
 
 (£/* 
 
 
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