FALL OF THE BASTILLE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1493, 16 July 1912, Page 4

FALL OF THE BASTILLE.

FRENCH NATIONAL FETE. (By'Toleeraph.—Press Association.) Auckland, July 15. Loyal Frenchmen all over the world celebrated their national fete to-day, and in honour of the event M. Rigorcau, representative of Franco in Auckland, held •a reception. The Consul was waited upon-;by a large gathering, ] including foreign Consuls, many officials, private people, and a number of French subjects. Tho proceedings were most cordial. The fete referred to in tho above telegram commemorates the fall of the Bastille, tho State prison at Paris, which was stormed with much bloodshed by the populace on July 14, 1789, and was demolished shortly afterwards. This was the first, act of marked Violence of the French Revolution. There were delivered from the prison cells four .forgers, two binaries, and a nobleman who had lx>en confined at the demond of his family. The erection of the Bastille was iK'gun in 1309.' Being of peculiar strength it remained after the other medieval fortifications of Paris had been removed, and its use as a prison for persons confined at the arbitrary'will of the King or his Ministors gave it celebrity as a reputed stronghold o't' royal despotism and cruelty.