ANGLO-FRENCH RELATIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 14, 17 July 1905, Page 5

ANGLO-FRENCH RELATIONS.

THE TAKING OF THE BASTILLE. [PEES 3 ASSOCIATION.! SYDNEY, 16th July, Speaking at a fete held in celebration of the taking of the Bastille on 14th July, 1789, during the French Revolution, the French Consul-General and Mr. George Reid (late Federal Premier*) made appreciative references to th© Anglo-French rapprochement and its world-wide influence. The Bastille was built by Charles V., King of France, in 1369, for the defence of Paris against the English. It was completed in 1383, and afterwards used as a State prison. Henry IV. and' his veteran army assailed it in vain in the Siege of Paris, during the war (1587-1594). At tho beginning of the French Revolution on th© 14th July, 1789, the fortress was surrounded by an armed mob eager to destroy what was regarded as the stronghold of tyranny. The garrison consisted of 42 pensioners and 32 Swiss. The negotiations which were entered into with the Governor led to no other result than the removal of the cannon pointed on the Faubourg, St. Antoine, which by no means contented the exasperated multitude. Some cut the chains of the first drawbridge, and a contest took place, in which one of the besieged and 150 of the ! people were killed or severely wounded; but the arrival, with four field-pieces, of a portion of the troops which had already joined the people, turned the fortune of the conflict in favour of the besiegers. Delaunay, the Governoi: — who bad been hindered by one of his officers from blowing th© fortress in th© air — permitted the aecond .drawbridge to be lowered, and the people rushed in, killing Delaunay and several of his officers. The destruction of the Bitetille commenced on the following day, amid the thunder of cannon and 1 the pealing of th© Te Deum. The fall of tha I fortress changed the current 6f events in France, its destruction being hailed as I tlie downfall of un evQ system.