birth of a not very
important literary man! M. Gaston Deschamps, in the usually ribald
_Figaro_, claimed much of the credit of this innovation for himself. In
a long leading editorial on the _Sanctification du 14 Juillet_, he thus
lays sacrilegious hands on the taking of the Bastile itself: "Last year,
I demonstrated, very readily, that our fete of the 14th of July, already
discredited by the desertion of the wealthy classes, by the scepticism
of the public functionaries, and by the frivolousness of the populace,
was destitute of that character, national, republican, and humanitarian,
which should be in a democracy, the characteristic of every solemnity.

[Illustration: AN ADMIRER OF "L'INTRANSIGEANT."]

"This fete seems to have been instituted for the special aggravation of
those Frenchmen who believe that the history of France did not begin
with the 14th of July, 1789. It is no longer, to employ the energetic
expression of Gambetta, anything but 'a rag of the civil war.' It
glorifies an event which, according to the testimony of contemporaries
the least suspected of moderation in politics (Marat, Saint-Just), had
not the importance nor, above all, the beauty which our present system
of primary instruction attributes to it. Historical research has
verified the opinion of these witnesses. It is impossible to relate the
taking of the Bastile Saint-Antoine without recognizing the silliness or
the unworthiness of the citizens who were the principal actors in this
enterprise. This old prison had just been put out of commission by a
royal ordinance which decreed its demolition. Very many of the
'conquerors of the Bastile' cried '_Vive le Roi!_' as they went down the
Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The number of prisoners at that time confined in
this jail reduced itself to seven, to wit: four forgers, two lunatics,
and a crapulous old gentleman. The Bastile was garrisoned by the French
_invalides_ and by the Swiss guards. The assailants swore to injure no
one if they were permitted to enter. The gates were opened. The French
_invalides_, who had trusted in the promise given, were massacred
without being able to defend themselves. The Swiss guards were taken for
'captives' (because of their uniform). They were carried off in triumph.
The brewer Santerre (at that time demagogue, and later monopolist in
national property) proposed to set the edifice on fire with poppy oil.
His friends preferred the demolition pure and simple, which had