Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/395

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BASTIAT BASTILE 375 BASTIAT, Frederlt, a French economist, born in Bayonne, June 29, 1801, died in Rome, Dec. 24, 1850. He was educated for commercial pursuits, but the bent of his mind was toward political economy ; and a large inheritance left him in 1825 enabled him to devote himself to that study. In 1840 he travelled through Portugal and Spain ; in 1844 he made his first appearance as a writer in an article attacking the protective system, published in the Journal des economies; in 1845 he visited England, and made the acquaintance of the Manchester school, one fruit of which was a work entitled Cobden et la ligue, ou V agitation anglaisepour la liberte des echanges (1 vol. 8vo, Paris, 1845); in 1846 he took an active part in the establish- ment at Bordeaux and at Paris of a free-trade association, becoming its Parisian secretary, and the chief editor of the journal Le libre ecnange. At this time he also came forward as one of the opponents of the socialists of his country, whose idea of the omnipotence of the state he combated. In 1848 he was chosen a member of the constituent and then of the legislative assembly, but his health did not allow him to appear at the tribune. He gained a great reputation by his controversies with Proudhon. His labors exhausted him, and his physicians ordered him to Italy in September, 1850. Among his most striking works are the pamphlet Capital et rente, gratuite du credit (Paris, 1849), and Harmonies economiques, left incomplete at his death. The last is an at- tempt to demonstrate that the laws of econ- omy all tend concurrently and harmoniously to the amelioration of human life. This work was the occasion of a prolonged controversy in the Paris Journal des economistes between M. Bastiiit and his friends and Mr. Henry 0. Carey of Philadelphia, who contended that the principle of economical harmony was a dis- covery of his own. An American translation of M. Bastiat's " Essays on Political Economy " was published in Chicago in 1869. BASTIDE, Jules, a French publicist and poli- tician, born in Paris, Nov. 22, 1800. The son of a man of business, he became a timber mer- chant after having studied law, and participated in many revolutionary attempts against Charles X. He was one of the first French carbonari, and on the outbreak of the revolution of 1830 he was said to have been the first to hoist the tricolor flag on the Tuileries. In 1832 he was arrested at Grenoble as an abettor of republi- can movements, and after his release he was the leader of the riot which broke out (June 5) during the funeral of Gen. Lamarque. He was sentenced to death, but fled to England, and on his surrendering to the French authori- ties in 1834 he was acquitted. After the death of Armand Carrel he and his commercial part- ner Charles Thomas became joint editors of the National newspaper, from 1836 to 1846. In 1847 he and Buchez founded the Revue natio- nals, and continued to advocate moderate re- publican institutions as compatible with the Roman Catholic faith. In the provisional gov- ernment of 1848 he was secretary general, and under Lamartine's executive commission minis- ter of foreign affairs, and for a short time of the navy, being also a member of the constituent assembly. He remained in the cabinet under Cavaignac, and left it Dec. 20. He assisted in preparing the second edition of the Hia- toire parlementaire de la revolution franfaise, by Buchez (5 vols., 1845-'7), and published the first volume of Histoire de Vasiemblee legisla- tive (1847), but did not continue this publica- tion, which was to have comprised 25 volumes. His more recent works include La republique frangaise et Vltalie en 1848 (Brussels, 1858), and Ouerres de religion en France (2 vols., Paris, 1859). BASTILE (Fr. la Bastille), the state prison and citadel of Paris, begun in 1369 by Charles V., enlarged in succeeding reigns, and destroyed by the people in 1789. Situated at the gate St. Antoine, it had when completed eight huge round towers, connected by curtains of massive masonry, and was encircled by a wide ditch 25 ft. deep, which was usually dry. This ditch was surrounded by a high wall, to which was attached a wooden gallery called " the rounds," accessible by two staircases, and guarded by sentinels. The administration of the Bastile in the 18th century was vested in a governor, a royal intendant, a major, a major's aid, a sur- geon, and a matron. The garrison was com- posed of 100 men, commanded by two captains, a lieutenant, and sergeants. The cells were sit- uated in all the towers, the walls of which were at least 12 ft. thick, and at the base 30 or 40. Each cell had an aperture in the wall, defended by three iron gratings, the bars of which were an inch thick and so arranged that although the openings in each grating were really of 4 inches, only 2 inches were left unobstructed. The dungeons were 19 ft. below the level of the courtyard, and 5 below that of the ditch,