La Lanterne

Lanterne is a French word designating a lantern or lamp post. The word, or the slogan À la lanterne! gained special meaning and status in Paris and France during the early phase of the French Revolution, from the summer of 1789. Lamp posts served as an instrument to mobs to perform extemporised lynchings and executions in the streets of Paris during the revolution when the people of Paris occasionally hanged officials and aristocrats from the lamp posts. The English equivalent would be String Them Up! or Hang 'Em High! La Lanterne became a symbol of popular or street justice in revolutionary France. The slogan À la lanterne! is referred to in such emblematic songs as Ça Ira . Journalist Camille Desmoulins, who had earlier practiced law, designated himself The Lantern Attorney. He wrote a pamphlet entitled The Lamp Post Speaks to Parisians, in which la lantèrne tells the people, I've always been here. You could have been using me all along!. As the revolutionary government became established, lamp posts were no longer needed as execution instruments, being replaced by the guillotine which became infamous in Paris during 1792-1794, though all major French cities had their own. Hanging people from lamp posts ceased to be a part of Paris rebellions in the 19th Century.
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