Masonic Persecution.—V.

satisfied , that now the pest was removed from their lands , and retired rejoicingly to bed . On the morrow they found the crow dead , and round his featherless body , the ground black with liis kin busily engaged iu avenging his death by

unearthing and gobbling up the seeds . This story has always struck us as extremely applicable to the Church of Rome . The Gothamite of the Yatican seizes upon some brother , ancl puts him to the torture , fines and imprisons him , and

then expects to see the whole of Masonry disappear . Much to his disgust it does not but like the plant which grows the harder the more it is trampled on , so does our Order grow the more powerful the more it is persecuted . The struggle

between Rome and Freeniasomy has lasted now 130 years , ancl while the one languishes like a broken down jade , the other daily and daily increases in strength , and when the one is a relic of the past , the other will be still the promise of the future .

The Knight's Templars.

THE KNIGHT ' S TEMPLARS .

By ANTHONY ONEAL HAYE . ( Continued from fyaqe 167 . ) BOOK IV . —CHAPTER XIV . —Gontd .

The sittings lasted till after Easter . The second conference for heaving the defenders was held on the 14 th May , in the same place , and before the same Commissioners . Boulogne , accompanied by the other procurators , appeared , carrying with liim a second manifesto , which he read . It bore :

¦ —1 . That they had never had the example of a similar procedure , made with so much haste , in an affair of so great importance , and against so respectable and renowned an Order . 2 . That in this procedure they hacl not conformed with any of the foi'inalities prescribed by lawand that no order

, or exactitude had been maintained . 3 . That hatred , fury , injustice , ancl violence had alone presided . 4 . That , without proof , ancl without trustworthy information , they hacl began the prosecution of the Order , ancl arrested in a single day all the Templars , thrust them into the vilest dungeons

, and proclaimed them guilty of the most heinous crimes , before informing them of what they were accused , or even examining them . 5 . At the same time , they had seized all their furniture ancl all their goods , thus violating the law , which forbade these to be taken away while the accused were in

prison . 6 . That , in the hearing of witnesses , they had not given them liberty of speech , but , in order to make them avow that which would suit the purposes of their enemies , and the design which had been formed of destroying and abolishing the

Order , they had begun by using torture , and made them suffer a punishment and agony so crul , that several had died under it , and whose blood still cried to God for vengeance . That those who had not expired under the question still remained with bodies broken , and limbs dislocated . 7 .

That it was not surprising that , in order to free themselves from such cruel evils , the greater number had confessed all that was demanded , and all that they were ordered to avow . 8 . That they had been forced to depone to impertinent ancl ridiculous falsitiesnot only against the Orderbut

, , against themselves ; to acknowledge frightfnl crimes , to which one ought not to listen , when there is no other proof to confirm the statement . 9 . That , as to similar depositions , extorted by violence , one ought not to rely upon them , since all those who confessed failed in the virtue whick

ought to have given them the constancy to die , rather than avow the abominable crimes—judgment , which is not free , and does not leave them the power to understand the consequences of their confessions—in short , memory , even which , in trouble , fear , ancl grief , did not leave them aia

axact remembrance of the facts . 10 . That , besides force and cruelty , they hacl employed bribery and seduction also , to draw confessions from the Templars . They had been shown letters from the King , whicli insinuated that it was in vain for them to endeavour to defend a proscribed Order ;

aud they were assured that , in avowing the facts of which , they were accused , they would , be given life , liberty , and a large pension , on which they could subsist for the rest' of their lives , in honour and ease , free from the Order . Iu this manifesto Boulogne made several

demands , which all tended to the justification of the Order . 1 . That all the forced depositions , which could not prejudice the holiness of the Order , should be declared null , on the protestations which

he had made of their manifest falseness . 2 . That the accusations and informations should be communicated to him , that he might destroy them by challenges of right . 3 . That they should separate the Templars who had deponed nothing against the Order , from those cowardly , weak , and

calumnious witnesses , who could , by inspiring them with their terrors and example , make theui partakers of their fear and feebleness . 4 . That they should make new judicial examinations with becoming secrecy , and that these should not be published before being seen by the Pope . -5 .

That , iu these examinations , they should interrogate the goalers of the prisons , and those who had been present and heard the last words of the Templars who had died from the wounds inflicted by the torture ; ancl also those who had been present at the death-beds of Templars who had

deposed against the Order , ancl had become reconciled to the Church , but hacl afterwards died of natural causes , to learn the declarations they hacl made , and to judge from these what credence