The Knights Templars.

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS .

LONDON , SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 19 , 1863 .

By ANTHONY ONEAL HATE . ( Continued from page 208 ) . BOOK FOURTH—CHAPTER I . —( contcl )

This revelation startled the king . Here were grounds of accusation against the Order which , in his most sanguine moments , he hacl neither dreamed of or hoped for . The news Avas cheaply purchased by the pardon of the informer . Phili p

handsomely rewarded him , bufc bade him observe silence on the subject of his communication , The king was too shrewd to believe these charges , and t may be doubted whether the citizens Avouldhave said anything more than ascribing a general laxit y

of morals to the Order , had he not perceived the eagerness of the king to gain any information , even though false , which he could turn against the Templars . Philip Avas too sagacious a prince to be led rashly into a contest with so powerful a

body as the Templars , without carefully preserving an appearance of law and justice . He sent , accordingly , trusty messengers through Prance , not

to inquire as to the popular opinion regarding the Templars , for in that case they would have heard nothing to the disadvantage of the kni ghts , who were beloved of all men , bufc to find out certain unprincipled priests and laymen who would

remember , on its being called to their recollection by the messengers , things Avhich they had heard bearing upon the accusations . The king appears ? ever to have confronted the informer with the Templar who is said to have made the confession .

This is a most suspicious circumstance . Either there was no such person as this Templar , or , on investigation , he denied having made any such confession prejudicial to the Order , ancl in consequence had been hurried to the scaffold , so that

the testimony of the informer should not be disproved by him . Philip Avas not the man to alloAV a life to stand between him and his vengeance .

Meanwhile , an action against the prisoners accused of sedition had begun . Several of them were found guilty of having taken up arms against the king , and of having besidged him in the Temple . They Avere condemned to death , and thirty were hanged on one day . The action was continued against the others , among whom were

The Knights Templars.

the tAVO degraded Templars . The rack was freely applied to the prisoners to force them to confess . This torture frightened the Templars , and they sought means to escape Avith their lives . Meanwhile , the king recollected them , and knowing

them to be unscrupulous ancl abandoned villains , he resolved to have their testimony against the knights . He sent a trusty messenger to them , while they were casting about for a means of escape . The messenger related the confession of

the Templar , and told them hoAv anxious the king was to bring the knights to justice , and what rewards he would bestoAV upon any one who could lend him assistance in the great work . The charges startled even those villains , knowing , as

they Avell did , the virtuous and rigorous morals which reigned among the knights , and for a breach of Avhich they themselves had been expelled from the Order . They , therefore , required time for

reflection . This Avas granted . They could not at first agree to substantiate the charges ; bufc being threatened with instant death , smarting under degradation from the Order , and disappointed in their hopes of ever again being received into ifc

they agreed to denounce their former brethren . They accordingly sent to the king , offering , if he would pardon their share in the riots , to inform him of . certain criminal actions of the Templars , which , if they died on the scaffold Avould die with

them . The king was overjoyed at having at last got witnesses of so much importance to the success of his scheme , as they Avere men Avho had belonged to the Order , and one of Avhom had held a high position among the knights . The affair

had now assumed a proper hue for submission to the ordinary routine of law , and the depositions of Squin cle Plexian and Noffo Dei , though taken secretly , Avere yefc taken judicially . The accusations as-ainst the Order resolved itself into ten

heads . These were : — " 1 . Each Templar , upon his admission , was SAVorn never to quit the Order , and to further its interests by right or by wrong . . " 2 . Thafc the chief officers of the Order were

in secret alliance Avith the Saracens , and thafc their doctrines partook more of Mahometan infidelity than Christian faith j in jaroof of Avhich , they made each knight upon his reception blaspheme the Christian faith in every manner . They made

him declare that there Avas only one God , who was not dead , aud could never die ; that Jesus Christ was not God—that he was a mere man , one guilty