Chapter Xiv.

Holy Land . The Order had been put under the protection of the Blessed Virgin , it had been confirmed by the Sovereign Pontiff , who , in consideration of its eminent services , had bestowed upon it many privileges . By the grace of Christ , and by the help of its divine protectress and

patroness , the Mother of Purity , this Order had been preserved without stain , in the observance of the three vows of poverty , chasity , and obedience , to which had been added the fourth , i . e „ to expose the lives of its members , and to lose them if necessary , in fighting against the Infidel . The

manifesto proved the worthlessness af the denunciators , the nullity of depositions extorted by violence or bribery , the revocation of the great e .-part of the confessions made by the Templars , an example which would have been followed by all if they had not been deterred from so doing by

the menaces of the King , and the threat of being burned alive as relapsed . It maintained that the Pope had been deceived and misled , and demanded that all the Knisrhts should be reconciled to the

Church and set at liberty , and put in the enjoyment of their property , in order to present themselves in a fitting manner before the Holy Father , on whom alone they were dependent , that iu full Council they might be examined judicially , and judged in proper form . Boulogne having finished

the reading of this manifesto , presented it to the Commissioners , who received it graciously , and promised to forward it for the perusal and information of the Pope . Monroyal , a brave , chivalrous aud pious Knight , then rose to speak in defence of the Order . He

made a brilliant oration , in which , excited by the nobility of the Templars , and the villiany of their accusers , he grew excited , and declared that it was a shameful thing , that degraded beings should dare to impute to a religions bod } ' so many infamous crimes , and that holy men should give them credence . These crimes they had , by

torture , forced the Templars to acknowledge ; but that was a sin which Heaven would place against the torturers , not against the victims of the torture . The truth would be discovered before the Pope , their only natural head , for none could free thornselves from his jurisdiction , aud the Grand Master

himself was subject to his commands , ancl he must submit like the rest to go before him , and render an account of his deposition , if he , the head of the Order , had been cowardly enough to give a false one . He expatiated upon the holiness and regularity of tho Templars' livesmaintained that all

, the priests in the Order made the consecration of the body and blood of Jesus Christ , according to the ritual of the Catholic Church . He recited the example of the Knight , De Sens , who , from scruples , had left the Order to embrace one more severe , but had returned to it acknowledoino' that DO

. he was convinced that he could not be saved in any but that of the Temple . Monroyal asked if it was reasonable to suppose that any man would

return to a degraded Order , such as that of the Temple was charged with being , if he sought the salvation of his soul . In short , he cried out against the ridiculousness of the accusations , which had been made against them , of denying and renouncing Jesus Christ , and quoted , as a proof

of its complete falseness and absurdity , the adventure of ninety Knights , who , in the last war against the Saracens , had been taken prisoner by the Sultan . "He offered them , " says Monroyal , " life , liberty , and the highest honours if they would become Mahometans . They refused with

indignation , and all suffered martyrdom . If , at their reception , they had renounced Jesus Christ , what would it have cost them to renounce him . again ? Would they have been so foolish as to perish miserably , if already guilty of this crime ,, when , by continuing its commission , they could

have lived in pleasure , and in all the dignities that had been offered them ? " No other Procurator present desiring to speak ,.

the Archbishop of Narbonne , after deliberating with the other Commissioners , i-eplied , that they , the defenders , had advanced two unsupportable things ; first , that before the proceedings had commenced against the Order , its purity was unchallenged , while the contrary had been

established by the Bull of the Pope , in which the Sovereign Poutiff alleged , that the depravity of the Order had even reached his ears long before ; and second , that the Pope alone had the right of knowing the imputations made against the Order . Acknowledging the right of his Holinesshe

, could transmit it to his delegates , who would in such a case possess all his powers ; but even independent of his authority , the clergy had a right to take cognisance of heresies and crimes against the faith . As to their demand to be set at liberty , ancl put in possession of their goodsit was not

, in the power of the Commissioners to grant this , and they should not address such a request to them , since they had not possession of their wealth , neither had arrested them . All such

questions ought to be referred to the Cardinal de Preneste , who had been delegated by the Pope to consider such , to whom they had recourse , and whose province it was to decide . The Commissioners' functions had only been to hear them judicially , to interrogate witnesses , and to insert faithfully in the proces . verbaux all the answers and defences of the Order .

11 ns ended the first sitting for hearing the defenders . The Templars were reconducted to their prisons , where Boulogne drew up a fresh manifesto , containing new matter . This gallant defence , these means of justification which the deputies publicly presentedthese

, cries of oppressed and outraged innocence , had a marked effect on public opinion , and ou the Court . Still it did not operate so as to save the Order .. Undoubtedly , the illustrious families who were bound by blood ancl friendship to the accused , and