The Knights Templar.

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR .

( Continued from page 459 . )

ABOVE forty thousand persons either perished or became captives by the infidels at St . Jean d'Acre . Out of five hundred Knights Templars who behaved themselves so bravel y in the defence of that ill-fated city , only ten escaped by getting into a bark , and arrived safe at Cyprus . These few instances may suffice to give an idea of the valour and constancy of the Templars . It is proven by the most authentic testimonies thatfaithful to their oath

, and institution , they respected the laws of religion and honour . It is not in books , published after the misfortunes of the Order , that an impartial man should seek for a faithful account of the morals , ojiinions , and conduct of the Templars . The proscribed ancl unfortunate rarely find courageous apologists . It is the historians , cotemporaries of those chevaliers ; it is the witnesses of their virtues and exploits , that should be consulted ; above all , the

the honourable testimonies of the very pontiffs , kings , and princes who afterwards became their executioners , should be accounted of great importance . Not one contemporary historian has ever accused , or even suspected the Ten _]_ lars to have been guilty of the crimes attributed to them afterwards . The pitiful adage , " To drink like a Templar , " hacl no existence till after the abolition of the Order . It is of no more weiht against their morals than

g the ancient adage , " Bibere papaliter , " to drink like a pope , can have against the Roman pontiffs ; both adages being the envenomed foam exuding from the parched mouths of their illachrymable enemies . M . Baluze , whom nothing has escaped respecting those times ancl their manners , has found that some peo 2 ile used to say , " Bibere papaliter ; " but he cannot find in any writer , previous to the sujipi'ession of the Order of the

Templars , "Bibere Templariter . " * The Templars were never denounced by the Troubadours , and it is known that the Sirventes of those bold bards never overlooked the dejiraved manners of the times , and indei-i-ecably attacked the popes , clergy , princes , and grandees . Within the fifteen last years preceding the dissolution of the Order , the popes are known to have interposed in its behalf with the kings of England , Arragon , ancl Cyprus .

In 1292 it was proposed , in the council of Saltzburg , to incorporate in one order , the Kni ghts Templar , Teutonic , and Hospitaller . If the Templars had not then enjoyed a reputation at least equal to that of the other orders , why attempt to unite these with those of a degenerate order ? And since the Templars alone were more powerful , more numerous , and more wealthy than the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights , and must necessaril y transfer to those incorporated with them their maxims ancl their manners , is it not evident that the council of Saltzburg , which proposed this incorporation , rendered a solemn tribute of respect to the Templars ?