Virginia free press & farmers' repository. [volume] (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1827-1832, 1832-05-31

tsnco Aisio Of Ortcsns, In Ssr James M>ekintouh's
hissory q England. To some Of our readers,
the incidents will be new, and vc have therefore
srsnsfersedt the exG.cs to our columns
MAID OF ORLEANS.
The affairs Of Charles VII. wore, perhaps,
their gioomiest aspect when the English laid
siege to Orleans, in l426. spark OF nation
nj feeling was then struck out, Which show
cd the susceptible condition Of the general
temper. Jeanne dare, tho daughter of a
peasant at Domrcny, in Lorrain, beautiful,
innocent, plous, modest, laborious, had been
from her childhood devoted to the seversst
ooservances, and to the most mysterious
meditations of religion, such as are cherish
cd by a young female full of sensibility. n
midst the lonely occupation of district of
mountains and forests. Her own fellow
villagers were zcalous royaiists The neigh
boring village was SO Burgundian that sort
Of civil war prevailed between them. an.
had long told her parents Of admonitious
which she believed had come from heaven
and which they and all their neiEhbors had
no dimculty in believing to Cow from the
same source. She was more than once en-
joined by "her voices" or, rs she sometimes
said, "by the king Of heaven to undertake
the delivery Of her king and country, whose
last hopes seemed now To hang on the fate
OF Orleans. That fortress held out with such
desperate valor as to be the theme of every
tongue, and deeply TO move every truly
French heart. The poor maiden Of Domre.
ny gained time TO surmount the obstacles
which seemed TO render il impossible that
she should ever deliver to Charles VII. her
message from heaven. She forced her way
through them into his presence, and obtain-
ed from him party Of troops, at tho head
OF whom she was TO throw herself into Or
Aaf
OF those human precautions in the choice Of
experienced soldiers to guard, and skilful Of
ncers to counsel her, which might be reason
ably numbered among the conditions of the
miraculous aid. All were alike believers in
such supernatural succors. But all were also
convinced that they might come either from
the God Of Truth, or from the Prince Of Dark
ness. The theologians Of Charles Mt Poitiers
sa,d, that her oser was lawful: and what.
indeed, could have been q purer object for
the exercise Of divine power, than the deli
very Of France by the spotiess hand of a
chaste and devout mA;deni She made her
way into the besieged city, mounted on
white horse, and with the veteran Dunois by
her side. The troops, In the first fervor Of
their enthusiasm, attacked the works Of the
besiegers. She was so grievously wounded
that II was necessary to carry her from the
held: her disappearance spread n general
panic; till she, compelling hep friends to
place her on horseback, advanced with her
standard, which again terrified the enemy
and reanimated the French troops. The
English army, which had besieged the town
from the 12th OF October, 1923, now raised
the siege on the 9th Of May, 429,-actua-
| ted by terrors from which the brnvest men
| are not exempted by their courage; by ter.
| rors as strongly felt by Talbot and Chandoas
as by the lowest hind in their army. She
then entreated the king 70 20 with her to be
consecrated ut Rheims. The danger was
great, and the suggestion at first rejected
But the Importance both Of the conservation
and Of the courageous expedition which Il
required, IN The eyes Of the people at large,
Of the good maiden, whose simple heart par
took every movement Of popular feeling.
| After having witnessed a defeat of the
English at Patay, In which Talbot himself
was made prisoner, she had the happiness.
on the 18th Of July, 1880, TO see Charles
wi. consecrated in the cathedral Of Rheims.
She entreated permission 10 retire to her ma
tive village, but her presence served so much
70 animate the troops that her prayer was
rejected. She obtained for the two villages
Of Greux and Domreny an exemption for
posts were equafized in 1889. On the 25th
OF May, 1890, she was made prisoner by a
detachment Of the allied army near Com
tPisgne. However imperfect the security Of
prisoners Of war still continued to be, Il Ia
certain that the maiden vas received 20 quar-
ter by Dunois, the officer TO whom she sur
rendered; nor was she then, or afterwards.
charged with any breaches Of the laws and
usages Of war which could subject her 10 the
Jurisdiction Of military tribunal. During
several months Of her close Imprisonment nj
Rouen, her powerful enemies sought for
charges against her, but, as Il should seem
from their subsequent accusations, IN vain
The pEelates and doctors who were the Greg
tures. Of her accusers could extract from the
narratives Of her worst enemies no more
than that "she had lightly OF presumptuo,ls-
/ W believed revelations or apparitions, IN
doubtedly proceeding from the evil spirit /:
that she bad blasphemed against God, By i'm
pating 10 him a command that She should
wear mans apparel; and that, inasnuch rs
she refused TO submit TO the church, she was
a herotic."
The ecclesiastical tribunal pronounced
sentsnce that she should he cut OF from the
church a. a corrupt member, and delivered
over to secular justice. A recommendation
10 the lay judges was, az always, subjsined.
that thty should moderate the punishment a.
far a. q extended 90 life or limb. She was
for Haoment betrayed by the craft and sub
tlety Of her adSerssrios into an abluration.
But, on the 10Th Of December, 1870, after
the cardinal q Winchester had announced
those tender msreies 81 his church which
were 80 cruel, saying 10 her, JOAN 20 in
peaes, the church can no longer defend thee /;
she delivers thee over 20 The secuisr arm -
she was dragged 70 The seafIold and commit
ted % The flames. a proclamation s@ainst
The dsssFtsrs, who, appalled, by the tsrrors
Of the Virtaous maiden, had fsd from their
standards, revealed The base motive Of these
erueities against her. Henry himself de-
eaared that TIRE death II Lord Salisbury and
tie defeat a. Orleans " were caused IN great
part By the unlawful doubt that they had 81
n EL.r.l.I. nnh lL..h 81 liz a...L ..Ll.L IL.