Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-03-03
The last Trial ofFideIity.

The reign of Napoleon, worried and rar.
sacked rs it has been by the writers Of
memoirs, recolIections and histories, is a
Inire that still has multitude of rich,
and as yet, UNEMPLOYED veins. The histo-
ry Of. the secret associations that sprang up
in the latest days of the empire, would
form most curious and interesting vol
ume, and there would Le no lack of ma
terials to fiji it. The society of the United
Brothers alone, would furnish pages of the
most absorbing interest, while nothing
could appeal more forcibly to the imag:na
tion than the strange and dramatic episodes
connnec,ed with lis mysterious limitations.
Perhaps hundred incidents might be re-
lated as striking and well conceived as the
following: --..
An officer of the French army, having
incurred the suspicion or resentment of the
Emperor, thought it expedient to abandon
his country, and take refuge in one of the
Austrian provinces; and here lie became
advised of, and initiated into society, the
object of whose formation was 10 hurl 10
the ground the Colossus whose arm smote
and governed the whole continent of Eu-
rope with. seepter of iron. One day a
letter was brought to him, containing the
usual signs and passwords of the society,
and requiring him TO repair TO a secluded
spot in forest, where he would meet some
of his associates. He went, but he found
nobody. The orders were repeated four
times, the officer sought the appointed
place, with no better success than at first
On the fifth night of his appearance at the
rendezvous, after waiting some time, he
was on The point of returning, when loud
cries suddenly arrested his attention.
Drawing his sword, he hastened 10 the
spot whence they seemed to proceed, and
was fred upon by three men, who, on see
ing that he remained uuwounded, instant
ly took to fiight-but at his feet lay
bleeding corse, in which, by the feeble
light of the moon, he in vain sought for
tokens of returning animation. He was
yet bending over the dead man, when a
detachment of chasseurs, summoned ap-
parently by the noise of tie pistols that
had been discharged 10y himself, came up
suddenly and arrested him as the assassin
He was loaded with chains, tired the next
day, and condemned to die for his supposed
crime. His execution was ordered TO take
place at midnight, Surrounded by the
ministers Of justice, he was lei at a slow
pace, hy the light of torches, and the funer-
al toIling of bells, to q vast square, in the
center of which was a scaffold, environed
by horsemen; beyond these were nu-
merous group of spectators, who multered
impatiently, and at intervals sent forth a
cry of adherence.
The victim mounted the scaffold; and
his sentence was read, and the last act Of
the tragedy was on the point of fulfllment,
when an officer let fall a word Of hope
An edict had just been promul gated by
the government, offering pardon and life
TO any condemned criminal who should
disclose the members and secret tokens Of
a particular association, the existence of
which the Frenchman to whom these words
were addressed had lately become aware of,
and of which he had become member
He was questioned, bat he denied all
knowledge; they urged him to confess,
with promise of additional reward-his
only repyl was demand for immediate
death-and bis initiation was completed.
All that passed was terrible trial of f.
deliiy; those who surrounded him were
members of the society, and every incident
that has been described, from the sum-
mons to the last moment of expected |
death, was only step in the progress of
the fearful experiment by which they
sought to determine the trustworthiness of
the neophyte.-Foreign paper.