The Minneapolis journal., 1903-12-26

the charge of heresy against her had
not been sustained.
Prejudiced Court.
The records of this post-mortem in
quiry and Of the trial at which Jeanne
was condemned can be seen by any
one in the national library and the
library of the corps legislatif in Paris.
They show beyond all doubt the truth
Of the declaration of the@court appoint
ed by Calixtus, that the process of the
trial court was full of corruption,
cozenage, calumny, fraud and malice"
If the church had been quick to
condemn the Maid, it was prompt and
positive in it's manner Of correcting
the error into which it had been led.
For in the sentence Of rehabilitation
the judges say, in reference to the
said processes and sentences" under
which Jeanne had been eXcOmmuni-
Gated and burned: 1--WE break them,
annihilate them, annul them and de-
clare them void of effect; and we de-
clare that the said Jeanne and her
relatives " have not, on ac-
count of the said trial, incurred any
stigma of infamy;, we declare them
quit and purged of all the cOnse-
quences of these processes" This SEN
tence of rehabilitation is marked:
Done at Rouen, in the archiepisco-
pal palace, in the year of Our Lord
Of June" and is proclaimed by THE
lords judges, in the presence of the
| reverend father in Christ, the lord
bishop of Demetrlade."
The evidence upon which this find
ing is based is the only authentic rec
ord in existence of the actual charac-
ter, deeds and manner Of life Of
Jeanne dare. Before the church ar
rived at the decision just quoted, it
eXamined witnesses at Rouen,. at Paris
and took dispositions at Domremy. In
all about eighty witnesses were heard,
including those who had known the
| Maid as child, those who had fought
| with her at Orleans and Patay, and
those who had participated in or at
l tended her trial. No one can read
this evidence without being absolutely
convinced that the charges brought
against Jeanne were SO unsubstantial
that only the blacklist injustice could
have resulted in her conviction on any
of them. c
The record is full Of such bits of
evidence as that given by Manchon
who says: Il, as notary, wrote
Jeanne's answer and defense. Two
or three writer's, who were secretly
writing all that was in her favor. The
judges desired me to write in the
same way, but I refused" The same
witness declares that after Jeanne had
"recanted," we escaped with difficulty
from the anger of the English, who
said that we had mismanaged the
trial. They were angry that she had
not been burnt Brother Ysam bard
de la Pearre, who also participated
in the trial, testified that the English
1 had compelled Jeanne to resume mems
clothes after she had quilted mascu-
line attire at the behest of the judges,
and of the motives Of these judges
he says: "Some of the assessors, such
4 as the Bishop Of Beauvais, proceeded
of their own pleasure; some-namely,
the English doctors-out of malice;
some, doctors of Paris, from a desire
to profit; some were induced by fear
like the subinquisitor and others whom
I do not now remember. Another
witness says that "sle never revoked
the revelations, but maintained them
up to the endH
Now, this declaration raises at once
8 what has been the most troublesome
point in the defense of Jeanne. But
if we can turn to the same collection
of evidence from which we have beer
quoting, it is plain enough that the
alleged recantation cannot be brought
up against her simply because it never
was made.
The Alleged Recantation.
Let us look at this so-called recan-