The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-03-03
Por The Messenger.

VIZ Ao1o I6SSOl LQdU IOL alone are
the lowly OF human kind subject to
carkins cares, to grief and wasting.
Those born in the purple" those VINO
rule IN camps and courts; those who
hold the septre and those who wear the
CROWN, drink deep OF sorrows cup, and
sink under such affections as make
them cry, with the coming of the nigh-,
'woald God it were morning!" and with
the break Of day would God it were
night."
Baldwin I was placed on the throne
Of Constantinop!e by the French and
venetian in the beginning Of
the 18th century. 1t may be said Of
Baldwin, as M~acaulay said of Lauzun
m the reign Of Louis XIV of France,
uat his life was stranger than other
mems Dreams" Baldwin was the most
fluStriOus figure of the French crusade,
not excepting even Dandolo, the aged
Doge Of Venice; he was a direct descen-
dant of Charlemange, and was Count
on Flanders and Hainsult; to the viz
tues of matchless courage and ability
in war, he added the graceS of personal
beauty, generosity and magnanimity.
Yet fate seemed to concentrate all the
forces OF it's wrath and vengeance On
the close of his adventurous life. Will
overwhelmed with affections by the loss
of his wife, Mary Countess of Cham
pagne, who died at Acre while on her
way TO share his regal dignities, he was
aroused to a supreme struggle for his
klngdOm against the forces Of the re-
VOTED Greeks and Carlo Johannes,
King of Bulgaria. The struggle result
ed in he overwhelming defeat of his
army and his own capture. Pope limo
cent VT HarOa n6pH hiS ra1naca Of Tnhon-
nes. to which the latter replied that his
captive had died in prison. Nicetas, a
Greek historian, declares that the Bua-
garian king cut off the limbs of his
prisoner, and threw the living head and
trunk to wild beasts. A~ccropolita, an
other Greek writer, relates that Bald
wins skull, set in jewels and gold, was
used as a drinking cup at the banquets
Of his captor and executioner. Ville-
hardOuin, a distinguished crusader, and
the French historian of the great armed
movement, hints that the wife of Jo-
names, Infatuated at the reflections of
her love by the royal captive, acted the
part Of Potiphars wife, and procured
his death.
Now comes the wonderful conclusion
of the story. Twenty years afterwards,
when the sovereignty of Flanders and
Hainault was held by Jeanne, eldest
daughter of Baldwin, a claimant ap-
peared, declaring himself to- be ner
father and Emperor of ConstantinOple.
His story was that he had been we'll
treated by the Bulgarians; that he had
managed to- escape but was taken prls-
Oner by a tribe Of barbarianS, that he
was SOLD as slave into Syria, where he
remained for many years, and was at
last ransomed by German merchants.
The Countess Jeanne repudiated the
claim, and appealed for protection to
how Lord M T~ann 011nt and CJ1ZAr2In
Louis VIII, King of n This mon
arch became convinced of an impc3-
ture and ordered the pertender to quit
his dorniniOns. Continuing to plot and
oonspire against Jeanne, he was betray-
ed into her hands, and was hung, alter
cOnfessing that his real name was Be
tran de Rayno, and that he was a ma
tive of Champagne.
One OF the SaddeSt of all the sad stC-
rieS of the knights errant OF history Is
that Of Diem, Prince of the house of
Ottoman, con of Mahomet II, Sultan or
Turkey. On the death of their father,
two brothers were competitors for the
throne. Diem, tflen governor OF Mag
nesia, and BajaZet, governor of Amorla;
and such was The ~ascendency Of the
,Janiassaries, eunudhs and ~vieziers at
court, that he who first made appear
ance there would surely be acclaimed
Sultan. This Bajazet affected throug1
treachery to Diem, and was "
as Bajazet II. The right of primogenl-
ture undoubtedly belonged to Bajazet,
and MS brother offered to resign to him
all The other vast possessions of their
father, if he could retain the sovereign
ty of only Asia. This concession Ba-
jazet h~aughtily refused to make; ana
Diem knew that, according tic the
bloody Turkish code, which offered the
bowSt,-in O. to a Troublesome H~1nDAtltOT.
it was NO longer a question of a crown
but his life. He took refuge with his
wife and children with the Sultan OF
Egypt; and, leaving his family and
treasures at Cairo, he made a pious pill
grimage, in the disguise of a Bedou!n
camel driver, Co the shrines OF Jerusa-
lem, Medina and Mecca.
Returning thence, after an absence OF
two years. Diem, in am evil hour, adopt
ed the advice of his devoted friend ana
follower, KaSSim Bey, to seek an asy-
lum and an alliance with the powerful
order of the knights of St. john or Je-
rusa!em, on the island of Rhodes. With
thirty attendants, he was received IN
the port of Rhode by the knights
and D'Anbusson, the grand master,
with the honors laid to royalty, and the
palace OF France, the most magnificent
on the SLAM was placed at his dlSpo-
sal. Yet these Christian knights a
aHSduY peIIdSSu lIIS1I III SdSSIs
who confided in their good faith, n
were ven then in secret correspondence
with his implacabIe enemy and brother,
Bajazet. In a little While it was init
mated TO him that he was not safe at
Rhodes, sc near the territory of the
Turkish Sultan, and he was convey ed
to Nice. Here, deprived of his follow
aerS and friends, who were sent away
from him ON one pretext or another,
the royal wanlerer realized at last that
he was a prisoner. The plague break
ing out at Nice, Diem was removed to
the fortress of Puy in the mountains
of Buguey, and thence, after two years,
still farther away to the fortress Of
Sassenage in the Valley of Isare.
Here the tediurn and sOrrows of rap
tivity Were solaced by the blandiSh-
ments OF love (wife left behind in Cal
,ro); for, if we may believe the dhroni-
eler OF that time, Philippe de Sassen-
A-H