30 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



A Form 

 of Trial 



A Real 

 Protest 



Travesty 



of 



Justice 



that she could not stir, while three armed men guarded 

 her by day and night. 



At length she was brought to trial. The bishop of 

 Beauvais presided, and all the judges were ecclesiastics. 

 The trial lasted for about a year. Every effort was made 

 to entangle the maid, but she met her judges successfully 

 at every point. They asked : "Do you believe you are 

 in a state of peace?" She replied : "If I am not God 

 will put me in it." They argued that God had forsaken 

 her as her capture proved. She replied, "Since it has 

 pleased God that I should be taken, it is for the best." 

 They demanded : "Will you submit to the Church Mili- 

 tant?" "I have come to the King of France," replied 

 Joan, "by commission from the Church Triumphant 

 above; to that church I submit." She closed with in- 

 tense feeling ; "I had far rather die than renounce what 

 I have done by my Lord's commands." They deprived 

 her of mass. She said weeping: "The Lord can make 

 me hear it without your aid." The judges asked her: 

 ' ' Do your voices forbid you to submit to the church and 

 the pope?" When she saw the judges all against her 

 she said: "I hold to my Judge, the King of heaven 

 and earth. God has always been my Lord in what I 

 have done. The devil has never had any power over me." 



Nothing was too base to attempt in order to secure a 

 conviction. A vile priest was engaged to secure Joan's 

 confidence in the hope that she might make admissions 

 that could be used against her as evidence. The King she 

 had placed upon the throne left her unaided. What were 

 the charges brought against her ? Principally these : 

 That she had in a wicked manner, and contrary to the 

 divine law, dressed herself in men's clothes, and com- 

 mitted murders with weapons of war ; that she had repre- 

 sented herself to the simple people as a messenger of God, 

 initiated in the secrets of Providence ; and that she was 

 suspected of many other dangerous errors and culpable 

 acts against the divine majesty. Was there ever a greater 



