Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/180

154 invested with this authority he would be able to exercise it with but little submission to the control of his nominal chief. Under his advice, and acting in accordance with the suggestions put forward by him, the Pope despatehed him, in company with Raymond de Beranger and Peter de Cornillan (who was a relative and namesake of the new Grand-Master), to Rhodes, to submit his views to a general council of the Order.

He was instructed to inform the Grand-Master and council, on the part of the Pope, that it was thought desirable the convent should be at once removed from Rhodes to the adjacent continent. There, in immediate contiguity to the Saracen, it would, by the terror of its name and the prowess of its members, check all further aggressions on the part of the infidel, and form an advanced post of Christianity in the very midst of its foes. It was with feelings of dismay that the new chief de Cornilan listened to the treacherous and cunningly devised suggestions thus laid before him. On the one hand, he felt that natural reluctance, which became a faithful and obedient son of the church, to oppose himself to the desires of its supreme head. On the other, he could not but foresee that the probable result of any such movement would be to plunge the Order, defeneeless and far from aid, into the hands of its relentless enemies, by whom its speedy and utter extermination would inevitably be accomplished.

Under these conificting circumstances he decided upon throwing as many obstacles as possible in the way of the project, without attempting any open opposition. With this view he explained to the envoys that although he was himself at all times ready to obey whatever mandates he might receive from his Holiness, yet this was a subject on which he personally could have no authority to decide. The proposed change of residence was a matter of so great importance to the future welfare of the fraternity that it would be absolutely necessary to assemble a chapter-general wherein the question might be debated and determined. It by no means accorded with the views of the Pope and his adviser Heredia that such a council should be held at Rhodes. Its distance from Avignon was so great as to prevent his being able to use that influence and pressure upon its members which would be necessary to secure their