Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/246

220 abdication of Pope John XXIII. and the election of Martin V., the validity of whose nomination was accepted on all sides without dispute. At this conclave also the protection of the electors was intrusted to de Naillac and his knights. It is most probable that it was again greatly by the influence and diplomatic ability of the Grand-Master that this favourable result was reached. The contumacious langues all promptly gave in their adhesion, and recognized the venerable Grand-Master as their chief. After having held a chapter-general at Avignon, and another at Ancona, de Naillac returned to Rhodes, after an absence of eleven years. His reappearance there was greeted with the utmost enthusiasm, prayers having been repeatedly offered up in the churches of the island during his protracted absence, beseeching his speedy return.

The last act of his long and useful life was presiding at a chapter-general, which he convoked at Rhodes shortly after his arrival. In this council all the acts which led to the reunion of the Order were ratified, and a general feeling of joy pervaded the assembly that their differences were at length reconciled. To de Naillac this glad scene was one of intense gratification, and served to shed a gleam of comfort over his latest days. His end, indeed, was fast approachiiig, and in the following year he breathed his last, having swayed the fortunes of his Order for twenty-five years. lie died comforted with the feeling that he left his fraternity at union with itself, at peace with its neighbours, and in a most flourishing state of Prosperity.

The satisfactory condition into which de Naillac had brought his affairs must be attributed far more to his diplomatic and general political abilities than to his skill in war. Indeed, the martial exploits of the fraternity under his guidance were never productive of much beneficial result. In some cases, such as the battle of Nicopolis and the defence of Smyrna, they were disastrous in the last degree. Still, however strongly the fortune of war might declare itself against him, he was invariably able, by his political sagacity, to restore the equilibrium, and to maintain his fraternity in that proud position it had so long occupied before the lace of Europe.