Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/324

294 a league against the Turks, composed of all the leading powers of Europe, D’Aubusson was unanimously selected for the chief command of the combined forces. The league, it is true, effected nothing; the numerous conflicting interests of its members, the inertness of some and the obstinacy of others, all combined to render barren an enterprise which might have had the most vital consequences for Europe. Doubtless, had it been persevered in, it would at least have saved the island of Rhodes from the sad fate which was impending. Still, the nomination of D’Aubusson as its chief marks the high estimation in which he was held; nor can its futile termination be in any way attributed to him. Indeed, before accepting the command, he had foretold, with that keen sagacity for which he was famed, that it would prove utterly useless.

In the year 1499 an envoy was sent t.o Rhodes from Henry VII., king of England, with a very flattering letter to the Grand-Master, accompanied by a present of horses of a breed much prized for their pure blood and extreme docility. They were stated in the letter to have been reared in the island of Ireland, and to have been called Eburi. The king at the same time sent several pieces of artillery for the defence of Rhodes, which he requested might be given into the charge of the English knights, to be placed on that part of the fortress which was in their guardianship.

In these later years no less than five chapters-general had been convoked, in which many enactments highly beneficial to the discipline of the convent were passed. Reforms of the most searching kind were introduced, and the island was weeded of numerous unworthy characters from amidst the Greek population with which it had previously swarmed. The only drawback to the peaceful end which D’Aubusson felt approaching arose from the conduct of the Pope, who, heedless of the pledge of his predecessor, bestowed on members of his own family all the more important offices of the Order as they fell vacant. Remonstrances were utterly disregarded, and D’Aubusson was powerless for any more effectual action. In the midst of the acrimonious correspondence engendered by these illegal acts, he breathed his last on the 30th June, 1503, at the ripe age of eighty years.