Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/357

Rh of the two churches, the Order was compelled to seek elsewhere for Roman Catholic priests to fill the ranks of its conventual chaplains.

It has already been mentioned that all legislative powers were exclusively vested in the chapter-general, whilst the executive functions were intrusted to the Grand-Master in council. It will be well now to enter into some detail as to the composition both of the chapter and of the different classes of council. The chapter-general, the great parliament of the Order, was, during the earlier years of its existence, held regularly every five years, and in cases of emergency was often convened even between those periods. Gradually a longer time was allowed to elapse. The interval between them extended first to ten years, and later on still longer, until they were eventually almost entirely discontinued, one only having been held throughout the eighteenth century.

Many reasons may be alleged for the abandonment of this ancient council. The great expense attending its convocation; the extreme inconvenience and detriment to the interests of the community necessarily arising from the calling away of so many of its provincial chiefs from the seats of their respective governments; the turbulence which often characterized the sessions; and the difficulty which the Grand- Master invariably experienced in carrying out his views and policy in an assembly where his influence predominated but slightly; all of these were causes to check their frequent convocation. In the absence of a chapter-general the Grand- Master conducted the government with the aid and intervention of a council only, and in this assembly he was enabled to exercise a far greater influence, and to obtain a more complete subservience to his wishes than he could ever expect from the chapter.

The summoning of a chapter-general lay entirely with the Grand-Master or Pope. We have adduced reasons to show why the former should, as far as possible, neglect to assemble them. Similar views, to a great extent, actuated the pontiff, since, in the absence of a chapter-general, all legislative powers were vested in himself in the same way as the executive were in the Grand-Master and council. The court of Rome has