Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/409

Rh miserable fate of his protégé Amurath, the son of Djem. This young prince had been unable to elude the vigilance of the sultan, and to make his escape with his protectors. His disguise having been discovered he was captured and brought before Solyman, to whom he boldly announced himself a member of the Christian faith. On this the sultan, who was on1y too glad of an excuse to make away with him, ordered him to be strangled in front of the troops. The incident of Amurath’s fate has been but lightly touched upon by the historians of the siege of Rhodes, probably because it seems to cast a slur on the otherwise fair fame of L’Isle Adam. Amurath had many years before thrown himself on the protection of the Order; he had embraced the Christian religion, and had ever since lived peaceably at Rhodes. It was well known that his residence there was a constant source of disquietude and anxiety to the Ottoman sultan. The Grand-Master could not, therefore, have been ignorant of the risk the young prince ran, should he ever fall into that monarch’s power. Yet we find the capitulation of Rhodes agreed on without any mention of his name, and no precautions taken to shield the illustrious convert from the vengeance of his implacable foe. The city was handed over to the sultan, and with it the unfortunate victim who had intrusted his all to the good faith of the knights of St. John. The result was what must have been foreseen, and the feelings of L’Isle Adam, when he learnt the sad fate of the young prince, must have been painfully remorseful.

True, he had much excuse for his conduct. Not only the lives of his own fraternity, but those also of thousands of the citizens, hung upon the terms which he could obtain from the Turks. It is possible that he may have endeavoured to include Amurath in the general amnesty, and that the condition was peremptorily rejected by the sultan. If this were so, L’Isle Adam would have had a very difficult point of conscience to decide. Either he must have given up the lives of all within the city to maintain inviolate his honour towards his guest, and that, too, without by such action saving the young prince, who would have fallen with the others; or, on the other hand, he must sacrifice him for the general