Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/441

Rh town aided the designs of those in its front, and before long La Vallier was forced to treat for a capitulation. The most honourable terms were granted, but when the time came for their fulfilment they were basely violated, and the garrison, together with many of the citizens, were made prisoners. D’Aramont, the French ambassador at the Porte, had visited the Turkish army during the siege, hoping to divert its attack from Tripoli, and had been compulsorily detained. He now exerted himself to the utmost, and partly by his influence, partly by the expenditure of a large sum of money, he procured the release of all the prisoners, and set sail with them for Malta, where he anticipated being received with the gratitude he so richly deserved. The general feeling in Malta at the loss of Tripoli was so very bitter that D’Aramont soon found that he was regarded with distrust and antipathy. He was compelled, therefore, to return to Constantinople, saddened with the conviction that his kindness to the unfortunate garrison had been entirely misconstrued.

D’Omedes, feeling that he himself was not without blame in having left the beleaguered city to its fate, became anxious to divert the popular wrath into another channel. He therefore caused the marshal to be arrested, with three of his late companions in arms. Never were innocent men more basely sacrificed to popular clamour. They were all stripped of their habits, and La Vallier, than whom a braver man or more skilful captain did not exist, was further handed over to the civil power and imprisoned. He would undoubtedly have met with a still worse fate, but for the bold and indignant remonstrances of a knight named Villigagnon.

Whilst these events were taking place, the course of the religious revolution in England had been gradually reaching its climax. The quarrel between the king and the Pope had already assumed the most threatening aspect even before the death of L’Isle Adam, and fears for the security and permanence of the English langue had embittered the last moments of that venerable chief. Since then matters had rapidly developed, and the Reformation had become an accomplished fact. An institution like the Order of St. John, still