Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/559

Rh three procurators, one of whom was appointed by the Grand- Master, and the other two by the council, the conventual conservator, two auditors, and two secretaries. In the absence of the grand-commander, his lieutenant took his place. No discussion could be carried on without the presence of one of them; they could, therefore, at any time close a debate by the mere act of leaving the chair. The revenues of the Order consisted of the following items, whence its ordinary income was derived:—

1. Responsions.—The nature of these payments has already been fully explained; the proportion to the rental of each commmandery, and consequently of each grand-priory, had been fixed by chapter-general; but in the event of war, or other pressing necessity, power had been reserved to the council to raise the amount. It was usually fixed at about one-third of the net income of the commandery.

2. Mortuary and Vacancy.—Whenever a commander died, the entire net revenue of his commandery, from the day of his death till the 1st of May following, was paid into the treasury. This was termed the mortuary. The revenue of the next year was also devoted to the same use, and was termed the vacancy. Whenever the finances of the Order required extra support, a second year’s vacancy was appropriated to its aid. During the last century of its existence at Malta, this additional tax became permanent.

3. Passages.—This was a sum paid to the treasury by candidates for admission into the Order. It was of two kinds, the majority and the minority. The amounts payable had varied greatly at different times. During the eighteenth century the majority passage which was paid by knights at the age of sixteen, or by pages at the age of twelve, was £100; a chaplain paid £80; a servant-at-arms (or esquire) £92. Donats, or brothers d’étage paid £26 8s. The minority passage was an increased rate paid for the privilege of entering the Order at an earlier age than laid down by law. It was originally devised in the middle of the seventeenth century, as a means of raising money to build additional accommodation for the convent at Malta. It was, however, never appropriated to that use, and gradually became a recognized and continuous source of revenue. Its amount for the first class was £388, and for either of the two other clases £330.