Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/636

600 them away from the island on a cruise, holding the chapter during their absence. The statutes were all revised during this session, and the laws thus amended remained in force until the dispersion of the fraternity at the close of the eighteenth century.

Much dissatisfaction was caused by the repeated interference of the Pope with the patronage of the langue of Italy. Vacancies were constantly filled up by him with his own relatives and dependents without the slightest regard to the claims of seniority or the wishes of the council. The Italian knights became at length so discontented at this glaring misappropriation of their rights that they broke out into open mutiny, and refused to perform any of the duties of their profession, or to take their turn of military and naval service, on the plea of the injury which was being inflicted on their interests. Many abandoned Malta altogether, and returning to their homes, threw off the habit of the Order in disgust. Redress was sought in vain, and the Grand-Master was forced to submit to the usurpation thus made on his most valued privileges and patronage.

Throughout his rule, expeditions similar in character to those organized under de Vignacourt constantly took place. Useless for all national purposes, and partaking largely of a piratical character in the way they were conducted, they served only to irritate the Turks without in the slightest degree enfeebling their power. The knights of Malta were fast degenerating into a race very similar in character and pursuits to the robber hordes who swarmed within the harbours of Algiers and Tunis, and their deviation from the noble and disinterested conduct of their predecessors was apparent in every detail of their administration. The worldly prosperity, however, of those over whom they held away was materially increased, and the influx of wealth consequent on the many rich prizes they annually seized, raised the island of Malta to a position of opulence and commercial importance to which it had for centuries been a stranger. In the year 1632, a census was held, and the numbers then recorded as present in the island, with its dependency of Ooze, amounted to 61,150 souls. When L’Isle Adam, a century earlier, had first established his convent home there, the population barely exceeded 17,000. The Maltese had