Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/646

610 obtained possession of property in the New World. A knight, named de Poiney, had established himself in the island of St. Kitts, as commandant for a company of merchant adventurers who held the station under a grant from the crown of France. He persuaded the Grand-Master and council to effect a purchase of the island, which he represented as capable of adding materially to the wealth of the treasury. The cost of this transaction amounted to £5,000, for which sum the Order was invested with plenary possession of St. Kitte and all it contained, including slaves, provisions, and stores. This transfer was ratified by letters patent issued by the king, Louis XIV. De Poincy was appointed to the superintendence of the property, which was raised to the position of a bailiwick, and efforts were made to secure the islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe on similar terms, but without success. The results which de Poincy had foretold were never realized; the treasury received no return whatever for the outlay which had been made; and when, ten years later, the new bailiff died, it was found that the debts he had incurred in the management of the estate amounted to as much as its entire value. The fraternity, therefore, hastened to disembarrass itself of an acquisition rich in nothing but debts and encumbrances, and the unfortunate speculation was brought to a close by a transfer of the island, with its liabilities, to a company of French merchants in the year 1665, under whose control the plantations proved a far more lucrative investment.

Lascaris died on the 14th August, 1657, at the extraordinary age of ninety-seven. His end had been so long anticipated that intrigues without number were set on foot with respect to his successor. On the one hand appeared the prior of Navarre, Martin de Redin, who had secured the support of a very large party in the convent, whilst in strong opposition to him was the grand-inquisitor Odi, who cherished an inveterate antipathy to the Spanish knight, and sought in every way to thwart his ambition. Redin had been recently appointed by the king of Spain to the viceroyalty of Sicily, and at the moment of Lascaris’ death was absent from the convent at the seat of his government, but his party was too powerful for the inquisitor to overcome, although he made every effort to do so. He