Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/651

Rh therefore made preparations for following the example of the French, deeming all idea of further resistance futile. They retired from St. Andrew’s gate, the point which had been intrusted to their charge, and embarked on the 29th August for Malta. These defections left the place almost entirely unprotected; nothing, therefore, was left but to capitulate, and on the 6th September, 1669, the city and island of Candia passed into the possession of the Moslem.

The reputation for valour which the knights of St. John had of old established did not in any degree suffer from their conduct during this memorable siege. The commandant of the town, Morosini, thus alluded to their retirement in a despatch to his government:—“I lose more by the departure of these few, but most brave, warriors than by that of all the other forces.” Brussoni, in his “Guerra dei Turchi,” also states:—“Among the objects that they seemed most to admire was the Grand-Master of Malta, and whenever he passed they viewed him with extraordinary veneration, and, looking on St. Andrew’s gate, where his knights had stood, they wondered and expressed to each other their high respect.” The Grand-Master here alluded to must have been the knight in command of the Maltese contingent, since Cottoner did not himself appear in Candia, the duties of his government being far too responsible and onerous to admit of his undertaking the service of a simple warrior in any case where the defence of his own island was not concerned. The republic of Venice entertained so high a sense of the assistance rendered by the Order during this war that it passed a decree authorizing all knights within its territories to appear armed at all times and in every place, a privilege which it did not concede to its own subjects.

The prosecution of the siege in Candia had not prevented the knights from continuing those cruises which had rendered their flag so redoubtable in the Mediterranean. In the year 1664 they joined with a French force under the duke do Beaufort, afterwards killed, as we have seen, in Candia, in an expedition against Algiers; but this result of the attempt was unfortunate, and they were compelled to return to Malta without having accomplished their object. This mishap was, however, speedily atoned for by a succession of triumphs, in which the names of