ile the Christians
who remained were to be unmolested, and permitted to worship in their
usual manner. The Sultan was to provide ships, and to provision them,
with which to transport to Crete all who desired to go thither. These
liberal, not to say generous terms were faithfully adhered to, except in
one instance,--all the Christian churches in Rhodes were promptly turned
into Mohammedan mosques.

It is said that less than a hundred of the Knights of the order remained
alive to avail themselves of the Sultan's clemency! What a comment upon
the gallant and protracted fight which they had made! Of course there
were numerous men-at-arms attached to the brotherhood, who also followed
its fortunes into exile, saying nothing of the non-combatants who
accompanied them.

The fall of Rhodes left Sultan Solyman for the time being sole master of
the eastern basin of the Mediterranean. There were now none to dispute
his power in the AEgean, Ionian, or Adriatic seas. The Greeks were of
small account, while the Algerines were in fact his allies. The Turks,
who were by no means originally a maritime people, had gradually, by
force of circumstances, become so, and at this time they were as daring
pirates as the dreaded Algerines of the African coast.

From this period the Order of St. John was homeless, and continued so
for six or seven years, maintaining temporary headquarters at Candia,
Messina, Cumae, and Viterbo. Its officers, dispersed among the several
courts of Europe, strove ceaselessly for recognition and reorganization.
The long siege through which they had so lately passed had quite
exhausted their immediate resources, and reduced their number to a mere
nucleus. It had been, as we have shown, a fearful and most destructive
warfare. The aged Grand Master, L'Isle Adam, repaired to Rome, where he
did not cease his endeavors to influence the Pope in behalf of the
order; that functionary either did not desire, or does not seem to have
been able to do anything in its behalf. Finally, the island of Malta,
having fallen into the possession of Charles V. of Germany, was
presented by him in perpetuity to the homeless Knights of St. John. To
an order which had no local habitation, and which was just then so
universally ignored by the reigning monarchs, and even by the Pope, this
was seemingly a great boon, a noble gift; but the real facts of the case
rob the act of any spirit of true generosity. The royal owner cared very
little for