8

HISTORY OF MALTA.

No sooner were the duties of that charity, so conformable tothe first institution of the order, once fulfilled, than they proceededto make a strict inquisition into the conduct of those who had beensent to procure relief for Rhodes. All who were cited before thefull council assembled upon this occasion, presented themselves at itwith a confidence which innocence and truth alone could inspire;and it was sufficiently proved, that, during the last two months ofthe siege, the wind had been so obstinately contrary, and the sea sodreadfully rough, that no one was hardy enough to set sail. Itwas a known fact, that a knight named Newport, of the languageof England, an old naval officer, thinking (if I may so express my-self) to subdue the raging waves by his superior skill, embarked atthat time, and was thrown back again by the violence of the windupon the point of Cape Desert; where the vessel, with all its cargo,was lost.

The tribunal having found no person guilty, “ God for ever bepraised!” exclaimed LTsle Adam, “ zeho, in our common misfor-tune, has hnd the goodness to prove to me, that the loss of Rhodescould not be attributed to the negligence of any of my Order!”

The plague visiting Messina, forced the order to quit thatcity; and they breathed a purer air for some time upon the coastof the kingdom of Naples. After making a short stay at Rayesand the environs of Cumes, the knights re-embarked, and arrived atCivita Vecchia.