Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/683

ChAPTER XXV.

1797—1798.

Election of von Hompesch—Establishinent of a Russian priory—Capture of Malta decreed—Arrival of the French fleet before Malta—Dispositions of Bonaparte for the attack—State of the town—Inefficiency of von Hompesch—Surrender of the island—Departure of the knights —Death of von Hompesch—The knights in St. Petersburg—Election of the emperor Paul as Grand-Master—Subsequent wanderings of the Order—Its present position at Rome.

Ferdinand Joseph Antoine Herman Louis von Hompesch, to whose name is attached the melancholy distinction of having been the last Grand-Master of Malta, was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of de Rohan. He was the first knight of the langue of Germany who had ever been raised to that office. It is said that do Rohan during his last moments demanded of those surrounding him who was to be his successor. He was told that the bailiff von Hompesch appeared the most probable candidate. “The German,” remarked de Rohan, “is not a bad selection, provided he be well advised; but he is not the man for such a crisis as this, and I shall be the last to die Grand-Master of an illustrious and independent Order.” It is averred that von Hompeech did not desire the post, and that it was with difficulty he was persuaded to allow himself to be named as a candidate. This cannot be reconciled with the well- known fact that he expended a large sum of money to secure his election, and was ever after hampered by the debts he then created. He had begun life as a page to the Grand-Master Pinto, and had reached the dignity of a grand-cross at a very early age, probably owing to his high connections, springing as he did from one of the noblest families of the Lower Rhine. For twenty-five years he was envoy of the Order at