Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/775

Appendix XII. 737 of the other at the meetings of council, at public assemblies, and other solemn congregations of this Order, the very reverend and most illustrious the Grand-Master, with his venerable council, appointed a commission consisting of the very reverend Fr. Antonio Cressini, prior of the church, Fr. Pietro Maréchal, and Don Fernando del Arcon, lieutenant to the high chancellor, in order that they, having inquired into the pretensions and allegations of both parties, and having consulted and examined the documents which they should respectively produce from the registry, might make a just and unbiassed report to the council, who, having executed the instructions which were given them, reported to the said very reverend Grand- Master and his council that, having heard all which the priors and their procurators had alleged in defence and in favour of their own cause, and having carefully considered the statements contained in the documents from the registry produced by them, they discovered that the priors of England take precedence, not only of the said priors of Messina, but also of the castellani d’Empoata, who precede the said priors of Messina, and who take precedence of several other members of the Order. Whence it came to pass that the very reverend the Grand-Master and his venerable council, having heard in profound silence the report of the said commissioners, and having discussed the contents of the documents produced as to whether they were or were not explicit upon the point in question, unanimously agreed that the said priors of England should take precedence of the priors of Messina. Moreover, to remove all cause of dispute which it was foreseen might in many ways arise if any decree should be published regarding this precedence, it was resolved that no sentence should be recorded, the more so as, in contesting the right of pre-eminence, it was generally acknowledged that the documents produced by authority from the registry in conformity with the regulations and ancient custom of this convent form in themselves the most equitable and most dispassionate sentence that could possibly have been anticipated. It therefore seemed proper to the whole council that the most ifiustrious and very reverend the Grand-Master, in order to intimate this right of pre-eminence, should proceed as follows, namely: that after summoning the contending parties into his presence and that of his council, the very reverend the Grand-Master should assign to each his place without the use of any words, and should allot by gesture the place of greater pre-eminence to the prior of England, and the place of less eminence to the prior of Messina, without, however, in any way prejudicing any claims which he should at any future time lawfully make and support in favour of his pretensions, which command the most illustrious the Grand-Master carried into execution, and having summoned the said priors into his presence and into that of his council, said unto them: ‘Sir knights, we having listened attentively to the reports of the commissioners, and having subsequently discussed together all the arguments and reasons which both of you have respectively produced from the registry in favour of your pre-eminence, do ordain and require that you, the prior of England, should sit in that place, and you, the prior of Mcssina, in that other place, without 48