The Knights Templars.

However , nothing would turn the king from his dream of conquest , and finding no assistance from the Templars , d'Assalit determined to arm the Hospitallers , and form them into a military body , in imitation of that Order . To this plan he

received great opposition from the seniors of St . John , according to de Vertol , who urged that they were a religious Order , and that the Church had not put arms into their hands to make conquests ; but the younger and more ardent brethren ,

burning to exchang-e the monotous life of the cloister for the enterprise and activity of the camp , received the proposals of their superior with enthusiasm , and a majority of the chapter decided in favour of -the plans and projects of d'Assalit . D'Assalit

• was authorised to borrow money from Florentine and Genoese merchants , and was directed to levy soldiers to be paid by the Order , and to organise the Hospitallers as a great military society . To this they were influenced by the promise of

possession , in perpetual sovereignty , of Belbeis , and perhaps , their envy of the great privileges and military renown of the Templars , incited them to this course .

The Caliph , on hearing of the advance of the Christians , sent the hair of his women , one of the m-eatest tokens of distress known in the East , to 'the pious Noureddin , who at once despatched a body of troops to his assistance , headed by

Sheerkoh , and his nephew , the famous Saladm . Sheerkoh died on his arrival , Saladm became . commander-in-chief , and was appointed vizier to the Caliph . The invasion of the Christians had taken the Egyptians completely by surprise .

Belbeis was carried by assault—the helpless inhabitants cruelly butchered , the city pillaged , and then consigned to the flames . While Noureddin was despatching- forces to the

assistance of the Caliph , the vizier , Chaver , employed every means in his power to stop Almarie in his march . Ambassadors were sent to him to implore his pity , and two millions of crowns of gold offered him . The king caught greedily at

the bait , allowed himself to be deceived by those whom he himself had deceived , and while he was waiting for the payment of the gold , the Egyptians were busily employed in preparing for resistance . The Syrians arrived , and Almaric ' s eyes were

opened to his mistake . He rushed to offer battle to the Syrians , who avoided the combat , and joined the Egyptians . The king could uot combat the united armies , the fleet promised by

the Emperor Manuel never arrived , and Almarie , covered with confusion , retreated to Palestine . The Hospitallers abandoned Belbeis with the utmost precipitation , and fled before the enemy in sorrow and chagrin to Jerusalem . So enraged

were the brethren at d'Assalit , who had caused the Order to incur a debt of 100 , 000 ducats , that they forced him to resign , and fleeing from their fury to England , his ship was wrecked in the Channel . From this time the Knights of St .

John changed their character , and became a purely military bod } -. Almaiic afterwards , on the Emperor of Constantinople sending- him a fleet and troops , resumed his projects against Egypt , and laid siege to Damietta , but the never-ending

disputes between the Greeks and Latins prevented the success of the enterprise . During this attack by Almarie upon Egypt , Noureddin entered Palestine at the head of a

large army , but Gilbert de Lacy , preceptor of the Templars at Tripoli , hastily gathered together the Christian soldiers and knights of the province , and hastened to stop his march . Noureddin was encamped near Tripoli , and unsuspicious of the

presence of the Christians , had retired to rest . The Templars took the invaders by surprise , routing them with great slaughter , and Noureddin escaped with difficulty . He returned shortly after and laid siege to Arethusa , but was again

compelled to retire before the Christians . In the midnight assault , two Templars are mentioned by Martene as having behaved with distinguished valour . These were de Lacy himself , and an English Knight named Robert de Mansel . There can be little doubt that this treachery of Almaric ' s led to the final ruin of the Christian

power in the Holy Land , for it directed in a signal manner the eyes of Saladm upon Palestine , who , by stirring up the Musselmen by the two-fold tale of the treacherous dealings of the Christians , and their possession of the Holy City of Jerusalem ,

easily prevailed upon them to prosecute a war against the Christians , which promised them everything they could desire , revenge for a dishonoured treaty , plunder from the sack of wealthy cities , a pass direct to Heaven , should they fall in battle ,

and the certainty of Paradise whenever they died , in having fought for the cause of the prophet , aided in punishing his blasphemers , and helped to capture Jerusalem , the third sister of Medina and Mecca . The subsequent pages of this history will verify this .