738 
upon by the French government to 
evacuate the island of Malta, His 
majesty had manifested, from the 
moment of the signature of the deti- 
nitive treaty, an anxious disposition 
to carry into full effe¢t the stipula- 
tions of the treaty of Amiens rela- 
tive to that island. As soon as he 
was informed that the eleétion of a 
grand master had taken place, un- 
der the auspices of the emperor of 
Russia, and that it had been agreed 
by the different priories assembled 
at Sts Petersburg, to acknowledge 
the person whom the court of Rome 
should seleét out of those who had 
been named by them to be grand 
master of the order of St. John, his 
majesty proposed to the French go- 
- vernment, for the purpose of avoid- 
ing any difficulties which might arise 
in the execution of the arrange- 
ment, to acknowledge that election 
to be valid ;.and when, in the month 
of August, the French government 
applied to his majesty to permit the 
Neapolitan troops to be sent to the 
island of Malta, as a preliminary 
measure for preventing any unneces- 
sary delay, his majesty consented, 
without hesitation, to this proposal, 
and gave direétions for the admis- 
sion of the Neapolitan troops into 
the island. His majesty had thus 
shewn his disposition not only te 
throw no obstacle in the way of the 
execution of the treaty, but, on the 
contrary, to facilitate the execution 
of it by every means in his power. 
His majesty cannot, however, ad- 
mit, that, at any period since the 
conclusion of the treaty of Amiens, 
the French goverament have had a 
right to call upon him, in confor- 
mity to the stipulations of that trea- 
ty, to withdraw his forces from the 
island of Malta. At the time when 
this demand was made by the French 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1803. 
government, several of the most ini- 
portant stipulations of the arranges 
ment respecting Malta remained uns 
executed : the ele¢tion of a grand 
master had not been carricd into ef- — 
fect. The tenth article had stipu- 
lated that the independence of the 
island should be placed under the 
guarantee and protection of Great 
Britain, irance, Austria, Russia, 
Spain, and Prussia. The emperor — 
of Germany had acceded to the gua~ — 
rantee, but only on condition of a — 
like accession on the part of the © 
other powers specified in the article. — 
The emperor of Russia had refused 
his accession, except on the condi- — 
tion that the Maltese langue should 
be abrogated ; and the king of Prus- 
sia had given no answer whatever to — 
the application which had been ~ 
made to him to accede to the ar- — 
rangement. But the fandamental 
principle, upon the existence of j 
which depended the execution of © 
the other parts of the article, had 
been defeated by the changes which 
had taken place in the constitution 
of the order since the conclusion of © 
the treaty of pease. It was to the 
order of St. John of Jerusalem that 
his majesty was, by the first stipula- 
tion of the tenth article, bound to 
restore the island of Malta. ‘The 
order is defined to consist of those 
langues which were im existence at 
the time of the conclusion of the 
treaty ; the three French langues 
haying been abolished, and a Mal- 
tese langue added to the institution. 
The order consisted, therefore, at 
that tune, of the following langues, 
viz. the langues of Arragon, Castile, 
Germany, Bavaria, and Russia.— 
Since the conclusion of the definitive 
treaty, the langues of Arragon and 
Jastile have been separated from 
e order by Spain, a part of the 
> Ttalian 
