220 
MALTA. 
that time but thinly inhabited, there being only about 
thirty or forty boroughs or other villages icattered about, 
and no city except the capital, called alfo Malta, and the 
town and fort of St. Angelo, which defended the har¬ 
bour; fo that the whole number of its inhabitants did 
not exceed 12,000, including women and children ; the 
greateft part of whom were very indigent. According to 
an ancient tradition, Malta was firft poflefled by an Afri¬ 
can prince named Battus, an enemy to queen Dido ; from 
whom it was taken by the Carthaginians; from the Car¬ 
thaginians it palled to the Romans, who made themfelves 
matters of it when they fubdued the ifland of Sicily. 
Thefe were driven out by the Arabs in the year 828 ; 
who were driven out in their turn by Roger the Norman, 
earl of Sicily, who took pofieflion of it in 1190; from 
which time it continued under the dominion of the Sici¬ 
lian princes till the time of Charles V. when it fell un¬ 
der his power, along with Naples and Sicily. To cover 
the ifland of Sicily from the Turks, Charles gave the 
ifland to the Knights of Rhodes, fince that time called 
Knights of Malta, whofe origin and hiflory is given un¬ 
der the article Knighthood, vol. xi. 
The objeft of the emperor was completely anfwered in 
ettablifliing the knights of St. John of Jerufalem as the 
perpetual lovereigns of Malta and Goza; and, from the 
period of their occupation, the ftrength and value of thofe 
iflands have increafed. It is gratifying toobferve the ex¬ 
ertions which were made by the members of this order 
on taking pofieflion of their newly-acquired territory; 
and the magnificent towns and fortifications, which foon 
fprang up, proved how much even fmall (fates might ac- 
complifli by economy, talents, and perfevering induftry. 
The grand matter, Villiers de l’lfle Adam, employed him- 
feff in fortifying the ifland, and by this means defeated 
the defigns of the Turkifh emperor Soliman, who gave 
orders to Sinan Bafla, whom he had fent to befiege Tri¬ 
poli, to deflroy in his paflage that nett of robbers; but, 
when Sinan had landed, and confidered attentively the 
cattle of St- Angelo, and the bulwarks, he faid to the cor- 
fair Dragut, who prefled him to begin an attack, “Doff 
thou fee that cattle ? the eagle certainly could not place 
its nett on the fummit of a lteepcr rock; to reach it we 
ought to have wings like the eagle, for all the troops in 
the world would not be able to force it.” That he might 
not, however, entirely difoblige Dragut, Sinan ravaged 
the ifland, and laid fiege to the capital; but the gallant 
refiftance of the inhabitants obliged him to retire. 
Soiiman ltill made againft the order in 1565, under John 
de la Valette, the 47th grand matter, the lalt important 
attack which it experienced. A man who would fit 
down in his clofet to imagine the moll unexpected and 
Angular events that could take place in the courfe of a 
fiege, would not be able to invent any more extraordinary 
than thofe which have been traced out by the hiftorian 
of Malta; he did not refolve to write this kind of ro¬ 
mance till after waiting a long time in vain for the real 
memoirs which had been promifed him; and he faid, 
when they arrived, “They are too late; I am forry for 
it; my fiege is completed.” This anecdote, if true, may 
ferve to keep us on our guard againft thofe hiftorians who 
are too fond of panegyric ; but, though the details may 
be heightened, it is certain that greater firmnefs, bravery, 
and activity, could not be difplayed than were exhibited 
by the grand matter and his knights. La Valette was 
wounded in the breach ; when fome of his friends wiflied 
him to retire, he replied, “ At feventy-or.e can I finifli 
my life more glorioufly than by dying with my brethren.” 
After having fultained a fiege of four months, they were 
relieved by a force of 6000 men, fent from Sicily to their 
fuccour, and the Turks were compelled to raif'e the fiege. 
Hence this town obtained the name of Citta Vittoriofa, 
which it retains to this day. La Valetta was built by La 
Valette, and called after his name. One of his fucceflors 
made a magnificent aqueduct in 1616, to bring waterto this 
new city ; and others conftrufted various works of import¬ 
ance to the fafety of the place. When the town was 
finiflied, the convent and habitation of the knights were 
removed hither. That the work might not be interrupted 
when money failed, they paid in copper, which was after¬ 
wards called in at its full value. The infcription on ife 
was, Non as, fedjides, “Not money, but loan.” In pro- 
cefs of time this ifland maintained itfelf againft the whole 
Ottoman power; but the order was never rich enough to 
attempt foreign conquefts, nor to equip numerous fleets. 
They were, however, as liberal as they were brave in af- 
filting their neighbours, and alfo in defending themfelves 
againft the Turks and theCorfairs of Algiers and Tripoli. 
In the year 1724, a truce was concluded with the Turks 
for twenty-one years, fnbjeCt to renewal if both parties 
fiiould think proper. While it continued, the Malrefe 
were to enjoy in the Oates of the grand fignior the fame 
privileges as the French. They alfo ftipulated for the ex¬ 
change and ranfom of flaves. The fultan agreed not to 
gave any afliftance to the ftates of Barbary ; and the treaty 
was to be void when any of the Chriftian princes were at 
war with the Porte. 
But, fince treaties of alliance between Chriftian and In¬ 
fidel powers are now as common as between Chriftian 
powers alone ; and fince the Barbary corfairs are lefs for¬ 
midable and injurious to commerce than they were for¬ 
merly, the order of Malta, notwithftanding its claim to 
the gratitude of European powers for a long feries of pad 
fervices, feems to have declined in importance and efti- 
mation. Under the grand matterfhip of Rohan, indeed, 
the pofleflions belonging to the order of St. Antony were 
added to thofe of Malta ; feveral commanderies, fituated 
in Poland, were reftored ; and a new language was in- 
ftalled, the Anglo-Bavarian ; to which was afterwards 
united the grand priory of Ruflia, created by tlie emperor 
Paul, who, enamoured of chivalrous exploits, and well 
aware of the commercial and political advantages which 
Ruflia would derive from the pofleflion of Malta, affumed 
the title of protestor of the order, and was inverted, to¬ 
gether with the whole imperial family, with the grand 
crofs of Malta. Neverthelefs, the European powers were 
very indifferent as to the independence of the order. 
That the legiflative afltmbly of France fiiould pafs a 
decree, annulling the order of Malta, was not matter of 
furprif'e; it was the natural confequence of a previous 
law, that every Frenchman, who was a member of any 
order of knighthood which required proofs of nobility, 
fhould no longer be regarded as a French citizen. Nor 
can it be matter of furprife that, by the fame decree 
(Sept. 19, 1792), all its property fhould be annexed to 
the demefnfs of France. The original hofpitalers, and 
the firft knights, were Frenchmen ; out of the eight lan¬ 
guages France had three, befides commanderies fituated 
in Alface, Roufillon, and French Navarre, which were 
all dependencies of the two languages of Germany and 
Arragon. The confifcation of all this property was quite 
confonant with the prevailing fyftem of revolutionary po¬ 
licy and morals. The enormous deficit which this plun¬ 
der occafioned, ought to have excited the compnflion, if 
it had not called forth the generofity, of other ftates; in- 
ftead of which, we find the order aflefled to fupport the 
coalition againft France. Thus, between two armies, the 
knights of Malta had to bear the blows of both! The 
Spanifh and Portuguefe commanderies, which had never 
before paid any taxes to their refpeftive governments, 
were now called upon for a tenth of their revenue; thofe 
in the kingdom of Naples and in Sicily were fubjeCted to 
heavier ones; and the order was treated (till worfe in 
Piedmont, where part of the property of the knights of 
Malta was ordered to be fold. The revenue of the order 
in the year 1788 amounted to 3,156,719 French livres, 
and the expenditure to 2,967,503, leaving a furplus of 
189,216. To the confifcation of its property in France, 
yielding an annual revenue of 1,392,974 livres, and its 
taxation by different fovereigns in fupport of the war 
againft France, mutt be added the enormous lofs which 
