their allowance of wine and brandy. To the honour of the French troops, for it is impossible to contemplate such conduct without admiration, not a murmur was heard, and during a whole twelvemonth there were scarcely twenty deserters, and the greatest part of these were either volunteers or sailors! The situation of the inhabitants now became every day more and more disastrous; and such were the effects of poverty, disease, and frequent emigration, that of 40,000 souls in September 1798, there only remained 13,000 in 1799: these were reduced to 10,000 in the following October, and to 7.500 in March 1800. In the last period of the blockade provisions rose to an incredible price : a bottle of oil sold for a guinea, a pound of coffee for 21. 8s, and a pound of sugar for a few shillings less; asses, mules, horses, dogs, and cats, were almost all consumed; and general Vaubois was at last compelled, by famine, to propose terms of capitulation. He received from the English such as were due to so persevering and courageous a resistance, and such at the same time as proved that Britons pay just homage to the bravery of an enemy. The native Maltese were the only party who had reason to complain of the capitulation, and still greater of the treaty of Amiens, which again consigned them to the order which had given such irrefragable proofs of cowardice and treachery. It is the policy of M. Boisgelin to identify the interests of the Maltese with those of the order; or rather to represent the former as entirely dependent on the latter: the wise and paternal government of the knights is the subject of an eulogy which emblazons every page; and the misfortunes which the Maltese would experience from a sepa ration are foretold in most dolorous accents. If any confidence can be placed in the representations of the Maltese deputies, appointed, as has already been mentioned, by an extraordinary congress held at Malta and Goza, and consisting of the chiefs of battalions, and representatives of every town or burgh, it is very clear that their interests are not so closely connected as we are urged to believe. In the first of the volumes, which-perhaps we ought to apologize for saying-are yet before us, M. Boisgelin has presented a very long list of authors who have written on Malta, including those whom he has consulted in his history, and the appendix to the last volume contains a variety of state papers, referring to the affairs of the order. Throughout the whole work, however, not the slightest notice is taken of, or allusion made to, the remonstrance of the Maltese deputies. It is on this account that we have already quoted it so largely, and that we shall persist in opposing its statements to those in the too partial history which must be expected to come from the pen of a loyal knight. This work, it is true, was written before the definitive treaty was signed, but evidently not published till long after the conference of the deputies with lord Hobart. M. Boisgelin could not but have been acquainted with the particulars of that conference; if asked the reason, he may perhaps answer after the manner of Vertot, who, when some particulars were sent to him respecting the siege of Malta under La Valette, replied, "my siege is finished."* The remonstrance of the Maltese against that portion of the treaty of Amiens which consigned their island to the order, begins thus: "The Maltese were the first who took up arms against • As our author has followed Vertot, or rather translated him, in the particulars of this cekbrated siege; it was, of course, necessary to rescue his narrative from the charge of accuracy. The following note occurs upon the occasion. Though Vertot has been accused of inaccuracy in the particulars he has given of this siege, I have not scrupled to quote him in the principal events, since there is not one that I Cannot strictly prove from the most authentic testimonies and writings of those days, and of which Vertot was perfectly well informed. His answer, therefore, to some representations made to him on the subject, that his siege was finished,' was not founded on a dislike to being furnished with any essential and new information he might receive relative to his work, but from the thorough persuasion that the facts he transmitted to posterity, being taken from the archives of the order, and from all the contemporary writers, were perfectly sufficient. Those who had applied to him on the occasion, as he had frequently experienced, had no other object in view but to request him to make mention of different knights, their relations, with whose genealogy they wished to acquaint him. The authors of Des Litches Litteraires de la France, a work published by N. L. M. D'Essarts, justify M. de Vertot in the fullest inanuer, and clear his memory from the smallest reproach." the French, and besieged them in Valetta; they were afterwards assisted by the Portuguese, the Neapolitans, and the English, who blocked up the great harbour and port of St. Paul, while the Maltese guarded every other avenue to the island"... "The Maltese were the principals in the war; during the block ade the Maltese lost 40,000 souls. The British army had not a single soldier killed. Reduced to the utmost extremity from a scarcity of provisions, the French garrison offered to capitulate, and to leave hostages for the vast sums that they had taken from the public treasury, from the university, from the Monté de Pieta, from the churches, and lastly from individuals, under the name of forced loans. The British general, as well as the Maltese, were acquainted with the situation of the French garrison: they knew that in two days they must surrender at discretion; and in the city there were actually found no more than a few salms of wheat, and no other provisions whatever. Notwithstanding this, general Pigot (without the knowledge or consent of the Maltese) granted the garrison a capitulation, by which the French were permitted to carry away all their effects. In consequence of which, be fore the gates were opened, the French again plundered the city of the few jewels and effects which still remained to the abandoned inhabitants, and carried them in triumph on board the vessels that were to convey to France the spoils of a victorious people. The British troops took possession of the place, and persuaded the Maltese to lay down their arms upon the glacis, before they entered the town. Confiding in the good faith of the British nation, the Maltese consigned the government of their country into the hands of the British generals, without suspicion, without stipulation, and faithfully obeyed them as ministers of the sovereign whom their hearts had elected. As to the manner in which they were treated, they wish to remain silent, as they are fully persuaded that it would be reprobated, with horror and regret, by the ministers of the king of Great Britain. The expences of the war by land, and the pay of the Maltese battalions, were defrayed by the Maltese; and, in order to enable them to do this, they mortgaged the lands of several villages. The Maltese, therefore, demand that this island may be restored to them; or that all the expences incurred by them for their share of the war may be paid them, and they may be indemnified for the losses occasioned by the war, and for the plunder which the French were permitted to carry away.” The representation proceeds to contest the title of the knights to the possession of the island: it goes on thus, “Convinced of their own political weakness, and placing a full reliance in the sincerity of the British government, and in the faith of the British nation, the Maltese were more desirous of becoming subjects of the king of England, and of enjoying all the advantages of free subjects of a monarch, who is the father of all his people, than to assert and maintain their own independence; but never did they suspect, nor can they now for a moment believe, that, violating all the laws of justice, divine and human, they are to be forcibly delivered up by their auxili ary allies, as a conquered people, or as vile slaves sold for a political consideration to other masters, to masters, whose tyranny, extortion, and sacrilege, have rendered them the execration of every virtuous mind, and to whom, whatever horrible calamity may ensue, the Maltese nation will never submit." The representation proceeds to assert, that if the island were again de livered up to the order, it would virtu ally be in the hands of the French, since there are not (even including those of the new Anglo-Bavarian language), more than a thirtieth part of the knights who are not at the blind disposal of France. Indignantly is it observed, "if the knights of the order, in possession of an independent sovereignty and revenue, enjoying every ease and pleasure that imagination can form, engaged in objects of luxury, caressed and reverenced as so many sovereigns; if in this condition the French could command them to quit their terrestrial paradise, to wander in the wide world, and could induce them to become partizans of their cause, what must not the power of the same French over them be, dependent, degraded, dis honoured, reduced to beggary, in whom is extinct every spark of honour, and who have been guilty of the blackest, the most horrible infidelity, apostacy towards their God, and violation of the sacramental ordinances?"....“ With respect to the guarantee of this or that power, but too well is our island acquainted with the French and the order not to be convinced of the fallibility of such a proposition. The first war, whe ther of long or short duration, puts an end to it entirely. If ever a third power were to occupy some parts of the fortresses, the troops would be corrupted by French money and French principles; and immense are the sums that would be expended for that purpose. The military posts are dependent one upon the other. We are able to point out," say the representatives, "the utter impossibility of occupying a part, without the whole. We can clearly demonstrate how they can, and will, obtain their several ends. We can make it evident, that there is no security for the inhabitants, unless British troops are placed in possession of all the fortresses, and unless the administration of justice is placed in the hands of a British civil govern ment." We have surely brought forward evidence enough, and more than enough, to throw a suspicion at least on those parts of Mr. Boisgelin's work which enlarge on the moderation, humanity, justice, &c. of the civil government of the order of St. John, and which are calculated, as they are obviously intended, to excite pity for the fate of the knights, and induce a belief that their interest and that of the Maltese was one and the same; that the latter had every reason to be, and actually were, a very happy, contented, and unoppressed people, grateful for the peaceful protection of the order, and perfectly satisfied under their mild dominion! If the remonstrance of the Maltese deputies is not a forged document, or the querulous production of an ungrateful faction, neither of which has for a moment been suspected, then the fact seems to be diametrically opposite; and M. Boisgelin's history, if it contains what is true of the knights, does not contain all that is true concerning them. As to the general execution of the work, it may be called respectable, but not possessing any high degree of excellence: the author has taken pains in the collection of his materials; but his details, particularly in the first part, relating to the antiquity and topography of the island, are minute to an excess, and tiresome; inferences also are occasionally drawn from facts, which the facts do not justify. The work, however, with all its faults, notwithstanding its confused arrangement, partiality, and inclination to dullness, is yet valuable, as containing a curious, but certainly by no means complete, body of information respecting the constitution of the order, from its original foundation to the present times: the changes it has at different times undergone; its degree of dependance on the pope, and other christian powers; its ceremonies, solemnities, dignities, finances, &c. &c. &c. Not to have been inspired with enthusiasm in describing its valorous atchievements against the infidel powers, particularly its defence of Malta against the rage of Solyman, would have argued a cold and unfeeling heart; but M. Boisgelin, as we have repeatedly said, is alive to every thing which concerns the honour of his order, and nothing which can do credit to their valour or humanity is passed over unheeded. We can assure our readers, however, that the pleasure to be derived from Vertot's delightful and elaborate history, will in no degree be diminished by a previous perusal of the present, which indeed is under very great obligations to that work. A few engravings, rather for illustration than ornament, are scattered through the first volume, to which is prefixed a folding map of the islands of Malta, Goza, and Cumin, on a very large scale, and very neatly executed. ART. XVI. Epitome of the History of Malta and Goza. By CHARLES WILKINSON. 12mo. pp. 210. AFTER having devoted so many pages to M. Boisgelin's History of Malta, we should have contented ourselves with stating, in half a dozen words, that a considerable quantum of information was here compressed within a very small com pass, and that so far as it extended, that information was accurate, had we not stumbled upon a prevailing error respecting a part of the internal econo my of the knights of the order. "As the order was founded on the prin In the second volume of the English folio edition of Vertot, is a translation of the Old and New Statutes of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, translated from the edition of Borgoforte, 1676. In M. Boisgelin's work a selection only is made from these statutes and ordinances. ciples of chivalry, they have ever found it too inconsistent with those principles to abolish duelling; but had laid it under such restrictions, as greatly to lessen its danger, which were curious enough. The parties were obliged to decide their quarrels in one particular street; and if they presumed to fight any where else, they were liable to the rigour of the law. But, what was not less singular, but much more in their favour, they were obliged, under the most severe penalties, to put up their swords when ordered by a woman, a priest, or a knight. Under these limitations, in a great city, one would imagine it almost impossible that a duel could ever end in blood: however, this was not the A cross was painted opposite to the spot where a knight had been killed, in commemoration of his fall; of which there are several. In the year 1770, two knights had a dispute at a billiard table; one of them, after a great deal of abusive language, added a case. blow; but, to the astonishment of all Malta (in whose annals there is not a similar instance), after so great a provocation, he absolutely refused to fight his antagonist. The challenge was repeated, and he had time to reflect on the consequences; but still he refused to enter the lists. He was condemned to make the amende honorable in St. knights were of very spirited and impa ent dispositions, the statutes against c turbances are numerous, and the penalne exceedingly heavy. The infliction of quarantain, the punishment here inpes upon a knight who so far forgets the g tleman as to strike, or use ill langu to a brother, was very humiliating. " that is condemned to it," says the st tute," shall fast forty days together, an on Wednesdays and Fridays shall ha nothing but bread and water; he sha eat upon the ground, and undergo t discipline in the following manner: shall appear before the priest, with any clothes on, naked and barefor and whilst the priest is lashing him or the shoulders, with a rod, he shall say t psalm Miserere mei Deus, and repeat s veral prayers." Title xvIII. § 55. ch Duelling was not sanctioned by the c der; it was not "laid under restriction but absolutely prohibited under the v severest penalties. Nothing can be m decisive than the following statute: “A we are desirous to put a stop to the m piety of such, as without any regard the welfare of their souls, fight duels, a expose their bodies to be killed, we enac that if any brother shall give a challeng to another, by word or by writing, John's church for forty-five days successive- Where Mr. Wilkinson picked up the story of this craven knight, we know not; if he had looked into the statutes of the order, he would have paused before he gave it credit. By one of the statutes, title xvII, § 39. ch. it is enacted that "if any brother raises a tumult against another brother, or any body else, in the day, or in the night time, with any sort of arms whatever, in the convent, or in any other part of the island whatever, he shall be deprived of his habit." Again, $ 42, "If any brother shall, in a dispute with another, give him ill language, he shall be put to the quarantain, though he may own he lied, and is sorry for it. If he give him the lie he shall lose two years of his standing. If he says scandalous things of him, he shall be punished at the discretion of the master and council, ac cording to the quality of the person, and grossness of the scandal. Whoever shall strike a brother, with a cane or stick, give him a box, or any blow of the like nature, shail lose three years of his standing." Tole xvi. 42 ch. The statutes against duelling are uncommonly severe; and, as the y ung messenger, or in any other manne whatever, though the challenge be p accepted, he shall be deprived of the l bit for ever, without hopes of pard besides the penalties decreed by the cou cil of Trent, and the bull of Pope G gory XIII. of blessed memory. If t person challenged accept it, though should not appear on the spot, they sha both be deprived of the habit with hopes of pardon: if they come to place appointed, though no bloed shed, they shall be delivered over to L secular arm. Whoever shall give occ sion for a duel, shall advise, assist, abet it, either in fact or right, or shall any manner whatever persuade any be to offer a challenge, or shall serve i a second in a duel, or shall be persuade. to be by as a spectator, or shall post the challenge, or cause it to be posted in any place whatever, shall likewise deprived of the habit." 38. ch. Title xvi These extracts we have taken from t statutes which were confirmed by the general chapter in 1584. Under the mastership of Anthony de Paul, another general chapter was h A. D. 1631, when the old statutes word again revised; those being confirmed which were deemed essential, others add ed which appeared wanting, and others expunged which were no longer applicable. On this occasion the laws against duelling were revived. In order to prevent the detestable practice of duelling," it was ordained, "that all bro thers, whether novices or professed, that shall from henceforward fight out of the gates of the city of La Valetta, or upon the walls and bastions, shall be proceeded against as delinquents and guilty of dueling, so that upon the attorney-general's proving it, they shall be condenaed according to the thirty-eighth chapter of this title which treats of duels." XVII. $5 ch. One might infer, perhaps, from this ordinance, that the convent, having perceived the impossibility of preventing an ccasional recourse to arms among these high-crested knights, had winked at an infraction of the old statute; provided the duel was not fought within the city; that afterwards, however, from the impropriety of punishing in one case and not in another, duelling, either upon the walls and bastions, or without the gates of the city, had again become so frequent as to require the prohibition of a general chapter. The general chapter, therefore, without repealing the old st:tute, issues a new ordinance against du elling in those particular places where, in consequence of the former prohibition, they had been usually fought. The knights, whom no laws on this subject could restrain, now drew a different inference: they thought proper to infer, that the prohibition against fighting duels without the city, or upon the walls, was a tacit permission for them to decide their differences within the city. M. Boisgelin, who has noticed this, says, that "many travellers have mentioned one particular street where affairs of this kind frequently took place, and have falsely asserted, that it was a privileged spot: the truth is, it was originally cho sen on account of its situation, and since resorted to from the mere effect of habit. The crosses," continues he, "which are marked on the walls of the houses in this street, were made by the Maltese, who had an ancient custom of drawing them near the spot where they imagined any person had been killed; and they thought they were acting agreeably to God's will, to whom they prayed for the deceased, and made this mark as be ing particularly respected by all who bear the christian name." Boisgelin, vol. ii. p. 176. ART. XVII. Part the First of an Address to the Public, from the S ciety for the Suppression of Vice, instituted in London, in 1802, setting forth, with a List of its Members, the Utility and Necessity of such an Association, and its Claim to public Support. 8vo. pp. 105. THAT the members of this socieety, for the most part, intend well, cannot be doubted; but it may be questioned whether the means which they pursue are not more mischievous than seful. are sorry to perceive, that no comment is made upon the consolatory part of the proclamation, wherein his majesty declares," that for the encouragement of religion and morality, he will, upon all occasions, distinguish persons of piety and virtue by marks of his royal fa vour." We are still more concerned to observe, that, though the proclamation was issued in the year 1787, such is the lamentable deficiency of piety and virtue among us, no persons of the above description seem to have been forthcoming; and that though the society have brought to conviction six hundred and twentythree persons for profanation of the sabbath day, without mentioning those whom they have prosecuted and not convicted, they have taken no steps for discovering any worthy objects of that royal favour so expressly promised in the proclamation, as an encouragement Their manifesto is so curious a compound of credulity and folly, that we have little hesitation in ascribing it to Mr. John Bowles, whose name stands at the head of the co.nmittee list. No other person, since Mr. Wyndham has happily recovered his senses, sees treason walking by noon day, or is disturbed in his sleep by the jacobinical night-mair. Prefixed to this address is the king's proclamation for the encouragement of piety and virtue, and for preventing and punishing of vice, profaneness and immorality. It serves to give an appearance of authority to what follows; and it is, in fact, the text to a long sermon. We This is an inaccurate reference: it ought to have been title xvIII. The mistake probably arose from the omission in the new statute of title v111. (" of the Egard") in the old. ANN. REV. VOL. III. Q |