of defenders. The mines and the countermines, with the subterranean combats to which they gave occasion – the encounters in the water, where the swimmers of Dragut strove to break the chain which barred the port, or to destroy the palisade which fenced the shore of Isolu point the Greek fire and blazing hoops which were tossed to and fro by the combatants, – all are placed vividly before us, and combine to make a picture unequalled in the annals of war. We cannot refrain from expressing a hope that this chapter at least may find a place in the collections of English classics now so much in vogue for educational purposes, both as an example of the decaying art of the historical chronicler, and as a truthful description of a great event in the world's history.
One conspicuous feature of this memorable struggle is the attitude of the native population. Arab as they clearly are by origin, they did not then, nor do they now, display the slightest inclination to support or amalgamate with any Mohammedan race. Their Catholicism is not only of a strict type, but seems thoroughly to have interpenetrated their national character. A recommendation which appeared in the 'Times' last year, that the future gendarmerie of Egypt might be composed of Maltese, is a suggestion which may very possibly be reverted to; for it is founded upon their peculiar qualifications as a race with an Eastern language and Western sympathies. The knights also gave them credit for being good soldiers if well led, – a character which General Porter, from personal observation, and from the annals of the French siege, considers them to have maintained. The history of the French occupation is full of interest, and throws light upon more than one vexed question of Maltese government. The rule of the Grand Masters, ever oppressive to the natives, in the latter part of the eighteenth century had become positively odious. Instead of being the channel through which a large sum of foreign money was distributed through the island, the Order, after the confiscation of their European property, had been obliged to resort to all manner of devices to exact from the Maltese the means of maintaining their various public establishments. A significant indication of the shifts to which they were driven may be seen in the public museum at Valetta, where a large collection of matrices and dies for coins are preserved – all belonging to the three last Grand Masters; who, by issuing new silver coins, and calling in the old, debased the circulating medium, and utilised much of the plate belonging to the Government, the Langues, and the religious foundations. The smouldering discontent was fostered in masonic lodges, just as the late intrigues in Egypt caused many initiations into French and Italian Freemasonry in that country. When at length the First Consul appeared before Valetta, Hompesch, the Grand Master, found himself deserted and betrayed: as his apologist justly says, De Lisle Adam lost Rhodes in fair fight, but Hompesch lost Malta without the opportunity of striking a blow in its defence. When Napoleon entered the gigantic lines, ramparts and ditches hewn by the labour and cemented with the blood of thousands of Mohammedan captives, he turned to his lieutenant with the remark, "It was well we had somebody to hand us the keys of such a stronghold." He is reported to have contemplated a palace at Bighi, from whence he should rule
