THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA.

In our last number, we traced the history of the Knights of Malta, to the raising of the great siege of that Island, on the 8th of September, 1530.

After this event, they continued their naval battles with the Turks until modern times, and saved themselves from ruin, in various wars with the Porte, only by their unyielding courage. In 1760, however, they would doubtless have been overpowered but for the interposition of the French; after which, their naval expeditions were seldom anything more than mere show. The chief of the Order, which had great possessions in almost every part of Europe, was styled Grand Master of the Holy Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, and Guardian of the Army of Jesus Christ. He was chosen by vote, and resided at La Valette, in the island of Malta, until 1798.1 He was addressed by foreign powers with the title of Altezza Eminentissima, and received annually 6000 crowns from the treasury of the Order, together with all the revenues from the three islands,* so that his annual income may be estimated at nearly a million of gilders. The secular power was principally in his hands; but the spiritual power (that is, the immediate affairs of the Order,) was exercised by the Chapter, which consisted of eight Ballivi Conventuali, and in which the Grand Master presided. The Order was classed into eight languages, or nations, viz. Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Arragon, Germany, Castile, and England; to which the Elector Palatin, Charles Theodore de Sultzbach, added Anglo-Bavaria, and conferred upon the Order all the estates of the suppressed society of the Jesuits, situated in Bavaria; and which, at the time of their suppression, had been united to the electoral domains. Charles Augustus, Prince of Bretzenheim, was the first Prior of this nation, or language. He was invested in 1786, and resigned the dignity in 1799, immediately upon the death of the Elector. Of the other eight languages,— which were divided into Priories, and they into Bailliages, and they again into Commanderies, the German had the preference, and was called the Grand Priory. It was filled by the Grand Prior of Germany, or the Master of the Knights of St. John throughout Germany, who was a Prince of the empire, and resided at Heitersheim, a city and castle in Brisgau, now in the circle of Treisam, in Ba

* Malta, Gozo, and Camino.

+ Enclopædia Americana.

den. He had jurisdiction over Brandenburg,* Hungary, and Bohemia, but was himself subject to the Grand Master at Malta. Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia formed, besides, a separate Grand Priory of the German language. The last Grand Prior of Heitersheim was the baron Rink of Baldenstein, who, by the formation of the "Confederacy of the Rhine," in 1806, lost all his possessions in West Suabia. Of the eight languages, into which the Order was originally divided, the English became extinct in the sixteenth century; the three French languages perished during the revolution; those of Castile and Arragon were separated from Malta at the peace of Amiens, and the Italian and German languages have since either been abolished, or have fallen into disuse, in consequence of the difficulties in which the Order for the last half century has been involved. The naval force of the Order, in 1770, consisted of four galleys, three galiots, four ships of sixty, and two frigates, of thirtysix guns, with va rious smaller vessels. On the 10th of June, 1798, Malta was unexpectedly attacked by Buonaparte, when on his expedition to Egypt. The Knights capitulated without resistance. And thus, after having been in the possession of the Order for a period of two hundred and sixtyeight years, during which time it had successfully defied and resisted the combined military force of the Moslem power, it fell,—as the island of Rhodes fell, through the treachery of some recreant members of the Order,—an unresisting prey before the conquering arm of the mighty leader of Christian armies.2

The island of Malta was early in the hands of the Carthagenians who were dispossessed of it by the Romans. It was occupied in the middle ages by the Saracens and Normans, and, in 1530, as we have already observed, was conferred on the Order of St. John, who had been expelled from Rhodes by the Turks. It is about twenty French leagues in length, and twelve in breadth. It contains at the present time, two cities and about fifty villages. The capital is Valette, and was founded in 1566, by La Valette, the Grand Master of the Order. It is remarkable for the magnificence of its buildings, and the position and strength of its fortifications. The church of St. John is a noble building, two hundred and forty feet long and sixty wide, and contained great riches at the time of the capture of the island by Buonaparte. The hotels of the Knights, corresponding to the eight languages into which the Order was divided, are now occupied by the English officers. The palace of the Grand Master is an extensive pile, and contains a magnificent armory, of ancient and modern weapons. The great hospital afforded accommodations for two thousand patients, who were attended by the Knights. The vessels used in the hospital service were of solid silver. Immense graneries, cut out of the rock, were stored with corn sufficient to maintain

* The Bailwick of Brandenburg, now an appendage of the royal family of Prussia, is a branch of this Order, which, at the time of the reformation, was dismembered. It was confirmed to the Elector of Brandenburg by the treaty of Westphalia, in 1614. His R. H. Prince Ferdinand of Prussia, was, in 1833, invested with the dignity of Grand Master.

+ Grand Priors, however, were continued to be appointed for most of the languages, so late as 1784. This was then the case with regard to England.

The French garrison having been obliged, by famine, to capitulate in 1800, to a British force. In 1814, the possession of it was confirmed to Great Britain by the treaty of Paris.

the garrison twenty years. They were hermetically closed, and the grain has been preserved in them so as to be fit for use after a hundred years. The fortifications are the strongest in the world. Besides five ports, commanding the most important points, there are lines of vast strength, enclosing the various quarters, and forming works of such extent as to require twentyfive thousand men to man them, and a hundred thousand to invest the place completely. Valette is protected on three sides by the water, and on the fourth by five lines of fortifications. The ditches are in some places fifty feet deep, hewn out of the rock; and the ramparts are mostly formed in the same manner. A thousand pieces of cannon were formerly mounted on the works.*

Such was the island of Malta in the hands of the Knights of St. John. In 1800, the English reduced it, and in their possession it still remains.

The Order, on the 24th November, 1798, chose for their Grand Master, the Russian Emperor, Paul I. who declared the capitulation of the 8th June previous, an act of treachery, and took the Knights under his protection. This choice met with much opposition even from the Pope himself; who, after the death of Paul in 1805, appointed Tommasi, an Italian, Grand Master; and, on his decease, the Grand Chapter chose Caracciolo. The chief seat of the Order had been, hitherto, Catanea, in Sicily; but in 1826, the Pope permitted the Chapter and the Government to remove their seat to Ferrara.

In peace, as we have before observed, the Knights wore a long black mantle; and a gold cross of eight points, enamelled white. In war, they wore a red jacket or tabard, charged with a full white cross. Only in spiritual concerns was the Order subject to the Pope. In all temporal ones, they enjoyed unlimited sovereignty. Before the French revolution, the number of Knights, under the immediate jurisdiction of the Grand Master at Malta, was estimated at three thousand.

The last reception of the Order, took place at Sonnenburg, in the year 1800, when several Knights were created. Among them were Leopold, the present King of the Belgians, and Prince Ernest of Hesse Philippsthal Barchfeld. The following decree was issued on the 5th January, 1841; from which it will be seen, that the Order in Italy has been formally recognized and restored by the Emperor of Austria. We are indebted to our London correspondent for a copy of it. We believe it has never before been published in this country:

"DECREE

:

"For the Foundation of the Restored Order of St. John, of Jerusalem, in Italy.

"WE, Ferdinand the First, by the grace of God, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Lombardy and Venice, Galicia, &c. &c., do hereby declare for ourselves, our heirs, and successors

"That whereas it was an object of constant care to our late father, of illustrious memory, to protect, and as far as possible, to preserve undiminished the Christian Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, which did such good service to a large portion of Europe, and which suffered so much by the course of

* Encyclopædia Americana.

+ As the Order was composed of different languages, or nations, the badge was decorated so as to distinguish the country to which the bearer belonged thus, if to Germany, by an imperial Crown and Eagle; if to France, by a Crown and the Fleur-de-lis, &c.

events. We, being animated with the same desire, and being convinced that the establishment of the said Order must be serviceable and desirable to the nobility of our Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom, have been pleased to grant the prayer addressed to us by the Deputy Grand Master, Bailli Carlo Candida, and to allow of the erection of a special Priory of the Order of St. John, in the Lombardo, Venetian Kingdom. It being, therefore, our gracious will to give effect to the foundation of this Priory, we hereby decree and ordain as follows:-Firstly, We appropriate as an endowment for the aforesaid Priory, the former church of the Order of St. John, together with the former Priory, situated in the parish of St. Francesco della Vigna, in the district of St. Antonio (Nos. 3,772, 3,200, and 9,204 of the provisory land-tax register,) at Venice, to become the property of the Order, and that the sinking fund of the Lombardo-Venetian Monte shall be indemnified for the same from the State Treasury. Secondly, It is our gracious pleasure that every Grand Prior, from the day of his approval by ourselves and our successors, and as long as he holds the office of Prior, shall receive a yearly allowance of 2,000 florins, to be paid in monthly rates against receipts, in the usual form. Thirdly, We allow all such noble families in our Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom, as may be so disposed, to make foundations in this Order, and to confer respecting the conditions attached to them, with the superiors of this Order, promising that, without special reasons, we will not refuse our gracious assent to the said stipulations, that the Priory thus founded by us may acquire by degrees a suitable extension. Fourthly, We ordain that only Austrian subjects shall be elected as Priors of the Order, and reserve to ourselves and our successors the especial right of approving and rejecting, the persons chosen, in which latter case the new election is equally dependent on our approval. It is understood as a matter of course, that the regulations issued by us for the Order of St. John, or which may hereafter be issued by us or our successors, must be punctually observed. Fifthly, It is our gracious will and pleasure that the Order of St. John, as proprietor of the aforesaid Church and Priory, do affix this Foundation Charter to the common books of registry of its immoveable possessions, and that all the conditions herein expressed may be inviolably maintained. We have affixed our sign manual to two original and similar documents, one of which is to be deposited in the registry office of the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom, and one to be handed, according to our gracious pleasure, to the Grand Prior of the Order of St. John.

"Signed and published by our beloved and faithful Count A. F. Mittrowski, Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross, and Chancellor of the Order of St. Leopold, Honorary Bailli and Grand Prior of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, our Priory Councillor, and Court Chancellor at our capital at Vienna.

"5th January, 1841. "(Signed)

"FERDINAND.

"Count A. F. MITTROWSKI, &c. &c."

The annexed cut represents a Professed Knight of Malta, in the HABIT worn at his reception. We have not room for a very particular account of the ceremonies observed on the occasion. They were strikingly simple, impressive, and religious. The novitiate was made to understand that he was 66 about to put off the old man, and to be regenerated ;" and having received absolution, was required to present himself in a secular habit, without a girdle, in order to appear perfectly free on entering into so sacred an engagement, and with a burning taper in his hand, representing Charity. He then received the holy communion, and afterwards presented himself" most respectfully before the person who was to perform the ceremony, and requested to be received into the company of Brothers, and into the Holy Order of the Hospital of Jerusalem." The rules of the Order, the ob