y unprepared for
hostilities. The place was now in full possession of the treacherous
ally. Contributions were raised; the churches were plundered of their
plate and ornaments; the knights were expelled, and a French garrison
took possession of the island. What was the result? Malta was instantly
blockaded by the British, the garrison was reduced by famine, and Malta
became an English possession; which it never would have been, if the
knights had remained there; for England, in her respect for the faith of
treaties, would not have disturbed their independence. Thus, the
Republic, by iniquitously grasping at Malta, in fact threw it into the
hands of England. It is scarcely less remarkable, that the plunder of
Malta was also totally lost, it being placed on board the admiral's
ship, which was blown up at the battle of the Nile.

* * * * *

One of the first acts of the French consul has been to conciliate the
Italian priesthood by an act which they regard as equivalent to a
conversion to Christianity. The image of our Lady of Loretto, in the
French invasion of Italy, had been carried off from Rome; of course, the
sorrows of the true believers were unbounded. The image was certainly
not intended to decorate the gallery of the Louvre, for it was as black
as a negro; and, from the time of its capture, it had unfortunately lost
all its old power of working miracles. But it has at length been
restored to its former abode, and myriads of the pious followed the
procession. Discharges of cannon and ringing of bells welcomed its
approach. It was carried by eight bishops, in a species of triumphal
palanquin, splendidly decorated, and placed on its altar in the Santa
Casa with all imaginable pomps and ceremonies. The whole town was
illuminated in the evening, and the country was in a state of exultation
at what it regards as an evidence of the immediate favor of heaven.

* * * * *

A singular and melancholy trial has just taken place, in which a colonel
in the army, with several of the soldiery and others, have been found
guilty of a conspiracy to overthrow the government, and kill the king on
the day of his opening Parliament. The 16th of November 1802, had been
the day appointed for this desperate deed; but information having been
obtained of the design through a confederate, the whole party of
conspirators were seized on that day by the police at a house in
Lambeth,