of the division of Provence, Auvergne, and France, among whom liberal
pensions and rewards were freely distributed by the invaders of Malta.
It was thus that the French soldiers under Bonaparte obtained ready and
easy admittance to the almost impregnable defenses of Valletta, absolute
possession being given to them without any real or pretended fighting in
their defense. "It was well," said an officer high in command among the
invaders, "that some one was within to open the gates for us. We should
have found considerable difficulty in entering, if the place had been
entirely empty."

French gold and cunning diplomacy, not French valor, opened the way into
the well-fortified capital. Three days after the appearance of the
French fleet off the harbor, the tricolor was floating over the historic
battlements of St. Elmo. The indignation of the native Maltese was so
great at this ignominious surrender of the island to the enemy, that the
people rose in their anger and assassinated several of the most guilty
of the obnoxious members of the Order of St. John.

Bonaparte agreed, by solemn compact duly written and signed, on behalf
of his government, with the Grand Master, Von Hompesch, when he gave up
the possession of the island to him, that "the inhabitants shall be
allowed, as of old, the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion,
their privileges and property shall remain inviolate, and they shall not
be subject to any extraordinary tax." This agreement was a mere form on
the part of the French, the pledges being all broken within one week
from the day on which they were signed.

All Europe was amazed at this blot cast upon the escutcheon of a
chivalric brotherhood like that of the Knights, whose record for loyalty
to the order and its general purposes had been so gallantly maintained,
and at such terrible cost, for so many centuries. To one who recalls the
past history of these soldier-priests, such an ending must seem almost
incredible. It is impossible not to contrast this shameful surrender
with the valorous resistance of the Knights in the terrible siege of
1565, when their blood flowed free as water to sustain the honor of
their flag, and to preserve the integrity of their order. The dying of
the Knights who formed the forlorn hope of the fort of St. Elmo, one by
one fighting at his post until he fell, is one of the grandest and most
heroic tableaux known to the annals of history.

The new masters of the Maltes