Knights of St. John first landed in Malta there were but twelve
thousand inhabitants here. The Knights were soon followed by a
considerable number of their former subjects in Rhodes, many of whom
had, like themselves, been wanderers since they were driven from that
island by the Turks. The order was still popular and wealthy, enjoying a
princely revenue from various continental sources, as well as from the
rich prizes which they constantly captured from the Ottomans, from
roving Greeks, and from Barbary pirates. The proceeds of these captures
were expended with a lavish hand among the Maltese people, diffusing
plenty and comfort throughout the islands. This material prosperity soon
stimulated immigration from various Mediterranean ports, and called home
many who had endeavored to improve their fortunes by seeking occupation
elsewhere. The natives were treated with great liberality by their
monkish rulers. No taxes were demanded of them, while they were in
constant receipt of money from the plethoric treasury of the Knights.
There was occupation for all, and fair remuneration for the same. Never
before, as far as we know, had the sunshine of prosperity so smiled upon
these isolated shores. The period to which we refer is regarded as the
golden age of Maltese history. The most intelligent of the present
inhabitants are never tired of referring to the period when the white
cross of St. John floated proudly over the castle of St. Elmo.

It was indeed the golden age, speaking in a worldly sense, but not in a
spiritual one; yet the average Maltese not only sympathizes with the
profession of these Knights, but even indorses their daily lives, public
and private, which would not bear for one moment the conventional test
of our modern civilization. It would seem as though the virtue and honor
of Maltese wives and daughters counted for nothing, in this wholesale
opinion of the period covered by the sovereignty of the order, and that
the natives of that day ignored all sense of self-respect in their
estimate of the value of pecuniary prosperity as compared with the
sacredness of domestic purity. Women were bartered for like merchandise;
personal attractions formed the criterion of their market value, while
there was not even the pretense on the part of the Knights of keeping
their priestly vows as celibates, by which every member of the
fraternity of St. John was supposed to be bound. Women came voluntarily
and openly from Italy, F