Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Capture Of Malta, And Subversion Of Its Government.
mam ! from hivn an account of the sacred deposit entrusted to him , and for which he was responsible to his Order and to . all Europe . A long time since the Grand Master was apprised that the armament of the French was destined against Malta . Since the month of February , -we did not cease to suggest to him , both by words and writing , precautions and means of defence . He rejected all those means which reason represented to him ; he lulled himself into a culpable supineness ; he answered the Marshal ofthe Order that every
thing was done ; and nevertheless , at the moment when the French executed their descent , he had no preparation ready to receive them . * A Member of the Supreme Council of the Order for more than twenty years , a Member of the Congregation of the State since the commencement of the Revolution , could the Grand Master be ignorant of the details known to the lowest Knight ? A Member of the Criminal Commission , which in the last days of the reign of his predecessor sat in judgment on a conspiracy formed by a
person of the name ot Vasallo , could he have forgotten that the chief of tlie conspirators answered in his presence to th . e last interrogatory he underwent ^ - ' If they wish to know what were our projects , let them ask Prince Camillus and Ransinjeat , it was they who directed us . ' This fact is known to all Malta . It was expected that tlie first act ofthe Supreme Authority , with which he was soon afterwards invested , would be to remove those two subjects , so long marked with the seal of reprobation . The Grand Master
did no such thing ; he left to the first the exercise and the command of the militia of the country , and to the second the administration of the finances of the Order . T ° aft thus against the public voice , and with danger to tlie general ' safety , was to make himself responsible for the event . Then the militia mutinied , under a chief whose perfidy they were acquainted with , and inhumanly massacred the brave Knights , whom , in their barbarous fidelity , they enveloped in the suspicions they justlconceived against Prince
y Camillus . —Ransinjeat caused no less disorder in the city , by the movement he gave to the Jacobin party which he was so long forming , and by the insolent manifesto lie addressed to the Grand Master at the moment when the enemy landed . _ The Grand Master , for an instant , assumed an air of wrath against that traitor : he caused him to be put into a dungeon , instead of suspending him from a gibbet ; in twenty-four hours afterwards he released him , in order to charge him with drawing up the infamous act of the destruction of
our Order , and of his own eternal dishonour . Wh y , in his relation , dated from Trieste , does the Grand Master omit that particular ? Does not this silence reveal the most scandalous weakness , or a manifest collusion with the traitors who sold Malta ?
' In the month of January , 179 8 , the Directory sent a man called Poussielques to organize an insurrection at Malta ; he enrolled the Maltese , whose names were inscribed on the list ; of the French Consul ; he distributed money , particularly to the Commander Bardonnenche , Director of the artillery , to the Commander de Fai , Director of the fortifications , the fountains , and . cisterns , and to the Commander Toussart , Engineer in Chief . In his abovecited relation , the Grand Master expresses himself thus : ' After the event the French themselves shewed a numerous list of the Maltese for a long time eievoted to their enterprize . ' He represents this fa & as unknown to him ; he did know it , however , and a long time before the event . The Grand Cross
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Capture Of Malta, And Subversion Of Its Government.
mam ! from hivn an account of the sacred deposit entrusted to him , and for which he was responsible to his Order and to . all Europe . A long time since the Grand Master was apprised that the armament of the French was destined against Malta . Since the month of February , -we did not cease to suggest to him , both by words and writing , precautions and means of defence . He rejected all those means which reason represented to him ; he lulled himself into a culpable supineness ; he answered the Marshal ofthe Order that every
thing was done ; and nevertheless , at the moment when the French executed their descent , he had no preparation ready to receive them . * A Member of the Supreme Council of the Order for more than twenty years , a Member of the Congregation of the State since the commencement of the Revolution , could the Grand Master be ignorant of the details known to the lowest Knight ? A Member of the Criminal Commission , which in the last days of the reign of his predecessor sat in judgment on a conspiracy formed by a
person of the name ot Vasallo , could he have forgotten that the chief of tlie conspirators answered in his presence to th . e last interrogatory he underwent ^ - ' If they wish to know what were our projects , let them ask Prince Camillus and Ransinjeat , it was they who directed us . ' This fact is known to all Malta . It was expected that tlie first act ofthe Supreme Authority , with which he was soon afterwards invested , would be to remove those two subjects , so long marked with the seal of reprobation . The Grand Master
did no such thing ; he left to the first the exercise and the command of the militia of the country , and to the second the administration of the finances of the Order . T ° aft thus against the public voice , and with danger to tlie general ' safety , was to make himself responsible for the event . Then the militia mutinied , under a chief whose perfidy they were acquainted with , and inhumanly massacred the brave Knights , whom , in their barbarous fidelity , they enveloped in the suspicions they justlconceived against Prince
y Camillus . —Ransinjeat caused no less disorder in the city , by the movement he gave to the Jacobin party which he was so long forming , and by the insolent manifesto lie addressed to the Grand Master at the moment when the enemy landed . _ The Grand Master , for an instant , assumed an air of wrath against that traitor : he caused him to be put into a dungeon , instead of suspending him from a gibbet ; in twenty-four hours afterwards he released him , in order to charge him with drawing up the infamous act of the destruction of
our Order , and of his own eternal dishonour . Wh y , in his relation , dated from Trieste , does the Grand Master omit that particular ? Does not this silence reveal the most scandalous weakness , or a manifest collusion with the traitors who sold Malta ?
' In the month of January , 179 8 , the Directory sent a man called Poussielques to organize an insurrection at Malta ; he enrolled the Maltese , whose names were inscribed on the list ; of the French Consul ; he distributed money , particularly to the Commander Bardonnenche , Director of the artillery , to the Commander de Fai , Director of the fortifications , the fountains , and . cisterns , and to the Commander Toussart , Engineer in Chief . In his abovecited relation , the Grand Master expresses himself thus : ' After the event the French themselves shewed a numerous list of the Maltese for a long time eievoted to their enterprize . ' He represents this fa & as unknown to him ; he did know it , however , and a long time before the event . The Grand Cross