credit: whence arose the obligation of giving in accounts,and the estimation in which a government was held by theother European powers.

Since, then, in the present order of things, the real so-lidity of a state can only be judged of by a knowledge of itsfinances, I may surely be excused for giving the following par-ticulars relative to those of Malta, since they cannot fail ofimpressing the reader with a most favourable idea of the wis-dom of the administration and the excellence of the govern-ment.

The venerable chamber of the treasury might justly beconsidered as the general office for the finances of the order,since every thing relative to the receipts and expences of thegovernment was considered in that meeting. The administra-tors frequently published a statement of the accounts, and thebalance resulting. The table of the revenues which composedit, together with the manner of employing them, will sufficientlyprove that the affairs of Malta were as complicated as thoseof the most powerful governments.

The property of the order being dispersed throughout thedifferent Catholic countries in Europe, made the exact estima-tion and collection of the revenues difficult and embarrassing.It was therefore absolutely necessary to have separate coffers,and every priory had one for its own particular use. Themoney deposited therein was afterwards removed to othersestablished in twenty-nine towns, selected for that purpose on