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HISTORY OP MALTA.

The commissioners were of a different opinion respecting thecitw and castle of Tripoli; and represented to the council, thatthey were situate upon the coast of Barbary, eighty leagues fromMalta, without any fortifications; which, indeed, it would be almostimpossible to erect upon a foundation of sand, and subject to inun-dation : that the ditches were small, and very shallow ; and that theport and castle were commanded by a neighbouring mountain : thatthe city was surrounded by the territories of the king of Tunis, whowould never permit Christians to remain long unmolested: thatcorn< was still more scarce than at Malta; the soil being very bar-ren, and producing nothing but dates. From all these circum-stances they concluded, that if the order took upon itself thedefence of this place, it would only expose the lives of those knightswho should be sent thither. As to the sentiments of the inhabitantsupon this occasion, they did not at first appear very favourable:for the Maltese, during the century which preceded the infeoffmentof their island to the knights, had obtained great privileges from thekings of Arragon, their sovereigns at that time; and likewise asolemn promise, that they should never more be detached fromtheir government: they were, therefore, greatly afflicted upon firsthearing that Charles V., paying no attention to the assurance giventhem by his predecessors, intended to yield them up to a foreignpower. Neither the strongest remonstrances nor the greatestopposition could engage the emperor to change his resolution. He,however, succeeded at last m consoling them, and that m a manneranalogous to their interest and to their ideas of religion; for he