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.HISTORY OF MALTA.

annually expended by the knights, it would have been impos-sible to have supplied the inhabitants with the most necessaiyarticles of existence; that the order never laid on any directtaxes; and that the natives alone had a share in the civil ad-ministration of the island, together with every thing relative tothe finances. Where, may I ask, will the sovereign be found,who, at this present moment, will produce from his coffers theabove-mentioned sums ? Who will contribute to the mainte-nance of hospitals constantly open for the reception of the sickof both sexes ?—Who will daily distribute bread to five or sixhundred families ?—and who will keep up those numerous in-stitutions, where infancy and old age received gratis all thatassistance so particularly necessary at the two most interestingperiods of human existence, and which, alas ! they might else-where vainly implore ?—Who, may I likewise demand, will sup-ply the place of the four or five hundred knights who inhabit-ed the magnificent palaces and sumptuous edifices in thecity Valetta; and who, in their superb country-houses, con-stantly employed themselves in cultivating at a great expencethe (to all appearance) barren soil of this rocky isle ?

Since, unhappily, there exists no sovereign capable of ad-vancing those sums which are absolutely necessary, not onlyfor the prosperity of the island, but to prevent the dire effectsof famine, by which it must be annually threatened, I mayventure confidently to affirm, that, ere a few years shall beelapsed, Malta will become a burthensome charge to its so-