104

HISTORY Or MALTA.

mandery at (we will suppose) fifteen hundred pounds sterling,and the over]>1 us of those which exceed this sum be appro-priated to the support of the Maltese navy. Should theknights of these languages (which 1 will not allow myself tosuppose) object, that such an overplus would be insufficientto answer the purposed end, let the deficit be supplied bytaxing the commanderies in proportion to their respectivevalue. This mode of proceeding will, I am perfectly con-vinced, be approved by the knights: it is not only just, butabsolutely necessary. The age we live in calls for the greatestsacrifices: they are, indeed, become an indispensable duty,since they are not only sanctioned, but commanded, by the

y sacred laws of both religion and honour.

j Should the order once more return to Malta, it would be

absolutely impossible, for the first year or two, to maintainthe same number of men-of-war as ^formerly; and the otherChristian powers would be unjust to complain of such a defi-ciency : on the contrary, it would be greatly for their owninterest to furnish the knights with some vessels in sailing con-dition ; the corsairs having undoubtedly taken advantage oftheir absence to range unmolested the Mediterranean.

It has frequently been in agitation to pay subsidies to theorder * : but a revenue of this kind could never with proprietybe accepted; since Malta would then be a tributary state, and

* See Meyer.