HISTORY OF MALTA.

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consequently become dependent on a particular power. Thesesubsidies might likewise be stopped at pleasure, which wouldmake the state of the Maltese navy veiy uncertain. It ought,on the contrary, to be permanent, and always ready to set sailon the first appearance of a Barbary corsair having put to sea.Let no one imagine the utility of the order of Malta to bemerely temporary and partial; it is, on the contrary, both con-stant and general: constant, because the infidels who inhabitthe coast of the Mediterranean, interest themselves very littleabout commerce, the greatest part of them subsisting entirelyby piracy, consequently never are at peace at one and thesame time with all Christian princes; and general, since itdoes not merely confine itself to protecting the countries inwhich its possessions are situated, such as Spain, Sicily, andItaly, but is equally attentive to the interests of America,Russia, Sweden, Prussia, &c. These countries may, indeed,be said to reap still greater advantages from its protection:since some months must necessarily elapse, before it can pos-sibly be known at Philadelphia, Petersburg, Stockholm, andBerlin, that the beys of Tunis and Algiers have declared•war; during which time, without the assistance of Malta, thecorsairs would seize on the merchantmen of these powerswith impunity.

The English and French men-of-war, in honour bound tokeep treaties with their allies, which the Barbarians laugh atand break at pleasure, are frequently obliged to remain inactive