Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/488

454 an issue by means of negotiation. For this purpose he selected as an envoy a Greek slave, whom he despatched, under a flag of truce, as the bearer of most liberal terms should the Grand-Master consent to capitulate. These conditions included all that had been granted on the surrender of Rhodes, and the Order was guaranteed security both for life and property. To La Valette this mission was very unacceptable. lie had from the first determined either to carry his defence to a successful issue or to bury himself and his Order beneath the ruins of his fortress. His eloquent exhortations and his own example had roused a similar feeling in the minds of all his knights, and he was most unwilling that their firmness should be shaken by the offer of such alluring terms as those proffered by the pasha. To prevent, therefore, any further repetition of these messages, he directed that the envoy should at once be hanged. The unfortunate Greek implored mercy on the ground that he had been compelled to undertake the office. For some time La Valette remained obdurate, but at length he relented, and pointing to the ditches surrounding St. Angelo, bade the envoy inform his master that there lay the only ground within the island of Malta which he was prepared to surrender, and that only as a grave for the Turkish army.

This defiant reply shewed Mustapha that he had nothing to gain by negotiation, and that if the fortress was to be won it must be by force of arms alone, he therefore pushed forward his siege works with the utmost vigour, and early in July had completely surrounded both the Bourg and Senglea. The latter, secured at its extremity by the fort of St. Michael, was the object of his first attack, and he opened batteries upon it from every available point. Both from Mount Sceberras and the Coradin hill a tremendous fire was brought to bear upon that portion of the work which it had been determined to breach. The point selected was called the Spur bastion, which formed the extreme end touching the harbour. It