Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/594

560 In short, every effort appears to have been made by the executive power to render the people contented with their lot, so far as that could be insured by a plentiful supply of amusement and festivity. In this they acted with a due discrimination as to the peculiar temperament of the Maltese. Docile and tractable in the highest degree, they merely required the excitement of a little innocent recreation to quell any feeling of discontent that might have arisen against a government in which their interests were invariably compelled to yield to those of the fraternity, and where they had scarcely any voice in the legislation. That that government was exercised beneficially, as a general rule, the rapid progress made by the island clearly proves; still, there were doubtless many laws enacted which pressed hardly on the population. The character of the Maltese is very simple and attractive. Frugal, sober, and industrious, they seem to possess more virtues, and to be afflicted with less vices than any other of the races of southern Europe, so that a little liberality in the matter of sports and holidays prevented any ebullition of discontent at their political disadvantages. It must not, however, be imagined that this docility on their part arose from any spirit of craven fear or from want of resolution. The events which marked the close of the eighteenth century, during the brief rule of the French, shew clearly that the islanders are not wanting in firmness or courage, and that when roused by real wrongs and oppressions, they are capable of the noblest exertions and the most heroic constancy in their struggles for freedom.

There yet remains to describe a curious offshoot of the fraternity, which, although it seceded from the parent stem at an early date, always kept up a connection with it, and which exists and flourishes at the present time. This is the Bailiwick of Brandenburg.

The earliest establishment of the Order of St. John in that part of Germany seems to have dated from the year 1160, when the Margrave Albert the Bear returned thither from his pilgrimage in Palestine. Its possessions at this time, which were inconsiderable, were situated between the rivers Elbe and Weser. They were superintended by a vice-preceptor, under the supreme control of the grand-prior of Germany. That