Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/644

608 numerically strong, that in obedience to the popular clamour, the expulsion of the detested fathers wan decreed. With the exception of four of their number, who contrived to conceal themselves, the whole body was at once compelled to leave the island. The relief was, however, but temporary, as it wan not long before the reverend fathers once more found their way back to the scene of their former exploits.

Meanwhile the Pope, who doubtless considered that he had secured the eternal gratitude of the fraternity by his action against the bishop, demanded the assistance of the Maltese galleys in a war in which he was engaged against some of the minor Italian princes who had formed a league against him. To this request Lascaris and the council were so weak as to accede, although such action was directly opposed to the fundamental principles of their institution. The princes, justly irritated at this breach of neutrality on the part of the Order, confiscated its possessions in their respective territories, nor did they withdraw the embargo till ample satisfaction and apology had been tendered.

Whilst thus engaged in political disputes, which materially affected the prosperity of his fraternity, Lascaris did not neglect the internal improvement of his convent and of the island over which he ruled. The city of Valetta was, at its earliest foundation, protected by a line of ramparts enclosing it, and cutting off the lower portion of the peninsula of Mount Seeberras from the mainland. Not deeming this single line of works a sufficient defence on the land side—the only direction from which an attack was to be feared—Lascaris engaged an eminent Italian engineer named Floriani to suggest such additions as he might deem necessary. In due course Floriani presented to the council a project for a new enceinte to enclose a considerable space beyond the Valetta front, the proposed line running across the peninsula of Mount Sceberras, nearly at the point of its junction with the mainland. This report was prefaced with a long list of the defects under which Floriani considered the defences of Valetta laboured, and concluded with the remark that, although he had been engaged during his professional career in the fortification of many towns, and had, consequently, obtained considerable experience in the