Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/706

670 secured himself in his new conquest, and developed the principles upon which the French government was to be based. The surrender of the fortress was completed as rapidly as possible. At midday on the 12th June fort Manöel, fort Tigné, the castle of St. Angelo, the Margarita and Cottonera lines were all transferred to the French, and on the following day fort Rieasoli, St. Elmo, and the whole of Valetta and Floriana followed. The troops of the Order were permitted temporarily to retain the barracks which they occupied, but merely as the guests of the French republic until they were otherwise disposed of. A commission of government was at once established composed of the following nine persons, viz., the quondam knight Boisredont de Ransijat, Vincenzo Caruana, Carlo Astor, Paolo Ciantar, Jean François Dorell, Grongo, Benedetto Schembri, I)on Saverio Caruana, and Cristoforo Frendo. The duties of this commission were, by their deed of appointment, specified to be the taking charge of the administration of the islands of Malta and Gozo, the superintendence of the collection of all taxes and contributions, the arrangements for provisioning the island, and for its sanitary regulation. They were also to organize tribunals of justice on the model of the new French courts. The two islands were to be divided into departments, each containing 3,000 souls, and municipalities were to be formed in the towns of Valetta and Vittoriosa. Each country department was to be under the direction of a body of five members, nominated from the district. Another decree specified that all armorial bearings were to be removed within the space of twenty-four hours, that no liveries were to be worn, and that all titles or other marks of nobility were to be at once abolished. The consequences of this decree are still plainly visible in the wanton defacement of all the armorial tablets ‘ii the island.

Then followed a decree, directing that all persons, subjects of any power at war with France, were to quit the island in forty-eight hours. All knights under sixty years of age were to leave within three days. To these decrees a number Of exemptions were made of knights or others who, having befriended the French, were to be regarded as Maltese citizens, and were to be permitted to remain. One of the principal