Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/709

Rh also debtors to a considerable amount. None of these liabilities were ever recovered.

3. All the pensions which, under the rule of the knights, had been granted for service, were suspended by the French. Many charities, formerly supported by the treasury, were in like manner abolished.

4. The payment of the interest on loans made to the treasury of the Order was at once suspended, and the claim for such loans repudiated.

5. The quartering of the officers of the garrison upon the families of the Maltese was a very unpopular measure, and gave rise to much dissatisfaction, as did also the levying of a tax for the. expenses of the soldiers’ barracks, which was in direct contravention to the terms of the capitulation.

These were some of the principal grievances of which the inhabitants complained. Still, although they were thus rendered discontented, the French might have succeeded in maintaining their sway, had they not insulted the feelings of the people on a point where they were most sensitive. Had they refrained from interference with the religion of Malta, they might possibly have carried their other acts of spoliation with a high hand; but a grave error of policy was committed when they decided on plundering the churches of the costly decorations and votive offerings, in which the inhabitants took so great a pride. From the moment they began these sacrilegious depredations, all sympathy between them and the Maltese was at an end. The latter looked with a sense of horror and detestation on a nation which, openly regardless of all religion itself, was guilty of such acts of wanton desecration, and the spirit of discontent, which had hitherto found vent in idle murmurs, was now so roused that it soon broke out into open revolt. The French had utterly mistaken the Maltese temperament, which is naturally bright, cheerful, and submissive, and neglected to mark the under-current of firm and determined courage which forms the mainstay of their character. Hardy, temperate, and, when excited, capable of deeds of the most dauntless heroism, passionately attached to their island and religion, the Maltese may be made, according to the manner in which they are governed, either the warmest friends and the most loyal