Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1849-07-05
Letter fren, the Mediterranean.
U. s. SHIP CONSTITUTIONS, }
SPEzZIA, April %, lS49. I

Dear Father I'll sent you a letter upon sur first suivnl al
Malta. bsfOie had visited the city. Now as l haze done
so. | write agai".
The city Of Malta valletis was built by the knights. in
the first place. After their punishment from Rhodes. they
inhabited the city for some time, although / do not know
the exact pc ind, and fIum what now remains TO speak Of
them on the Island there is no doubt but what they lived in
g'eai magnihcence and splendor. II afterwards fe into the
hands Of Napoleon who ~piundered IL OF a great deal Of its
riches. II afterwards fell into the hands OF the English, and
they still possess il and are likely To- for a 2 eat many years
to come In fact, II II was well Provlsioned ! d. not see
how it could be taken. Ii is surrounded by different lines
Of walls, surmounted with bniterie-, between which are
di'ches. which are in some places l should Jndge. nearly a
hundred and fifty feet in depth, patty excavated through the
sold rock; end each entrance is'o the city was fomed by a
tunnel excavated through The solid rock and protected on the
outside by a drswbiidge over the bitches which | have be-
fore mentioned. The entrance Of both haTb"Ts There is q
hai Dor on both sides Of the CT ". which is consequently siru-
afed on a peninsula) are commanded on both sides by very
strong forts, and as The entrances to the harbors are very
nanow. they would he able 10 sink vessels as fast as they
should attempt to enter.
There are a great many very fine buildings, which were
built by the knights, 10 be seen in Malta Among the INST
noted Of these ae the Church 81 st. John, and the Palace
originally built for the Grand Master Of the order of Knights,
but now occupied by the English Governor of Malta.
The church Of ST. John presents nothing ext'a to view
upon the exterior, but upon entering IT you are Immediately
struck with is grandeur. The roof Of the church is covered
with very fine paintings. the floor consists Of slabs ofmalble
beautifully coloIed, which cover The tomhs Of the ancient
cavaliers upon these slabs are Inscriptions in Latin. There
are also a number Of chapels in each side Of The church dcd-
icaied to each nation. These chspels are ornamented both
with paintings and sculpture Of men distinguished in The ie-
ligion Of heir counties.
There is also a large tomb under The church, containing
ut Vi VI I'D Ofanu ldtteT> also the e
mains of the man who built the church. The remains are
contained in large marble collins with the representation of
each on The cover.
There are also a great many paintings in The church. but
] will not attempt TO mention them in any manner, with the
exception of saying that they were very good.
But i must not forget TO mention one thing, which is, that
at the head of the church is the representation Of John
taptising Christ, both figures as large as life, and cut out of
the same piece of marble. This is the emblem of the
church.
will conclude my explanation of the church of St. John,
by saving tha, | have not done il The Justice that should be
| oivpn IL huf navprfhalera / hopa rhaf lffla I hava said
about it will be interesting TO you, and expecting that it
will, l proceed TO give you some little explanation Of the
Palace, although / expect that it will be a very feeble at
This palace. as I have before said. was built for the resi-
dence Of the Grand Master of the order Of Knights, and like
the church of 81. Johns, il presents nothing striking to view
on the exterior, and resembles the other buildings with the
exception of the size, which is very large.
The paintings and ornaments Of The interior Of the build
ing remain The same as when in possession Of the knights
Several of the officers of the Z" Constitution " visited the
Palace and we were shown through one of the most splen-
did suites of apartments in the building. In one of these
rooms the walls were covered with tapestry, worked with
the most brilliant colors, representing animals of all kinds,
also the engagements Of the knights with the Turks. The
other rooms were hung with beautiful paintings, by the beat
artists Of the day, lin which they we've psinicd,) and there
can be no doubt but what they are splendid specimens Of
} that beautiful art, as are the paintings which | mentioned as
being in the church of 81. John. more particularly the rep
reservations Of some of The saints. One | remember a $ see
ing both in the church of ST. John and the ualace. which
was the representation Of ST. G0oIge's combat with the
Dragon. There were so many paintings TO be seen that |
+, do not recollect The design Of any of them except that there
were portraits Of most of the Grand Masters hung in differ
ent parts of The palace.
There is one place l must no, forget to mention to you,
which is the Annoy. Ii occupies a veTv large loom ia one
) part Of the palace. II contains about 10000 muskets, a
large number of which were the property If the knights
il also contains a great number of aTmors which belonged to
the knights. Some of those which belonged to the Grand
Masters were beautifully iulaid with gold. There is one
armor there that is said 10 have been too large for any man
who has ever been to visit the place. This armor is sur
named " Joau Bull % in honor TO that county. There are
also a great number of swords, scimelars Of different sizes
shapes and manufacture, maces, large clubs studded with
D iron SpIkes,l lances, &c. also little cannOns and mortar
> which they used 10 old times, but which we call pla ylhinss
now-a-days. There is also a rope cannon which is quite a
curiosity; it was brought from Rhodes and by the way
forgot 10 mention that they have the keys of Rhodes, Acre
and jerusalem in preservation in the church of St. John
Farther description Of the Armory is unnecessary.
There is also a library here which was founded by the
knights, and / believe it now contains about 70, 900 volumes
e but there has been no catalogue of the books made out since
8 the city h's been in possession OF the English, although il
has been nearly 40 years in their hands. The building is
: very beautiful architecture, il is said the finest on The island.
, The lower part If the building is devoted 10 Ships.
When The city was in possession Of The knights, the diff.
feIent tongues of which there were eight, namely: France
Provence, Auverne, CASTLE, AIagOna, Italy. Germany. and
, Anglo-BavsTia, built for themselves each a splendid auberge
OF hotel, where they could convene together for converse
ton. These buildings are now devoted 10 differen, pur.
r poses, such as public Offices, officers quarters. sc. In one OF
these buildings, 1.-THE aubeTge OF Provence is large hall
used now as a bail room. and during our stay at Malta | had
the pleasure of attending a splendid ball given by the " 44th
Regiment " (Epglish) at that place.
Back of the city Of valetta is the smaller city OF FIori-
ana, a very beautiful place it was built for refuge for the
2 people Of the interior with their stock in the event OF an
2 invasion. There is a very fine garden in this place for pro-
E menade. There are also several fine buildings in the place
but not of much renown. The same line Of ratification,
extends around FloTiana as around ValIetta and with the
same degree Of strength. On the bastions around both cities
are a great number Of monuments to the memory of distin-
+, guished men, among which is one to Francis RawdOn, Mar
quis of Hastings, and other distinguished Individuals, princi
J pally officers
must not forget to mention that they are both supplied
with water brought by an aqueduct nine miles long, from the
back part of the island where it is fed by the springs. This
squeduct was constructed during the reign of the knights
about the 18th century il is built Of stone, on the old prin-
ciple of channels and arches. carving the water in an in
clined plane.
There are a great many towns and villages on The island
some of which have been built a great number of years
One of these places, Medina, is said to have been founded
before Christ it is considerably distinguished for different
things. The cathedral of the island stands here. and is ded-
T icated to st. Paul; it was destroyed by an earthquake in
1893, and afterwards rebuilt with more masnifcence. The
that the Temple of Apollo originally stood here, for 10 Dig
ging the foundations for buildings, at the beginning Of last
century, several columns of marble were found. The French
} robbed this place Of considerable wealth during their inva-
In the suburbs of Medina there are two places worthy OF
notice, the grotto Of st. Paul and the Caracombs. The groi-
TO is a cave under ground, cut out Of soft rock: Il is said
that the apostle st. Paul daily retired here for devotion
during his stay in the island. There is a church now stand
ing over the grolto. The gnOtto itself is very small, and al
though il is visited by thousands OF people all taking away
> pieces Of the rock, still it is wonderful that il has not in
creased beyond its original size! In The church are several
curiosities which were originally deposited in The grotto the
most remarkable Of these are a cross of ebony oTnamented
with silver and valuable relics, a present from Pope Paul the
= Fifth a piece of The cross of>our Savior, some milk of the
Virgin Mary $50 said also a gold arm set with gems, con-
tanning q piece of bone which is said to have been taken
' from the arm Of St Paul. There are also several other rel
les in preservation here.
The Catacombs are only a short distance from the grotto
they are very extensive and divided off into different pas
ssges which iniersect each other; on each side Of these pas
sages are excavations for depositing the dead. Ii is said that
many persons lost their way in these Ca'acomhs and were
never seen afterwards. On this account the English govern
ment caused The passages to be shut no at a limited distance.
/ believe l have mentioned all the most distinguished
places in the island of Malta, and / will conclude by a few
remarks on the island and inhabitants proper. The roads on
the island are very good and as there are so many pretty