Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-02-16
MORNING LEADER.
Sons of MnItn-

EDITOR OF LEADER II was quite amuse,
las, doubtless, were some of the "Sons" them
selves on reading in the Leader of to-day, tn
following announcement: "The Isle of Malt,
is still in possession of the Sons who rent i
to the British Government as place of deposi
for warlike stOres," that they exercise "con
trolling influence" &c. You say you Gcopy
from an exchange which appears to be posted
touching the order" Now, sir, the writer you
alude to must be far better "posted" in histo.
~ than my humble self, if he can show, in the
first place, that such an order as the ''Sons Of
Malta" ever had an existence; and, secondly,
that the British do now, or ever did, ''rents the
island from any order, or body of men Dates
in the present instance are not of much impor.
tance, but it was in 1880 that "Charles Y
granted to the grand master and religious fra
ternity of st, John, the ownership of all the
castles and fortresses of Malta" and also Trpoli
and Coco, but in the form of tenure from the
Crown of Sicily" Passing over what trans
PRED subsequently, up to 1898, as being of no
Importance to our present inquiry, find that
in July 18th in that year Malta was ceded to
the French Republic. "The order of Malta
was DOW extinct and "Homs9 9eeh," the grand
master, "left the Island accompanied by twelve
knights. The rigor and rapacity of French
rule sosn brought on a revolt, England was
appealed to and, after blockade of more than
two years, the French were expelled. Finally
"on the 30th of May, 1914, by a definite treaty
of peace, between France and the allied pow
ers, the lot of Malta was fixed by formal re-
cognition of her union with Great Britain, with
the concurrence of the King of Sicily, whose
predecessors had, for three centuries, exercised
sovereignty over the Island Thus the Maltese
people obtained the fulfllment Of their wishes.
and became subjects of sovereign of their own
choice" The Island has been, from the last
mentioned period, "a crown colony of Great
Britain Let it not be supposed, from the state
ments l have made, that am in any way op-
posed to the cleveland" or any other sSons
of Malta" far from it. only know of them by
their work of charity, and in that bid them
God-speed. My only object was to point out to
your informant, the slight mistake he had made,
in representing colony which no power could
ind money to purchase, or arms to subjugate,
as warehouse "for warlike stores"
A few words as to the capabilities of this
"place of deposit for military stores, may, per-
haps, be acceptable to some of your readers
Malta is so strongly fortified as to be impreg-
nable. Buonaparte obtained it through the
treacheIy of the French Knights" and the
weakness and creduly of the Grand master,
Ferdinand Hompeaeh." On entering the for
tress of Valetta ''Cafarilli, one of the officers
of the French commanders SUITE" said-'It is |
well General, that we have some one to open |
the gates for US. We should have had some |
difficulty in entering had the place been alto
gether empty" Some idea may be formed Of |
the strength of this fortress (there are others
equally formidable) from the French having |
found in it." 800 pieces of artillery (about |
800 which were mounted on the works. IS, 900 |
stand of arms, $4,000 barrels of powder, and an |
immense number of shot and shells" As ga |
retreat for those whom long service in the or
der, and old age, have enfeebled," it will hard
ly be thought desirable During six years the
hert, within doors, was-maximum 80 deg, |
46 deg, medium 63 deg But it is in |
the night season that the heat is most oppres- |
sive, much SO as to justify the term ''impla- |
cable" which has often been applied to it 81
have seen," says Doctor Hennen, ''the ther-
mometer steadily maintain, during the night,
for three successive weeks, the same height it
had risen to during the day, while marked it
with feelings of increased oppression"
B. GRIBBLE