Morning journal and courier., 1892-03-12


 hundred and eighty war vessels and thirty thousand select troops, began the invest ment of Malta on May IS, 1865. Jean Parisot de la Valetta, the grand master, with but six hundred knights and eight hundred Maltese militia, for four months sustained with unparalleled heroism the most savage and persistent seige since the seige of Troy. It has been ftly said that only Homer was lacking to render this historic event as memorial and its heroes, Christian and Moslem, as immortal.
 The decline of Moslem power really dates from this great Turkish defeat at Malta. All the Christian powers, though failing to aid the knights in their extremi- ty, now that they were victorious, in- dulged in delirious rejoicings, and royal, princely and private gifts poured in upon Malta's heroic defenders. The city and Notifications, named Valetta in honor of the glorious defender, were entirely re- built as you will find them now. The great church of St John, the Westmins- ter Abbey of Malta, was erected. Palaces termed "auberges" for the entertainment of the visiting Languages" arose on every hand; and it seemed that new and even more lustrous era ot splendor and power had begun.
 But the success of the French Revolu-
 
 Malta. All their property in France was annexed to the republics demesnes, and French members of the order were de- prived of citizenship. Bonaparte on his way to Egypt seized the islands through treachery, pillaged Valetta's treasures and garrisoned the fortress with four thousand men. These finally surrendered to the Maltese and their English allies, having been literally starved out, oh September 4, 1900. By this time the famous order was distracted and almost destroyed. It was proposed to restore it at Malta by the treaty of Amiens. The Maltese people strenuously opposed this. The order was never e-estsblished; and thus faded from existence the most heroic band of knight hood, bulwark of Christianity to the limit of its need, that ever made resplendent the most glorious days of chivalry. The seventh article of the treaty of Paris, signed May 30, 1911, was ss follows: "The island of Malta, with its dependencies, will appertsin in full authority and sover- eighty to His Brittsnnic Majesty" and Sir Thomas Maitland was Malta's first Eng fish governor.
 The three islands contained a popula- ton of about one hundred and fifty thou sand souls, of which fully one hundred thousand are found in the city and su-
 
 is place of extraordinary interest. The shore Notifications and landward lines are iu themselves worthy of a months study. Their tremendousness intricacy and even beauty constantly provide new and i'm pressive surprises. Nothing approaching their remarkable proportions can be found in Christendom. Then the old palaces, or auberges, and the great church of St. John, with countless public and private structures of minor importance, are mas sive and princely in character. The treasures of medieval Europe were open to their knightly builders. And I doubt if there is another spot accessible to civi- lized man where there is massed within the same area an equal evidence of outlay of labor and treasure. In contemplating the proportions. extent, massiveaess and richness of this single one monument to the ambitions of regal chivalry, the mind constantly gropes for equal examples of lavish utilization of wealth and labor, and as constantly recalls the great pyramid at Jeezah.
 The city proper lies along the "tongne" before alluded to, with most beautiful her- bors at either side. each i'll turn faced by the splendid Notifications and the magnif- cent suburbs rising to the right and left along the Mediterranean, and back towards the interior of the island The tongue" or peninsula on which was built the origi- nal city is about two-thirds of mile in length and fourth of a mile broad. It's central length line marks its highest alti- tude, and the rock gradually slopes 10 the side harbors and towards the peninsula's s point, where the great fort of St. Elmo, with it's splendid lighthouse, confront the Maltese channel in A northessterly direc- ton towards Sicily.
 Eiobt oy1ardi3 a., ,l 1e is Strada Reele at the summit, extend the whole length, from St. Elmo to the inner lines at the great Royal Gate; the eleven shorter streets intersect these, reaching the wsterside at the east and west beneath tremendous fortified archways. All these streets comprise series of stairways, ss- cending and descending to and from the highest level of Strads Reale. hewn out of the solid rock; and it vas these massive and beautiful a5j jlrcts to the picturesque ness of Valetta which secured from By ron, to whose unfortunate crippled feet many other of his bitter lines may be at tributed, the pardonable profanity of:
 ''Adisu, ye joys of La velette.
 Adieu. sirocco. sun and s.ypa';
 Adieu, ye cursed streets If stairs Sure every one who mounts you swears." Splendid rows Of buildings face the works along the entire shore of yaletta,
 
 of the most characterful and interesting thoroughfares of the city; while the views from the countless angles of the bastions over the city with its huge fiat roofs and domes; over the shipping of the harhors beneath, where the flags of all nations are seen and the waterside folk with boats of high peaked stern and prow provide as quaint groupings as can be found at Ven ice; upon the fair villas of distant Sliema where the rich of Europe pass their win ters in oriental luxuriance; or over the blue Mediterranean towards Sicily, where often old Etna's glitteripg crests may be seen-stir and thrill the stranger won- drously.
 All houses of Valetta are of solid stone. Scarcely any wood has heen employed in construction or interior decoration. Mar vels in stone in all adaptations of utility and establishment have resulted. Indeed Valetta in all of its most massive or frag. I ile aspects seems to have been hewn and | chiseled from one immovable solid rock. The lower stories of most structures are inhabited by the less wealthy classes, or are used for shops and stores. Between | the first and second floors is a middle floor called here ''mezzanino." It is low, and is used generally for offices, alcobas or small cafes and private or household eat. | ing apartments; the main suites of apart merts being on the first floor.
 | But every house in some portion pos sesses the charming Moresaue-Spanish patio or court. This is supplied with tank, we'll or fountain, often in most curi. ous and costly patterns; while balustrades gallesies, arches and stsirwaYs furnish the most exquisite examples of Byzantine ari in stone. Strada Reale, looking upward from near the walls of St. Elmo, is in my judgment the most beautiful and dream prompting street in the world. It is a, though your eyes rested upon broad stairs half shut in and shaded by films of lace which narrowed, in their fieecy distance where you might step at last over upon the mystery of a blue Calabrian sky. l Khan l. waryu.x