Читать книгу The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism (Vol. 1-4). The History of Sea Voyages, Discovery, Piracy and Maritime Warfare онлайн

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This memorable defence was the last of the special exploits of the White Cross Knights, and they rested on their laurels, the order becoming wealthy, luxurious, and not a little demoralised. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, the confiscation of their property in France naturally followed; for they had been helping Louis XVI. with their revenues just previously. Nine years later, Napoleon managed, by skilful intrigues, to obtain quiet possession of Malta. But he could not keep it, for after two years of blockade it was won by Great Britain, and she has held it ever since. At the Congress of Vienna in 1814, our possession was formally ratified. We hold it on as good a title as we do Gibraltar, by rights acknowledged at the signing of the Peace Treaty.86

The supposed scene of St. Paul’s shipwreck is constantly visited, and although some have doubted whether the Melita of St. Luke is not the island of the same name in the Adriatic, tradition and probability point to Malta.87 At St. Paul’s Bay, there is a small chapel over the cave, with a statue of the apostle in marble, with the viper in his hand. Colonel Shaw tells us that the priest who shows the cave recommended him to take a piece of the stone as a specific against shipwreck, saying, “Take away as much as you please, you will not diminish the cave.” Some of the priests aver that there is a miraculous renovation, and that it cannot diminish! and when they tell you that under one of the Maltese churches the great apostle did penance in a cell for three months, it looks still more as though they are drawing on their imagination.