Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/780

742 A Hislory of 1/ic A’ne-h1s of Malla. Art. 16. The prisoners made during the siege, including the crew of the Ouillaume Tell and La Diane, shall be restored and treated like the garrison. The crew of La Justice to be used in the same manner should she be taken in returning to one of the ports of the republic. Answer. The crew of the Guillaume Tell is already exchanged., and that of La Diane is to be sent to Majorca to be exchanged immediately. Art. 17.—No one in the service of the republic shall be eubjcct to a reprisal of any kind whatsoever. Answer. Granted. Art. 18.—If any difficulties shall arise respecting the terms and conditions of the capitulation they shall be interpreted in the most favourable sense for the garrison. Answer. Granted according to justice. Done and concluded at Malta, the 18th Fructider (4th September), in the eighth year of the French republic (1800). Signed on behalf of the French by the general of division VAunots and the rear-admiral Viitiniurvx. On behalf of the English by Major-General Pieor and Captain MARTrN, commodore of the allied fleet before Malta. APPENDIX XIV. Article in the Treaty of Arniens relative to the Order of St. John. The islands of Malta, Gozo, and Cumino, shall be restored to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, to be held on the same conditions on which it possessed them before the war, and under the following stipulations :— 1st. The knights of the Order whose languages shall continue to subsist after the exchange of the ratification of the present treaty, are invited to return to Malta as soon as the exchange shall have taken place. They will there form a general chapter, and proceed to the election of a Grand-Master, chosen from among the natives of the nations which preserve their language, unless that election has been already made since the exchange of the preliminaries. It is understood that an election made subsequent to that epoch shall alone be considered valid, to the exclusion of any other that may have taken place at any period prior to that epoch. 2nd. The government of the French republic and of Great Britain, desiring to place the Order and the island of Malta in a state of entire independence with respect to them, agree that there shall not be in future either a French or an English language, and that no individual belonging to either the one or the other of these powers shall be admitted into the Order. 3rd. There shajl be established a Maltese language, which shall be supported by territorial revenues and commercial duties of the island. This