Horatio Nelson and the naval supremacy of England . f Sicily, Naples, and theAdriatic ; an active co-operation with the Austrianand Neapolitan armies should war be renewed inItaly ; and the blockading of Malta to prevent pro-visions from being sent into it. It was to Maltathat Nelson now addressed himself. In 1792 theFrench Government had decreed that the Order ofSt. John at Malta should be annulled, and its prop-erty annexed. The estates were immediately seized,many of the Knights imprisoned, and those whoescaped were proscribed. On the 6th of June,1798, a division of the French fleet, consis
Horatio Nelson and the naval supremacy of England . f Sicily, Naples, and theAdriatic ; an active co-operation with the Austrianand Neapolitan armies should war be renewed inItaly ; and the blockading of Malta to prevent pro-visions from being sent into it. It was to Maltathat Nelson now addressed himself. In 1792 theFrench Government had decreed that the Order ofSt. John at Malta should be annulled, and its prop-erty annexed. The estates were immediately seized,many of the Knights imprisoned, and those whoescaped were proscribed. On the 6th of June,1798, a division of the French fleet, consisting of afew frigates and a number of transports, arrived offMalta, and the commodore in command, professingneutrality, asked and obtained such assistance as herequired. But three days later the rest of the Tou-lon fleet approached. Buonaparte, who was in com-mand, demanded that the whole fleet and convoyshould have free entry to all the ports. This wasrefused by the Grand Master, whereupon the Frenchlanded 15,000 troops at St. Georges Bay, to the. NELSONS MONUMENT, ST. PAULS, LONDON 1798-99] The French iti Possession of Malta. 125 northwest of Valetta, and took possession of theplace after a single shot had been fired. BeforeBuonaparte sailed on the 19th Malta was in posses-sion of the French. In September came news to the island of Nelsonsvictory at Aboukir. The Maltese rose against theirdespoilers, but the insurrection was suppressed. Theythen appealed to the King of the Two Sicilies as theirsovereign for protection. On the i8th of Septem-ber Valetta was blockaded by four Portuguese men-of-war and two frigates under the command of theMarquis de Niza, the Sicilian Admiral, with whomwas Captain Ball in the Alexander. It was not,however, until the middle of the following monththat Nelson sailed for Malta from Naples. On the25th he addressed a letter to the French generalcommanding in the town of Valetta, in which he putthe situation and his own demands thus: That theinhabitants
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