In the 18th Century, the threats of Islam had diminished and a new enemy of Christianity had emereged.  Humanism - the cult of man, rebellion against the Church and all legitimate authority, hedonism, egalitarianism and revolution found their expression in the new French philosophy, the rise of Freemasonry (whose cry was liberty, equality and fraternity) and the Napoleonic Wars.

 

Napoleon, with the entire French Navy and his Army aboard, was crossing the Mediterranean to invade Egypt.  Passing Malta, the Emperor sent an emissary ashore requesting that his fleet be allowed to enter the port of Valetta to make repairs and to take on water.  It was a ruse, of course.  Against the advice of his Knight Commanders, the elderly Grand Master von Hompesch offered the Order's humanitarian policy of allowing as many as four warships to peacefully enter the port.  Napoleon was angered by this feeble response.  Therefore, he landed large army units at various places on the island, then entered the great harbor of Valetta with his warships, and simply occupied the capital city and the entire island.  Little resistance was offered.

 

As Bonaparte passed through the formidable fortifications of Malta, on 12 June 1798, a member of his command, General Caffarelli, remarked to Napoleon, "It is well, General, that there was someone to open these gates to us.  We should have had some trouble entering if the place had been altogether empty."  Could a few hundred Knights have held out against the mighty army and navy of Napoleon in yet another siege? Would Napoleon have been willing to waste his men and resources against such a fortified bastion, which was so small a prize?  The answer to those questions will never be known.

 

The vast majority of the Order's Knights were still deeply committed to the traditional ideals and historic mission of the Order; and they were uncompromising regarding the Order's homeland, properties and sovereignty.  Consequently, these devoted and loyal Knights, especially those in service on the Order's estates throughout Christendom, those on assignment in foreign lands, and those who still gallantly sailed the Order's great fighting ships, were angered and dismayed at the surrender of Malta without armed resistance and, if need be, a fight to the last man. 

 

Napoleon plundered the island, and carried off the wealth of the Order.  On 17 June he shipped Von Hompesch to Trieste.

 

The surrender of Malta was a staggering blow to the Sovereign Order, equal to the loss of Rhodes to Sulieman in 1523.  Rhodes (Rodos - the island of Roses) had been the flower of the Mediterranean - the beautiful, timbered, fertile, productive home of the Knights for 212 years.  However, beginning in 1530, with the vision of the great Grand Master L'Isle Adam, blest with the fine leadership of outstanding Grand Masters who followed him, and with the industriousness and genius of the Knights of Saint John, the Sovereign Order had transformed Malta into an impregnable fortress, as well as a cultural and commerical center renowned throughout Europe for 268 years.  Now, after these many glorious years, Malta, like Rhodes and the Holy Land, was gone.