History of The Reign of Philip The Second King of Spain History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain Part 46

Again and again the discomfited Turks gathered strength for a new a.s.sault, and as often they were repulsed with the same loss as before; till Piali drew off his dispirited legions, and abandoned all further attempts for that day.

It fared no better on the other quarter, where the besiegers, under the eye of the commander-in-chief, were storming the fortress of St.

Michael. On every point the stout-hearted chivalry of St. John were victorious. But victory was bought at a heavy price.

The Turks returned to the attack on the day following, and on each succeeding day. It was evidently their purpose to profit by their superior numbers to hara.s.s the besieged, and reduce them to a state of exhaustion. One of these a.s.saults was near being attended with fatal consequences.

A mine which ran under the bastion of Castile was sprung, and brought down a wide extent of the rampart. The enemy, prepared for the event, mounting the smoking ruins, poured through the undefended breach,--or defended only by a handful of the garrison, who were taken unawares. The next minute, the great standard of the Ottomans was planted on the walls. The alarm was raised. In a few moments the enemy would have been in the heart of the town. An ecclesiastic of the order, Brother William by name, terrified at the sight, made all haste to the grand-master, then at his usual station in the public square. Rus.h.i.+ng into his presence, the priest called on him to take refuge, while he could, in the castle of St. Angelo, as the enemy had broken into the town. But the dauntless chief, s.n.a.t.c.hing up his pike, with no other protection than his helmet, and calling out to those around him, "Now is the time! let us die together!"[1358] hurried to the scene of action, where, rallying his followers, he fell furiously on the enemy. A sharp struggle ensued.

More than one knight was struck down by La Valette's side. He himself was wounded in the leg by the splinter of a hand-grenade. The alarm-bell of the city rang violently. The cry was raised that the grand-master was in danger. Knights, soldiers, and townsmen came rus.h.i.+ng to the spot.

Even the sick sprang from their beds, and made such haste as they could to the rescue. The Moslems, pressed on all sides, and shaken by the resolute charge, fell back slowly on the breach.

The cavaliers would now fain have persuaded the grand-master, who was still standing among a heap of the slain, to retire to some place of safety, and leave the issue of the battle to his companions. But, fixing his eye on the Ottoman standard, still floating above the walls, he mournfully shook his head, in token of his resolution to remain. The garrison, spurred on by shame and indignation, again charged the Moslems, with greater fury than before. The colors, wrenched from the ramparts, were torn to shreds in the struggle. The Christians prevailed; and the Turks, quailing before their invincible spirit, were compelled, after a long and b.l.o.o.d.y contest, to abandon the works they had so nearly won.

Still the grand-master, far from retiring, took up his quarters for the night in the neighborhood of the breach. He had no doubt that the enemy would return under cover of the darkness, and renew the a.s.sault before the garrison had time to throw up retrenchments. It was in vain his companions besought him to withdraw, to leave the fight to them, and not to risk a life so precious to the community. "And how can an old man like me," he said, "end his life more gloriously, than when surrounded by his brethren and fighting the battles of the Cross?"[1359]

[Sidenote: THE TURKS REPULSED.]

La Valette was right in his conjecture. No sooner had the darkness fallen, than the Turkish host, again under arms, came surging on across the ruins of the rampart towards the breach. But it was not under cover of the darkness; for the whole bay was illumined by the incessant flash of artillery, by the blaze of combustibles, and the fiery track of the missiles darting through the air. Thus the combat was carried on as by the light of day. The garrison, prepared for the attack, renewed the scenes of the morning, and again beat off the a.s.sailants, who, broken and dispirited, could not be roused, even by the blows of their officers, to return to the a.s.sault.[1360]

On the following morning, La Valette caused _Te Deum_ to be sung in the church of St. Lawrence, and thanks to be offered at the throne of grace for their deliverance. And if the ceremonies were not conducted with the accustomed pomp of the order of St. John, they were at least accompanied, says the chronicler, who bore his part in them, by the sacrifice of contrite hearts,--as was shown by the tears of many a man, as well as woman, in the procession.[1361]

There was indeed almost as much cause for sorrow as for joy. However successful the Christians had been in maintaining their defence, and however severe the loss they had inflicted on the enemy, they had to mourn the loss of some of their most ill.u.s.trious knights, while others lay disabled in their beds. Among the latter was De Monti, admiral of the order, now lying seriously ill of wounds received in the defence of St. Michael, of which he was commander. Among the deaths was one which came home to the bosom of La Valette. A young cavalier, his nephew, had engaged in a perilous enterprise with a comrade of his own age. The handsome person and gilded armor of the younger La Valette made him a fatal mark for the enemy;[1362] and he fell, together with his friend, in the ditch before the bastion, under a shower of Turkish bullets. An obstinate struggle succeeded between Christians and Turks for the bodies of the slain. The Christians were victorious; and La Valette had the melancholy satisfaction of rendering the last offices to the remains of his gallant kinsman. The brethren would have condoled with him on his loss. But his generous nature shrank from the indulgence of a selfish sorrow. "All are alike dear to me," he said; "all of you I look on as my children. I mourn for Polastra" (the friend of the young La Valette) "as I do for my own nephew. And after all, it matters little. They have gone before us but for a short time."[1363]

It was indeed no season for the indulgence of private sorrows, when those of a public nature pressed so heavily on the heart. Each day the condition of the besieged was becoming more critical. The tottering defences both of Il Borgo and La Sangle were wasting away under the remorseless batteries of the besiegers. Great numbers, not merely of the knights and the soldiers, but of the inhabitants, had been slain. The women of the place had shown, throughout the whole siege, the same heroic spirit as the men. They not only discharged the usual feminine duties of tending and relieving the sick, but they were often present in the battle, supplying the garrison with refreshments, or carrying the ammunition, or removing the wounded to the hospital. Thus sharing in the danger of their husbands and fathers, they shared too in their fate.

Many perished by the enemy's fire; and the dead bodies of women lay mingled among those of the men, on the ramparts and in the streets.[1364] The hospitals were filled with the sick and wounded, though fortunately no epidemic had as yet broken out to swell the bills of mortality. Those of the garrison who were still in a condition to do their duty were worn by long vigils and excessive toil. To fight by day, to raise intrenchments or to repair the crumbling works by night, was the hard duty of the soldier. Brief was the respite allowed him for repose,--a repose to be broken at any moment by the sound of the alarm-bell, and to be obtained only amidst so wild an uproar, that it seemed, in the homely language of the veteran so often quoted, "as if the world were coming to an end."[1365]

Happily, through the provident care of the grand-master, there was still a store of provisions in the magazines. But the ammunition was already getting low. Yet the resolution of the besieged did not fail them. Their resolution had doubtless been strengthened by the cruel conduct of the Turks at St. Elmo, which had shown that from such a foe there was no mercy to be expected. The conviction of this had armed the Christians with the courage of despair. On foreign succor they no longer relied.

Their only reliance was where their chief had taught them to place it,--on the protection of Heaven; and La Valette, we are a.s.sured, went every day during the siege to the church of St. Lawrence, and there solemnly invoked that protection for the brave men who, alone and unaided, were thus fighting the battles of the Faith.[1366]

The forlorn condition of the defences led, at length, the Council of Grand Crosses, after much deliberation, to recommend to La Valette to abandon Il Borgo, and to withdraw with the troops and the inhabitants into the castle of St. Angelo. The grand-master saw at once the disastrous consequences of such a step, and he rejected it without a moment's hesitation. To withdraw into the castle, he said, would be to give up all communication with St. Michael, and to abandon its brave garrison to their fate. The inhabitants of the town would fare no better. The cistern which supplied St. Angelo with water would be wholly inadequate to the demands of such a mult.i.tude; and they would soon be reduced to extremity. "No, my brethren," he concluded; "here we must make our stand; and here we must die, if we cannot maintain ourselves against the infidel."[1367]

He would not even consent to have the sacred relics, or the archives of the order, removed thither, as to a place of greater security. It would serve to discourage the soldiers, by leading them to suppose that he distrusted their power of maintaining the town against the enemy. On the contrary, he caused a bridge communicating with the castle to be broken down, after calling off the greater part of the garrison to a.s.sist in the defence of Il Borgo. By these measures, he proclaimed his unalterable determination to maintain the town to the last, and if need were, to die in its defence.[1368]

[Sidenote: THE TURKS DISPIRITED.]

CHAPTER V.

SIEGE OF MALTA.

The Turks dispirited.--Reinforcement from Sicily.--Siege raised.--Mustapha defeated.--Rejoicings of the Christians.--Mortification of Solyman.--Review of the Siege.--Subsequent History of La Valette.

1565.

While the affairs of the besieged wore the gloomy aspect depicted in the last chapter, those of the besiegers were not much better. More than half their original force had perished. To the b.l.o.o.d.y roll of those who had fallen in the numerous a.s.saults were now to be added the daily victims of pestilence. In consequence of the great heat, exposure, and bad food, a dysentery had broken out in the Moslem army, and was now sweeping off its hundreds in a day. Both ammunition and provisions were running low. s.h.i.+ps bringing supplies were constantly intercepted by the Sicilian cruisers. Many of the heavy guns were so much damaged by the fire of the besieged, as to require to be withdrawn and sent on board the fleet,--an operation performed with a silence that contrasted strongly with the noisy shouts with which the batteries had been raised.[1369] But these movements could not be conducted so silently as to escape the notice of the garrison, whose spirits were much revived by the reports daily brought in by deserters of the condition of the enemy.

Mustapha chafed not a little under the long-protracted resistance of the besieged. He looked with apprehension to the consequences of a failure in an expedition for which preparations had been made on so magnificent a scale by his master, and with so confident hopes of success. He did not fail to employ every expedient for effecting his object that the military science of that day--at least Turkish science--could devise. He ordered movable wooden towers to be built, such as were used under the ancient system of besieging fortified places, from which, when brought near to the works, his musketeers might send their volleys into the town. But the besieged, sallying forth, set fire to his towers, and burnt them to the ground. He caused a huge engine to be made, of the capacity of a hogshead; filled with combustibles, and then swung, by means of machinery, on the rampart of the bastion. But the garrison succeeded in throwing it back on the heads of the inventors, where it exploded with terrible effect. Mustapha ran his mines under the Christian defences, until the ground was perforated like a honeycomb, and the garrison seemed to be treading on the crust of a volcano. La Valette countermined in his turn. The Christians, breaking into the galleries of the Turks, engaged them boldly underground; and sometimes the mine, exploding, buried both Turk and Christian under a heap of ruins.

Baffled on every point, with their ranks hourly thinned by disease, the Moslem troops grew sullen and dispirited; and now that the bastion of Castile, with its dilapidated works, stood like some warrior stripped of his armor, his defenceless condition inviting attack, they were in no heart to make it. As their fire slackened, and their a.s.saults became fewer and more feeble, the confidence of the Christians was renewed; until they even cherished the hope of beating off the enemy without the long-promised succors from Sicily. Fortunately for the honor of Spain, the chivalry of St. John were not driven to this perilous attempt.

Yielding, at length, to the solicitations of the knights and the enthusiasm of the army, the viceroy, Don Garcia de Toledo, a.s.sembled his fleet in the port of Syracuse, and on the 25th of August weighed anchor.

The fleet consisted of twenty-eight galleys, and carried eleven thousand troops, chiefly Spanish veterans, besides two hundred knights of the order, who had arrived from other lands, in time to witness the closing scene of the drama. There was also a good number of adventurers from Spain, France, and Italy, many of them persons of rank, and some of high military renown, who had come to offer their services to the knights of Malta, and share in their glorious defence.

Unfortunately, in its short pa.s.sage, the fleet encountered a violent gale, which did so much damage, that the viceroy was compelled to return to Sicily, and repair his galleys. He then put to sea again, with better fortune. He succeeded in avoiding the notice of the enemy, part of whose armament lay off the mouth of the Great Port, to prevent the arrival of succors to the besieged,--and on the 6th of September, under cover of the evening, entered the Bay of Melecca, on the western side of the island.[1370]

The next morning, having landed his forces, with their baggage and military stores, the viceroy sailed again for Sicily, to bring over an additional reinforcement of four thousand troops, then waiting in Messina. He pa.s.sed near enough to the beleaguered fortresses to be descried by the garrisons, whom he saluted with three salvos of artillery, that sent joy into their hearts.[1371] It had a very different effect on the besiegers. They listened with nervous credulity to the exaggerated reports that soon reached them, of the strength of the reinforcement landed in the island, by which they expected to be speedily a.s.saulted in their trenches. Without delay, Mustapha made preparations for his departure. His heavy guns and camp equipage were got on board the galleys and smaller vessels, lying off the entrance of the Great Port,--and all as silently and expeditiously as possible. La Valette had hoped that some part of the Spanish reinforcement would be detached during the night to the aid of the garrison, when he proposed to sally on the enemy, and, if nothing better came of it, to get possession of their cannon, so much needed for his own fortifications.

But no such aid arrived; and, through the long night, he impatiently listened to the creaking of the wheels that bore off the artillery to the s.h.i.+ps.[1372]

[Sidenote: MUSTAPHA DEFEATED.]

With the first light of morning the whole Ottoman force was embarked on board the vessels, which, weighing anchor, moved round to Port Musiette, on the other side of St. Elmo, where the Turkish fleet, the greater part of which lay there, was now busily preparing for its departure. No sooner had the enemy withdrawn, than the besieged poured out into the deserted trenches. One or two of those huge pieces of ordnance, which, from their unwieldy size, it was found impossible to remove, had been abandoned by the Turks, and remained a memorable trophy of the siege.[1373] The Christians were not long in levelling the Moslem entrenchments; and very soon the flag of St. John was seen cheerily waving in the breeze, above the ruins of St. Elmo. The grand-master now called his brethren together to offer up their devotions in the same church of St. Lawrence where he had so often invoked the protection of Heaven during the siege. "Never did music sound sweeter to human ears,"

exclaims Balbi, "than when those bells summoned us to ma.s.s, at the same hour at which, for three months past, they had sounded the alarm against the enemy."[1374] A procession was formed of all the members of the order, the soldiers, and the citizens. The services were performed with greater solemnity, as well as pomp, than could be observed in the hurry and tumult of the siege; and, with overflowing hearts, the mult.i.tude joined in the _Te Deum_, and offered up thanks to the Almighty and the Blessed Virgin for their deliverance from their enemies.[1375] It was the eighth of September, the day of the Nativity of the Virgin,--a memorable day in the annals of Malta, and still observed by the inhabitants as their most glorious anniversary.

Hardly had the Turkish galleys, with Mustapha on board, joined the great body of the fleet in Port Musiette, than that commander received such intelligence as convinced him that the report of the Spanish numbers had been greatly exaggerated. He felt that he had acted precipitately, thus, without a blow, to abandon the field to an enemy his inferior in strength. His head may well have trembled on his shoulders, as he thought of returning thus dishonored to the presence of his indignant master. Piali, it is said, was not displeased at the mortification of his rival. The want of concert between them had, in more than one instance, interfered with the success of their operations. It was now, however, agreed that Mustapha should disembark, with such of the troops as were in fighting order, and give battle to the Spaniards. Piali, meanwhile, would quit the port, which lay exposed to St. Elmo,--now in his enemy's hands,--and anchor farther west, in the roads of St. Paul.

The troops from Sicily, during this time, had advanced into the interior, in the neighborhood of _Citta Notable_,--or, as it is now called, _Citta Vecchia_. They were commanded by Ascanio de la Corna, an officer who had gained a name in the Italian wars. Alvaro de Sande was second in command, the same captain who made so heroic a defence in the isle of Gelves against the Turks. The chivalrous daring of the latter officer was well controlled by the circ.u.mspection of the former.

La Valette, who kept a vigilant eye on the movements of the Turks, was careful to advise Don Ascanio that they had again disembarked, and were on their march against him. The Spanish general took up a strong position on an eminence, the approach, to which was rugged and difficult in the extreme. Thus secured, the prudent chief proposed to await the a.s.sault of the Moslems. But the Knights of St. John, who had accompanied the Sicilian succors, eager for vengeance on the hated enemies of their order, called loudly to be led against the infidel. In this they were joined by the fiery De Sande and the greater part of the troops. When the Moslem banners, therefore, came in sight, and the dense columns of the enemy were seen advancing across the country, the impatience of the Christians was not to be restrained. The voices of the officers were unheeded. Don Ascanio saw it was not wise to balk this temper of the troops. They were hastily formed in order of battle, and then, like a mountain torrent, descended swiftly against the foe.

On their left was a hill, crowned by a small tower that commanded the plain. The Turks had succeeded in getting possession of this work. A detachment of Spaniards scaled the eminence, attacked the Turks, and, after a short struggle, carried the fort. Meanwhile the Maltese chivalry, with Sande and the great body of the army, fell with fury on the front and flanks of the enemy. The Turkish soldiers, disgusted by the long and disastrous siege, had embarked with great alacrity; and they had not repressed their murmurs of discontent, when they were again made to land and renew the conflict. Sullen and disheartened, they were in no condition to receive the shock of the Spaniards. Many were borne down by it at once, their ranks were broken, and their whole body; was thrown into disarray. Some few endeavored to make head against their a.s.sailants. Most thought only of securing safety by-flight. The knights followed close on the fugitives. Now was the hour of vengeance. No quarter was given. Their swords were reddened with the blood of the infidel.[1376]

Mustapha, careless of his own life, made the most intrepid efforts to save his men. He was ever in the hottest of the action. Twice he was unhorsed, and had nearly fallen into the hands of his enemies. At length, rallying a body of musketeers, he threw himself into the rear, to cover the retreat of the army. Facing about, he sent such a well-directed volley among his pursuers, who were coming on in disorder, that they were compelled to halt. Don Alvaro's horse was slain under him. Several knights were wounded or brought to the ground. But as those in the rear came up, Mustapha was obliged to give way, and was soon swept along with the tide of battle in the direction of the port of St.

Paul, where the fleet was at anchor. Boats were in readiness to receive the troops; and a line of shallops, filled with arquebusiers, was drawn up alongside of them, to cover the embarkation. But the Spaniards, hurried forward by the heat of the pursuit, waded up to their girdles into the sea, and maintained an incessant fire on the fugitives, many of whom fell under it, while others, vainly endeavoring to swim to the s.h.i.+ps, perished in the waves; and their bodies, tossed upon the sands, continued for many a day to poison the atmosphere.[1377]--This was the last effort of Mustapha; and the Turkish admiral, gathering together the wreck of his forces, again weighed anchor, and spreading his sails to the breeze, steered his course for the Levant.[1378]

[Sidenote: REJOICINGS OF THE CHRISTIANS.]

The princ.i.p.al officers of the Spanish array, together with the knights, then crossed over to Il Borgo.[1379] They met there with a cordial welcome; but the knights, as they embraced their comrades, were greatly shocked by their appearance,--their wan and care-worn countenances, their emaciated figures, their long and matted hair, and their squalid attire. Many were disfigured by honorable scars; some were miserably maimed; others wore bandages over wounds not yet healed. It was a piteous sight, too plainly intimating the extremity of suffering to which they had been reduced; and as the knights gazed on their brethren, and called to mind the friends they had lost, their hearts were filled with unspeakable anguish.[1380]

On the fourteenth of September, the viceroy reappeared with the fleet, bearing the remainder of the reinforcement from Sicily. The admiral's pennant displayed a cross, intimating that it was a holy war in which they were engaged.[1381] As the squadron came proudly up the Great Port, with pennons and streamers gayly flying from its masts, it was welcomed by salvos of artillery from the fortresses and bastions around; and the rocky sh.o.r.es, which had so long reverberated only with the din of war, now echoed to the sounds of jubilee.

The grand-master came down to the landing-place below St. Angelo, to receive the viceroy, with the n.o.bles and cavaliers who followed in his train. They had come too late to share the dangers of the besieged, but not too late to partake of their triumph. They were courteously conducted by La Valette, across the scene of desolation, to his own palace, which, though in an exposed quarter of the town, had so far escaped as to be still habitable. As the strangers gazed on the remains of the fortifications, nearly levelled to the ground, they marvelled that the shadowy forms which they saw gliding among the ruins could have so long held out against the Moslem armies. Well had they earned for their city the t.i.tle of _Vittoriosa_, "The Victorious," which, supplanting that of Il Borgo, still commemorates its defence against the infidel.

La Valette had provided an entertainment for his ill.u.s.trious guests, as good as his limited resources would allow; but it is said that the banquet was reinforced by a contribution from the viceroy's own stores.[1382] On the departure of the Spaniards, he showed his grat.i.tude, while he indulged his munificent spirit, by bestowing handsome presents on the captains and a liberal largess of money on the soldiers.[1383]

On his way, the viceroy had discovered the Ottoman fleet formed in compact order, and standing under press of sail towards the east. He was too far inferior in strength to care to intercept its course;[1384] and the squadron reached in safety the port of Constantinople. Solyman had already received despatches preparing him for the return of the fleet, and the failure of the expedition. It threw him into one of those paroxysms of ungovernable pa.s.sion to which the old sultan seems to have been somewhat addicted in the latter years of his life. With impotent fury, he stamped on the letters, it is said, and, protesting that there were none of his officers whom he could trust, he swore to lead an expedition against Malta the coming year, and put every man in the island to the sword.[1385] He had the magnanimity, however, not to wreak his vengeance on the unfortunate commanders. The less to attract public notice, he caused the fleet bearing the shattered remains of the army to come into port in the night-time; thus affording a contrast sufficiently striking to the spectacle presented by the brilliant armament which a few months before had sailed from the Golden Horn amidst the joyous acclamations of the mult.i.tude.

The arms of Solyman the Second, during his long and glorious reign, met with no reverse so humiliating as his failure in the siege of Malta. To say nothing of the cost of the maritime preparations, the waste of life was prodigious, amounting to more than thirty thousand men, Moors included, and comprehending the very best troops in the empire. This was a loss of nearly three fourths of the original force of the besieging army,--an almost incredible amount, showing that pestilence had been as actively at work as the sword of the enemy.[1386]

Yet the loss in this siege fell most grievously on the Christians. Full two hundred knights, twenty-five hundred soldiers, and more than seven thousand inhabitants,--men, women, and children, are said to have perished.[1387] The defences of the island were razed to the ground. The towns were in ruins; the villages burnt; the green harvests cut down before they had time to ripen. The fiery track of war was over every part of Malta. Well might the simple inhabitants rue the hour when the Knights of St. John first set foot upon their sh.o.r.es. The military stores were exhausted, the granaries empty; the treasury was at the lowest ebb. The members of the order had now to begin the work of constructing their fortunes over again. But still they enjoyed the glory of victory. They had the proud consciousness of having baffled, with their own good swords, the whole strength of the Ottoman empire. The same invincible spirit still glowed in their bosoms, and they looked forward with unshaken confidence to the future.

[Sidenote: REVIEW OF THE SIEGE.]

Such were the results of this memorable siege,--one of the most memorable sieges, considering the scale of the preparations, the amount of the forces, and the spirit of the defence, which are recorded on the pages of history. It would not be easy, even for a military man, after the lapse of three centuries, to criticize with any degree of confidence the course pursued by the combatants, so as to determine to what causes may be referred the failure of the besiegers. One obvious fault, and of the greatest moment, was that already noticed, of not immediately cutting off the communications with St. Elmo, by which supplies were constantly thrown into that fortress from the opposite side of the harbor. Another, similar in its nature, was, that, with so powerful a navy as the Turks had at their command, they should have allowed communications to be maintained by the besieged with Sicily, and reinforcements thus introduced into the island. We find Mustapha and Piali throwing the blame of this mutually on each other, especially in the case of Cardona, whose most seasonable succors might easily have been intercepted, either by land or sea, with proper vigilance on the part of the Turkish commanders. A serious impediment in the way of the besiegers was the impossibility of forcing a subsistence for the troops from a barren spot like Malta, and the extreme difficulty of obtaining supplies from other quarters, when so easily intercepted by the enemy's cruisers. Yet the Turkish galleys lying idle in the western port might have furnished a ready convoy, one might suppose, for transports bringing provisions from the Barbary coast. But we find no such thing attempted. To all these causes of failure must be added the epidemic, which, generated under the tropical heats of a Maltese summer, spread like a murrain through the camp of the besiegers, sweeping them off by thousands.

It operated well for the besieged, that the great advance made in the science of fortification was such, in the latter half of the sixteenth century, as in a great degree to counterbalance the advantages secured to the besiegers by the use of artillery,--especially such clumsy artillery, and so awkwardly served, as that of the Turks. But these advantages would have proved of little worth, had it not been for the character of the men who were to profit by them. It was the character of the defenders that const.i.tuted the real strength of the defence. This was the true bulwark that resisted every effort of the Ottoman arms, when all outward defences were swept away. Every knight was animated by a sentiment of devotion to his order, and that hatred to the infidel in which he had been nursed from his cradle, and which had become a part of his existence. These sentiments he had happily succeeded in communicating to his followers, and even to the people of the island.

Thus impelled by an unswerving principle of conduct, the whole body exhibited that unity and promptness of action which belongs to an individual. From the first hour of the siege to the last, all idea of listening to terms from the enemy was rejected. Every man was prepared to die rather than surrender. One exception only occurred,--that of a private soldier in La Sangle, who, denying the possibility of holding out against the Turks, insisted on the necessity of accepting the terms offered to the garrison. The example of his cowardice might have proved contagious; and the wretched man expiated his offence on the gallows.[1388]