MALTA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 255, 25 September 1935, Page 14

MALTA.

HER NATIONAL DAY. Recently, on September 8, there were great rejoicings in Malta, when the island celebrated her national day, which commemorates the great deeds of valour and heroism performed by her sons during the unforgettable great siege of Malta in 1565 (says a writer in an overseas journal). In 1565, when Malta was the stronghold of these warrior monks, the Knights of St. John, the Ottoman Sultan prepared an armada —consisting of 300 vessels of war, conveying an army of 40,000 fully equipped and thoroughly trained men —with which he expected to capture the island and extirpate the order. Tlie sails of this fleet appeared off the coast of Malta on May 18. If the Turks had succeeded in their plans they would have had undisputed control of the Mediterranean Sea, with disastrous consequences for the peace of Europe. The Maltese, being quite aware of this, defended their island home so stubbornly that, despite repeated desperate assaults during the entire three months, the Turks failed to obtain the mastery and. quite exha listed —after leaving 30,000 of their dead upon the slopes of Malta-—aban-doned the siege on the ni<rht of September 7. The following day. September 8, has been for the last 370 years uninterruptedly honoured annually as Malta’s national day. It has been acknowledged that this event constituted a turning point in the history of Europe, which it saved from the menacing onslaught of the Turkish Empire. It is seen from the Liturgies of Queen Elizabeth of England that this country, though comparatively secure and strong ■in the growing power of her navy, felt uneasy. The Queen ordered public prayers throughout her kingdom for the deliverance of Malta. 0 This same date—September B—two8 —two and a half centuries after the siege, forged another and yet stronger link between English and Maltese histories when in 1799 the Maltese and the English were allies in a common cause against the common enemy, France Finally, this same date in 1800 led to Malta affording the unique example of a people entering of their own free will the folds of the British Empire.