On the visits to Malta of Countess Des Alleurs and of some Ambassadors of the King of France in Constantinople

Visitors to Malta were always very welcome as they provided their hosts with a change in their daily routine.   Patrick Brydone, Roland de La Platière, Count de Borch, Dominique Vivant Denon visited Malta between 1770 and 1778.   They published their travelogues written in French between 1775 and 1788, Brydoneís original in English having been translated into French by Jean-Nicolas Démeunier.   The first two writers actually mention their having been introduced to the Grand Master:  Brydone to Pinto, who was pleased to learn that his guest had been to Portugal, Roland de La Platière to Rohan, whom he describes as modest and good, very dignified and of a few words.   Visits by more important personalities developed into events.   Such was the visit to Malta in 1755 of Countess Des Alleurs whose husband, Roldand Puchot, Count Des Alleurs, appointed ambassador of the King of France to the Sublime Porte in 1747, had died in Constantinople on the November 21, 1754.   The Countess, her family and her retinue stopped in Malta on their way back to France.   The document in the archives of the Order recording this visit is dated September 24, 1755 .   The diarist Ignazio Saverio Mifsud  gives a full account of her stay, but while details regarding her generosity interest the diarist, the official version is more concerned with protocol.   For instance, it describes the position of the Grand Masterís chair, la sedia un poco voltata, and it records that the Diploma di Cancelleria awarding her the Grand Cross of the Order was given to the Cavallerizzo  who was to hand it to her once she alighted from her carriage.   We also learn from this account that she preferred to remain in the apartment prepared for her at the palace of the Lazzaretto, non avendo voluto per pochi giorni altro alloggio.   Moreover, her intention was to leave Malta on September 24, weather permitting.   Through the diarist we know that due to bad weather she could only leave on the 27th.   The weather must have been bad since the 20th because when she visited the Grand Master she had to disembark at Pietà, per causa del cattivo tempo, rather than in Grand Harbour.

The official relazione of the welcome accorded to Countess Des Alleurs makes it clear that the Grand Master was honouring her credentials due to her high birth as Federica Costanza deí Principi Lubomirski rather than her rank as the widow of the French Kingís ambassador to Constantinople.

The archives of the Order record other instances of visits to Malta by Ambassadors of the King of France in Constantinople when they chose to travel by sea.   The question of protocol, however, marred some of these visits.   Charles de Ferriol, baron díArgental, in 1699, Jean-Louis díUsson, marquis de Bonnac, in 1716, and Michel-Ange, comte de Castellane, in 1741, did not call on the Grand Master when they stopped in Malta on their way to Constantinople.   The first two ambassadors had specific instructions not to pay this visit if the Grand Master refused to give them his right hand, while ambassador Castellane, writing to the French Minister for foreign affairs, Cardinal de Fleury, states that since he did not have specific instructions to this effect, he followed the example of his predecessors, ambassadors Ferriol and Bonnac.   On the other hand, the Grand Master, as Prince and Sovereign, considered himself to rank above a minister of the King of France.   Such a situation, however, annoyed the Grand Master, who repeatedly asked his ambassador in Paris to have this ceremonial revised .   By means of a letter dated February 14, 1741, the bailli de Tencin informed Cardinal de Fleury of the recent election of Grand Master Pinto and hastened to add that the new Grand Master would seek his intercession in order to iron out the difficulties regarding the protocol to be observed by the Kingís ambassadors to Constantinople when they stopped in Malta.   In fact, His Eminence was infinitely sorry not to have had the possibility of welcoming the comte de Castellane and of showing his particular devotion to France and his strong wish to receive distinguished personalities of that nation .

In fact, Ambassador Castellane had tried to bypass Malta by sailing 20 leagues away from the island.   However, strong winds forced him to enter Grand Harbour.   Like Baron Ferriol, his pretentions regarding protocol were not met by Grand Master Pinto, but whereas Baron Ferriol remained on board his vessel for "eight or ten days", the Comte de Castellane disembarked incognito.   The Bailli de Bocage, ambassador of the King of France in Malta, asked his nephew, chevalier díAvernes, to accompany the count wherever he went.   Bocage himself was indisposed and the count paid him several visits at night .

In 1679, Viscount Gabriel-Joseph de La Vergne Guilleragues, on his way to Constantinople as ambassador of the King of France, was happy to be received by Grand Master Nicolas Cotoner as the latter could only move from his bed to his chair.   In his letter to Minister Pomponne, dated September 30, 1679, Guilleragues related not only his visit to the Grand Master, but stated that throughout his five-day stay on the island, beginning from the entry of his vessel into Grand Harbour and the gun salute according to protocol on September 27, he was accompanied by Commander Cany who was "very jealous of the honour due to an ambassador of His Majesty" and he compared the conversation of the "foreign Grand Crosses" as not being any different from the conversation at Saint-Germain.   However, when the Grand Master paid a visit to Guilleraguesí wife, the visitor took care not to be at home, as it seemed to him "that an ambassador following a sedan chair would [not] cut a decent figure" .

Almost a hundred years later, another French ambassador to Turkey arrived in Malta.   He had travelled to Constantinople by land since he wished to see Vienna and had been in his post for eight years when he obtained the Kingís permission to visit his family in France.   He had good reasons to stop in Malta, and a French diarist assures us that "he was not particular about etiquette" .   François-Emmanuel Guignard, comte de Saint-Priest, himself a knight of Malta, accompanied by his young wife and baby son, was eager to see his brother, Charles-Antoine, also a knight, as well as Grand Master Rohan and other acquaintances.   During this visit the Grand Master acceeded to his two requests:  he and his wife were granted the right to wear the Grand Cross of the Order and his brother was promised the command of a galley which ensured for him a commandery.   In fact, the latter became Commander of Saint-Christol two years later, in 1788.   Saint-Priestís arrival and his first audience with Grand Master Rohan are officially recorded in the archives of the Order .   A contemporary diarist, the conventual chaplain Claude-François Boyer, dedicates six entries to this visit.   He tells us that it took ten days for the travellers to arrive in Malta from Constantinople and that their quarantine was shortened to sixteen days in order to enable them to attend the ceremony of Rohanís solemn entry into Mdina.   When their quarantine was over, they moved to Palazzo Carniero where Rohan used to live before he became Grand Master.   The ambassador had a private audience with the Grand Master, whereas his wife was received in audience on the same day in the afternoon.   The guests had dinner at the Grand Masterís country residence at San Anton and Madame de Saint-Priest attended two French plays at the Manoel Theatre on two consecutive days.

In his Mémoires the comte de Saint-Priest gives an account of his visit to Malta.   The few days he spent in quarantine passed quickly as his old friends came to visit him.   The quarantine over, before going to Mdina for the ceremony mentioned by Boyer, the ambassador and his wife visited the Conventual Church of St. John and its crypt.   The Mdina ceremony was followed by a banquet and Madame de Saint-Priest was the only woman present.   Unfortunately, she felt sick and her husband was very embarassed that she had to leave and return to Valletta.   Saint-Priest describes the feast as "brilliant, with horse races and the distribution of prizes".

The visit of the comte de Saint-Priest is of particular interest as it must have inspired him to write a guide of Malta, Malte par un voyageur français, published anonymously in Malta in 1791.