Memoir on the finances of Malta, under the government of the order of St John of Jerusalem, during the last years of its dominion and as compared with those of the present time

Abstract

Although the Decennial Statement of the Chevalier de Ransijat has been in the hands of many individuals, and availed of by several Writers, it does not appear to have been analyzed as a source of information, with regard to the amount of money which may have been annually thrown into circulation in Malta by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem ; and erroneous impressions on this subject having obtained, as well in official reports as in the works of private Writers, it has been thought that a publication of the following pages may not be found unserviceable, in leading to a nearer approach to the true state of the question. Wm. Henry Thornton, (Auditor-General, Malta.) Valletta, 18th October 1836.

MEMOIR &c. FIRST PART.—STATEMENT OF FINANCES.

THE Revenues of Malta, under the government of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, may be considered as having formed three principal branches : the first called the “ Comun Tesoro, or General Treasure which, under the control of the council of the Order presided by the grandmaster, was applicable to the general service of that community ; the second styled the “ Ricetta Magistrale, or Magisterial Receipt, derived (by the grandmaster as sovereign prince of Malta and its dependencies, and expended at his will and pleasure, whether for the maintenance of his own household or dignity, or for the service of the principality; and the third will here be classed under the title of Municipal Services, being such funds as were derived from the public to the benefit of various municipal bodies or individual functionaries.

I. “ Comun Tesoro,' or General Treasury. The “ Comun Tesoro,” that is to say the General Treasure, or Treasury, was administered by a board called the Venerable Chamber of the Treasury, of which the grand-commander of the Order, or his lieutenant, was perpetual president by right of office. It fortunately happens that a very succinct account of this fund may be obtained from a published statement for the ten years ending 30th April 1788, addressed to the grandmaster by the Chevalier Bosredon de Ransijat, secretary of the general treasury, from which do cument an abridged statement will now be given.

He begins by observing that the balance, or general account of the treasury, had been rendered but seldom, and even when given in so informal a manner as to have presented no clear result. Hence it may be presumed that the statement now under review is the only regular one ever offered to the public ; for, in all probability, the invasion by the French, in July 1798, prevented the publication of any statement for the succeeding decade, which had then just expired. Even had the publication taken place, it could not so well serve the present object as the one for the anterior ten years, these having been immediately succeeded by the French revolution, which brought with it the total derangement of the financial means of the Order. The year 1788, or the ten years then expiring, may therefore be considered as the latest in which a view of the government of the Order is to be obtained with its resources in a state of efficiency ;—but it will be afterwards briefly shown to what extent they were impaired by the consequences of the French revolution.

The estates of the Order at this time were spread throughout the Roman Catholic countries of Europe; and were administered through twenty-nine banks or agencies (ricette) from Lisbon to Warsaw, by officers called receivers, who were charged with the exaction of the responsions (risponsioni), the receipt of the passages or entrances (passagi), the collection of the effects of the dead (spogli), and the administration, for account of the treasury, of all the commanderies which happened to be in mortuary or vacant (mortorj e vacanti). Besides these branches composing the bulk of the receipts, there were others in convent, that is to say, locally or at head-quarters * —such as the administration of the landed property of various foundations incorporated with the general treasury, and the letting of many houses and other buildings possessed in the place. [Excerpt]