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 bloody roll of those who had fallen in the numerous assaults 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. Ships 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 Many of the heavy guns were so much damaged by the fire of the besieged, as to require to be withdrawn and sent on board the fleet,—an operation performed with a silence that contrasted strongly with the noisy shouts with which the batteries had been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 assaults became fewer and more feeble, the confidence of the Christians was renewed; until they even cherished the hope[{446}] 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, assembled 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 passage, 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 passed 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 assaulted 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 ships.[1372]
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,[{447}] 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 mass, 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 multitude 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.