Spoils of war

Fellow Briton, Em. C. Spiteri, opined (January 1) that Brian M. Tarpey's letter (December 21) was "unconsidered and insensitive". For my part I found Mr Tarpey's letter informative, considered and sensitive.

He established that the cannon in question, that is today housed in the Tower of London, was taken by our British predecessors as "spoils of war" from a French frigate in 1798 that, in turn, had, taken it from the Order (not the Malta that had yet to become a British Crown Colony).

Similarly, Mr Tarpey makes the point that La Valette's sword and poniard in Paris are rightly the property of the Order.

Whatever the attitude of our French colleagues in the EU may be, I do not consider that we British are in a position to criticise France.

Our own retention of the weapons we removed from Malta in 1838 (as Mr Tarpey explained) and other matters such as the Elgin Marbles - where the argument is between two other EU states, namely Greece and the UK - are cases in point.

If Mr Spiteri ever visited Malta, as I have done so often, he would find both a sword and a hat of La Valette in the small museum attached to the church of St Lawrence in Vittoriosa that is maintained by a devoted group of citizens.

He would also find a magnificent bronze cannon of Teutonic origin outside St John's Co-Cathedral.

That was donated to the Order and I have seen its raised inscriptions deteriorate, in the open, over the 70 odd years that I have known it since the days it was at the Upper Barracca.

Now it is partnered by a slightly smaller Italianate weapon - similarly exposed to the degradation of the weather, the fingers and bottoms of tourists.

John Muscat's original posting (December 1) on this subject regarding housing antique weapons in Maltese museums is pertinent but is it borne out in practice?

Mr Spiteri is "glad" that the French retain the trophies as they may be better guarded in "... the Louvre Museum". The last time I looked at them they were in fact not in the Louvre at all but in another museum in Paris. But I assume that he is, in essence, being critical of Malta's record of security. Maybe he has in mind the recent disappearance of the moon rock that the US donated to Malta.