The French garrison in Valletta signed the surrender (or ‘capitulation’, to use the language in this dispatch) on 5 December 1800, and Malta then became a UK protectorate.

Malta had been occupied by the French in May 1798, when an invasion fleet of 30,000 men led by Napoleon sailed from Toulon.

Here is a dispatch, written on 5 September 1800 by Major General Pigot to General Sir R. Abercrombie, which describes the surrender of the French forces at Valletta.

Hampshire Chronicle – Monday 13 October 1800

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