seven days after the Knights Hospitaller, rulers of this archipelago from 1530, signed a surrender on board L’Orient, Napoleon's flagship. Napoleon and his expedition then set sail for Egypt, with the Knight's treasure, worth five million francs in gold and one million in silver plate, on board the flagship. (Nelson's fleet destroyed L’Orient on 1 August at Abū Qīr Bay in the Battle of the Nile; the Knights' treasures are still on the bottom of sea there.) Napoleon left behind a garrison of 3,053 men, 5 companies of artillery and a medical unit in Malta and Gozo. The French proceeded to institute a number of policies. They declared the French language to be the official language. Although the French initially tried to win the support of the Catholic Church, they soon came into conflict with the Maltese Church as they instituted French revolutionary reforms. They abolished papal jurisdiction, authorized civil marriage, expelled all priests, regular clergy and nuns who were not native of Malta, and plundered the churches of gold and silver artifacts and paintings. The plundering of their churches outraged the staunchly pious Maltese. Furthermore, French draining of most of the cash of the Monte di Pietà and the Massa frumentaria precipitated an unprecedented financial crisis. On 2 September 1798 the Maltese rose against the French garrison in Notabile (Città Vecchia or Mdina). Soon both Malta and Gozo were in full rebellion, with the Maltese forming a National Assembly. They dispatched to a petition to Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, their official Suzerain, in Naples, to help them in their struggle against the French occupiers. Though Ferdinand promised much, he did little, having enough of his own troubles to worry much about his loyal Maltese subjects. Insurrection and the arrival of the British Still, on 18 September, a Portuguese squadron of four ships began a blockade of Malta. That blockade - although varying in the number and national composition of the ships - continued until the French surrendered. Nelson dispatched British forces under the command of Captain Alexander Ball, who arrived on 12 October 1798. The Maltese insurrectionist forces forced the French to withdraw to Valletta and the Three Cities around the Grand Harbour. On 28 October Gozo Island fell as the French commander there surrendered himself and his 217 men to Captain Ball. With General Vaubois's forces besieged in Valletta, Captain Ball's ships continued the blockade. Expecting