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course of this narration, more than one passage that will serve as its' comment and illustration."

It was, I know, a general opinion among the English in the Mediterranean, that Sir Alexander Ball thought too well of the Maltese, and did not share in the enthusiasm of Britons, concerning their own superiority. To the former part of the charge, I shall only reply at present, that a more venial, and almost desirable fault, can scarcely be attributed to a Governor, than that of a strong attachment to the People whom he was sent to govern. The latter part of the charge is false, if we are to understand by it, that he did not think his Countrymen superior on the whole to the other Nations of Europe: but it is true, as far as relates to his belief, that the English think themselves still better than they are: that they dwelt on, and exaggerated their National Virtues, and weighed them by the opposite vices of Foreigners, instead of the virtues, which those Foreigners possessed, and they themselves wanted. Above all, as Statesmen, we must consider qualities by their practical uses. Thus he entertained, no doubt, that the English were superior to all others in the kind, and the degree of their courage, which is marked by far greater enthusiasm, than the courage of the Germans and northern Nations, and by a far greater steadiness and selfsubsistence, than that of the French. It is more closely connected with the character of the Individual. The cou rage of an English army is the sum total of the courage which the individual Soldiers bring with them to it, rather than of that which they derive from it. When I was at Naples, a Russian and an English Regiment were drawn up together in the same square: "See," said a Neapolitan to me, who had mistaken me for one of his Countrymen, "there is but one face in that whole Regiment, while in that" (pointing to the English) "every Soldier has a face of his own." On the other hand, there are qualities scarcely less requisite to the completion of the military character, in which the English are inferior to the Continental Nations; as for instance, both in the power and the disposition to endure privations; in the friendly temper necessary, when troops of different Nations are to act in concert; in their obedience to the regulations of their commanding Officers, respecting the treatment of the Inhabitants of the countries through which they are marching, as well as in many other points, not immediately con

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nected with their conduct in the field; but, above all, in sobriety and temperance during the siege of Vallette, éspecially during the sore distress to which the Besiegers were for sometime exposed from the failure of provision, Sir Alexander Ball had an ample opportunity of observing and weighing the separate merits and demerits of the Natives, and of the English Troops: and surely since the publication of Sir John Moore's campaign, there can be no just offence taken, though I should say, that before the walls of Vallette, as well as in the plains of Gallicia an indig hant Commander might, with too great propriety, have ad dressed the English Soldiery in the words of an old Dra. matist-

Will you still owe your virtues to your bellies?
And only then think nobly when y' are full?
Doth Fodder keep you honest? Are you bad
When out of Flesh? And think you't an excuse
Of vile and ignominious actions, that
Y'are lean and out of liking?

CARTWRIGHT'S LOVE'S CONVERT.

From the first insurrectionary movement to the final departure of the French from the Island, though the civil and military powers and the whole of the Island, save Vallette, were in the hands of the Peasantry, not a single act of excess can be charged against the Maltese, if we except the razing of one House at Civita Vecchia belonging to a notorious and abandoned Traitor, the Creature and Hireling of the French. In no instance did they injure, insult, or plunder, any one of the native Nobility, or employ even the appearance of force toward them, except in the collection of the Lead and Iron from their Houses and Gardens, in order to supply themselves with bullets and this very appearance was assumed from the generous wish to shelter the Nobles from the resentment of the French, should the patriotic efforts of the Peasantry prove unsuccessful. At the dire command of famine the Maltese Troops did indeed once force their way to the Ovens, in which the Bread for the British Soldiery was baked, and were clamorous that an equal division should be made. I mention this unpleasant circumstance, because it brought into proof the firmness of Sir Alexander Ball's character, his presence of mind, and generous disregard of danger and personal responsibility, where the slavery or emancipation,

the misery or the happiness, of an innocent and patriotic People were involved; and because his conduct in this exigency evinced, that his general habits of circumspec tion and deliberation were the results of wisdom and com. plete self-possession, and not the easy virtues of a spirit constitutionally timorous and hesitating. He was sitting at Table with the principal British Officers, when a certain General addressed him in strong and violent terms concerning this outrage of the Maltese, reminding him of the necessity of exerting his commanding influence in the present case, or the consequences must be taken. "What,' replied Sir Alexander Ball, "would you have us do? would you have us threaten death to Men dying with Famine? Can you suppose that the hazard of being shot will weigh with whole Regiments acting under a common necessity? Does not the extremity of hunger take away all difference between Men and Animals? and is it not as absurd to appeal to the prudence of a body of men starv ing, as to a herd of famished Wolves? No, General, I will not degrade myself or outrage humanity by menacing Famine with Massacre! More effectual means must be taken." With these words he rose and left the room, and having first consulted with Sir Thomas Troubridge, he de termined at his own risk on a step, which the extreme necessity warranted, and which the conduct of the Neapolitan Court amply justified. For this Court, though terror stricken by the French, was still actuated by hatred to the English, and a jealousy of their power in the Mediter ranean and this in so strange and senseless a manner, that we must join the extremes of imbecility and treachery in the same Cabinet, in order to find it comprehensible. Though the very existence of Naples and Sicily, as a Nation, depended wholly and exclusively on British sup

It cannot be doubted, that the Sovereign himself was kept in a state of delusion. Both his understanding and his moral principles are far better than could reasonably be expected from the infamous mode of his Education: if indeed the systematic preclusion of all knowledge, and the unrestrained indulgence of his passions, adopted by the Spanish Court for the purposes of preserving him dependent, can be called by the name of Education. Of the other influencing Persons in the Neapolitan Government, Mr. LECKIE has given us a true and lively account. It will be greatly to the advantage of the present narration, if the Reader should have previously perused Mr. Leckie's Pamphlet on the state of Sicily: the facts which I shall have occasion to men. tion hereafter will reciprocally confirm and be confirmed by the documents furnished in that most interesting Work; in which I see but one blemish of importance, namely, that the Author appears too frequently to consider justice and true policy as capable of being contradistinguished.

port; though the Royal Family owed their personal safety to the British Fleet; though not only their Dominions and their Rank, but the Liberty and even the Lives of Ferdinand and his Family, were interwoven with our suc cess; yet with an infatuation scarcely credible, the most affecting representations of the distress of the Besiegers, and of the utter insecurity of Sicily if the French remained possessors of Malta, were treated with neglect; and the urgent remonstrances for the permission of importing corn from Messina, were answered only by sanguinary Edicts precluding all supply. Sir Alexander Ball sent for his senior Lieutenant, and gave him orders to proceed immediately to the Port of Messina, and there to sieze and bring with him to Malta the Ships laden with corn, of the number of which Sir Alexander had received accurate information. These orders were executed without delay, to the great delight and profit of the Ship Owners and Proprietors; the necessity of raising the Siege was removed; and the Author of the measure waited in calmness for the consequences that might result to himself personally. But not a complaint, not a murmur, proceeded from the Court of Naples. The sole result was, that the Governor of Malta became an especial object of its' hatred, its' fear, and its' respect.

The whole of this tedious Siege, from its' commencement to the signing of the Capitulation, called forth into constant activity the rarest and most difficult virtues of a commanding mind; virtues of no shew or splendour in the vulgar apprehension, yet more infallible characteristics of true greatness than the most unequivocal displays of enterprize and active daring. Scarcely a day passed, in which Sir Alexander Ball's patience, forbearance, and inflexible constancy, were not put to the severest trial. He had not only to remove the misunderstandings that arose between the Maltese and their Allies, to settle the differences among the Maltese themselves, and to organize their efforts: he was likewise engaged in the more difficult and unthankful task of counteracting the weariness, discontent, and despondency, of his own Countrymen—a task, however, which he accomplished by management and address, and an alternation of real firmness with apparent yielding. During many months he remained the only Englishman, who did not think the Siege hopeless, and the Object worthless. He often spoke of the time in

which he resided at the country seat of the Grand Master at St. Antonio, four miles from Vallette, as perhaps the most trying period of his Life. For some weeks Captain Vivian was his sole English Companion, of whom, as his partner in anxiety, he always expressed himself with affectionate esteem. Sir Alexander Ball's presence was absolutely necessary to the Maltese, who, accustomed to be governed by him, became incapable of acting in concert without his immediate influence. In the out-burst of popular emotion, the impulse, which produces an insurrection, is for a brief while its' sufficient pilot: the attrac tion constitutes the cohesion, and the common provocation supplying an immediate object, not only unites, but directs, the multitude. But this first impulse had passed away, and Sir Alexander Ball was the one Individual who possessed the general confidence. On him they relied with implicit faith and even after they had long enjoyed the blessings of British government and protection, it was still remarkable with what child-like helplessness they were in the habit of applying to him, even in their private concerns. It seemed as if they thought him made on purpose to think for them all. Yet his situation at St. Antonio was one of great peril: and he attributed his preservation to the dejection, which had now begun to prey on the spirits of the French Garrison, and which rendered them unenterprizing and almost passive, aided by the dread which the nature of the Country inspired. For subdivided as it was into small Fields, scarcely larger than a Cottage Garden, and each of these little squares of land inclosed with a substantial stone wall, and from the necessity of being perfectly level, rising in tiers above each other, the whole of the inhabited part of the Island was an effective Fortification for all the purposes of annoyance and defensive Warfare. Sir Alexander Ball exerted himself successfully in procuring information respecting the state and temper of the Garrison, and by the assistance of the Clergy and the almost universal fidelity of the Maltese, contrived, that the Spies in the pay of the French should be in truth his own most confidential Agents. He had already given splendid proofs that he could out-fight them; but here, and in his after diplomatic intercourse previous to the recommencement of the War, he likewise out-witted them. He once told me with a smile, as we were conversing on the practice of laying wagers, that he was sometimes in.

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