detail of action) as decisive against the sum total of personal or
national worth; we must, I am convinced, attribute a large portion of
that conduct, which in many instances has left the inhabitants of
countries conquered or appropriated by Great Britain, doubtful
whether the various solid advantages which they derived from our
protection and just government, were not bought dearly by the wounds
inflicted on their feelings and prejudices by the contemptuous and
insolent demeanour of the English as individuals. The reader who
bears this remark in mind, will meet, in the 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 thought 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