innocent and patriotic people were involved; and because his conduct
in this exigency evinced that his general habits of circumspection
and deliberation were the results of wisdom and complete 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 starving, 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 determined 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 Mediterranean; and
in this 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
support; 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