mally be brought home to him, his crime was notorious. What must be the spirit of a system which defends itself by such arguments! We may go farther, and exclaim what must be the effect of such a system, not only on those whom it directly reaches, but on the whole class of society at large, whom it teaches in every instance to frame their conduct to the supposed exigence or convenience of the moment, rather than to those general principles of action, which are the only basis of justice, morality and religion!

We are aware of the difficulty of introducing amendment in so sickly a body as the jurisprudence of Malta; but the wisdom of the physician was never questioned for risking somewhat where the malady was desperate, and we know that in the present instance it is scarcely possible to apply a cure which shall be worse thau the disease. It is not, however, our wish that such a recipe should be resorted to as, in the opinions of our countrymen in Malta, can alone be successful. What is nutriment to a sound, is poison to a diseased constitution, and it will be long ere she will be prepared to receive that best of benefits-the English law. In this, as well as other cases, the habits of the patient must be considered, and to those habits must be adapted the system of cure. Such caution is doubtless necessary; but if we continue to confound caution with delay, it is a question whether we shall not be forced upon more perilous experiments. So long as justice is impartially administered,' says even Mr. Eton, the common people will generally remain quiet; but what people will long submit to a system so radically vicious, that we believe any man of common understanding and experience in the judicial proceedings of Malta would, with the conviction that the right was with him, as soon submit his cause to the hazard of the die as to the decision of the ordinary tribunals of La Valletta?

We shall now venture to suggest two means of giving influence to our government in these islands, the first of which, we believe, would bring an accession of moral, as well as physical strength to the English interests. The works of Malta, the excellence of which is in most instances so justly vaunted, are in some respects extremely defective. The Cottonera lines, designed only as a receptacle for the peasantry and cattle, in the event of Turkish invasion, afford but a feeble defence against the more dangerous arts of European warfare. They are, moreover, commanded by a neighbouring hill, which consequently must, in case of danger, either be rased, or converted into a military position. But the great evil of these fortifications is their extent. In the opinion of experienced officers, thirty thousand men would be required for their full Occupation; say that fifteen thousand would be sufficient for effective defence. Our garrison ordinarily consists, and it is quite as much as we can spare, of about five thousand. There are also,

exclusive

exclusive of a small corps of coast-artillery, two battalions of native infantry, which may amount to one thousand men. One of these is tolerably effective, the second is no better than an armed police. Now the population of the islands consists, according to the most probable estimates, of ninety-six thousand souls, having increased nearly a fourth, since they came into our possession. What prevents our raising from this a militia adequate to the necessity of the case? A very little instruction, and therefore a very small expense, would fit them for the execution of the duties required in a siege, and the numberless holidays observed in catholic countries would afford an opportunity for their assembly and exercise. Upon our system of colonial policy something must be trusted to the inhabitants of our settlements, and we believe no where could such confidence be more safely reposed than in the lower orders of the Maltese. It would flatter their amour propre, always a characteristic feature in the natives of petty states, and would be hailed by them as a sort of security against a return of their enemies. Should, however, such a scheme, if executed on a large scale, appear to be attended with risk, it might be discreetly modified so as to preclude the possibility of danger; a certain number only might be disciplined, and the great body of those required merely inrolled, and distributed under officers worthy of their trust. The advantages of such an arrangement are too obvious to require illustration.

Our second proposal will probably appear to others, as well as ourselves, utterly free from any possible difficulty or danger. One of the many causes which have retarded the civilization of these islands, is their language. This is Arabic, a tongue which promises no great sources of information; but even these, such as they are, are sealed to the Maltese; for they have never adopted its original characters, or established by convention an alphabet of their own. One has indeed been proposed in a dictionary lately published; but their preachers still continue to compose in Italian, and from the pulpit, translate their sermons, as they read, into the vernacular tongue. The former language, though incorrectly spoken, has made considerable progress in the towns; the English, however, is beginning to diffuse itself, and, if we may believe the assertions of a native, well informed on such subjects, it has gained a footing in the country which the Italian, so long the lingua aulica of Malta, has never been able to obtain. One great encouragement to the study of our language is the singular facility with which the natives of these islands, from their organs having been disciplined to every possible inflection of sound in their own, acquire its pronunciation. From the mode in which they receive their knowledge, and the habits of their instructors, it is not wonderful that they should fall into some whimsical singularities of idiom; but many of the lower

ranks

ranks express themselves fluently, and all with very little impropriety of accent. Why not attempt to further the natural progress of things? It is surely unnecessary to enter upon a detail of the advantages which the establishment of English, as a national language, would produce, and a waste of words to prove how much it must tend to an identification of the inhabitants with their fellowsubjects. The useful discoveries of the present day furnish the means. The systems of Bell or Lancaster are well known to foreigners under another name; and the Neapolitan government some time ago established a school for Italian upon these principles in Palermo, which has answered the fullest expectation of its founders. The numbers and poverty of the Maltese clergy would furnish a cheap class of instructors: the youth, who are generally the worst provided, would eagerly embrace such a means of profit, however scanty, and would easily qualify themselves for their task. A Maltese advocate is at present not amongst the least respectable of the pleaders in the Admiralty Court of La Valletta, and we feel persuaded that, were this system adopted, the English would in a few years utterly supplant every other dialect spoken in the island. An uncommon portion of shrewdness, and a frugality, or rather dirty parsimony, unexampled in any other people, peculiarly fit the Maltese for commercial pursuits, and explain the cause of the marvellous accumulation of riches by men, totally without capital, who have laid the foundation of their fortunes in these two qualities alone. With this singular people, education is a key which can unlock treasures, and, as such, would be hailed with a gratitude proportioned to their sense of the benefit received.

Such are the measures which strike us as most likely to meet the evils which threaten the stability of our government in Malta; but there is one preliminary step which can alone give force and consistency to any change of system, on whatever principle it may be founded: we must do away the farce of a provisional administration; we must at once give confidence to our friends and take all hope from our enemies, by annexing this settlement to the empire of Great Britain. No objection ought to come, or will come, from the majority of the inhabitants who, like fatherless children, will gratefully receive our adoption. Does the measure hang upon difficulties with respect to the public law of Europe? After the events of the last few years; after the violence this code has suffered from France, and, in necessary retaliation on the enemy, from ourselves, what is such a pretended scruple but a cloak for cowardice or sloth? We believe, indeed, that more will be inclined to censure our suggestions as deficient in energy than to tax them with the opposite error. But those who would play a bolder game, must recollect that this is not an abstract discussion

VOL. IX. NO. XVII.

B

of

of the colonial policy of Great Britain, it is not a question whether a better general system might or might not be substituted for the present; but how Malta may be best governed according to the existing order of things. To such who on the other hand may think, that what is sought by the patriots, though it cannot be pretended to as a right, might wisely be conceded as a grace -to such amongst these as will not shut their eyes against the light of history, and the experience of their own times, we reply, that putting out of the question all other considerations, the Maltese are yet far, very far from that point of civilization when such concessions could be considered as a benefit. The reader, who has not already arrived at this conclusion, will scarcely fail to acknowledge its truth, in the course of the perusal of some notices which we shall now throw together upon the national character.

The two most odious points in this are the passion of vengeance, and what we have already touched upon, an excessive sordidness of disposition. To these might be added, most overweening pride and self-conceit. Lord Bacon has designated revenge as a kind of wild justice: it is common to all barbarians, and people living under a defective system of justice. The second vice is more peculiarly their own; it pervades all ranks, exhibits itself in every money transaction, and is not more visible in the petty thefts of the servant, than in the dirty spirit of peculation in the public functionary, which he qualifies with the gentle term of ingegnarsi. For the third failing, if it is not so general in the higher classes, it meets you at every turn amongst the lower.

Into the opposite scale must be cast piety, chastity, sobriety, all the family affections, fidelity, courage, and industry. In Malta, the usual effect of a hot climate in disposing to indolence has been counteracted by peculiar circumstances; and the scantiness of the soil et duris urgens in rebus egestas have infused into these islanders a portion of energy and activity not to be surpassed by that of the inhabitants of our more northern regions. On horseback they are strong and courageous as ourselves; in the management of their own vessels they are admirable; in the use of the oar they are undoubtedly our superiors: the inhabitants of the coast may almost be considered as amphibious, and the address of the boys on the marina of La Valletta in recovering a small piece of money from the bottom of the harbour, is amongst the first striking circumstances which arrest the attention of a stranger. An Englishman sees with wonder the driver of his calesse, during the most oppressive days of summer, running by the side of his horse for miles together, and keeping up with him, whatever may be his pace; and, with respect to the peasantry, a singular picture of their industry and temperance may be found in the Essay of the Padre Carlo.

Correspondent

Correspondent in appearance to the vigour with which they are animated are the figure and limbs of the Maltese. Strongly resembling the remains of Greek sculpture, they afford a singular confirmation of the propriety of that model which the ancients adopted as the scheme of perfection, with respect to strength and beauty, in the human frame. The face, however, bears no resemblance to the models of classical antiquity. The hair is coarse and bushy, the complexion swarthy, the features rude; and, with a certain expression of good-humour, is mixed that look of cunning which never fails to distinguish the barbarian.

Of the good qualities, which we have ascribed to these people, we think few will be called in question; their social affections, their devotion and their sobriety are universally admitted; and though the chastity of their women has been disputed by those considered as the best qualified to decide upon the fact, we believe that their experi ence has not extended beyond the limited sphere of corruption which emanated from the knights, and which, for a time, survived the extinction of the order.

The bravery and fidelity of the people are best attested by their conduct during the blockade of the French in La Valletta; and an Occurrence which happened during this warfare, will illustrate, in singular contrast, two of the qualities we have attributed to them, namely, their vindictive spirit and their devout, though blind, obedience to their religion. A party had surprized and massacred some Frenchmen, and were about to glut their vengeance with devouring the hearts of their victims, when one of the number observing that it was Friday, they unanimously desisted from their intention, and reserved the forbidden viands till they could eat meat without offending against the precepts of their church. Nor did their purpose cool by delay; they did actually re-assemble and consummate the monstrous feast.

It is not, however, always striking virtues and vices which best. determine the scale of civilization at which a people are arrived; traits of character, less important in themselves, often furnish a nicer criterion. The most remarkable among those which distinguish the Maltese, is exhibited in the supposed disease of the scanto, and its remedy; a folly which appears to be derived from their Sicilian neighbours. This is a violent panic terror, which, if it does not slay the patient outright, occasions a prostration of strength and spirits which yields only to some medicine, at once whimsical and strange, and the virtue of which consists, of course, in the con-. fidence which it excites. But the Maltese refine upon the Sicilian mode of treatment. Their most approved prescription is a broth composed of puppies, put alive into the pot. The magic of this recipe consists in the sufferer's remaining ignoraut of its composi