Never was greater discernment shown in the selection of a fit agent,
than when Sir Alexander Ball was stationed off the coast of Malta to
intercept the supplies destined for the French garrison, and to watch
the movements of the French commanders, and those of the inhabitants
who had been so basely betrayed into their power. Encouraged by the
well-timed promises of the English captain, the Maltese rose through
all their casals (or country towns) and themselves commenced the work
of their emancipation, by storming the citadel at Civita Vecchia, the
ancient metropolis of Malta, and the central height of the island.
Without discipline, without a military leader, and almost without
arms, these brave peasants succeeded, and destroyed the French
garrison by throwing them over the battlements into the trench of the
citadel. In the course of this blockade, and of the tedious siege of
Valetta, Sir Alexander Ball displayed all that strength of character,
that variety and versatility of talent, and that sagacity, derived in
part from habitual circumspection, but which, when the occasion
demanded it, appeared intuitive and like an instinct; at the union of
which, in the same man, one of our oldest naval commanders once told
me, "he could never exhaust his wonder.
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