With the exception of the Maltese secretary, whose
situation was one of incessant labour, and who at the same time
performed the duties of law counsellor to the Government, the highest
salaries scarcely exceeded 100 pounds a year, and were barely
sufficient to defray the increased expenses of the functionaries for
an additional equipage, or one of more imposing appearance. Besides,
it was of importance that the person placed at the head of that
Government should be looked up to by the natives, and possess the
means of distinguishing and rewarding those who had been most
faithful and zealous in their attachment to Great Britain, and
hostile to their former tyrants. The number of the employments to be
conferred would give considerable influence to His Majesty's civil
representative, while the trifling amount of the emolument attached
to each precluded all temptation of abusing it.
Sir Alexander Ball would likewise, it is probable, urge, that the
commercial advantages of Malta, which were most intelligible to the
English public, and best fitted to render our retention of the island
popular, must necessarily be of very slow growth, though finally they
would become great, and of an extent not to be calculated.
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