The Paget Papers.

Letter from the Hon. Arthur Paget (Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of the two Sicilies) to General Pigot.

Source: Paget, Right Hon. Sir Augustus B. Paget, G.C.B. The Paget Papers, Diplomatic and other Correspondence of the Right Hon Sir A. Paget. G.C.B., 1794-1807, 2 Vols. Longmans, Green and Co. New York 1896. Vol 1.  Pages 269-270.

Palermo, 14th Sept, 1800.

My Dear General Lord,—Your lettr of the 3^d & 6^th Inst the latter announcing to me the important events whch have taken place under y^r Auspices, reached me only between ten & eleven o'clock the night before last, & yesterday morning at 6 o'clock I dispatched a servant to England who will, I doubt not, be the first to arrive with the news of the surrender of Malta. I took particular care to forw^d y^r Lett^r to Mrs. Pigot. I much fear that the manner in whch it has been thought right by S^r R. Abercrombie to take possession of Malta, will if not remedied wth address, be a source of jealousy and discord whch may have very unpleasant consequences. I still maintain that to hoist the British flag exclusively, is a direct and open breach of existing treaties-& between ourselves I am convinced within my own mind, that such never was the intention of Government-when the Island of Gozzo was taken possession of by L^d Nelson the Neapolitan colours only were hoisted. H.S.M^y would with pleasure have abandoned La Vallette to the English, but it is natural & just that as Sovereign of the Island of Malta & a part concerned in the reduction of the fortresses that He should see His flag flying in some part of them. To exclude Him from this is m my mind an arbitrary Act of Injustice. How matters will be made up with the Grand Master for excluding His flag, remains to be seen. I am upon the whole extremely sorry to observe the conduct we have adopted upon this occasion.

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