The Paget Papers.

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

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 302-303.

Palermo, 15th Janry, 1801.

My Lord,—I have received complaints both verbally and in writing from His Sicilian Majesty'a Ministers respecting certain transactions which have lately happened at Malta under the direction of the British Commanders.
The Principal Causes of Complaint are, That it has been declared to the Magistrates in that Island by the persons exercising the English Govt that His B. My has put Malta under his Protection, that the ecclesiastical tribunals are abolished, that the Clergy were no longer to consider themselves as dependant upon their former Metropolitan (who is a Sicilian Arch-Bishop) that the Pratequi Hense (?) Boats were to hoist English instead of Neapolitan Colours, that English Governors & Garrison were sent to Citta Vecchia & Gozzo hitherto occupied exclusively by Neapolitans-& Finally that Corsairs from tlze Coast of Barbary had been admitted into the Ports & Creeks of Malta to the manifest prejudice of the Interest & Commerce of H.S.My's Subjects.
That similar operations seemed to indicate nothing less than an effectual Capture of the Island to the total exclusion of His S.My-a circumstance which had not failed to create the most unpleasant sensations in H.S.My's mind.
The Above is the Substance of the Notes I have received, the blame attached to these innovations is attributod to the Oflicers Commandg at Malta, His Majesty's Govt being expressly exempted from any intention of giving any uneasiness to the K of Naples.
In my Answer I have briefly referred H.S.My's Ministers to the explanations which I had already given them in obedience to the orders contained in your Lordship's Dispatch of the 17th Octr.
It was indeed impossible for me to enter into any detail upon the Subject, having been kept in the most profound State of Ignorance as to every arrangement which has been made at Malta.
I know that H.S.My feels himself extremely hurt upon this occasion, not so much in consequence of what has been done, as at the manner of doing it. For altho' it is indeed obvious that the facts complained of, & the conclusion drawn from them, bear no resemblance to the declaration I had made to His Ministers, namely that it was not His My's Intention by the temporary occupation of Malta as a military position during the War to prejudge the Question of the future disposition to be made of the Island at the Conclusion of a General Peace-
Yet I am authorized to say that H. S. My would willingly have acceded to any arrangement whatever respecting Malta which might have been most agreeable to His Majesty, provided His My's wishes had been made known to Him, it is therefore clear that the mode which has been adopted of conducting the affairs in that Island is what has caused so much discontent & uneasiness to H.S.My.-I have, &c.,

(Signed)               Arthur Paget.

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