Three weeks later he authorized Ball, with the consent of the King, to preside over the meetings of the Maltese chiefs, and, by the desire of his Sicilian Majesty, the British flag was to be hoisted alongside the Sicilian in every place where the latter was flown, “side by side, that of England being on the right hand,” to show that the island was under the special protection of Great Britain during the war.  On the 23d of March he cordially congratulates the Russian admiral upon the fall of Corfu, news of which he has just received, and he mentions, meaningly, “The flag of his Sicilian Majesty, with that of Great Britain, is flying on all parts of Malta, except the town of Valetta, the inhabitants of which have, with his Sicilian Majesty’s consent, put themselves under the protection of Great Britain.”  “I attach no value to it for us,” he said explicitly to the First Lord, meaning, no doubt, for the purposes of the existing war.  This opinion was perfectly consonant to the secondary importance he had latterly attributed to the presence of the British in the Levant, as compared to their duties towards Naples, but though he reiterated it in the later war, it was with the express qualification that, for the security of communication with India, not then in question, the value of the island was indisputable.

But if, positively, Malta was of little use to England,—­“a useless and enormous expense,” to use his own words,—­yet, negatively, the consequences of its passing into the hands of a powerful rival were too serious to be permitted.  “Any expense should be incurred rather than let it remain in the hands of the French.”  The same distrust of the Russians was suggested by his keen political insight.  “You will observe what is said in the despatches of the Consul at Corfu,” he writes to St. Vincent, “respecting the Russians being ordered to Malta.  I know this is a favourite object of the Emperor’s, and is a prelude to a future war with the good Turk, when Constantinople will change masters.  This is so clear, that a man must be blind not to see it.”  “I have just received the Emperor of Russia’s picture in a box magnificently set with diamonds; it has done him honour and me a pleasure to have my conduct approved;” “but,” he tells Ball, significantly, “this shall not prevent my keeping a sharp lookout on his movements against the good Turk.”  As regards Paul I., ferocious and half crazy as he was, this imputation of merely interested foresight scarcely did justice to the quixotic passions which often impelled him to the most unselfish acts, but the general tendency was undeniable; and Nelson’s watchful attitude exemplifies the numerous diplomatic, as well as military, responsibilities that weighed upon him.  He was, practically, commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, even if Government refused to recognize the fact by reward, or by proper staff appointments; for St. Vincent, autocratic as he was towards others, could roll off upon Nelson all his responsibilities there,—­“the