English Translation

59 - 56 is a base of resistance to the revolutionary ideas and powers. Whitworth did not seem to have understood the importance of the new dignity for Paul in the connection of relations between the emperor and the Order, despite his diplomatic experience, since he said in 1797 that it was "un bien réel et une vertu de plus dans l'empereur, celle de maintenir et faire honneur aux anciennes institutions".1) The sober English were aware of the danger that this base in the middle of the Mediterranean had to represent for them in Russian hands. In Russia, too, 2) the plan was already made to establish a factoriy in Malta. For the English, the island, as for Napoleon, had strategic importance as a naval base for a fleet that dominated the Mediterranean from here. Nelson stated in a letter to the English envoy in Constantinople of 7 October 198, Malta in the hands of the Russians would be "a bad thorn in the side of the Porte". In a letter to Addington dated 28 June 1983, he made even more clear about the importance of Malta: "I now declare that I consider Malta as a most important outwork to India, that it will give us great influence in the Levant, and Indeed all the southern parts of Italy. I hope we shall never give it up." Whitworth notes from Petersburg on May 15, l800 that the occupation of Malta is "essential to our trade and to the maintenance of our naval superiority in the Mediterranean". Hand in hand with this desire to seize the domination of the Mediterranean, the idea is growing that Russia is threatening India by its pressure on Turkey.3) On the news of the occupation of Malta by the narrow countries, Paul I. orders on 23 October l800 Jin new embargo on the English ships, along with a number of other coercive measures. On November 9, English ships will enter 1) Ši1'of S.398. 2) Aleksandrenko 1, p.82 Note 3. 3) Aleksan drenko 1, pp.83 Note.1.