322 
relative rank; and not the perpetual 
addition of territory-to those already in 
HISTORY, POLITICS, AND STATISTICS. 
being, who thereby become relatively, 
as well as positively, greater, 
Art. XXV. The Iinportance of Malta considered, in the Years 1796 and 1798 : also 
Remarks, which occurred during a Journey from Lngland to India, in the Year 1779. 
By Marx Woop, Esq. M. P. late Chief’ Lngineer, Bengal. 4to. pp. 78. 
IN the year 1796, Mr. Wood ad- 
dressed a letter.to Messrs. Pitt and Dufi- 
das, and in the year 1798 he addressed 
two letters to Mr. Dundas alone, exhi- 
biting in the most clear and satisfactory 
manner the high importance of Malta 
to Great Britain, asa depdt and guar- 
dian of our commerce in the Mediter- 
ranean and Ionian seas; and as affording 
the most effectual, if not the only, meaus 
of protecting our eastern empire from 
the insatiable ambition of the French 
republic. Malta is truly represented as 
“ that station which would give us com- 
pletely the command of the Levant, 
since not one ship from thence could 
sail to or from any port in Europe, un- 
less by our permission or under convoy 
of a superior fleet ; the coasts of Spain, 
Vrance, Italy, and Africa must be sub- 
ject to our contro], and, whilst at war 
with this country, be kept under neces- 
sary subjection. From Africa and Si- 
cily we could have ample supplies for 
our fleets aud garrisons; and by the 
Dardanelles, from the Euxine and Cas- 
pian seas, inexhaustible supplies of vari- 
ous naval stores, which, if not secured 
to ourselves, must inevitably find their 
way to the arsenals of France.”’ 
' These short letters do the greatest 
credit to the sagacity and political fore- 
sight of Mr. Wood: Bonaparte’s expe- 
dition to Egypt is distinctly foretold, 
and even the measures which he pursued 
when.in possession of the country, are 
anticipated. But it was not the custom 
ot our last ministers to profit by the su- 
perior knowledge of private individuals, 
or act, upon advice—till it was too late 
to be of service. 
In the: year 1779, Mr. Wood received 
a note about mid-day, from Mr, Wilkes, 
clerk to the secret committee of the 
court of East India directors, desiring 
to see him on particular business: he 
attended, and, under injunctions of se- 
«recy, the desive of the committee was 
communicated, that he. would charge 
himself with their dispatches, as weil as 
those of the seeretary of state, and pro- 
ceed with them overland to India shat 
evening. Mr. Wood, accordingly, set 
eff on. his journey, which he pursued 
with the utmost expedition, aceording 
to his instructions, by way of Holland 
and Germany to Venice, and thence by. 
Alexandria, Grand Cairo, and Suez, to 
Fort St. George. If the contents of 
his dispatches had not been represented 
as of the highest and most pressing im- 
portance to the British nation, the tenor 
of the instructions, that every thing but 
_-security was to be sacrificed toexpedition, 
would have justified the inference. But 
it was the mountain in labour! 
«« From the tenor of our instructions, as 
well as conversation of Mr. Wilkes, every 
person would have believed the dispatches to _ 
have been of infinite importance; and as the 
French had been expelled from all their set- 
tlements in India, and Sir Edward Hughes, — 
with a large fleet of men of war, accompa- ~ 
nied by tvoops in transports, had sailed for 
the East only a fewedays before, I naturally 
concluded that his destination was against 
Mauritius, and that 1 earried orders for 
troops and stores to be immediatag sent 
from India to co-operate in this expedition. 
A large army of near 30,0C@ men was at this 
time in and about the Carnatic, totally un- 
employed, and as many in Bengal. On my 
arrival at Madras, [ was nota little surpriseu 
to find that, excepting honours for Sir The- 
mas Rumbold and Sir Hector Munro, my 
dispatch merely contained orders for destroy- 
ing the fortifications of Pondicherry. <As I 
reached Madras many months before Sir 
Edward got as far as the Cape, the facility 
with which such a plan could have been 
executed is obvious, and Sir Edward might 
havé performed this service and reached India 
as soon as he did.” — 
The remarks in this rapid journal may 
be serviceable to those who are employed 
in a similar expedition. 
