But the reconstitution of the Order was no less difficult than the choice of a strong and disinterested protecting Power.

Lord Hawkesbury proposed that Russia be the guaranteeing Power.

No proposal could have been more reasonable.

The claims of the Czar to the protectorate of the Order had been so recently asserted by a treaty with the knights that no other conclusion seemed feasible.

And, in order to assuage the grievances of the islanders and strengthen the rule of the knights, the British Ministry desired that the natives of Malta should gain a foothold in the new constitution.