ABSTRACT
This chapter centers on Maltese discontent with the lack of agency in their own governance and ancillary events in Malta that threatened the stability of the island. Much of the narrative focuses on the feud between Alexander Ball and William Eton, with Maltese reform petitioners stuck in the middle. The rest of the chapter examines how the civil commissioner handled the Froberg Mutiny of 1806, the Vittoriosa explosion, a pay dispute between Maltese and British workers, and other small but potentially problematic events. Ball’s death in 1809 ushered in the commissionership of General William Oakes, a man who never wanted the job.
