Constructing Ionian identities: the Ionian Islands in British official ...

effectively summarised his character. Charles Napier, the British Regent of
Cephalonia (1809-1816) who served under Maitland’s command described him as a
“rough old despot”. 62 Maitland was, according to his first biographer Walter Lord,
“dirty and coarse, rude in manner and violent in temper”. 63 Jervis, an English scholar
and historian of the Ionian Islands, described Maitland as “born an autocrat”,
admitting “no one more uncongenial to the Ionians could have been found”. 64
Contemporary historical accounts observed that “in both Malta and the Ionian
Islands the form of colonial despotism was most robustly illustrated during the rule
of ‘King Tom’ Maitland”. 65 Maitland practised one form of rule at home, as a
supporter of Parliamentary reform in Britain, and another in the colonies, where he
was a “despot”. 66
“Our power rests solely in others belief in our superiority”: the Constitutional
Charter
In December 1815 Bathurst instructed Maitland “to go… and collect
information... which will enable [him] to act when [his] authority shall be more
regularly established”. It was the intention of the British government to learn as
much as possible about “the habits of the inhabitants” before constructing their
Constitutional Charter. After all, Ionians should not imagine “they can make a
constitution as they would make a pudding according to the British or French
62 Napier W., The life and opinions of General Sir Charles James Napier, G. C. B., 1, (London, 1857),
p. 285.
63 Lord W. F. Sir Thomas Maitland, p. 286.
64 Jervis H., History of the Island of Corfu and the Republic of the Ionian Islands, (London, 1852), p.
205 and Lord W. F., Sir Thomas Maitland, p. 286.
65 Bayly C. A., Imperial Meridian, p. 198.
66 Dixon C. W., The Colonial Administration, p. 210.
95