He English Nation
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HE ENGLISH NATION E PEOPLE OF MALTA ->*<- July 1901. THE PEOPLE OF MALTA c . The Maltese find themselves since a century under British Rule and during all this period have always given constant proofs of loyalty. It was not through conquest that they have formed part of the British Empire, but at their own free will they applied for the Pro~ectorate. Towardi:3 the end of the XVII century Napoleon Bonaparte had taken the Island from the Knights of "St. John; but within a very short time after this event, the Maltese, who could not adapt themselves to the conquest, rose in arms against the Republic, unaided, without seeking anyone's help; and after that they had, alone. already fought for a long time, they were provided \vith arms and ammunitions fl'Om England and from other powers. They were fighting for their freedom and their own indipendence and they were winning. General Graham recognizes all this in his proclamation of the • 19th June 1801 where he says: "Brave Maltese !.... given in prey of invaders .... an eternal slavery seemed to be your inevitable destiny .... you broke in pieces your chains .... your courage confined your enemy behind the ramparts .... To arms, then, 0 Maltese, for GOD and your COUNTRy!.... Success will recom pense your labour, and you will return instantly into the bosom of your families, proud, justly proud, of HAVING SAVED YOUR COUNTRY! My Master sovereign of a people free and generous, sent me to support you. " -God gave victory to the Maltese. But the Treaty of Amiens decided to give tbe Maltese back to the Govern ment of the Order, much against their will and to th.eir great disappointment. They petitioned to the King of England that H. M. might be pleased to ~ake Malta under His protection. The Treaty of Amiens was annulled, and 111 the Treaty of Paris of 1814 the wish of the Maltese and the yoice of Europe (llIelitensium amor et Europa' Vox) gave these Islands to Great Britain. The Maltese were ahrays and are still poud to belong to England, but they have always claimed, in Yain, that part of benefits, which from tbe union should accrue to them. Because it is evident, that, although explicit agreements there were few, yet this union should have meant as a thing desired for reciprocal interest. England by acquiring Malta, had a strategical position in the Mediterranean truly enviable, splendid harbours, and first rate fortresses. Malta longed for a political freedom in the administration of its internal Governlilent,-that freedom whi.ch is an indispensable element wherewith a people may deyelop its own resourses and follow the European progress. 4 It is painful to us to record that we have never had this freedom. It was only in the year 184~ that a mock representative Government was granted to us; but the Elective Members of the Oouncil were in a minority and the Officials, bound to support the Government, always won through their nume rical majority. In 1887 the constitution was improved; but soon after the principal parts of it were destroyed, and what remains became null and void through the abuses of the veto of the Governor, through the corrupted and corruptive policy of the Government, and through the Orders in Oouncil. The Government, seeing that the population were suffering in silence, wished to push their pretensions to the point of attacking the Language of the Country-the Italian. Since 1880 a very unequal struggle is taking place between the people and the Government, and no end of abuses and unjustices were committed with that end in view. The Maltese have so far claimed, in vain, to have their home rule. They have uselessly· applied to the Imperial Government, through a deputation sent to London in 1899 with a view of protesting against the f3ubstitution of the English Language to the Italian and of obtaining the political freedom to administer their own Government. Their just claims have been obstinately rejected and they are now groaning under a Military Goyernment always Severer and harsher. They have now decided to make an appeal to the generous English People, hoping that their moderate pretensions may be taken up by the British' Parliament. England has always been the School of freedom, and we are, therefore, sure that our appeal to the generosity of the English N alion will not be in vain. The reasons of the Maltese have been dealt with in the various correspon dences between the Members of the Deputation sent to London in 1899 and the Secretary of State for the Oolonies, to which we beg expressely to refer ourselves, having been informed that their publicatio11 has been promised in Parliament. ,Ve may only add some informations relative to the meetings of the 5th May and 2nd· June ot this year. These two meetings were, indeed, very important, for the number and quality of persons attending them. To the first of these meetings no less then 25 to 30 thousand were present, and that out of population of 165264 souls: at the second, from 4 to 5 thousand assembled, out of a population of 19789. ·When the initiator of these meetings. made known his intention of assembling the people, he invited all constituted bodies and corporations to express their intention whether they snpported or not bis views, and such was the assent of the public, that it can be said that a plebiscite in writing has been given before the meeting could take place (1). The decision of the People could not be more unanimons, on both questions that were pnt to the Assembly, viz: on the language question and on that of the taxes which were the principal points at issue, an~ the Resolutions passed at these meetings were duly submitted to His Excellency the Governor (2). On these meetings the Ele'cted Members of the Oouncil of Government have also addressed His Excellency the Governor on the 16th of this month, anrl we think it useful to reproduce here the following paragraphs of their letter: " 7. 'iYith reference to the language question ,ye beg to state that those Official Members of the Oouncil of Government, to whom the task is entrusted of bringing about the substitution of the English for the Italian language, have frequently misrepresented the bearings of this subject: it is, therefore, our duty frankly to declare that no one is contrary to the teaching of the English language and to its diffusion in Malta, but that all Maltese are contrary to its substitution for Italian and are contrary to the exclusion of the latter from these islands. " This opposition of the Maltese, being thus breafly and clearly defined, its justice is self· evident, and it becomes quite.intelligible that the Maltese (1) See Appendix 1. (2) See Appendix II. 5 are asking for' what they have a right to maintain, and what the -Government cannot deprive them of, without committing an act of the most odious violence. "8. The Maltese have possessed this language from the time ,yhen it first sprung up, and it is an historial fact that the first Italian "Canzoni" were sung in Malta before they were in northern Italy. " The O.31cial Members of Government did not hesitate to falsify history, and, from the fact that till the end of the XVII century some notarial and judicial acts used to be written in Latin, they wished to infer that the Italian language was introduced into this Island only 200 years ago. These gentlemen should see the emptiness of their argnment reflecting that, on one hand, it is a: fact that even in Italy, up to th~ end of the XVII century, many notarial acts anel forms of judicial procedure were written in Latin; and, on the other hand, that in Malta many notarial acts and forms of judicial procedure, anterior to the XVIII century, are written in Italian. This proves that Malta, at that time followed, as far as the language is concerned, the Italian evolution. "But even supposing that the Italian language bad not been adopted by the Maltese but 200 years since-or even less-would that entitle the Government to deprive us of it and to substitute English in its stead? "9. The Petition made by the Maltese to King George III asking Him r to take Malta under His protection was written 111 Italian. It establishes the Italian language as the base of all our relations with England, and in this respect it is to. be considered as an inviolable contract, beeause it is on the strength of this Petition that in 1814, at the Treaty of Paris, this sentence was written: " lVIagnm et InvicttB Britannim Melitensiutll Amor et Europi:B Vox has Insulas confirmat. " "10. Malta was not conquered by England: the Maltese, after regaining their liberty, spontaneously asked for the protection of Great Britain, to which they brought the splendid achantages offered by their harbours and fortresses. Today, in the XX century, it would be a crime against humanity if a conquering nation dared to impose its language on the conquered one: we leave it, therefole, to Your Excellency to judge what is to be thought of the conduct of our Government, who interferes, not with the language of a conquered race, but with that of a people, that, of their own free will placed themselves under its protection and contributed so much to its power in the l\lediterranean. " In spite of all this, however, (hiring one hundred years Malta has continually been attacked by the Government with that end in view, and especialfy during the last 25 years the Maltese have, been the victims of the strangest and most deplorable measures tending to that scope! "11.