History of Malta - The British
Once the French were expelled from the Island, the British were not so much interested in keeping Malta, as keeping the French out. In fact, at the Treaty of Amiens (1802), that brought hostilities between Britain and France to an end, it was decided that Malta was to be returned to a reformed Order of St. John under the protection of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and that her neutrality was to be guaranteed by all the Great Powers. The Maltese, in the majority were thoroughly opposed to such an arrangement. If Britain refused sovereignty over the Island, it was up to the Islanders themselves to decide what was to be their fate. Italian continued to be the language of culture and learning as it had been for centuries before, and official proclamations were phrased in the Italian tongue. With the British in command of the sea, all mercantile shipping was obliged to call at the Valletta Harbour for clearance by the British Navy, and before long, the Maltese Islands became the most important center of trade in the Mediterranean. Under the Treaty of Paris (1814) the Island was confirmed as a British Possession. With the cessation of hostilities, Malta lost its favoured position under the protection of the British Navy and as a plague epidemic carried away thousands, an era of wealth and prosperity for the Maltese people came to an end. As steam replaced sail, Malta became an important coaling station, all the more so after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. The dockyards were expanded and provided work for a sizeable section of the population. Agriculture was encouraged to make the Island Fortress as self-sufficient as possible and the growing of potatoes, now a major agriculture export, was introduced. The ever present problem of the water supply also received urgent attention. Prosperity brought about a rapid rise in the population and emigration was actively encouraged to ease the burden on the Fortress economy. Various Maltese settled in Egypt and the Barbary Coast (Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Marocco) where they prospered, though some did return. Italian political refugees of the Risorgimento sought refuge in Malta and the examples of these Italian patriots had the effect of further fanning the flames of Maltese Nationalism. At the insistence of the Maltese a Council of Government was set up in 1835. The military worth of Malta and its islands was to be demonstrated during the Crimean War (1854-56) when the Island Fortress became a rear base for the departure of troops and a receiving station for casualties. Imperial policy dictated that Britain take Malta under its wing and anglicize, as far as possible, the local population. An “upstart”, educated in as English university, or an English university, or an English military academy, was looked down upon by an upper-class intellectual brought up and schooled in the Italian language. Before long, the Language Question, as it came to be called, lost its shibboleth value and the fight resolved itself on which of the two languages, English or Italian, were to be taught in Government schools. The Maltese tongue, the language of the people, was to receive a welcome boost from the pro-British faction which promoted the vernacular in favour of the Italian as a second language. In the meantime the question of proper representation was inching slowly towards self-determination. The First World War placed Malta on a war footing and as happened in the Crimean War sixty years earlier, Malta was to provide harbour and dockyard facilities to the Allied Navies, and her contribution in the cause of sick and wounded soldiers hospitalized on the Island earned Malta the title “Nurse of the Mediterranean”. When peace had been restored hundreds of dockyard and other workers and servicemen were mad redundant and unemployment was widespread. A National Assembly was set up to make proposals for a new constitution. During one of the public meetings of this Assembly, held on the 7th June 1919, the crowd grew hostile and the troops were called out to restore order. When the troops opened fire on the rioters, three of them were killed while another died of his wounds later. With the new Constitution, that of 1921, Malta was, at last, to be granted Self-Government with responsibility for all internal affairs. The British Government retained control on Defence; Foreign Affairs; and Immigration.
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