Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/384358
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2014 News 9 RAPHAEL VASSALLO "The yearning for autonomy in Malta goes back a very long time. I won't go as far as to call it a yearn- ing for 'independence'; but the de- sire to be more autonomous, to be less repressed, to be more in charge of local affairs, that takes us back a long way." Prof. Frendo is perhaps in an ideal situation to walk us through this process. As professor of his- tory at the University of Malta he has researched and written exten- sively about the subject: covering all aspects of Malta's political evo- lution under such titles as 'Origins of Maltese Statehood' and biog- raphies of George Borg Olivier, Censu Tabone, among other key figures in the dramatis personae. Yet he surprises me by pointing much further back in our history in search of the roots of today's celebrations. "You have a sense of belonging to this 'patria' which goes back to the 16th century. I can quote you Maltese authors of the 16th century who refer to Malta as 'Patria Mea Dolcissima': my dearest homeland… and even earlier: if you look back at the uprising against Don Gonsalvo Monroy [in 1450]… he was a feudal lord who was taxing the population unduly…" Underpinning these events was a conscious demand for greater rec- ognition as a nation. "It goes back to various instanc- es, even during the period of the Knights: the troubles with Lascaris, the uprising of the priests in 1775… then the French period, of course: when you had a popular armed insurrection by the Maltese popu- lation for the first and last time in history. This required a lot of mo- bilisation, a lot of organisation. " The uprising against the French lasted two years, and cost thou- sands of Maltese lives. It is here that Prof. Frendo discerns an early inception of a sense of statehood among the Maltese: even if it would take another two centuries to con- cretise into any clear notion of a Maltese state. "In 1778 Malta was part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. So be- fore the Maltese leadership of the Congresso Nazionale could invite Admiral Nelson to blockade the French in the harbours, they had first to request permission from the King of the Two Sicilies. Which they did. If you read the exchanges of correspondence, you will see how they refer to themselves as 'vassalli fedelissimi' of the King. And the King, in granting them permission, did so on that presumption: that they would remain loyal subjects, and that Malta would revert to his kingdom in spite of the British in- tervention. In fact Queen Carolina was quite livid, when she discov- ered that the British had usurped the sovereignty of the fiefdom." This period is particularly inter- esting because it takes place against the backdrop of a crumbling world order. Malta was effectively em- broiled in the Napoleonic wars, which marked a transition between Europe's former feudal economic system and a more modern world in which the major power brokers were radically different from their predecessors. Reversion to the pre- vious feudal system was not really possible with the seismic changes ushered in after the French Revo- lution. "The French in many ways tried to modernise Malta in this sense: on his brief sojourn here, Napoleon Bonaparte abolished the inquisi- tion, he abolished slavery… he tried to introduce educational institu- tions on the French model. It didn't work, of course, because the French did not have the wherewithal to finance these reforms. This hap- pened all over Europe: they would go in, and then depend on loot and plunder to finance their schemes." In the Maltese context this fa- mously involved ransacking churches, which sparked outrage. But acting on this outrage de- manded organisation, which in turn breeds a sense of civic con- sciousness. "Yet when the British came, the French capitulated to the British, not to the Maltese. The Maltese were excluded from the capitula- tion for which they had fought and died. This sense of betrayal, this yearning for recognition and self- esteem, was immediately aroused in the Congresso Nazionale. If you look at the petitions to Lon- don going back to the early 19th century: what were the requests? – that there would be a 'consiglio popolare'; that the Maltese would be granted a Constitution, more autonomy, and so on. It didn't happen for another half a century. They also insisted on the abolition of censorship, which came about in 1839… and on the right to vote, which they got in 1849." It was admittedly not the same form of vote we now associate with democracy: for one thing, one had to qualify for a vote… most com- The long road to independence Today's celebrations mark the culmination of a process that began many centuries earlier. Historian and author Prof. HENRY FRENDO outlines the roadmap that led to independence in 1964. t