164 The Maltese Parliament [1894 



prived of their right to become members of the Executive. Strick- 

 land replied in an able, debating speech, but without, as I thought, hav- 

 ing the better argument, or commanding the sense of the Council. 

 One of Savona's proposed reductions was of £10 for the repainting of 

 the Government barge, and this he made fun of. He found, however, 

 support on the point in one of the elected members, Mozu, and Savona 

 lost the amendment, though he carried another reducing the vote by 

 £266 in regard to other items. Freemantle then retired, and a rather 

 noisy discussion followed about his successor in the chair, during 

 which, as it was late, I too went out. On the whole I was pleased with 

 the debate, which was ably conducted by the opposition, there being 

 but one very foolish speaker, a deaf old man, who talked nonsense about 

 i poveri Maltesi in and out of season. There was certainly more reality 

 in it than in the Viceregal Council meetings I attended at Calcutta, and 

 must do good as putting a check on the Government's autocratic 

 vagaries, if nothing more. 



" Dined with young Sitwell of the Rifles at the Club, and was glad 

 to find him talking sensibly about the exclusion of the Maltese nobility 

 from its membership. This is a notorious scandal and cause of ill- 

 feeling. Looking through the Club list I can find no more than two 

 Maltese names among the English ones, Strickland's and Dingli's. The 

 tone of English society here, Sitwell tells me, is violent about the Mal- 

 tese and absurd. He and his regiment are off next week for Bombay, 

 where he will find race arrogance more violent still. 



" 8th Nov. — Drove across the island through a series of lovely vil- 

 lages, all of hewn stone, to Hajar Kim, where there is an ancient 

 temple of the Druidical kind, then with Strickland to his country house, 

 on the way to Citta Vecchia, a fine villa of the beginning of last 

 century, with courts and fountains and an orange garden. This he 

 inherits from his mother. He tells me there are about twelve families 

 in the island which enjoy a majorat, his being one, in the rest property 

 has been divided among all the children, and so has disappeared. This 

 dates from the time of the knights. When the island was given to the 

 Knights of St. John in 1530 by Charles V a proviso was made that it 

 should revert to the Crown ; consequently, when the English first occu- 

 pied Malta it was in the name of the King of Naples that they did so. 

 The French knights had betrayed the island to Bonaparte, who took 

 possession of it as part of the French Republic, ill-treated the inhabi- 

 tants, robbed the churches, and speedily made the French detested. 

 The Maltese rose against them and invested the fortress for eighteen 

 months and forced a capitulation which the French made, not to 

 them but to Nelson — the annexation to England was an after- 

 thought. 



" Strickland explained Savona's attitude of opposition as one caused 



