Church-state-people relations 1900-1914

Abstract

The period 1900-1914 can be described as a fairly calm political period in Malta especially when compared to those immediately preceeding and following it. The political situation in the Mediterranean, having relatively calmed down, and similarly the burning local issues of the 1880's and 1890's, the question of the security of the island became a matter of less preoccupation to the British. In the camp of local politics, this has been described as a 'stagnant, if formative period' British concern about the security of Malta was greatly increased in the last quarter of the 19th century due to the enhanced importance of the colony, commercially after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and strategically owing to the Mediterranean problems which came to the forefront of international relations especially in Salisbury's time when the importance given to the Mediterranean in British foreign policy increased the strategic importance of Malta. Locally, the latter part of the 19th century, saw an attempt to achieve a certain degree of anglicization inside the Maltese population. These attempts developed primarily in an acute revival of the language question and created a strong political movement which led to the formation of the political alignments of the late 19th and early 20th century.