Registration of voters since 1849

Abstract

Soon after the expulsion of the French from the Maltese Islands in 1800, the Maltese people of their own accord, voluntarily assented to the protection of Great Britain. The administration of these Islands was until 1813 entrusted to two Civil Commissioners with full legislative and executive powers. The absence of even an advisory council to assist the Commissioners in their deliberations reduced such a single man rule to one of autocratic government. Indeed, the Maltese people disliked such an administration and in 1811 political agitation fanned by William Eton’s party reigned throughout Malta. The motive behind this reactionary move was the re-establishment of the Consiglio Popolare with wider executive and legislative powers than the one suppressed during Sir Alexander Ball’s rule. Consequently, a memorial was drawn up in Hilderbrand Cakes’ days complaining of misgovernment and insisting on reforms. As a result of this, a commission was appointed in 1812 to inquire into and report on the Affairs of Malta. The Commissioners considered the claim of a former existence of a deliberative and legislative Consiglio Popolare as unfounded and, accordingly, recommended adversely for its revival. They, moreover, feared ‘its re-establishment as a measure fraught with the greatest danger and involving the most serious consequences.’ However, the Commissioners recommended the establishment of an advisory council to be composed of four British and four Maltese members so that the Civil Commissioner might not remain the absolute ruler. Such a council was never formed. With regard to the Consiglio Popolare, the Royal Commissioners of 1856 reported that this body was first established by the Normans in 1090 A.D. and survived during a part of the rule of the Knights of St. John. It resumed its influence during the interregnum between the French invasion in 1798 and the subsequent entry of Malta into the then British Empire (now British Commonwealth). […]