AFFAIRS OF MALTA.
TO THE EDITOR OF TILE SPECTATOR.
Malta, 8th March 1836.
SIR—Your correspondent, Mr. ANTHONY SHIRLEY, in his letter from Cheltenham, has acquainted your readers with the experiment re- cently made here in legislation by the formation of a Council of Go- vernment; and it may interest you to know bow the attempt has hitherto succeeded, as proving the correct view taken by Mr. SHIRLEY of the measure in question.
This Council was to be composed, as you are aware, of four official and three unofficial members, presided over by the Lieutenant-Gover- nor, or officer acting as such, for the time being.
The present acting Lieutenant-Governor, who holds the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel, having come to the island but a few mouths since, a perfect stranger, and finding himself called upon, probably for the first time in his life, and at a moment of considerable excitement, to act in a civil capacity, must naturally have looked to the Chief Secretary for the information necessary to guide him in this novel and responsible situation.
This officer is underst000d to have had the prudence under these cir- cumstances not to commit himself' by voting on questions which he felt himself incompetent to decide upon, from want of experience and local knowledge, and to have confined himself merely to giving the opinion of a man of sense and good intentions on any subject sub- mitted to his notice.
The Bishop, who was named as first official member, having objected to take the oath of office, and his decision having been approved .by the Papal Government, this prelate is consequently not a member of the Council.
The second official member was the senior military officer; and it happened that the officer then bolding that rank from the circumstance of being on the staff, had been resident several years, and had therefore an opportunity of acquiring the knowledge requisite for making him an efficient member of the Council ; in which, however, he had scarcely taken his seat, when he was superseded by a senior officer, who came here about a month ago, and who will in his turn be displaced in the same manner before he can be at all competent to the discharge of a duty, as foreign, it may be, to his wish as to his habits ; thus strongly confirming the objection urged againsethe appointment of this member of Council.
The third official member, according to the King's proclamation, was intended to be the Chief Justice ; but it would appear that his honour is not a member, and is only to be consulted by the Council on subjects of a professional nature : by which singular arrangement, the individual who, from his general knowledge and long residence, might be reason- ably expected to be best qualified to legislate on matters of civil go- vernment, is altogether excluded from the Council ; against which in- terpretation of the royal proclamation it is supposed that the Chief Justice has addressed a protest to his Majesty's Government. The last official member is the Chief Secretary ; to whose nomina- tion it has been justly objected, that, as an executive officer, lie should not be entitled to a seat in the Council.
From this statement you will observe, that the Council of Govern- ment is in fact composed of the Chief Secretary and his nominees, the three unofficial members ; and certainly it must be confessed, that a more crude and ill-digested attempt at legislation never before ema- nated even from the Colonial Office.
One of the first questions forced upon the notice of the Council thus constituted, was that of the Liberty of the Press ; and the way in which it has been met is sufficiently edifying, and affords a tolerable criterion of the liberal notions entertained by its members. It was the opinion of the senior military officer, the present Ex- Councillor, that the freedom of the press should be established by law ; against which opinion the three unofficial members, not content with recording a silent vote, thought it necessary to state in writing the grounds of their decision, for the edification of his Majesty's Secre- tary of State,—who, it is to be hoped, will not withhold from the public the train of reasoning which led these three Solons to the same conclusion.
The Chief Secretary, knowing as he well did, how his nominees were to vote, and that the majority of the Council would consequently be against the question, had tact enough to make a cheap parade of liberality, (for the sincerity of which he will gain but little credit here,) by voting in its favour. His Majesty's Government, however, did not think it necessary to wait for the opinion of the Council on this important matter ; having already decided upon the propriety and expediency of establishing by law the freedom of the press in this island.
The despatch which communicated this decision to the local Go- vernment, was received here three weeks ago ; but no official notice thereof having been yet made public, it is suspected that the Pricy Council in the Secretary's office. forming the real Government of the island, is endeavouring to stifle the monster in its birth; having already commenced their operations by sounding the tocsin of alarm to the bigotry of the natives, and especially of the clergy, by raising the old cry of the " Church in danger." Such is the present state of this abortive attempt to amend the con- dition of the island. It is to be hoped that his Majesty's Government, sensible of the inefficiency of this Council for any good or useful pur- pose, may be induced to reform it on a more liberal basis, the broad principle of which should be the free election of its members by the classes of society they are intended to represent, and by then granting to the Council an exclusive control over the revenue and expenditure of
the colony. ANGLO-MELITENSIS.
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