LEST WE FORGET ....

.... that Malta was not British by the right of conquest"

26/10/1798 Nelson to Francis Werry, Consul at Smyrna

.....and the Maltese who have revolted against the French are in complete possession of the island except the town of Valletta .....

30/4/1839 Lord Glenelg, past Colonial Secretary at the House of Lords

.....Malta was not a possession, the result of a conquest ...... Great Britain furnished auxiliaries ....... and then the Maltese people, by their own act authority voluntarily assented to the protection of Great Britain .....

22./11/1847 - despatch from Earl Grey (Colonial Secretary! to the Governor of Malta

....that the Maltese had nearly achieved their independence by their own "gallant efforts and that they placed their dearest interests almost unconditionally at the disposal of Her Majesty's Royal predecessor .....

7/11/1900 Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain at a dinner given in his honour at the Palace,Valletta

.....Your Excellency, Malta is a unique position. It has not come to us in the ordinary way in which the possession of the Crown have been acquired. She is not OURS by right of the first discovery; nor is she OURS by right of conquest". Her dependence, which was threatened by the Great Napoleon, was maintained largely by the action of the Maltese themselves; and it is due, I think, to their clear perception of their position in the world that they were led, of their accord, to offer their patrimony to the British Government and to come under the protection of the British Empire .....

28/01/1901 Joseph Chamberlain speech in the House of Commons reported bv the Times

.....Malta became British, as the Maltese themselves greatly boast, with the good will and authority of the Maltese themselves. What were the terms ..... they were not terms of surrender, it is true we did not conquer the Maltese; we were fighting side by side with them, but we were never fighting against them. IT WAS NOT A CONQUEST; it was a cession by the representative authorities of the Maltese ......

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BRIGADIER GENERAL GRAHAM'S SPIRITED ADDRESS TOTHE MALTESE PEOPLE ON 19TH JUNE 1800 ACKNOWLEDGING THEIRGALLANT ACHIEVEMENT

Copyright © Ivan Magri-Overend, President of THE ASSOCIATION OF MALTESE COMMUNITIES IN EGYPT (A.M.C.O.E. - Founded in Alexandria in 1854 & Transferred to London in 1956) incorporating THE FRIENDS OF MALTA GC (1992)
We would like to thank Mr Ivan Magri-Overend for his most kind permission to reproduce the above copyright material from the A.M.C.O.E. NEWSLETTER (Issue No. 70, p 7) published in September 1997

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