Malta Protectorate

Malta Protectorate (Italian: Protettorato di Malta, Maltese: Protettorat ta' Malta) was the political term for Malta when it was a British protectorate. The protectorate existed between the capitulation of the French forces in Malta in 1800 and the transformation of the islands to the Crown Colony of Malta in 1813.

During the Maltese uprising against the French, the Maltese people formed a National Assembly as a provisional government. Messengers were sent to the British fleet in Sicily for help, and a British convoy consisting of 13 battered ships under Captain Sir James Saumarez appeared off the island in late September 1798.

In October Sir Alexander Ball arrived in Malta, and a year later he was appointed as Civil Commissioner.

The French garrison under General Vaubois had been driven to Mosta, and finally surrendered on 4 September 1800. Malta therefore became a British protectorate. In August 1801, the Civil Commissioner, Charles Cameron, appointed Emmanuel Vitale as Governor of Gozo instead of Saverio Cassar. This effectively brought an end to Gozo's independence as la Nazione Gozitana.

In June 1802, 104 representatives from the Maltese towns and villages signed a declaration entitled La Dichiarazione dei Diritti degli abitanti delle Isole di Malta e Gozo (The Declaration of Rights of the inhabitants of the Islands of Malta and Gozo) by which they proclaimed George III to be their king and that he had no right to surrender Malta to another power. By the Declaration they also proclaimed that Malta should be self-governing while under British protection.

Harbour activity in Malta increased, which included the George Washington, the first American warship to navigate the Mediterranean in early 1801. Valletta emerged as a crucial logistical and diplomatic base for the American forces in their war against North African corsairs, known as the First Barbary War (1801-1805). American warships, such as the USS Constitution, docked in Malta's Grand Harbour to obtain fresh water, supplies, and essential repairs, which enabled the American squadron to maintain its blockade and operations against the Barbary States. It also contributed to an audacious plan by US Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, who employed a seized Tripolitan vessel (renamed the Intrepid), disguised as a merchant ship from Malta and outfitted with British colours, to infiltrate Tripoli harbour and destroy the USS Philadelphia, which had been captured by the Tripolitans.

Under the terms of the 1802 Treaty of Amiens with France, Britain was supposed to evacuate the islands, but failed to keep this obligation - one of several mutual cases of non-adherence to the treaty, which eventually led to its collapse and the resumption of war between the two countries. Between 1802 and 1806, Southern Europe received a fifth of British exports to Europe, or £3,200,000 per year, while Northern Europe accounted for four-fifths of British exports to Europe, with an average of £12,800,000 annually. In 1806, Napoleon's Continental Blockade disrupted commercial connections between England and several European nations. Between 1808 and 1812, the share to Southern Europe increased to sixty percent, averaging £10,000,000 annually, primarily through Malta and Sicily. In addition, Malta served as a staging point for the importation of raw materials and commodities from the Barbary States and the Levant to England and to the Austrian States.

Port activity surged to an impressive average of 1,500 ships visiting Malta every year. Ironically, the surge in commercial activity partially reversed the poverty and destruction caused by the Maltese insurrection against French control a few years earlier. The circulating currency used in Malta reflected this international trade, comprising a mixture of Maltese scudi and tari from the era of the Order, Sicilian, Spanish and South American dollars, together with British gold sovereigns and half sovereigns. This period of economic prosperity led to the foundation of institutional banking on the islands with the first Maltese bank, the Anglo Maltese Bank, formed on 23 June 1809 by Maltese and British merchants, followed by the Banco Di Malta and Tagliaferro's Bank in 1812. The conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars and an epidemic in 1813 ultimately brought an end to the golden era of the Anglo-Maltese trade. Nevertheless, this set the basis for Malta becoming a major British overseas naval base for the following 150 years.