Abstract
This chapter is dedicated to the ways political and social satire was manifested in Carnival. It refers to the Carnival protests of 1846, which showed the embryonic manifestation of a determined stand with regard to the establishment of a national identity. It describes various satires that refer to international and local realities, traces of which can be found in newspaper articles or rare photographs, and lays them against the background of both local and colonial politics. It illustrates how Carnival amusement served as a pretext for different political players, some of who are presented in Chap. 2, to expose social and political issues and to demonstrate nationalist ideas through caricature and criticism. It discusses the suppression of satires in 1935.
Il Hmar 21 February 1920, p. 2.
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Notes
- 1.
The accusation was made by Vincenzo Borg, Ball’s arch enemy, in a letter to Eton at the Colonial Office on the 23 July 1806, who claimed that because of Ball, other high-ranking officers and the British in general were being dragged into the satirical attacks. (See TNA CO 158/14, 1v. (page number marked in pencil: 41)). Ball’s letter is dated 28 February 1807 (TNA CO 158/13, 57).
- 2.
On 11 February 1891, Malta stated that Mr Bonnici brought out a ‘relishing’ satire [‘satire saporite’] once a year, but had not done so for the previous three years due to family reasons (p. 2).
- 3.
In July 1835, in a petition to the British Government, a Comitato Generale Maltese remonstrated against the lack of Maltese representation, as well as against the absence of a free press.
- 4.
Trams had appeared in London in 1901 (Osterhammel 2014, 305). In Malta, they were inaugurated on the on the 23 February 1905. See also: http://vassallohistory.wordpress.com/maltese-public-transport-since-1856-a-brief-history-of-the-public-transport-in-malta-the-omnibus-up-to-the-mid-1800s-the-only-means-of-human-transport-w/. Accessed 18 July 2014.
- 5.
Heated opposition again ensued when the Theatre Royal burned down a few years later, and had to be rebuilt, on the basis that the building was not absolutely necessary for the general welfare of the population.
- 6.
A combined poorhouse and mental asylum, proposed under Governor More O’Farrell, was completed by Le Marchant on Corradino Hill. See (undated) ‘Joseph Becket Henry Collings and the Reforms of the Charitable Institutions of Malta’, http://maltaramc.com/articles/contents/jbhc.html. Accessed 8 September 2016.
- 7.
In August 1870, on the eve of the capture of Rome, Mr Gladstone ordered the Defence to Civitavecchia, at Cardinal Manning’s request, with sealed orders that ‘should the Holy Father request to be taken on board, he is to be received and treated with all respect’ (Laferla 1938, 283).
- 8.
The newspaper Malta, which provides the largest number of descriptions of satires, states, for example, in 1888 that politics had featured heavily in the Carnival due to the numerous satires, but does not describe them (15 February 1888, 2), in 1891 the same newspaper states that there were none (11 February 1891, 2), and in 1893 it states that there were only a few (15 February 1893, 2).
- 9.
General Sir Arthur Borton (1878–1884) was not a popular figure, certainly among the pro-Italian community. Malta describes him as ‘having offended the feelings of the Maltese for the five or six years he was in office’ (19 February 1885, 2). He was known to have charged his horse through the feast of St. Paul’s religious procession, and the police sergeant who stopped him was demoted (Steve Borg: http://www.my-malta.com/interesting/Guns&Roses.html. Accessed 2 October 2012).
- 10.
Strickland was Governor of the Leeward Islands in 1902–1904, of Tasmania in 1904–1909, of Western Australia in 1909–1913, and of New South Wales from 1913 to 1917 (Frendo 2012, 270).
- 11.
The reasons given were Strickland’s chaotic government, the suspension of the constitution, the international depression, the devaluation of the sterling, the rise in the costs of imports which Malta depended on, the lack of industry and the huge deficit.
- 12.
The ‘Knutsford Constitution’ lasted from December 1887 to June 1903. It gave the Maltese more power to decide on local affairs, including financial matters.
- 13.
The first two lines of the original poem stated:
Gittò l’infame prezzo e disperato
L’albero ascese il venditor di Cristo.
The last four words were substituted by ‘il traditor di Malta’.
- 14.
Mickey Mouse was created in 1928, while Fifi, Minnie’s Pekinese dog, and Pluto’s love, first appeared in 1932, in a Sunday comic strip featuring Mickey, and in film a year later.
- 15.
See for example: ‘Passano le Maschere…’, 6 February 1937, 1; ‘Le Satire di Carnevale’, 26 February 1938, 1; ‘Carnevale: Onomastico del Governo!’, 19 February 1939, 1; ‘Nei Giorni del Carnevale Ufficiale’, 5–6 February 1940, 1.
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Cremona, V.A. (2018). ‘The Sweet Satires That Prick Where It Is Needed…’: The Caricature of Power. In: Carnival and Power. Transnational Theatre Histories. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70656-6_5
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