Chapter II: Part 2

A period elapsed before the government of Malta again became self-supporting, during which over £600,000 was contributed by the British exchequer in aid of revenue, and for the importation of food-stuffs. The restoration of Church property, the re-establishment of law and administration on lines to which the people were accustomed before the French invasion, and the claiming for the Crown of the vast landed property of the knights, were the first cares of British civil rule. As successor to the Order, the Crown claimed and eventually established (by the negotiations in Rome of Sir Frederick Hankey, Sir Gerald Strickland and Sir Lintorn Simmons) with regard to the presentation of the bishopric (worth about £4000 a year) the right to veto the appointment of distasteful candidates. This right was exercised to secure the nomination of Canon Caruana and later of Monsignor Pace. When the pledge, given by the Treaty of Amiens, to restore the Order of St John with a national Maltese "langue," could not be fulfilled, political leaders began demanding instead the re-establishment of the "Consiglio Popolare" of Norman times (without reflecting that it never had legislative power); but by degrees popular aspirations developed in favour of a free constitution on English lines. The British authorities steadily maintained that, at least until the mass of the people became educated, representative institutions would merely screen irresponsible oligarchies. After the Treaty of Paris stability of government developed, and many important reforms were introduced under the strong government of the masterful Sir Thomas Maitland; he acted promptly, without seeking popularity or fearing the reverse, and he ultimately gained more real respect than any other governor, not excepting the marquess of Hastings, who was a brilliant and sympathetic administrator. Trial by jury for criminal cases was established in 1829. A council of government, of which the members were nominated, was constituted by letters patent in 1835, but this measure only increased the agitation for a representative legislature. Freedom of the press and many salutary innovations were brought about on a report of John Austin and G. C. Lewis, royal commissioners, appointed in 1836. The basis of taxation was widened, sinecures abolished, schools opened in the country districts, legal procedure simplified, and Police established on an English footing. Queen Adelaide visited Malta in 1838 and founded the Anglican collegiate church of St Paul. Sir F. Hankey as chief secretary was for many years the principal official of the civil administration. In 1847 Mr R. Moore O'Ferrall was appointed civil governor. In June 1849 the constitution of the council was altered to comprise ten nominated and eight elected members.

The revolutions in Italy caused about this time many, including Crispi and some of the most intellectual Italians, to take refuge in Malta. These foreigners introduced new life into politics and the press, and made it fashionable for educated Maltese to delude themselves with the idea that the Maltese were Italians, because a few of them could speak the language of the peninsula. A clerical reaction followed against new progressive ideas and English methods of development. After much unreasoning vituperation the Irish Catholic civil governor, who had arrived amidst the acclamations of all, left his post in disgust. His successor as civil governor was Sir W. Reid, who had formerly held military command. His determined attempts to promote education met with intense opposition and little success. At this period the Crimean War brought great wealth and commercial prosperity to Malta. Under Sir G. Le Marchant, in 1858, the nominal rule of military governors was re-established, but the civil administration was largely confided to Sir Victor Houlton as chief secretary, whilst the real power began to be concentrated in the hands of Sir A. Dingli, the Crown advocate, who was the interpreter of the law, and largely its maker, as well as the principal depository of local knowledge, able to prevent the preferment of rivals, and to countenance the barrier which difference of language created between governors and governed. The civil service gravitated into the hands of a clique. At this period much money was spent on the Marsa extension of the Grand Harbour, but the rapid increase in the size of steamships made the scheme inadequate, and limited its value prematurely. The military defences were entirely remodelled under Sir G. Le Marchant, and considerable municipal improvements and embellishments were completed. But this governor was obstructed and misrepresented by local politicians as vehemently as his predecessors and his successors. Ministers at home have often appeared to be inclined to the policy of pleasing by avoiding the reforming of what might be left as it was found. Sir A. Dingli adapted a considerable portion of the Napoleonic Code in a series of Malta Ordinances, but stopped short at points likely to cause agitation. Sir P. Julyan was appointed royal commissioner on the civil establishments, and Sir P. Keenan on education; their work revived the reform movement in 1881. Mr Savona led an agitation for a more sincere system of education on English lines. Fierce opposition ensued, and the _pari passu_ compromise was adopted to which reference is made in the section on _Education_ above; Mr Savona was an able organizer, and began the real emancipation of the Maltese masses from educational ignorance; but he succumbed to agitation before accomplishing substantial results.

An executive council was established in 1881, and the franchise was extended in 1883. A quarter of a century of Sir Victor Houlton's policy of _laissez-faire_ was changed in 1883 by the appointment of Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson as chief secretary. An attempt was made to utilize fully the abilities of this eminent administrator by creating him civil lieutenant-governor, in whom to concentrate both the real and the nominal power of detailed administration; but the military authorities objected to his corresponding directly with the Colonial Office; and a political deadlock began to develop. Sir A. Dingli was transferred from an administrative office to that of chief justice. With the continuance of military power over details, the public could not understand where responsibility really rested. The elected members under the leadership of Dr Mizzi clamoured for more power, opposed reforms and protested against the carrying of government measures by the casting vote of a military governor as president of the council. To force a crisis, abstention of elected members from the council was resorted to, together with the election of notoriously unfit candidates. Under these circumstances a constitution of a more severe type was recommended by those responsible for the government of Malta and was about to be adopted, as the only alternative to a deadlock, by the imperial authorities.

A regulation excluding Maltese from the navy (because of their speaking on board a language that their officers did not understand) provoked from Trinity College, Cambridge, the Strickland correspondence in _The Times_ on the constitutional rights of the Maltese, and a leading article induced the Colonial Office to try an experiment known as the Strickland-Mizzi Constitution of 1887. This constitution (abolished in 1903) ended a period of government by presidential casting votes and official ascendancy. For the first time the elected members were placed in a majority; they were given three seats in the executive council; in local questions the government had to make every effort to carry the majority by persuasion. When persuasion failed and imperial interests, or the rights of unrepresented minorities, were involved the power of the Crown to legislate by order in council could be (and was) freely used. This system had the merit of counteracting any abuse of power by the bureaucracy. It brought to bear on officials effective criticism, which made them alert and hard-working. Governor Simmons eventually gave his support to the new constitution, which was received with acclamation. Strickland, who had been elected while an undergraduate on the cry of equality of rights for Maltese and English, and Mizzi, the leader of the anti-English agitation, were, as soon as elected, given seats in the executive council to cooperate with the government; but their aims were irreconcilable. Mizzi wanted to undo the educational forms of Mr Savona, to ensure the predominance of the Italian language and to work the council as a caucus. Strickland desired to replace bureaucratic government by a system more in touch with the independent gentlemen of the country, and to introduce English ideas and precedents. Friction soon arose. Mizzi cared little for a constitution that did not make him complete master of the situation, and resigned his post in the government.

Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson left Malta in March 1889, and was succeeded by Sir Gerald Strickland (Count Delia Catena), who lost no time in pushing, and carrying with a rapidity that was considered hasty, reforms that had been retarded for years. The majorities behind the government began to dwindle and agitation to grow. Meanwhile the Royal Malta Militia was established as a link between the Maltese and the garrison. The police were reorganized with proper pay, criminal laws were rigorously enforced. A naval officer was placed over the police to diminish difficulties with the naval authorities and sailors. A marine force was raised to stop smuggling; and the subtraction of coal during coaling operations was stopped by drastic legislation. The civil service was reorganized so as to reward merit and work by promotion. Tenders were strictly enforced in letting government property and contracts; a largely increased revenue was applied on water supply, drainage and other works. Lepers were segregated by law.

The Malta marriage question evoked widespread agitation; Sir A. Dingli had refrained from making any provision in his code as to marrying. The Maltese relied on the Roman Canon Law, the English on the common law of England, Scots or Irish had nothing but the English law to fall back upon. Maltese authorities were ignorant of the disabilities of British Nonconformists at common law, and they had not perceived that persons with a British domicile could not evade their own laws by marrying in Malta, e.g. that an English girl up to the age of 21 required the father's or guardian's consent from which a Maltese was legally exempt at 18. Sir G. Strickland preferred legislation to the covering up of difficulties by governors' licences and appeals to incongruous precedents. Sir Lintorn Simmons was appointed envoy to the Holy See, to ascertain how far legislation might be pushed in the direction of civil marriage without justifying clerical agitation and obstruction in the council. He succeeded in coming to an agreement with Rome. Nevertheless Sir A. Dingli and ecclesiastics of all denominations, for conflicting reasons, swelled the opposition against the liberal concessions obtained from Leo XIII. The legal necessity for legislation in accordance with the agreement was, nevertheless, on a special reference, submitted to the privy council, whose decision affirmed the advisability of legislation and the need for validating retrospectively marriages not supported by either Maltese or English common law. Agitation in the imperial parliament stopped government action, but the publicity of the finding of the privy council warned all concerned against the risk of neglecting the common law of the empire whenever they were not prepared to follow the _lex loci contractus_.

Since the British occupation it was disputed whether the military authorities had the right to alienate for the benefit of the imperial exchequer fortress sites no longer required for defence. The reversion of such property was claimed for the local civil government, and the principles governing these rights were ultimately laid down by an order in council, which also determined military rights to restrict buildings within the range of forts. The co-operation of naval and military authorities was obtained for the construction, at imperial expense, of the breakwater designed to save Malta from being abandoned by long and deep draft modern vessels. British-born subjects were given the right to be tried in English. The new system of education (already described) was set up, and many new schools were built with funds provided by order in council against the wishes of the elected majority.

An order in council (1899) making English the language of the courts after fifteen years (by which the Maltese would have obtained the right to be tried in English) was promulgated at a time when the system of taxation was also being revised; henceforth agitation in favour of Italian and against taxation attained proportions unpleasant for those who preferred popularity to reform and progress. The elected members demanded the recall of Sir G. Strickland on his refusing to change his policy. The military governor gave way, as regards making English the language of the courts on a fixed date, but educational reforms and the imposition of new taxes (those in Malta being 27s. 6d. per head, against 93s. in England) were enacted by an order in council notwithstanding the agitation. Mr Mereweather was appointed chief secretary and civil lieutenant-governor in 1902, and Sir Gerald Strickland became governor and commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands. Governor Sir F. Grenfell was created a peer. Strenuous efforts were made to placate the Italian party in the administration of the educational reforms; but, as these were not repealed, elected members refused supply, and kept away from the council. Persistence in this course led to the repeal by letters-patent of 1903 of the Strickland-Mizzi Constitution of 1887. In place of occasional orders in council for important matters in urgent cases, bureaucratic government with an official majority was again, with its drawbacks, fully re-established for all local affairs great and small. The representatives of the people were repeatedly re-elected, only to resign again and again as a protest against a restricted constitution.

Authorities.--Kenrick's _Phoenicia_ (1855); A. A. Caruana's _Reports
on Phoenician and Roman Antiquities in Malta_ (1881 and 1882); Albert
Mayr, _Die Insel Malta im Altertum_ (1909); James Smith, _Voyage and
Shipwreck of St Paul_ (1866); R. Pirro, _Sicilia sacra_; T. Fazello,
_Storia di Sicilia_ (1833); C. de Bazincourt, _Histoire de la Sicile_
(1846); G. F. Abela, _Malta illustrata_ (1772); J. Quintin, _Insulae
Melitae descriptio_ (1536); G. W. von Streitburg, _Reyse nach der
Inselmalta_ (1632); R. Gregoria, _Considerazioni sopra la storia di
Sicilia_ (1839); F. C. A. Davalos, _Tableau historique de Malte_
(1802); Houel, _Voyage pittoresque_ (vol. iv., 1787); G. P. Badger,
_Description of Malta and Gozo_ (1858); G. N. Goodwin, _Guide to and
Natural History of Maltese Islands_ (1800); Whitworth Porter, _History
of Knights of Malta_ (1858); A. Bigelow, _Travels in Malta and Sicily_
(1831); M. Miège, _Histoire de Malte_ (1840); Parliamentary Papers,
reports by Mr Rownell on Taxation and Expenditure in Malta (1878), by
Sir F. Julyan on Civil Establishments (1880); and Mr Keenan on the
Educational System (1880), (the last two deal with the language
question); F. Vella, _Maltese Grammar for the Use of the English_
(1831); _Malta Penny Magazine_ (1839-1841); J. T. Mifsud, _Biblioteca
Maltese_ (1764); C. M. de Piro, _Squarci di storia_; Michele Acciardi,
_Mustafa bascia di Rodi schiavo in Malta_ (1761); A. F. Freiherr,
_Reise nach Malta in 1830_ (Vienna, 1837); B. Niderstedt, _Malta vetus
et nova_, 1660; F. Panzavecchia, _Storia dell' isola di Malta_; N. W.
Senior, _Conversations on Egypt and Malta_ (1882); G. A. Vassallo,
_Storia di Malta_ (1890); H. Felsch, _Reisebeschreibung_ (1858); W.
Hardman, _Malta_, 1798-1815 (1909); A. Nieuterberg, _Malta_ (1879);
Terrinoni, _La Presa di Malta_ (1860); Azzopardi, _Presa di Malta_
(1864); Castagna, _Storia di Malta_ (1900); Boisredon, Ransijat,
_Blocus et siège de Malte_ (1802); Buchon, _Nouvelles recherches
historiques_; C. Samminniateli, Zabarella, _L' Assedio di Malta del
1565_ (1902); Professor G. B. Mifsud, _Guida al corso di Procedura
Penale Maltese_ (1907); P. de Bono Debono, _Storia della legislazione
in Malta_ (1897); Monsignor A. Mifsud, _L'Origine della sovranità
della Grand Brettagna su Malta_ (1907); A. A. Caruana, _Frammento
critico della storia di Malta_ (1899); Ancient Pagan Tombs and
Christian Cemeteries in the Island of Malta, _Explored and Surveyed
from 1881 to 1897_; Strickland, _Remarks and Correspondence on the
Constitution of Malta_ (1887); A. Mayr, _Die vorgeschichtlichen
Denkmäler von Malta_ (1901); A. E. Caruana, _Sull' origine della
lingua Maltese_ (1896); J. C. Grech, _Flora melitensis_ (1853); Furse,
_Medagliere Gerosolimitano;_ Pisani, _Medagliere_; Galizia, _Church of
St John_; J. Murray, "The Maltese Islands, with special reference to
their Geological Structure," _Scottish Geog. Mag._ (vol. vi., 1890);
J. W. Gregory, "The Maltese Fossil Echinoidea and their evidence on
the correlation of the Maltese Rocks," _Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin._ (vol.
xxxvi., 1892); J. H. Cook, _The Har Dalam Cavern, Malta, Evidences of
Prehistoric Man in Malta_; _Collegamento geodetico delle isole maltesi
con la Sicilia_ (1902); A. Zeri, _I porti delle isole del gruppo di
Malta_ (1906); G. F. Bonamico, _Delle glossipietre di Malta_ (1688).

Brydone, Teonge, John Dryden jun., W. Tallack, Rev. H. Seddall,
Boisgolin, Rev. W. K. Bedford, W. H. Bartlett, St Priest. Msgr. Bres,
M. G. Borch, Oliver Drapper, John Davy, G. M. Letard, Taafe, Busuttil,
T. MacGill, J. Quintana, have also written on Malta. For natural
science see the works of Dr A. L. Adams, Professor E. Forbes, Captain
Spratt, Dr G. Gulia, C. A. Wright and Wood's _Tourist Flora_.

For the language question, see Mr Chamberlain's speech in the House of
Commons, on the 28th of January 1902. Also parliamentary papers for
Grievances of the Maltese Nobility, and Constitutional Changes.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See T. Zammit, _The Halsaflieni prehistoric hypogeum at Casal
Paula, Malta_ (Malta, 1910).

[2] Sometimes the pillar which represents the _baetylus_, which seems
to have been the object of worship, (see A. J. Evans in _Journal of
Hellenic Studies_, xxi., 1901) stands free sometimes it serves as
support to the table stone which covers the niche, and sometimes
again monolithic tables occur. Conical stones (possibly themselves
_baetyli_) are also found.

MALTA (or MEDITERRANEAN) FEVER, a disease long prevalent of Malta and formerly at Gibraltar, as well as other Mediterranean centres, characterized by prolonged high temperature, with anaemia, pain and swelling in the joints, and neuritis, lasting on an average four months but extending even to two or three years. Its pathology was long obscure, but owing to conclusive research on the part of Colonel (afterwards Sir) David Bruce, to which contributions were made by various officers of the R.A.M.C. and others, this problem had now been solved. A specific micro-organism, the _Micrococcus melitensis_, was discovered in 1887, and it was traced to the milk of the Maltese goats. A commission was sent out to Malta in 1904 to investigate the question, and after three years' work its conclusions were embodied in a report by Colonel Bruce in 1907. It was shown that the disappearance of the disease from Gibraltar had synchronized with the non-importation of goats from Malta; and preventive measures adopted in Malta in 1906, by banishing goats' milk from the military and naval dietary, put a stop to the occurrence of cases. In the treatment of Malta fever a vaccine has been used with considerable success.

MALTE-BRUN, CONRAD (1755-1826), French geographer, was born on the 12th of August 1755 at Thisted in Denmark, and died at Paris on the 14th of December 1826. His original name was Malte Conrad Bruun. While a student at Copenhagen he made himself famous partly by his verses, but more by the violence of his political pamphleteering; and at length, in 1800, the legal actions which the government authorities had from time to time instituted against him culminated in a sentence of banishment. The principles which he had advocated were those of the French Revolution, and after first seeking asylum in Sweden he found his way to Paris. There he looked forward to a political career; but, when Napoleon's personal ambition began to unfold itself, Malte-Brun was bold enough to protest, and to turn elsewhere for employment and advancement. He was associated with Edme Mentelle (1730-1815) in the compilation of the _Géographie mathématique ... de toutes les parties du monde_ (Paris, 1803-1807, 16 vols.), and he became recognized as one of the best geographers of France. He is remembered, not only as the author of six volumes of the learned _Précis de la géographie universelle_ (Paris, 1810-1829), continued by other hands after his death, but also as the originator of the _Annales des voyages_ (1808), and one of the founders of the Geographical Society of Paris. His second son, VICTOR ADOLPHE MALTE-BRUN (1816-1889), followed his father's career of geographer, and was a voluminous author.

MALTHUS, THOMAS ROBERT (1766-1834), English economist, was born in 1766 at the Rookery, near Guildford, Surrey, a small estate owned by his father, Daniel Malthus, a gentleman of good family and independent fortune, of considerable culture, the friend and correspondent of Rousseau and one of his executors. Young Malthus was never sent to a public school, but received his education from private tutors. In 1784 he was sent to Cambridge, where he was ninth wrangler, and became fellow of his college (Jesus) in 1797. The same year he received orders, and undertook the charge of a small parish in Surrey. In the following year he published the first edition of his great work, _An Essay on the Principle of Population as it affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other Writers_. The work excited a good deal of surprise as well as attention; and with characteristic thoroughness and love of truth the author went abroad to collect materials for the verification and more exhaustive treatment of his views. As Britain was then at war with France, only the northern countries of Europe were quite open to his research at that time; but during the brief Peace of Amiens Malthus continued his investigations in France and Switzerland. The result of these labours appeared in the greatly enlarged and more mature edition of his work published in 1803. In 1805 Malthus married happily, and not long after was appointed professor of modern history and political economy in the East India Company's College at Haileybury. This post he retained till his death suddenly from heart disease on the 23rd of December 1834. Malthus was one of the most amiable, candid and cultured of men. In all his private relations he was not only without reproach, but distinguished for the beauty of his character. He bore popular abuse and misrepresentation without the slightest murmur or sourness of temper. The aim of his inquiries was to promote the happiness of mankind, which could be better accomplished by pointing out the real possibilities of progress than by indulging in vague dreams of perfectibility apart from the actual facts which condition human life.

Malthus's _Essay on Population_ grew out of some discussions which he had with his father respecting the perfectibility of society. His father shared the theories on that subject of Condorcet and Godwin; and his son combated them on the ground that the realization of a happy society will always be hindered by the miseries consequent on the tendency of population to increase faster than the means of subsistence. His father was struck by the weight and originality of his views, asked him to put them in writing, and then recommended the publication of the manuscript. It was in this way the _Essay_ saw the light. Thus it will be seen that both historically and philosophically the doctrine of Malthus was a corrective reaction against the superficial optimism diffused by the school of Rousseau. It was the same optimism, with its easy methods of regenerating society and its fatal blindness to the real conditions that circumscribe human life, that was responsible for the wild theories of the French Revolution and many of its consequent excesses.

The project of a formal and detailed treatise on population was an afterthought of Malthus. The essay in which he had studied a hypothetic future led him to examine the effects of the principle he had put forward on the past and present state of society; and he undertook an historical examination of these effects, and sought to draw such inferences in relation to the actual state of things as experience seemed to warrant. In its original form he had spoken of no checks to population but those which came under the head either of vice or of misery. In the 1803 edition he introduced the new element of the preventive check supplied by what he calls "moral restraint," and is thus enabled to "soften some of the harshest conclusions" at which he had before arrived. The treatise passed through six editions in his lifetime, and in all of them he introduced various additions and corrections. That of 1816 is the last he revised, and supplies the final text from which it has since been reprinted.

Notwithstanding the great development which he gave to his work and the almost unprecedented amount of discussion to which it gave rise, it remains a matter of some difficulty to discover what solid contribution he has made to our knowledge, nor is it easy to ascertain precisely what practical precepts, not already familiar, he founded on his theoretic principles. This twofold vagueness is well brought out in his celebrated correspondence with Nassau Senior, in the course of which it seems to be made apparent that his doctrine is new not so much in its essence as in the phraseology in which it is couched. He himself tells us that when, after the publication of the original essay, the main argument of which he had deduced from David Hume, Robert Wallace, Adam Smith and Richard Price, he began to inquire more closely into the subject, he found that "much more had been done" upon it "than he had been aware of." It had "been treated in such a manner by some of the French economists, occasionally by Montesquieu, and, among English writers, by Dr Franklin, Sir James Steuart, Arthur Young and Rev. J. Townsend, as to create a natural surprise that it had not excited more of the public attention." "Much, however," he thought, "remained yet to be done. The comparison between the increase of population and food had not, perhaps, been stated with sufficient force and precision," and "few inquiries had been made into the various modes by which the level" between population and the means of subsistence "is effected." The first desideratum here mentioned--the want, namely, of an accurate statement of the relation between the increase of population and food--Malthus doubtless supposed to have been supplied by the celebrated proposition that "population increases in a geometrical, food in an arithmetical ratio." This proposition, however, has been conclusively shown to be erroneous, there being no such difference of law between the increase of man and that of the organic beings which form his food. When the formula cited is not used, other somewhat nebulous expressions are sometimes employed, as, for example, that "population has a tendency to increase faster than food," a sentence in which both are treated as if they were spontaneous growths, and which, on account of the ambiguity of the word "tendency," is admittedly consistent with the fact asserted by Senior, that food tends to increase faster than population. It must always have been perfectly well known that population will probably (though not necessarily) increase with every augmentation of the supply of subsistence, and may, in some instances, inconveniently press upon, or even for a certain time exceed, the number properly corresponding to that supply. Nor could it ever have been doubted that war, disease, poverty--the last two often the consequences of vice--are causes which keep population down. In fact, the way in which abundance, increase of numbers, want, increase of deaths, succeed each other in the natural economy, when reason does not intervene, had been fully explained by Joseph Townsend in his _Dissertation on the Poor Laws_ (1786) which was known to Malthus. Again, it is surely plain enough that the apprehension by individuals of the evils of poverty, or a sense of duty to their possible offspring, may retard the increase of population, and has in all civilized communities operated to a certain extent in that way. It is only when such obvious truths are clothed in the technical terminology of "positive" and "preventive checks" that they appear novel and profound; and yet they appear to contain the whole message of Malthus to mankind. The laborious apparatus of historical and statistical facts respecting the several countries of the globe, adduced in the altered form of the essay, though it contains a good deal that is curious and interesting, establishes no general result which was not previously well known.

It would seem, then, that what has been ambitiously called Malthus's theory of population, instead of being a great discovery as some have represented it, or a poisonous novelty, as others have considered it, is no more than a formal enunciation of obvious, though sometimes neglected, facts. The pretentious language often applied to it by economists is objectionable, as being apt to make us forget that the whole subject with which it deals is as yet very imperfectly understood--the causes which modify the force of the sexual instinct, and those which lead to variations in fecundity, still awaiting a complete investigation.

It is the law of diminishing returns from land, involving as it does--though only hypothetically--the prospect of a continuously increasing difficulty in obtaining the necessary sustenance for all the members of a society, that gives the principal importance to population as an economic factor. It is, in fact, the confluence of the Malthusian ideas with the theories of Ricardo, especially with the corollaries which the latter deduced from the doctrine of rent (though these were not accepted by Malthus), that has led to the introduction of population as an element in the discussion of so many economic questions in modern times.

Malthus had undoubtedly the great merit of having called public attention in a striking and impressive way to a subject which had neither theoretically nor practically been sufficiently considered. But he and his followers appear to have greatly exaggerated both the magnitude and the urgency of the dangers to which they pointed.[1] In their conceptions a single social imperfection assumed such portentous dimensions that it seemed to overcloud the whole heaven and threaten the world with ruin. This doubtless arose from his having at first omitted altogether from his view of the question the great counteracting agency of moral restraint. Because a force exists, capable, if unchecked, of producing certain results, it does not follow that those results are imminent or even possible in the sphere of experience. A body thrown from the hand would, under the single impulse of projection, move for ever in a straight line; but it would not be reasonable to take special action for the prevention of this result, ignoring the fact that it will be sufficiently counteracted by the other forces which will come into play. And such other forces exist in the case we are considering. If the inherent energy of the principle of population (supposed everywhere the same) is measured by the rate at which numbers increase under the most favourable circumstances, surely the force of less favourable circumstances, acting through prudential or altruistic motives, is measured by the great difference between this maximum rate and those which are observed to prevail in most European countries. Under a rational system of institutions, the adaptation of numbers to the means available for their support is effected by the felt or anticipated pressure of circumstances and the fear of social degradation, within a tolerable degree of approximation to what is desirable. To bring the result nearer to the just standard, a higher measure of popular enlightenment and more serious habits of moral reflection ought indeed to be encouraged. But it is the duty of the individual to his possible offspring, and not any vague notions as to the pressure of the national population on subsistence, that will be adequate to influence conduct.

It can scarcely be doubted that the favour which was at once accorded to the views of Malthus in certain circles was due in part to an impression, very welcome to the higher ranks of society, that they tended to relieve the rich and powerful of responsibility for the condition of the working classes, by showing that the latter had chiefly themselves to blame, and not either the negligence of their superiors or the institutions of the country. The application of his doctrines, too, made by some of his successors had the effect of discouraging all active effort for social improvement. Thus Chalmers "reviews _seriatim_ and gravely sets aside all the schemes usually proposed for the amelioration of the economic condition of the people" on the ground that an increase of comfort will lead to an increase of numbers, and so the last state of things will be worse than the first.

Malthus has in more modern times derived a certain degree of reflected lustre from the rise and wide acceptance of the Darwinian hypothesis. Its author himself, in tracing its filiation, points to the phrase "struggle for existence" used by Malthus in relation to the social competition. Darwin believed that man advanced to his present high condition through such a struggle, consequent on his rapid multiplication. He regarded, it is true, the agency of this cause for the improvement of the race as largely superseded by moral influences in the more advanced social stages. Yet he considered it, even in these stages, of so much importance towards that end that, notwithstanding the individual suffering arising from the struggle for life, he deprecated any great reduction in the natural, by which he seems to mean the ordinary, rate of increase.

Besides his great work, Malthus wrote _Observations on the Effect of
the Corn Laws_; _An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent_;
_Principles of Political Economy_; and _Definitions in Political
Economy_. His views on rent were of real importance.

For his life see _Memoir_ by his friend Dr Otter, bishop of Chichester
(prefixed to 2nd ed., 1836, of the _Principles of Political Economy_),
and _Malthus and his Work_, by J. Bonar (London, 1885). Practically
every treatise on economics deals with Malthus and his essay, but the
following special works may be referred to: Soetbeer, _Die Stellung
der Sozialisten zur Malthusschen Bevölkerungslehre_ (Berlin, 1886); G.
de Molinari, _Malthus, essai sur le principe de population_ (Paris,
1889); Cossa, _Il Principio di popolazione di T. R. Malthus_ (Milan,
1895); and Ricardo, _Letters to Malthus_, ed. J. Bonar (1887).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Malthus himself said, "It is probable that, having found the bow
bent too much one way, I was induced to bend it too much the other in
order to make it straight."

MALTON, a market town in the Thirsk and Malton parliamentary division of Yorkshire, England, 21 m. N.E. of York by a branch of the North Eastern railway. The town comprises Old Malton and New Malton in the North Riding, and Norton on the opposite side of the river Derwent, in the East Riding. Pop. of urban district of Malton (1901), 4758; of urban district of Norton 3842. The situation, on the wooded hills rising from the narrow valley, is very picturesque. The church of St Michael is a fine late Norman building with perpendicular tower; the church of St Leonard, of mixed architecture, with square tower and spire, has three Norman arches and a Norman font. The church of St Mary at Old Malton was attached to a Gilbertine priory founded in 1150; it is transitional Norman and Early English, with later insertions. Remains of the priory are scanty, but include a crypt under a modern house. In the neighbourhood of Malton are the slight but beautiful fragments of Kirkham Abbey, an Early English Augustinian foundation of Walter l'Espec (1131); and the fine mansion of Castle Howard, a massive building by Vanbrugh, the seat of the earls of Carlisle, containing a noteworthy collection of pictures. Malton possesses a town-hall, a corn exchange, a museum, and a grammar-school founded in 1547. There are iron and brass foundries, agricultural implement works, corn mills, tanneries and breweries. In the neighbourhood are lime and whinstone quarries.

Traces of a Romano-British village exist on the east side of the town, but there appears to be no history of Malton before the Norman Conquest. The greater part of Malton belonged to the crown in 1086 and was evidently retained until Henry I. gave the castle and its appurtenances to Eustace son of John, whose descendants took the name of Vescy. Eustace meditated the deliverance of Malton Castle to King David of Scotland in 1138, but his plans were altered owing to the battle of the Standard. The "burgh" of Malton is mentioned in 1187, and in 1295 the town returned two members to parliament. It was not represented again, however, until 1640, when an act was passed to restore its ancient privileges. In 1867 the number of members was reduced to one, and in 1885 the town was disfranchised. Until the 17th century the burgesses had all the privileges of a borough by prescriptive right, and were governed by two bailiffs and two under-bailiffs, but these liberties were taken from them in 1684 and have never been revived. From that time a bailiff and two constables were appointed at the court leet of the lord of the manor until a local board was formed in 1854. In the 13th century Agnes de Vescy, then lady of the manor, held a market in Malton by prescription, and Camden writing about 1586 says that the lord of the manor then held two weekly markets, on Tuesday and Saturday, the last being the best cattle market in the county. The markets are now held on Saturdays and alternate Tuesdays, and still belong to the lord of the manor.

MALTZAN, HEINRICH VON, BARON ZU WARTENBURG UND PENZLIN (1826-1874), German traveller, was born on the 6th of September 1826 near Dresden. He studied law at Heidelberg, but on account of ill health spent much of his time from 1850 in travel. Succeeding to his father's property in 1852, he extended the range of his journeys to Morocco and other parts of Barbary, and before his return home in 1854 had also visited Egypt, Palestine and other countries of the Levant. In 1856-1857 he was again in Algeria; in 1858 he reached the city of Morocco; and in 1860 he succeeded in performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, which he afterwards described in _Meine Wallfahrt nach Mecca_ (Leipzig, 1865), but had to flee for his life to Jidda without visiting Medina. He then visited Aden and Bombay, and after some two years of study in Europe again began to wander through the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean, repeatedly visiting Algeria. His first book of travel, _Drei Jahre im Nordwesten von Afrika_ (Leipzig), appeared in 1863, and was followed by a variety of works and essays, popular and scientific. Maltzan's last book, _Reise nach Südarabien_ (Brunswick, 1873), is chiefly valuable as a digest of much information about little-known parts of south Arabia collected from natives during a residence at Aden in 1870-1871. Among his other services to science must be noticed his collection of Punic inscriptions (_Reise in Tunis und Tripolis_, Leipzig, 1870), and the editing of Adolph von Wrede's remarkable journey in Hadramut (_Reise in Hadramaut_, &c., Brunswick, 1870). After long suffering from neuralgia, Maltzan died by his own hand at Pisa on the 23rd of February 1874.

MALUS, ÉTIENNE LOUIS (1775-1812), French physicist, was born at Paris on the 23rd of June 1775. He entered the military engineering school at Mezières; but, being regarded as a suspected person, he was dismissed without receiving a commission, and obliged to enter the army as a private soldier. Being employed upon the fortifications of Dunkirk, he attracted the notice of the director of the works, and was selected as a member of the École polytechnique then to be established under G. Monge. After three years at the École he was admitted into the corps of engineers, and served in the army of the Sambre and Meuse; he was present at the passage of the Rhine in 1797, and at the affairs of Ukratz and Altenkirch. In 1798 he joined the Egyptian expedition and remained in the East till 1801. On his return he held official posts successively at Antwerp, Strassburg and Paris, and devoted himself to optical research. A paper published in 1809 ("Sur une propriété de la lumière réfléchie par les corps diaphanes") contained the discovery of the polarization of light by reflection, which is specially associated with his name, and in the following year he won a prize from the Institute with his memoir, "Théorie de la double refraction de la lumière dans les substances cristallines." He died of phthisis in Paris on the 23rd of February 1812.

MALVACEAE, in botany, an order of Dicotyledons belonging to the series Columniferae, to which belong also the orders Tiliaceae (containing _Tilia_, the lime-tree), Bombaceae (containing _Adansonia_, the baobab), Sterculiaceae (containing _Theobroma_, cocoa, and _Colo_, cola-nut). It contains 39 genera with about 300 species, and occurs in all regions except the coldest, the number of species increasing as we approach the tropics. It is represented in Britain by three genera: _Malva_, mallow; _Althaea_, marsh-mallow; and _Lavatera_, tree-mallow. The plants are herbs, as in the British mallows, or, in the warmer parts of the earth, shrubs or trees. The leaves are alternate and often palmately lobed or divided; the stipules generally fall early. The leaves and young shoots often bear stellate hairs and the tissues contain mucilage-sacs. The regular, hermaphrodite, often showy flowers are borne in the leaf-axils, solitary or in fasicles, or form more or less complicated cymose arrangements. An epicalyx (see MALLOW, figs. 3, 4), formed by a whorl of three or more bracteoles is generally present just beneath the calyx; sometimes, as in _Abutilon_, it is absent. The parts of the flowers are typically in fives (fig. 1); the five sepals, which have a valvate aestivation, are succeeded by five often large showy petals which are twisted in the bud; they are free to the base, where they are attached to the staminal tube and fall with it when the flower withers. The very numerous stamens are regarded as arising from the branching of a whorl of five opposite the petals; they are united into a tube at the base, and bear kidney-shaped one-celled anthers which open by a slit across the top (fig. 2). The large spherical pollen-grains are covered with spines. The carpels are one to numerous; when five in number, as in _Abutilon_, they are opposite the petals, or, as in _Hibiscus_, opposite the sepals. In the British genera and many others they are numerous, forming a whorl round the top of the axis in the centre of the flower, the united styles rising from the centre and bearing a corresponding number of stigmatic branches. In _Malope_ the numerous carpels are arranged one above the other in vertical rows. One or more anatropous ovules are attached to the inner angle of each carpel; they are generally ascending but sometimes pendulous or horizontal; the position may vary, as in _Abutilon_, in one and the same carpel.

a, Stamens.
b, Bract.
g, Pistil of carpels.
i, Epicalyx, formed from an involucre of bracteoles.
p, Petals.
s, Sepals.]

1, Anther.
2, Pollen grain of Hollyhock (_Althaea rosea_) enlarged. The pollen
grain bears numerous spines, the dark spots indicate thin places in
the extine.]

The flowers are proterandrous; when the flower opens the unripe stigmas are hidden in the staminal tube and the anthers occupy the centre of the flower; as the anthers dehisce the filaments bend backwards and finally the ripe stigmas spread in the centre. Pollination is effected by insects which visit the flower for the honey, which is secreted in pits one between the base of each petal and is protected from rain by hairs on the lower margin of the petals. In small pale-flowered forms, like _Malva rotundifolia_, which attract few insects, self-pollination has been observed, the style-arms twisting to bring the stigmatic surfaces into contact with the anthers.

Except in _Malvaviscus_ which has a berry, the fruits are dry. In _Malva_ (see MALLOW) and allied genera they form one-seeded schizocarps separating from the persistent central column and from each other. In _Hibiscus_ and _Gossypium_ (cotton-plant, q.v.), the fruit is a capsule splitting loculicidally. Distribution of the seeds is sometimes aided by hooked outgrowths on the wall of the schizocarp, or by a hairy covering on the seed, an extreme case of which is the cotton-plant where the seed is buried in a mass of long tangled hairs--the cotton. The embryo is generally large with much-folded cotyledons and a small amount of endosperm.

The largest genus, _Hibiscus_, contains 150 species, which are widely
distributed chiefly in the tropics; _H. rosasinensis_ is a well-known
greenhouse plant. _Abutilon_ (q.v.) contains 80 species, mainly
tropical; _Lavatera_, with 20 species, is chiefly Mediterranean;
_Althaea_ has about 15 species in temperate and warm regions, _A.
rosea_ being the hollyhock (q.v.); _Malva_ has about 30 species in the
north-temperate zone. Several genera are largely or exclusively
American.

MALVASIA (Gr. _Monemvasia_, i.e. the "city of the single approach or entrance"; Ital. _Napoli di Malvasia_; Turk. _Mengeshe_ or _Beneshe_), one of the principal fortresses and commercial centres of the Levant during the middle ages, still represented by a considerable mass of ruins and a town of about 550 inhabitants. It stood on the east coast of the Morea, contiguous to the site of the ancient Epidaurus Limera, of which it took the place. So extensive was its trade in wine that the name of the place became familiar throughout Europe as the distinctive appellation of a special kind--Ital. _Malvasia_; Span. _Malvagia_; Fr. _Malvoisie_; Eng. _Malvesie_ or _Malmsey_. The wine was not of local growth, but came for the most part from Tenos and others of the Cyclades.

As a fortress Malvasia played an important part in the struggles
between Byzantium, Venice and Turkey. The Byzantine emperors
considered it one of their most valuable posts in the Morea, and
rewarded its inhabitants for their fidelity by unusual privileges.
Phrantzes (Lib. IV. cap. xvi.) tells how the emperor Maurice made the
city (previously dependent in ecclesiastical matters on Corinth) a
metropolis or archbishop's see, and how Alexius Comnenus, and more
especially Andronicus II. (Palaeologus) gave the Monembasiotes freedom
from all sorts of exactions throughout the empire. It was captured
after a three years' siege by Guillaume de Villehardouin in 1248, but
the citizens retained their liberties and privileges, and the town was
restored to the Byzantine emperors in 1262. After many changes, it
placed itself under Venice from 1463 to 1540, when it was ceded to the
Turks. In 1689 it was the only town of the Morea which held out
against Morosini, and Cornaro his successor only succeeded in reducing
it by famine. In 1715 it capitulated to the Turks, and on the failure
of the insurrection of 1770 the leading families were scattered
abroad. As the first fortress which fell into the hands of the Greeks
in 1821, it became in the following year the seat of the first
national assembly.

See Curtius, _Peloponnesos_, ii. 293 and 328; Castellan, _Lettres sur
la Morée_ (1808), for a plan; Valiero, _Hist. della guerra di Candia_
(Venice, 1679), for details as to the fortress; W. Miller in _Journal
of Hellenic Studies_ (1907).

MALVERN, an inland watering-place in the Bewdley parliamentary division of Worcestershire, England, 128 m. W.N.W. from London by the Great Western railway, served also by a branch of the Midland railway from Ashchurch on the Bristol-Birmingham line. Pop. of urban district(1901), 16,449. It is beautifully situated on the eastern slopes of the Malvern Hills, which rise abruptly from the flat valley of the Severn to a height of 1395 ft. in the Worcestershire Beacon. The district still bears the name of Malvern Chase, originally a Crown-land and forest, though it was granted to the earldom of Gloucester by Edward I. A ditch along the summit of the hills determined the ancient boundary. Becoming a notorious haunt of criminals, the tract was disafforested by Charles I., with the exception of a portion known as the King's Chase, part of which is included in the present common-land formed under the Malvern Hills Act of 1884.

Malvern was in early times an important ecclesiastical settlement, but its modern fame rests on its fine situation, pure air, and chalybeate and bituminous springs. The open-air cure for consumptive patients is here extensively practised.

The name Malvern is collectively applied to a line of small towns and villages, extending along the foot of the hills for 5 m. The principal is GREAT MALVERN, lying beneath the Worcestershire Beacon. It has a joint station of the Great Western and Midland railways. Here was the Benedictine priory which arose in 1083 out of a hermitage endowed by Edward the Confessor. The priory church of SS. Mary and Michael is a fine cruciform Perpendicular building, with an ornate central tower, embodying the original Norman nave, and containing much early glass and carved choir-stalls. The abbey gate and the refectory also remain. There are here several hydropathic establishments, and beautiful pleasure gardens. Malvern College, founded in 1862, is an important English public school. A museum is attached to it. Mineral waters are manufactured. At MALVERN WELLS, 2½ m. S., are the principal medicinal springs, also the celebrated Holy Well, the water of which is of perfect purity. There are extensive fishponds and hatcheries; and golf-links. The Great Western railway has a station, and the Midland one at Hanley Road. LITTLE MALVERN lies at the foot of the Herefordshire Beacon, which is crowned by a British camp, 1½ m. S. of Malvern Wells. There was a Benedictine priory here, of which traces remain in the church. MALVERN LINK, 1 m. N.E. of Great Malvern, of which it forms a suburb, has a station on the Great Western railway. WEST MALVERN and NORTH MALVERN, named from their position relative to Great Malvern, are pleasant residential quarters on the higher slopes of the hills.

MALWA, an historic province of India, which has given its name to one of the political agencies into which Central India is divided. Strictly, the name is confined to the hilly table-land, bounded S. by the Vindhyan range, which drains N. into the river Chambal; but it has been extended to include the Nerbudda valley farther south. Its derivation is from the ancient tribe of Malavas about whom very little is known, except that they founded the Vikrama Samvat, an era dating from 57 B.C., which is popularly associated with a mythical king Vikramaditya. The earliest name of the tract seems to have been Avanti, from its capital the modern Ujjain. The position of the Malwa or Moholo mentioned by Hsuan Tsang (7th century) is plausibly assigned to Gujarat. The first records of a local dynasty are those of the Paramaras, a famous Rajput clan, who ruled for about four centuries (800-1200), with their capital at Ujjain and afterwards at Dhar. The Mahommedans invaded Malwa in 1235; and in 1401 Dilawar Khan Ghori founded an independent kingdom, which lasted till 1531. The greatest ruler of this dynasty was Hoshang Shah (1405-1435), who made Mandu (q.v.) his capital and embellished it with magnificent buildings. In 1562 Malwa was annexed to the Mogul empire by Akbar. On the break-up of that empire, Malwa was one of the first provinces to be conquered by the Mahrattas. About 1743 the Mahratta peshwa obtained from Delhi the title of governor, and deputed his authority to three of his generals--Sindhia of Gwalior, Holkar of Indore, and the Ponwar of Dhar who claims descent from the ancient Paramaras. At the end of the 18th century Malwa became a cockpit for fighting between the rival Mahratta powers, and the headquarters of the Pindaris or irregular plunderers. The Pindaris were extirpated by the campaign of Lord Hastings in 1817, and the country was reduced to order by the energetic rule of Sir John Malcolm. Malwa is traditionally the land of plenty, in which sufferers from famine in the neighbouring tracts always take refuge. But in 1899-1900 it was itself visited by a severe drought, which seriously diminished the population, and has since been followed by plague. The most valuable product is opium.

The Malwa agency has an area of 8919 sq. m. with a population (1901) of 1,054,753. It comprises the states of Dewas (senior and junior branch), Jaora, Ratlam, Sitamau and Sailana, together with a large portion of Gwalior, parts of Indore and Tonk, and about 35 petty estates and holdings. The headquarters of the political agent are at Nimach.

Malwa is also the name of a large tract in the Punjab, south of the river Sutlej, which is one of the two chief homes of the Sikhs, the other being known as Manjha. It includes the British districts of Ferozpore and Ludhiana, together with the native states of Patiala, Jind, Nabha and Maler Kotla.

See J. Malcolm, _Central India_ (1823); C. E. Luard, _Bibliography of
Central India_ (1908), and _The Paramars of Dhar and Malwa_ (1908).