Evening star., 1930-05-23
BY JOSEPH GRIGG.
Special Dispatch to The Star and the New
York sun. Copyright, 1880.

4 Special Dispatch to The Star and the Eev
4 York sun. Copyright, 1880.
| LONDON, May 23.-Recent politica
! and religious developments in Malt<
/ have shown what keen observers on tn
/ spot have always said, that the islant
4 Il O. simmering Vesuvius, with all th'
| latent possibilities of an explosion af
| fecti1g. not only the colony itself, bu
| Great Britain and Italy as well.
| Hence the watchful eye which botf
the colonial ONCE In whitehall and th'
Vatican In Rome are keeping on th'
situation.
In no other country in the world, with
i the possible exception of ireland. ar,
| religion and politics SO closely inter
| mixed, and where the church's inter.
ference in temporal affairs has the force
| Of q medieval edict. Lord Strickland
the prime minister, and himself the
| head of q great English Catholic family
has endeavored to keep these two things
separate, but his efforts so far have
merely resulted in state Of armed neu'
trality between himself and the Pope.
The present crisis in the island Is .
recurrence of the trouble which devel-
oped more than year ago, though its
genesis goes back for generations. 1r
March. 1929, a sensation was caused In
religious circles in Malta by the action
Of Lord Strickland in interfering with
disciplinary measures Of Franciscan
monastery. .
Origin Of the Dispute.
Father Carta, the italian superior
ordered Padre Guido Micallef, prom.
/ inent partisan of the Constitutions
party which Lord Strickland leads, tc
| leave Malta for Sicilian province
The padre appealed to Lord Strickland
| who, as prime minister, countermandec
the order on the ground that an italian
subject had no right to deport BRUSH
Maltese subject.
Father Carta reported the incident
| to the Vatican and as a result Padre
Micallef was excommunicated and de-
prived of his priestly offices: The ques'
ton was then brought up IN tne MAJ.
| tese Parliament and a resolution was
passed asking the governor OF Malta &c
submit to the Vatican through the
British colonial and foreign Offices
request to send out an apostolic visitor
| to INQUIRE into the matter. Lord Strick-
| land announced that the government,
would not let any important witness
leave the island pending the Popes de-
| cision.
The next morning Father Carta re-
| newed his order for the padres de.
parture, and once more the government
| intervened on the ground that sueh On
order was o challenge to the authority
of the government.
Public ID Aroused.
Public opinion by this time was thor.
oughly stirred on the island. Loro
Strickland asserted that nothing would
sidetrack ministers from protecting
British subjects from Punishment from
v1,.St &~I~ %n~
under pratext Of religious discipline.
A counterblast soon came from the
church. The Archbishop Of Malta in
his Lenten pastoral recalled that dis
obedience of the church's laws leading
directly and indirectly against her lib
erty and jurisdiction is punishable with
accommodation" The pastoral was an
indirect reference to Lord Strickland
and in religious circles in Malta the
question was raised whether the prime
minister had excommunicated himself
ipso facto.
Strickland heatedly repudiated the
report Of his excommunicat'on which
was featured.i in. the whole Of the Italian
| Fascist press, asserting that 1t would
| be monstrous thing II the Vatican
| communicated o man who had two
English martyrs among his ancestors,
which he had. Far from being an
| tagonistic toward the church, the
Maltese government, he said. wished
ests, but 1t could not approve Of priests
who used their influence in political
matters.
As head of the government OF o
self governing colony Strickland was
within his rights in refusing to allow
| the deportation of q Maltese subject,
but he reckoned without the strong
| Roman Catholic and pro-Italian ele-
ment in the island which has often
shown anti-British tendencies.
Italians Have Grievance.
The Italian element. which has q
| long-standing grievance with the gov
ernment over the language question
| hoped to bring pressure to bear on
Rome to take diplomatic action. Should
| this have happened the matter would
! have been taken out of the hands OF
Strickland and placed in the hands OF
the Governor of Malta. for relations
| with foreign states are one OF the re-
| served matters In the constitution
granted the island in 1921. Great
| Britain, has o representative at the
Vatican through whom the matter couic
be presented.
Meanwhile the Italian press took ar
active interest In Maltese affairs anc
| Strickland was attacked daily. He wa;
described by Tevere as "an imperia
| emissary to spread discord among the
islanders, and to create an artificia
to destroy all which forms Malta:
spiritual patrimony, its language ane
its religion" Abuse was heaped on al
British schemes directed toward thu
establishment of schools, the develop
ment Of the Anglican Church and tn
adjustment Of language anamolies.
The crisis dragged on until July
when an aide-memoire denouncini
Strickland's activities reached the Vat
lean and was the subject Of not.
from Cardinal Gasparri to the British
Minister at the papal court. On. Jul,
26 Strickland and six members Of hi
cabinet issued memorandum charging
that the document was a travesty o
the Maltese situation and was dictates
by undiluted political bias and trans
parent personal enmity against Strick
land. It was greatly deplored that tn
Holy See should have been uncon
sciously misled into lending the assist
ance of its great prestige and power u
spiracy against British rule in Malta.
Vatican Repudiates Rejoinder.
Vatican circles repudiated strick
lands rejoinder, considering 1t offensiv
In tone, inaccurate In substance an
inadequate In argument. However. Il
August Lord Strickland was able b
announce that he was still person
grata with the Holy See.
my ancestor. Sir william Strick
land" said Lord Strickland, was tn
secretary Of the Catholic comnitte
that made the pledge to Pitt that Eng
lish Catholics would take their religio