A copy of the French Constitution which was in force in France during the French occupation of Malta in 1798 is one of the rare books which enrich the Central Capuchin Library in Floriana.
Several queries are shrouded in this unique book- Silvester Bonavia, OFM Cap.
The title of this publication is La Costituzione della Repubblica Francese Una ed Indivisibile, and it was printed in Malta nella Stamperia Nazionale in 1798.
It is related to the period of the French occupation in Malta, which began with the expulsion of the Knights of St John in June 1798. Less than three months later, it led to the uprising of the Maltese against their French occupiers. The French were then blockaded inside Valletta for two years before their surrender in September 1800.
While indexing a large number of pamphlets and booklets in the library, the researcher JosephScicluna, under the direction of the late Fr Francis Azzopardi, OFM Cap., came across this small book. It immediately caught Fr Azzopardi’s attention as he realised its value but rightly thought that more researchwas needed to evaluate its full importance.
It was already known that an Italian version of the French Constitution was printed during the French occupation of Malta. Historian William Zammit, who in the 1990s thoroughly researched the output of printed material during the French period, found an entry in the Registre des Deliberations de la Commission de Gouvernement and in the accompanying volume, Lettres escrites par la Commission de Gouvernement.
Both confirm that on the 14 Prairial d. l’an 7 (June 2, 1799), the Commission of Government had acceded to the request of a certain “Citizen Ortolani” to have “his translation” of the French Constitution printed for the benefit of the population. According to Dr Zammit himself, however, up to then no copy of this translation had ever been found.
The Constitution translated by Ortolani was the one ratified by the French National Convention in Year Three of the Republic, that is on August 22, 1795.
In those turbulent years, the French had several successive Constitutions. The Commission then ordered the director of the Printing Press at the Palace, Valletta, to print 50 copies, in accordance with Ortolani’s petition.
The book was thus printed after June 1799, even though it bears the year 1798 on the title page. This might have been done to convey a strong message that the French, even though they were already besieged for 10 months, still intended to remain in Malta, according to the plan envisaged by the French Directorate in Paris in 1797 and 1798. They may have also wanted to manifest the great advantages that the population would enjoy if they were to make themselves worthy “of such great human wisdom” as is stated inthe short presentation by thepublishers.
La Costituzione is a small book, 10 by 15 cm, running through 73 pages of text which is followed by an Appendice delle Leggi relative alla Costituzione in 26 pages and an index of another three pages.
This appendix deals mostly with directives for elections at various levels and reforms in education. It is, however, very important to note that an extra page is inserted after the title page. The book is printed in batches of 16 pages and this extra page is inserted on its own with a small part of it folded between pages 15 and 16.
On this page is printed a short appeal by gli editori to the inhabitants of these islands drawing their attention to the benefits of French rule declared in this Constitution.
The appeal, translated from the Italian, reads: ‘While the British are threatening us with the blockade and the rebels of the country with the siege, we have engaged ourselves to publish the French Constitution of the Year III, translated in the vernacular, to be within the reach of everyone. May the reading of this code of human wisdom make known to all the Maltese the great advantage of being under the present French government and encourage them to show that zeal and enthusiasm to make themselves worthy of it.’
Several queries are shrouded in this unique book. The first, and perhaps the most important, is the identity of this “Citizen Ortolani”. In his petition to the Commission of the French Government, he stated that he had translated the Constitution into the Italian language and asked to have it printed for the benefit of the Maltese population.
Raymond Mangion, who has carried out extensive research on Maltese lawyers, claims that he had never come across any Maltese lawyer of that name in those years. On the other hand, we know that in Sicily there was a well-known lawyer, Giuseppe Emanuele Ortolani, who had published books about the British Constitution and the history of Sicily.
His most outstanding work, published in Palermo in 1812, is the Compendio della Costituzione d’Inghilterra e dell’origine delle sue leggi estratto dalla biblioteca dell’uomo pubblico e dal francese in lingua volgare ridotto con nuove aggiunte, e note. In the following years, he also published a four-volume work in Naples on the biographies of the most illustriousSicilian personalities.
Taking these publications into account, and the fact that he had translated the book on the British Constitution from French into Italian, shows that he was greatly interested in the political and constitutional developments in Italy during the Napoleonic wars.
Consequently, he might have also been interested in the events that were taking place in Malta after Bonaparte took over the island in 1798. This makes one believe that this Sicilian Ortolani was the same “Citizen Ortolani” who had asked the French Commission in Malta to print this copy in Italian of the French Constitution.
But did he himself translate from French the Constitution of the Year Three? It is a known fact that an Italian translation already existed in France.
The Bibliothèque Nationale de France, in reply to our query as to whether there was any copy of the French Constitution in Italian printed in Malta, on September 22 this year, informed us that “research at the BNF and in other French libraries make us think that your edition is unique”.
In fact, French libraries possess three other editions in Italian of the French Constitution printed in those turbulent years but not the one printed in Malta.
The first was printed in Paris in Year Five of the Republic, that is between September 1796 and September 1797. Another copy was printed in Italy in 1797, and the third one was printed in Naples in 1799. These copies were needed for use in the Italian states during the campaigns Napoleon himself led in 1797 when he defeated the forces of the armed coalition made up of Austria, Piedmont and Naples in the north of Italy and established the Cisalpine Republic.
It was later used after he defeated Tuscany and the Papal States. In all these places, Bonaparte left a French administration which had to administer according to the French Constitution.
That may have been the reason why this same Constitution of 1795 was printed also in Naples in 1799.
Considering such events, a copy of this French Constitution in Italian may have reached Ortolani who then asked the French Commission to print 50 copies.
This unique copy of the French Constitution, found in the Capuchin Central Library at Floriana, also has some handwritten notes. But it needs more detailed research to know exactly who wrote them, their exact purpose and other de-tails. Whatever the results, La Costituzione della Repubblica Francese, which was imposed on Malta in 1798, marks an important link in the development of our constitutional history.