I am still of two minds as to why Thomas Zerafa sent in his contribution about the brief French period in Malta (January 25). Was it in defence of the failed plot of Dun Mikiel Xerri in 1799 or to promote his version of events as to what happened during that tumultuous interlude?

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My comprehensive scientific research of what happened in 1798-1800 and of the distortions and manipulated perceptions propagated by British colonial rulers and the Catholic Church for two centuries contested the nation’s collective memory as perpetuated to serve institutional political tenets of control and identity construction.

With extensive references to support my doctoral thesis, this analysis is found in France in the Maltese Collective Memory, Perceptions, Perspectives, Identities after Bonaparte in British Malta (Malta University Press, 2014), two editions, now exhausted.

I have no problem with subscribing to Dun Mikiel’s patriotism in spite of the peculiar circumstances of the conspiracy, so much so that I dedicated my study “to the thousands of forgotten patriots on both sides who fell during the unfortunate period”.

I do wonder, however, why the Maltese had to wait till 1986 to remember the victims of the plot, including Dun Mikiel, and erect a memorial in Valletta.