'The four lawyers' in the council of government (1860-1870)

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to present for the first time a study on ‘the Four Lawyers’ and to establish their contribution while serving in the Council of Government between 1860 and 1870. Their value was more than active participation - they organised the first political opposition among elected representatives against the Government of the time. Who were ‘the Four Lawyers’? What was their background? How did they contribute to the history of Malta? What became of them after the 1870 election and what impression have they left behind? These are some of the questions which this work attempts to answer in the pages which follow. This research is mainly based on primary source documents found in the National Archives of Malta, the National Library of Malta, the Library of the House of Representatives and the University of Malta Library. It was further complemented with the secondary sources listed in the bibliography as well as the use of contemporary newspapers following Lord Macaulay’s maxim that ‘the only true history of a country is to be found in its newspapers’.