In my opinion this is an act of irreverence of a victory that is truly Maltese. In 1565 the commanders and officers were knights of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John. Foreigners In 1942 the overall command was in the hands of British Officers. No disrespect is meant to those able and gallant commanders. All honour to them. But they were not Maltese.

Here due tribute must be paid to the courageous Maltese Officers and rank and file of the three services. The same is due to the civilian population. Their courage and bravery earned them the George Cross award by King George VI. This forms part of our national flag.

I am here referring to the Maltese victory of 1798.The militarily untrained Maltese defeated the invincible French Army. Or at least the French garrison left in Malta by General Bonaparte, an armed force that formed part of the French Army of the Nile.

It cannot be denied, of course, that the Maltese insurgents against their oppressors were helped by their Allies. The British Navy under the command of Lord Nelson, the Portuguese fleet under Admiral de Niza and the King of Naples. But all ranks of insurgents were Maltese.

The only casualties - admittedly not many - were the executed conspirators who were actually patriots, were Maltese. With one exception. Captain Guglielmo Lorenzi, on the payroll of the Tsar of Russia, was executed without betraying his fellow conspirators. These were led by the indomitable Professor Dun Mikiel Xerri.

Next year, that is 1998, is the second centenary of this exclusively Maltese signal victory. Such centenary cannot and is not going to be ignored. There can be no doubt that the first seeds of nationalism were sown at this time. A spirit that was hallowed in the Declaration of Rights of 1802.

A declaration expressing our "inalienable rights" to decide our own destiny as a people whose rights could not lawfully be denied. Even though for almost one and a half centuries this is exactly what happened. I do not want to be misunderstood. I have every respect for the Order of St. John, now known as S.M.O.M. (Sovereign Military

Order of Malta).

The same applies to the revolutionary French doctrine of Liberte, Egalite', Fraternite'. I also hold in high regard British institutions and customs that now form part of our culture. But above all, Maltese and Gozitans feel, without doubt, equally honoured of being sons and daughters of this fair land.

A special ad hoc Committee has been appointed by the Government to prepare a program of celebrations. Hopefully this will be publicised worldwide to attract world interest and therefore inducing a fair increase in cultural tourism.

There will be celebration obviously also of the positive side of the French occupation: beginning of journalism by the publication of journal de Malte, democratic ideology, liberal system of education, decentralisation of government, and later on, when Napoleon became Emperor, our forefathers based our commercial Code of Laws on the Code Napoleon.