(21.) 1. Religione e società - Europa I. Carvalho, Joaquim. CIP a cura del Sistema bibliotecario dell Università di Pisa

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1 Bridging the gaps : sources, methodology and approaches to religion in History / edited by Joaquim Carvalho. - Pisa : Plus-Pisa university press, (Thematic work group. 3, Religion and philosophy in society ; 3) (21.) 1. Religione e società - Europa I. Carvalho, Joaquim CIP a cura del Sistema bibliotecario dell Università di Pisa This volume is published thanks to the support of the Directorate General for Research of the European Commission, by the Sixth Framework Network of Excellence CLIOHRES.net under the contract CIT3-CT The volume is solely the responsibility of the Network and the authors; the European Community cannot be held responsible for its contents or for any use which may be made of it. Cover: Merrin Westerink ( ), Bridging the Gap 3, acrylic on board, Kim Westerink collection, East Takaka, Golden Bay, New Zealand. Photo 2008 Black Pete 2008 by CLIOHRES.net The materials published as part of the CLIOHRES Project are the property of the CLIOHRES.net Consortium. They are available for study and use, provided that the source is clearly acknowledged. cliohres@cliohres.net - Published by Edizioni Plus Pisa University Press Lungarno Pacinotti, Pisa Tel Fax info.plus@adm.unipi.it - Section Biblioteca Member of ISBN: Linguistic Revision Rodney Dean Informatic Editing Răzvan Adrian Marinescu

2 The Discourse on the Problem of Begging and Almsgiving in Late 19th-century Malta Michael Refalo University of Malta Abstract The ubiquity of poverty and its corollaries begging and almsgiving in late 19th-century Malta provides the occasion to analyse the basis upon which the local discourse on the subject developed. It is proposed as an example of a methodological exercise that starts from the examination of the mentalities of the more literate section of the local population. Indeed, it seeks to find and discuss how the two main cultural influences Roman Catholicism from the Italian peninsula and British utilitarianism underpinned the discussion on one of the most important topics of the times. A small island so near to the Italian coast but under British sovereignty was culturally open to ideas coming from both countries. At the same time, the fact that the population was, almost in its totality, Roman Catholic, ensured that any proposals coming from the latter direction would be presented in ways that conformed to the prevalent religion. It serves as an example which can be applied to other historical problems and which helps for a better understanding of the past. Din il-kitba tipprova tanaliżża l-ħsieb illi kien jakkompanja id-diskors dwar il-faqar u t-tallaba f Malta fl-aħħar deċenni tas-seklu dsatax u l-bidu tas-seklu għoxrin. B mod partikolari, jigu privilejjġati s-sorsi ideoloġici u kulturali ta dan id-dibattitu: l-ingilterra Protestanta u l-ewropa (partikolarment l-italja) Kattolika. Naturalment, f pajjiż kattoliku bħal Malta, anke l-ideat Protestanti kienu jinghataw bixra illi ma toffendix issentimenti reliġ jużi tal popolazzjoni. Għalhekk, għalkemm xi kummentaturi kienu favur il-poor Houses u l-eliminazzjoni tat-tallaba mit-toroq, dawn ma ġewx impittra fl-isfond utilitarju illi influwenzhom fl-ingilterra. Mill-banda l-ohra, dawk illi kienu ispirati mill- Kontinent ippreżentaw il-faqar in ġenerali u l-fqar in partikolari bħala okkazjoni ta salvazzjoni kemm għalihom (minħabba r-rassenjazzjoni tagħhom) kif ukoll għal min hu sinjur (għax dawn jipprovdulhom okkażjoni jagħmlu l-karità). Mill-banda l-oħra, fil Knisja Kattolika innifisha, kien hemm ħsibijiet diversi dwar ilfaqar. Riformaturi bħal Lacordaire ( ) fi Franza u Rosmini ( ) fl-

3 188 Michael Refalo Italja iddikjaraw illi l-faqar mhux gej minn Alla; anzi, huwa kuntrarju għall- volontà divina. Hekk ukoll Antoine-Frederic Ozanam ( ) fundatur tas- Soċjetà ta San Vincenz illi kellha konferenzi (kif kienu jissejħu l-għaqdiet tagħha) fil Gżejjer Maltin. Mhux kulħadd kien favorevoli għall-aġir ta dawn, illi ħafna drabi kien kunsidrat bhala indħil fil ħajja privata. Din id-diskussjoni tas-sorsi teoretiċi dwar il-faqar fil kolonja Ingliza tant viċin l-italja, kienet takkomuna influwenzi miz-zewg sorsi. Il-mod kif dawn fil fatt gew sintetizzati lokalment jitfgħu dawl fuq is-sitwazzjoni fil-gżejjer Maltin matul il-periodu u jistgħu ikunu spunti għal diskussjonijiet simili fuq suġġetti oħra. In the late 19th century begging and almsgiving were widely prevalent throughout the Maltese Islands. Poverty was an ever-present phenomenon well into the 20th century and begging was one of the perennial features of the local scene. Its ubiquity not only importuned the foreign visitors but also jarred on the sensibilities of the local middle and upper classes. The ubiquity of poverty was to condition not only the drawing up of subsequent policies and the adoption of legislative and other measures but was to leave its mark upon the national psyche in such a way that it informed, consciously or otherwise, later historical events and processes. Two examples should suffice to illustrate this. The intensive emigration policy pursued by the post-war Maltese governments was perceived to be a panacea for the economic difficulties brought about by the international situation, by lack of resources and by over-population. That same policy had been advocated in the previous century with the same intensity that it was re-proposed in the 1950s. In the last quarter of the 19th century, but also earlier, emigration was considered one of those measures through which the problem of poverty and the ubiquity of beggars in the main streets of the island could be eliminated. Of course, such a solution was not peculiar to the Maltese Islands. People from other countries and geographical areas had always resorted to emigration in times of war, famine or disease. The second example serves to illustrate the traces of the begging/almsgiving mentality that is a relevant factor in the Maltese mindset. The debate concerning Malta s entry into the European Union was based, at least in popular perception (abetted by political interests) on whether the island would end up as a net contributor to, or receiver of, European funds. When there was unanimity on the latter, the discourse metamorphosed into one concerning the point in time when Malta would cease to be a net receiver of EU funds and thus become a contributor. In the on-going debate on whether and when the island would become a contributor rather than a receiver of funds, one can trace the expectancy of charity and the culture of almsgiving and begging that reached one of its crucial moments in the late 19th century. However, this chapter is not concerned with poverty and philanthropy per se. Rather, it will analyse the late 19th-and early 20th-century theoretical approach to the prob-

4 The Discourse on the Problem of Begging and Almsgiving in Late 19th-century Malta 189 lem in Malta: the public discourse concerning begging and philanthropy in general. In particular it will show how the local debate was influenced, if not conditioned, by the ideas and philosophies prevalent in Continental Europe and in England, albeit, often, with a time delay. Although not necessarily couched in conflictual terms, the debate on begging and almsgiving illustrates the mentalities of people whose disparate political and cultural preferences coloured the solutions which they advocated. The former is easily explained. The underlying basis of action and omission and particularly their historical explication requires a review not only of documentary developments. The basis upon which discourse takes place helps us to understand past action and its subsequent historical explication. Methodologically, it can be seen as a preliminary step in trying to formulate an understanding at least one explanation of the past. In this sense, and in the present context, it is proposed as an attempt to provide one reading of late 19th-century Maltese history. The main purpose of this discussion is to give a practical example of an approach towards a source that has generally been ignored or sidelined in Maltese history. The source is neither written nor oral. Rather, it is theoretical in the sense that it formed, affected or conditioned the mindset of contemporaries. It serves to illustrate that there is the need to go behind the particular actions and omissions of everyday life in order better to explain them. Of course, that path complicates analysis: by searching into the stimuli of thought and the referents of action and omission beyond the limited spatial confines of the examined area one needs, necessarily, to widen the parameters of research. However, that is the burden of the historian: to dig for the sources, whatever these be, in the certainty that what is written can only be at best provisional. For Maltese history of the 19th century this approach provides the opportunity to assess the impact of the two major forces upon the local psyche: Italian culture on the one hand and British sovereignty on the other. At the same time, it is offered as an approach for a wider variety of issues, ones that are not applicable only in the Maltese context. In this last sense, this writing should be seen from a historiographical and a methodoligcal perspective, apart from its obvious substantive one. A proper understanding of this discussion requires some preliminary clarifications. First of all, it would be simplistic to argue for a uniform attitude towards the problem in England (or elsewhere). The philosophical bases underpinning the discourse on begging, whether in Protestant England or in Catholic Europe, were diverse. At the same time they were prone to reciprocal influence. Even where a uniform philosophical attitude would have been expected in the Roman Catholic Church there was still room to accommodate different attitudes and different actions. Thus, for example, during the early modern period European cities attempted to suppress begging and wandering. This was arguably done under the influence of Protestant reformers who criticised Catholic doctrines concerning meritorious good works, purgatory etc, and the special Contemporary

5 190 Michael Refalo virtues of a life of poverty and humility. Catholic cities started introducing restrictions without subscribing to Protestant ideas. At the same time there were differences between Catholic and Protestant reforms. Catholic societies retained and reformed kinds of institutions alien to Protestant communities: hospitals for abandoned children, pawn-banks, convent-like institutions for women whose honour was threatened or lost. Protestant poor relief was an instrument for creating a disciplined society in which overt sinfulness was repressed, even though all human beings remained sinners. Catholic poor relief was more willing to accommodate sin and bring it to the surface the better to counter it through conversion and penance within the process of redemptive charity 1. In the second place it is well to emphasise the time delay. Despite the ready availability of literature on this as on other subjects, originating both from England and from Italy, certain ideas took time to seep into local mentalities and tended to appear in the local press at times when they had fallen by the wayside elsewhere. One example should suffice, though others emerge later on. Thus, for example, the distinction between the deserving and the undeserving poor had been made in England at least forty years earlier than its regular appearance in Maltese writings in the late 19th century. Of course, that distinction was given a local flavour and there was little in common between the deserving poor in England and those identified as such in Malta. As Gertrude Himmelfarb observes, the very term undeserving poor became increasingly rare in the 1880s (in England) and had been officially discarded by the Charity Organisation Society (constituted 1869). This occurred because it was thought condescending to the deserving poor and because of the invidious implication that other poor were undeserving 2. However, Thomas R.C. Brydon points out that despite a convergence between the various religious denominations in England on what seems in retrospect a kind of universalism to win the masses back to religious worship and a new brotherhood of man, there was, in effect, no sign of decline among the newly activist churchmen of the 1890s of discrimination against the undeserving poor 3. And Gareth Stedman Jones 4 suggests that it was inability to reach its aims rather than conscious removal that lay at the basis of the removal of the distinction by the Charity Organisation Society. It is certain, at any rate, that despite any official sidelining of the distinction, this remained, even if perhaps only subconsciously, a relevant determinant on the basis of which charity was given. Alan Kidd justifies the lingering of the distinction in the Victorian obsession with character: if the conduct of the poor was improved by middle class charity, then the status of their benefactors would be enhanced 5. This, therefore, implies that the time delay necessary for ideas from England, or elsewhere, to reach local shores did not necessarily mean that mentalities current in England were not also concurrently held locally. Rather, it simply highlights the delay required for new mentalities to be imported.

6 The Discourse on the Problem of Begging and Almsgiving in Late 19th-century Malta 191 Finally, it might be reductive to identify a protestant mentality with that obtaining in England in the late 19th century. Although the term as used here is intended to highlight the binary opposition Protestant Catholic, so topical during the period, its real significance in the present context is perhaps as much geographical as religious. Indeed, religious faith in England suffered a setback during the last decades of the 19th century 6. However, the diminution in religious faith was substituted by to quote Himmelfarb once again social zeal ; the underlying general opinion during the period was not (exclusively) religion but an apparent agreement that what was important was to do good to others rather than to feel good 7. Charity constituted the second highest item in the spending of middle class households in the 1890s. Philanthropic receipts for London alone, observed The Times in 1885, were greater than the budgets of many European states 8. Furthermore, it would be mistaken to separate completely the Protestant from the Catholic approach to poverty. There were a number of instances, much more common than a neat distinction between the two would allow, where the proposals made for the relief of poverty belied the distinction. Thus, for example, Thomas Chalmers ( ), the Scottish clergyman and moral philosopher, believed that poverty was a way of ensuring that communities be formed over mutual bonds of benevolence and need 9. This was akin to the mentality of French and Italian Catholic moral reformers as will be seen below. In 1817 Chalmers also had proposed the abolition of the Old Poor Law and its replacement by a system administered by clergymen, teachers and responsible parishioners who would provide the rigorous pastoral oversight that must attend it 10. Geographical circumstances, structural forces and historical accident accentuated the cultural influences from England and Continental Europe (particularly Italy). As regards the neighbouring peninsula, the recent unification of the country, and more particularly the annexation of Rome in 1871, had brought about a deep caesura between the lay state and the religious entity also located in the newly declared capital 11. In Roman Catholic Malta that distinction was further complicated by the fact that the Italian language was considered by most of the literate class as the language of the island. Italian culture and language were an intrinsic part of Maltese identity but the Roman Catholic religion, more than these, exercised an influence that pervaded the whole spectrum of local society. In so far as England was concerned, the heterogeneity of opinions there has already been referred to. The Maltese middle classes had, therefore, a wide variety of theoretical wells from which to draw. That these can be broadly compartmentalised into Italian and English, Catholic and Protestant, is due to the fact that culturally and politically these broad divisions, consciously or otherwise, structured local mentalities. These influences can be discerned within the mentalities concerning the problem of begging which, for generations, had exercised both religious and secular minds. Contemporary

7 192 Michael Refalo In actual fact poverty in general and begging in particular were problems which accompanied Maltese society until well into the 20th century. The absence of industrialization and the alternating general economic circumstances of the island often resulted in a sizeable section of the urban (Valletta) population being out of work and in need of charity. The condition in which this section of the population lived was comparable, in many respects, to that of the urban poor in other European cities. This urban population merged with a veritable army from the rural areas who congregated on Valletta to beg. Beggars roamed both the urban as well as the suburban areas, but it was Valletta that attracted the multitude. The compiler of the 1881 Census observed that when the population of the city was 24854, there was a large number of persons who came in for work every morning from the Casals and return home every evening or at the end of the week. The number of persons counted entering Valletta by land and water was 12408, a nearly 50% increase over the resident population. No doubt, going by contemporary press reports, the Census compiler was including beggars among the diurnal, and weekly horde that invaded the city 12. Valletta and its suburbs, commented one newspaper, are infested on certain days of the week with a plague of mendicants 13. Although the rural population could generally make ends meet, there was still a daily inflow into town to plead for charity. All this occurred in the face of the strenuous efforts made by monastic orders and individuals who attempted to alleviate the plight of the poor. This writing is not concerned with the causes of poverty or the actual means taken to alleviate it, but it cannot be forgotten that begging and alms-giving were taking place in conjunction with, and not to the exclusion of, the attempts made by both the civil authorities as well as the Church and its institutions to provide assistance to the needy. The part played by the Church and other ecclesiastical institutions in the field necessarily had a major impact upon the general approach to the problem. Thus, for example, although philanthropy and charity are not synonymous, the former tended to be absorbed within the latter in a Roman Catholic mentality. If charity implied some religious moralising, philanthropy, the love of one s fellow men, an inclination or action which promoted the well-being of others, transcended to some extent religion 14. And yet, the distinction was not clear-cut, and hence it is not possible to identify neatly charity with Roman Catholicism and philanthropy with the Protestant influence in Malta. As has already been observed, attitudes towards begging were never neatly compartimentalized into Catholic and Protestant whether in Malta or in Europe. In the case of Malta, the proponents of both schools of thought were Catholics. The fact that one of them drew on utilitarian conceptions of philanthropy did not deduct from its religious sentiment. Furthermore, the debate transcended local social realities. Even within European Catholic communities, poor relief the provision of assistance to the poor and needy was shaped by the overlapping but distinct concepts of charity and mercy. Charity could exist between equals (neighbours, friends, family)

8 The Discourse on the Problem of Begging and Almsgiving in Late 19th-century Malta 193 and mercy entailed transactions between the strong and the weak, the prosperous and the poor etc. Many theologians validated almsgiving and other good deeds even if to the benefit of unworthy persons, regardless of any undesirable social consequences. Critics have argued that these Catholic doctrines encouraged dependence, palliated poverty, and probably fostered a class of professional beggars who traded in the belief that almsgiving was vital to salvation 15. That debate was in part a reflection of the mentalities current throughout Europe since at least the early modern period. Ever since the Church had lost its monopoly over the provision of charity, there existed a constant philosophical ambivalence over the need for philanthropy: was this inspired by the pious desire to build a compassionate society or was it primarily a reaction to economic and demographic pressures? Evidence of both strands of thought can be found locally even if the Church still played an important role in the provision of charitable assistance to the poor and needy. The synthesis arrived at by the English language (and English inspired) public opinion was that of separating genuine from fake, those who beg from dire necessity to those who engage in fraudulent begging. It was not the police who should decide upon such matters; rather a little body of persons partly religious and partly lay might be entrusted to separate the wheat from the chaff. In this way, the moral obligations of the populations can be performed and the professional beggar inclined to live by scheming and whining made to work 16, and the young should be registered and enrolled in schemes that might serve for their future away from the islands th-century Continental Europe witnessed an ongoing debate concerning the correct approach towards poverty and philanthropy. The 16th-century systems of social assistance through the building of houses for the poor had come under heavy criticism well before the late 19th century. It was argued that this system was inherently fallacious in that it went on to encourage rather than suppress and alleviate the problem. The belief that charity would not eliminate poverty and that it was not its intention to do so was current in Europe since medieval times. A fortiori, in the early modern period in Europe, when secular charity began to enter the picture, the realistic goal was to control poverty not to eradicate it 18. Furthermore, the wave of secularisation that affected the continent during the 19th century had, in many cases, led to the suppression of church organisations which took care of the poor, the young, the old and the infirm. This was accompanied by an arrogation of ever-increasing powers and functions by central governments. The state tended to assume the function of relief of poverty in preference to religiously-inspired undertakings. In Italy, particularly after unification, the wave of secularisation led to the suppression of ecclesiastical institutes. The proliferation of institutes in the peninsula until 1866, the year when these were suppressed, led to legislative attempts to bring these organisations under the state umbrella. The first years following unification were characterised by an attempt to take stock of the situation throughout the kingdom. An investigation carried out in Piedmont and Lombardy in 1859 was Contemporary

9 194 Michael Refalo therefore extended to the whole of the peninsula. The purpose of that investigation was to collate information as to the number of philanthropic institutions, their assets, their revenues and expenditure. Another, nationwide investigation was subsequently carried out in the 1870s. This was concluded by the publication of two volumes between 1886 and On their part, the ecclesiastical authorities insisted on the primacy of the Christian sense of charity over lay, government-regulated assistance. Following the annexation of Rome to the kingdom, and as a direct consequence of the increasing powers of the state, the church tended to entrench its position. However, even within the Catholic Church itself there existed other schools of thought which departed from official teachings. In Malta, on the other hand, a number of charitable institutions run by the church and religious orders received subventions from the government but hardly any interference in the way they managed their affairs. Although the government itself ran institutions for the alleviation of poverty, it could not do without the assistance provided by the church. Furthermore, the policy of working hand in hand with the ecclesiastical authorities acted as a break to any attempts by the government to interfere into the workings of the charitable institutions run by the church. As a general rule, the official policy adopted by the upper hierarchy of the church, prior to the promulgation of Rerum Novarum (1891), privileged almsgiving over any other measure. Bishops, priests and lay persons once again proposed the primary importance of private charity, that made by one person to another, much more genuine than any action which the State could undertake 20. Philanthropists like the French statesmen, Joseph-Marie de Gerando ( ), had insisted on a personal relationship between donor and receiver. This same attitude led the church to oppose any attempt by the states to levy taxes which would go on to finance institutes that would accommodate desperate cases of poverty. Bishops asserted that once alms-giving became an enforceable obligation, it placed the generous rich man in the impossibility of earning paradise, and at the same time it denied salvation to the poor man by depriving him of the opportunity to accepting his fate with resignation 21. The basis of the church policy could be found in the gospels. Preachers and writers often repeated the evangelical injunction: The poor will always be with you (Matthew 26: 11). It is inevitable that there should be the rich and the poor, it was said: perfect equality is not only impossible but also undesirable because without it there could be no binding relationships, no authority, no dependence and no order. Despite this attitude, there existed a number of movements within the Catholic Church that did not necessarily adhere to the official line. Lay organizations particularly in France, and monastic orders in Italy and elsewhere, felt that it was possible to attack the problem of poverty in ways which could be more effective than individual, unregulated, almsgiving. Monastic orders had always been at the forefront in the erection and keep-

10 The Discourse on the Problem of Begging and Almsgiving in Late 19th-century Malta 195 ing of houses intended for the succour of the poor and infirm, the young and the old. Lay organisations, often supported by individual bishops, were led by individuals who rebelled against the prevailing social situation and advocated strong measures against the rising liberalism and profit. Catholic intellectuals like Lacordaire ( ) in France and Rosmini ( ) in Italy affirmed that human misery did not come from God; indeed, it was unchristian and contrary to divine providence. It was Antoine-Frederic Ozanam ( ) who founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paule in France as a direct response against the perceived threat of class conflict. This institution, founded in 1833, did not have the elimination of economic poverty as its main aim. Rather, it sought the spiritual reform of the soul. The real cause of the prevailing misery, it was said, was the progressive separation of society from God. Conferences (as the groups within the Society came to be known) sought a personal contact with the poor, particularly through home visits. In so doing, these also assumed the function of alleviating the misery of poor families not as the primary reason for their visits but as a means of moral and spiritual reform: alleviation of poverty was therefore, a means through which the souls of the indigent could be saved. By 1857 there were already 183 Conferences throughout Italy. Their work was focussed upon a triple front: material assistance through help to individual families or institutes for feeding or accommodating the old and the infirm; teaching the catechism to the children of the poor and the diffusion of good literature 22. In Malta, a Conference for Ladies had been founded by the wife of the Roman Catholic Governor of Malta, More O Ferrall in 1850, and that same year a male Conference was founded for Valletta 23. Rather than almsgiving, the Society of St. Vincent de Paule in Malta made visits to the homes of the poor with a view to helping families on a more permanent basis. The Conference published its own paper, the Eco di Nazareth, which sometimes had to defend its members against criticism for undue interference into the lives of the poor. The poor, it was said, are hardly capable of expressing their needs properly since they do not know the real cause of their misery. Furthermore, it goes on to say, disgraziatamente poco amano dire la verità, and hence verifying their claims became necessary 24. Another criticism levelled at the Conference was that it helped only the residents of Valletta. This changed throughout the late 19th and first decades of the 20th century. A Conference was formed by Gozitan ladies in 1885 with the object of visiting the poor in their homes with great love and help them, according to the means at their disposal, in their material needs, at the same time consoling them in their misery 25. By 1912 there were at least another six Conferences spread throughout Malta 26. However, it seems that, by that time, the functions of the Society were limited to the distribution of charity to the needy, mainly in the form of bread and other foodstuffs, and clothing. The original aims of the Society had gradually changed in order to conform to the more accepted methods of local philanthropy: charity rather than home visits were more welcome to the local poor. Of course, the meetings of ladies to discuss the plight of the Contemporary

11 196 Michael Refalo poor constituted also one of the most important (and possibly the only) means through which middle- and upper-middle class women could come out from the private into the public sphere. In the Maltese Islands, Fede ed Azione, a newspaper published by the Società Promotrice Cattolica Maltese which aimed at the spread of Catholic social teaching, shows clearly that the European trends on the subject, particularly those within the Catholic Church, were known to the literate class and were propounded as the best methods to deal with the problem locally. In its front page article of 28 April 1875 the paper lays down in clear terms how, in the view of the church, this problem is to be tackled. Furthermore, it illustrates clearly an awareness of current trends originating from different directions which proposed different solutions. In the use of the term noi retrogradi 27 by the author when referring to himself, the writing places itself squarely against liberal, utilitarian ideas imported from Britain. That article is representative of a number of others both earlier and later that give a clear exposition of the problem and therefore deserves a detailed examination. It says that begging is the greatest of social problems. However, this problem needs to be placed in its proper perspective: Pauperism has always been and will always be, the greatest, difficult and insoluble social problem but only for those who reject the salubrious action of the Church in the social realm; for those who want to ignore the benefits of Catholic influence in all civil institutions 28. Pauperism is a problem for the Protestants in the same way that it had been a problem for the pagan world. For the Catholic the problem does not exist. Poverty is merely a condizione accidentale della vita pratica 29. The reason why the problem does not exist is the same that had been given earlier in Catholic circles in Italy and France in the previous generation: it is an occasion to earn merit in the eyes of God for the rich as well as for the poor. In following what St. Paul calls the sensus Christi, it says, the problem disappears. Begging is an inalienable right of the poor man. To defraud the poor man from his right of begging from those who have pity on him or forcibly take away liberty and affection which is probably dearer to him, for the sole reason that he is poor cannot be the case in a Catholic country. Dear God! How horrible! 30 The article goes on to examine the findings of the Council of Government which had sought ways of eliminating begging from the streets. The three major objections to begging had been: - the squalor brought about by beggars which are an objectionable sight to genteel persons; - the injustice being committed in allowing healthy individuals to beg and taking advantage of the sense of altruism of other persons; and - the bad habits in which beggars indulge, particularly idleness, together with the fraud being perpetuated to extract money.

12 The Discourse on the Problem of Begging and Almsgiving in Late 19th-century Malta 197 The first of these, it goes on to say, does not constitute a real objection. Meeting the poor in the streets and suffering their requests for help, is part of life itself. Such an argument should not even be considered. As to the other two, many advantages could be derived from doing away with fake beggars. However, the end does not justify the means, and it is the means which the article attacks: the prohibition of begging, placing the poor behind closed doors and make them work if they were in a position to do so 31. In England where this law has been adopted, the article continues, poverty has not been eliminated. What has happened is that it has been driven underground: the genuinely poor are afraid to beg in the streets. The article, like others in both English and Italian-language newspapers, makes use of stories, real or imagined, to illustrate both the existing state of affairs as well as the deleterious effects of provisions contrary to the beliefs of the writer. The main thrust of this Catholic, Jesuit-inspired newspaper was the organization of almsgiving on a voluntary basis on the same lines existing in other Catholic countries. It refuted State interference and insisted upon a spirit of collaboration between individuals in order to solve the problem. The misery of the poor, it says, cannot really be alleviated by indiscriminate begging. Almsgiving should aim at the cause of the misery rather than at short term relief 32. Interestingly, the same conclusion was arrived at by English-inspired writings. Of course, in this latter case the argument, although neutral from the religious aspect, deplored the lamentable lack in this community of that combination spirit which is found to exist among the upper and middle classes in all other European countries for the relief of the poor. Rather than advocating a solution under the umbrella of the church, what was suggested here was a concerted effort that included government and private individuals to attempt to solve the problem. If need be, it was said, one needed to resort to taxation 33. Considering the revulsion which the local population felt for any attempt to tax them, this was far from being the generally accepted solution for the alleviation of poverty. It was, accordingly, the opinion voiced in the Italian-language newspaper mentioned earlier that found most favour with local opinion. Poverty in Malta is inevitable but a serious effort must be made to control it, to ensure that only those really in need beg. Prompted by a rumour that an old woman had died leaving behind her a considerable sum of money, the Malta 34, a newspaper which had an overt political agenda and attacked the British administration on a multiplicity of issues, insisted on a reform of the system. Begging is protected by law, and that is how it should be. However, both the genuinely poor and those who give must be protected against those who beg in lieu of finding a job. The newspaper reiterates the same views found in Church inspired publications: almsgiving cannot be abolished because it is the defence of the virtues of the poor and chance for the practice of virtue by the rich 35. At the same time, it was stressed in a later issue, and repeated elsewhere, a distinction should be made between Contemporary

13 198 Michael Refalo the genuine and the false poor: the former deserved protection from police harassment, but the latter no. And yet the difficulty in identifying the genuine poor remained 36. The problem of poverty should not be dealt with by simply giving alms to beggars. A moral regeneration of the people, particularly the better off, was one solution to the problem. Assertions such as these did not necessarily come only from those newspapers which were funded or directly linked to the church or to religious organisations. The Malta 37, called for the issue of licenses to genuine beggars. However, the formation of Committees and the requirement of licenses were not enough. What is required is that society shows itself willing to cure itself and lends a hand to this cure. The century in which we live is a century of egoism: everyone preaches charity, everyone presents himself as a philanthropist and talks about the obligations towards the poor but no one lifts a finger to apply those humanitarian principles which are preached 38. The article of 27 September 1888 from which the foregoing has been quoted, written under the name of Solus, is possibly one of the very early instances where the origins of the so-called social problem are highlighted. The divide between rich and poor is seen as the major problem: the fact that someone gives a small amount to a beggar will not go a long way to solve the problem. When we see, it says, that there is a class of people immediately after giving alms, spending their money in shameful orgies, in illicit entertainment, in exaggerated luxury this is an insult to the very misery which had moved them to tears moments earlier 39. The real solution to this problem is the moral regeneration of society by going back to the Divine Law which enjoins people to love each other and to share their excess with the poor. Most of the Italian language newspapers of the latter decades of the 19th century reveal the influence of the Italian Catholic press, particularly the journal founded in Naples 1850 and run by the Society of Jesus, Civiltà Cattolica. That publication attacked both socialism and communism as well as liberalism which was blamed for the increase of pauperism through its intransigent defence of profit. One of the co-founders of that paper was Luigi Taparelli d Azeglio ( ), who is credited with being the first to use the term social justice 40 and the proposal for a return to the medieval corporative scheme which guaranteed the dignity of the workers 41. That the newspaper was available in Malta is undoubted. Even in the minor island of Gozo where there was a fledgling Public Library, a subscription to the paper had been taken out from the very first issue in If Malta s literate classes were less worried about the social problem and if they failed to hark back to medieval practices, it remains true to say that most of the ideas propounded by Catholic thinkers such as Taparelli found fertile ground in Malta where liberalism, rather than socialism or communism was the bête noire of Italian-language papers and where the monastic and lay organisations catering for the relief of poverty were, as a rule praised and encouraged and preferred to a centralised official system of relief.

14 The Discourse on the Problem of Begging and Almsgiving in Late 19th-century Malta 199 The other medium for the relief of poverty which received the approval and encouragement of the local Italian-language press, but not only, was the benefit society. In Malta, as elsewhere, benefit societies were the first to develop. These had reached the island through foreigners who brought with them to Malta ideas that had already been firmly established in their own countries 43. As early as 1868, Ferdinando Giglio was proposing the setting up of such a benefit society open to all but particularly to lowly paid government employees. Indeed, in his proposal 44 he attempts to make the scheme attractive to the better off, potential investors in the scheme, by the promise of dividends once the project was successful. The proposal, and the benefit societies formed for both the local and the foreign (particularly Italian nationals) element on the island, further attests to lack of official initiative but also, and more particularly, to the preference for private schemes to alleviate poverty. In this sense, the conservative element of local society, which is possibly best represented in the fact that their mouthpiece was the Italian language press, followed on broad lines the policies and teachings of the Roman Church. These ideas were altered and adapted to local circumstances but also suffered to some extent from the lack of deep awareness of a social problem. Furthermore, the Catholic Church itself, during the first half of the 19th century and beyond found itself incapable of dealing effectively with the problem. The prevailing Catholic response had included the expansion of traditional charitable works along with isolated episcopal calls for greater charity and less capitalist greed. But this ad hoc approach found itself, especially after 1848, caught in a virtual no-man s land between socialists, who characterized the purely evangelical approach as reactionary, and laissez-faire capitalists, who charged such activists with fanning the flames of revolution 45. The local church hierarchy generally followed the policies and teachings of its Roman superiors. Charity was seen as the only palliative to misery. In his book on Rerum Novarum and the Church in Malta 46 Emanuel Agius says that: During the social misery which afflicted the local situation after the boom years of , Bishop Pace still relied on charity as the only solution to the social problems brought about by economic collapse. As Agius rightly says, the Church saw the problem as one that could be solved in terms of moralism rather than social action. The local bishop, Pietro Pace, attacked the increasing materialism which was the cause of all problems. And it is this attitude which the English-language newspapers were pandering to when they referred to the dangers to morality which begging brought about. Similarly, they highlighted those examples which the Church was bound to view as confirmation of its stand. In his Lenten Pastoral for 1910, Pace clearly assimilated charity (i.e. almsgiving) with the other Christian virtues of temperance and sacrifice. We must practice [sic] mortification, he says but another problem was that: Alas! That charity is no longer practised, as it was wont to be, making the family happy, the people prosperous, the nation strong. Contemporary

15 200 Michael Refalo Despite, or because of, this the contribution of monastic orders and lay Catholic individuals who worked tirelessly and altruistically to relieve the poor, the old, orphans and women was in no way diminished. Most of these took it upon themselves, without rhetorical fanfare or philosophical justification, a task which in later generations would locally be taken up by the State, even if never exclusively so. In doing so they were inspiring themselves upon evangelical teachings and the rules and conduct of their founders. Virtually all the press in Malta expressed admiration and respect for these orders and lay organisations and there was general agreement that their role was vital in local circumstances. Some even went so far as to advocate the dismantling of the charitable institutions provided by the state in favour of a system run by monastic orders 47. At the same time, the relief of poverty could also serve as a measure to enhance status and acquire influence. The munificent spending made by persons such as Marquis Bugeja and Scicluna, the banker, through the erection of institutes and other philanthropic works, could not have been motivated solely by philanthropy. Alan J. Kidd 48 examines almsgiving through the historical and anthropological perspective. He refers to the studies made by Mauss, Levi-Strauss and others tracing the genealogy of almsgiving from the gift relationship. The cycle of gift exchanges could be instrumental in creating a status hierarchy, the competition being for honour and status not wealth. Thus the gift had distinct political implications. A gift not yet requited creates an unequal relationship between people. It constitutes a debt which constrains the recipient to act deferentially towards the donor. Thus the giver of gifts to the many can build a name, become a big man, acquire a personal following. The attitude adopted by these persons was similar to that adopted elsewhere. If religious ideology cannot be ignored in these instances, neither is it possible not to perceive aspirations to prestige and power behind such benevolence. Bugeja and Scicluna, and others like them were following in the same steps as other similar rich philanthropists in Britain and in Europe. Alongside the conservative, anti-liberal Italian press in Malta, there were also a number of English-language newspapers that often dealt with the problem. Their writings were generally inspired by both the philosophical debate taking place in Britain as well as by the legislative action undertaken there. In Britain, the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 had enshrined the Benthamite notion of less eligibility, which meant that the living standard of a pauper receiving state relief should be less than that of the poorest independent labourer [its] basic premise seemed to be that the pauper had only the most tenuous right to subsistence 49. The influence of Jeremy Bentham s utilitarianism upon the 1832 enquiry which eventually led to the New Poor Law was evidenced by the part played in that enquiry by Edwin Chadwick, one time secretary to the philosopher 50. In Malta, despite frequent references, the system was never introduced. In general, and in the face of the continuous

16 The Discourse on the Problem of Begging and Almsgiving in Late 19th-century Malta 201 criticism of the ubiquity of beggars, it was the Catholic approach that prevailed. This was heavily critical of the Poor Law system as applicable in Britain. The other main influence upon popular and official attitudes towards poverty in Britain was the Rev. Malthus. His Essay on Population (1796) painted a pessimistic theory related to the geometrical increase in the population as against an arithmetical increase in the food supply. Malthus was adamant that poor relief should be abolished altogether because that was a way in which population growth could be controlled 51. By the late 19th century, the position in England had changed to some extent. However, in overpopulated Malta it is no wonder that Malthus ideas should find fertile ground. The Malta Times and United Services Gazette was one of those papers in the late 19th century that was clearly inspired by what had happened in England in the previous decades. There are only two ways, it said, to remedy the evil of poverty assailing the island. The first was an improvement of the commercial state of the island and the second was emigration from it. If the former does not speedily take place, or the latter cannot readily be carried into effect, we look forward with fear and trembling to the inevitable consequences of a superabundant population and an ever-increasing misery 52. The same theme recurs also in the Italian-language newspapers. However, whereas these kept repeating the application of the teachings of the Catholic Church and applauding the strenuous efforts being made by monastic orders, the English-language ones were adamant that it was only a large-scale emigration scheme for the lower classes that could solve the problem. The same solution was advocated in the Daily Malta Chronicle thirty two years later. By giving alms, it says, we are increasing rather than solving the problem. we must recognize that Malta has grown too small for its people, or rather that its people have grown too great for Malta. we must seek another Malta somewhere or be prepared to live upon each other 53. Utilitarian influences become evident in the repeated calls for the elimination of beggars from the streets and the erection of poorhouses where to place the able-bodied. The poor should be made to work rather than wander about the streets and beg. Such calls were frequently accompanied by suggestions that not all those who begged in the streets were genuine beggars; some, indeed, had made begging their profession and this was inconveniencing both the local population as well as the numerous visitors. In making the distinction between genuine and false beggars, local social commentators were reiterating under another guise the distinction between deserving and undeserving poor. And this latter distinction was a repeat of the same arguments made in England and elsewhere a few decades earlier. And yet despite the apparent wholesale importation of the terms, the local papers did not have the same conception of deserving and undeserving as their foreign counterparts. In England, the urban crisis of 1860 s helped Contemporary

17 202 Michael Refalo to form public opinion on the subject. There, particularly in London, but also in Lancashire hard hit by the dearth of cotton due to the American Civil War misery and poverty, and hence begging, were rampant. The deserving poor were those Lancashire cotton workers who found themselves without work and the undeserving were the London poor who could take the initiative to look for work 54. The local undeserving poor were those roaming the streets many felt that these had no intention of obtaining a job; begging was much more profitable. These gained a number of epithets over time, none of them complimentary. The nourishing of impostors was condemned in 1870 when it was felt that rather than contributing to relieve the snuffling rascallions it would be better to give a small donation to such institutions as that of St. Vincent de Paule. In this way, the alm given would surely be reaching its destination 55. A few years later the undeserving poor were qualified as a a pack of wolves the enemy 56. On the other hand the local deserving poor included those too embarrassed to beg (and hence absent from the streets) and those who had fallen on hard times (and hence not properly speaking poor in the generally understood meaning of the term). Although some writers felt that it was possible, through a concerted effort of Government and private individuals, accompanied by mass emigration, to eliminate the problem of begging, as a general rule there was resignation to the fact that this could not be eliminated. If on the one hand, the Catholic inspired newspapers saw poverty as God-made and necessary; the English-language papers viewed it as an evil which could at least be controlled. To think of suppressing mendacity in our island is an absurdity. Till we have a poorhouse or rather a workhouse, as in other countries, to which able-bodied mendicants of either sex can be sent, the total removal of the evil presents an insurmountable difficulty 57. The advantages of adopting these measures were clearly illustrated by a correspondent who says that he had personally witnessed the advantages of the laws in England in the elimination of pauperism. One could walk along the streets of London, he says, without being pestered by beggars. Of course London has its paupers, but it is no exaggeration to say that more mendicants are seen in the streets of Valletta, in one day, than in London in a month 58. The correspondent goes on to say that the Maltese can use the English as an example: poverty cannot be eliminated but it may be reduced, and kept within reasonable limits. If that correspondent was inflating the problem, so also may have been another one who had written some years earlier about the dark blot, of what may be called, par excellence, a Maltese institution an institution equal in its gravity to the one established in either Naples or Rome and we all know it is bad enough in both these places 59. This double external reference given at either end of a fifteen-year period illustrates the mentality of the English-inspired social commentators. The Poor Law system and other measures undertaken in Britain are starkly contrasted to the attitude prevalent in Catholic Italy through the medium of the situation