DEFENCE OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE

THEIR FREEDOMS & LIBERTIES

OVER THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO, ONE OF OUR GREATEST ENGLISH POETS JOHN MILTON DURING A CIVIL WAR  WROTE IN DEFENCE OF THE LIBERTY OF THE PRINTED WORD. HE ALSO WAS A DEFENDER OF ENGLISH FREEDOM  -AND–“ THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH”.

UP TO JUNE THE 12^TH2003 THE MOST MOMENTOUS DATE IN OUR HISTORY THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY WILL BE ASKED TO DECIDE WHETHER TO THROW AWAY OVER A THOUSAND YEARS OF CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY – THE ENVY OF THE WORLD FOR A FUTURISTIC DREAM WITH POSSIBLY NO CHANCE TO RETRIEVE OUR INHERITANCE WHICH HAS BEEN BOUGHT WITH THE LIVES AND HARDSHIP OF OUR PEOPLES FROM THE BEGINNINGS OF OUR NATION IN THIS LAND.

WHATEVER YOU HEAR FROM EACH SIDE OF THIS DEBATE OR TO BE TRUE TO THE MATTER UNDER DISCUSSION THE POSSIBLE” DEATH THROES” OF OUR NATION, WE ASK THE ENGLISH PEOPLE AND OUR FELLOW ISLANDERS TO LOOK WITHIN THEMSELVES TO THEIR FAMILY AND IMAGINE WHAT THEIR ANCESTORS WOULD SAY TO A NATION WHICH DECIDED TO GIVE UP “A JEWEL OF LIBERTY” NOT SEEN SINCE THE DAYS OF ANCIENT GREECE.

OUR NEIGHBOURS ACROSS OUR MOAT OF HISTORY ARE NOT OUR ENEMIES BUT THEY HAVE THEIR INHERITANCE WHICH THEY HAVE THEMSELVES EVOLVED AND HAVE TAKEN THE SUBSTANCE BUT NOT THE SPIRIT OF OUR CONSTITUTION WHICH CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED BY THE EFFORTS OF THE ORIGINAL PARTICIPANTS OF OVER ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF HISTORY.

WITH THE WORDS OF OUR GREAT DEFENDER OF ENGLISH LIBERTY:

“GIVE ME THE LIBERTY TO KNOW, TO UTTER, AND TO ARGUE FREELY ACCORDING TO CONSCIENCE, ABOVE ALL LIBERTIES”.

JUNE, 2003