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 12TH2003
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
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