As time passes and our ancient history is less studied in our Schools and Universities so does the risk increase of our ancient customs and practices passing into the mists of time or being destroyed by aliens in Brussels. Remembrance Day is a contemporary national event that imprints within our souls a living record of the titanic struggles and sacrifices made by all those who have defended and those who continue to defend our Realm and preserve our liberty as a nation. If we ignore our history we ignore the story of Moses and the lessons so dearly learnt and the terrible price paid by previous generations of our ancestors.

These people whose experiences and wisdom were honed by the often cruel and inclement conditions prevailing at the time are responsible for what we may call our birthright. Expensively bought at the cost of indescribable human suffering and loss of life and so generously given to us as a precious inheritance, we should revere our unique Birthright – the British Constitution -“enshrined in” the rule of law.

Having suffered from the predatory visits of countless foreign invaders and the eventual Conquest in 1066 by William I the English nation began to emerge. It was Edward I who was perhaps the greatest of our Monarchs who dedicated his life to a formative period of the greatest significance in English Law. It was Edward who defined our “sovereignty” and introduced the concept of Crown in Parliament. This of course was our Parliament in infancy that during the next four centuries underwent a testing period of fire, human fury and the hoarse voice of tumult.

“Then it was (13th Century) that the great English people was formed, that the national character began to exhibit those peculiarities which it has ever since retained, and that our forefathers became emphatically islanders- islanders not merely in geographical position , but in their politics their feelings and their manners. this time there first appeared with distinctness that constitution which has ever since, through all changes preserved its identity; that constitution of which all the other free constitutions in the world are copies, and which, in spite of some defects deserves to be regarded as the best under which any great society has ever yet existed during many ages” (Macaulay History of England 1906 Volume 1 Chapter 1 P9).

The British Constitution – What is it?

In Carlyle’s words it is “a few great traditional principles of government”- but where are these traditional principles laid down? Surely these are in the Great Charter (Magna Charta) carrying the Royal Assent of King John in 1215 and those clearly defined in the Coronation Oath and the Bill of Rights enacted by Parliament and given the Royal Assent by King William II after the Glorious Revolution of 1688?

Churchill comments on the Magna Charta “The facts embodied in it and the circumstances giving rise to them were buried or misunderstood. The idea of the sovereignty of the law, long existent in feudal custom, was raised by it into a doctrine for the national state. And when in subsequent ages the State, swollen with its own authority, has attempted to ride roughshod over the rights and liberties of the subject it is to this doctrine that appeal has again and again been made, and never as yet, without success” (History of the English Speaking Peoples 1956 Volume I P201). The Magna Charta was drawn up in the form of a legal contract in which it was made very clear that the power of the Crown was not absolute (as Charles I found out). Whilst it protected many of the rights and privileges of the Barons who drew it up, it was soon to become known as the glorious “Charter of an Englishman ´s liberties”.

The Glorious Revolution

Although William of Orange as King William II was not particularly popular with the English people (possibly because he was seen as a foreigner) it is difficult to underestimate what this champion of Protestantism, freedom and liberty contributed to the British Constitution. Being married to Mary, the daughter of James II, could have placed insuperable difficulties in his path but the behaviour and countenance of his wife contributed in no small measure to his successful conquest and the destruction of the royal tyranny and the thought of an English return to Popery. It was of course the sensitivity of the great Dutchman to the evil designs of Louis XIV that finally sealed the fate of James II who of course became heavily indebted to the French King. The calamitous situation of the United Provinces excited in every Dutch heart the strongest detestation of the insolent ambition of Louis XIV. The light in which Prince William viewed Louis rendered him the fittest champion of the independence of Europe; and in England in those days French influence and arbitrary power were so intimately connected that by implication he also became the defender of English liberty.