The Monarchist 1.0
Defending the British Crown Commonwealth and the English-Speaking Peoples
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[+] HONOURING OUR PATRON, SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, VICTOR OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES

[+] HONOURING OUR QUEEN, ELIZABETH THE SECOND, ON THE 80TH YEAR OF HER BIRTH (1926 - 2006)

[+] HONOURING OUR KING, SAINT EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, ON THE 1000TH YEAR OF HIS BIRTH (1005 - 2005)

[+] HONOURING OUR HERO, LORD NELSON, ON THE BICENTENNIAL OF THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR (1805 - 2005)

[+] HONOURING OUR SONS, THE QUEEN'S COMMONWEALTH SOLDIERS KILLED IN THE 'WAR ON TERROR'

[+] HONOURING OUR VETS ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VICTORIA CROSS (1856 - 2006)

Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Nelson would be appalled

I was in Ottawa over the weekend and popped into the Rideau Club for its 140th anniversary, a black tie affair whose guest of honour happened to be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. It was quite the shindig I have to say, though probably not nearly as much as the Rideau Club Trafalgar Day dinner promises to be next month. At least those were my thoughts until one of the conversations that evening turned to the politics of celebrating Nelson’s victory over the French, and how such an event might be perceived by French Canadians. Suddenly I imagined how dreary it all could turn out, without the obligatory, jeering French jokes such an occasion should naturally inspire.

Such is the confused state of our citizenship, however, where the national, legal, political and cultural dimensions of our shared identity collide to produce nothing patriotic whatsoever. It is times like this that we are reminded that in a collective sense, we Canadians are a mere geographical expression, a fragmented lot, a community of convenience, rather than of common belonging. I’m all for convenience, I suppose. Right up to the point where we are told to forget our history, erase our traditions and disregard our heroes.

Damn the French. And damn us to bloody hell, if our apprehensions prevent us from honouring the immortal memory of men like Nelson.

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