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No History of "Tolerance" to Immigrants in Great Britain
 
Immigrants receive a traditional British welcome
Alistair McConnachie considers whether Britain really does have a "history of tolerance" to immigrants.

Right: Immigrants receive a traditional British welcome! This painting is called "Alfred's Galleys Attacking the Viking Dragon Ships, 897" by Harry Payne. It appeared in a plate before page 113 in Hutchinson's Story of the British Nation, Vol.1, (London: Hutchinson & Co., circa mid-1920s)

"NO HISTORY OF TOLERANCE IN GREAT BRITAIN"
The following letter from Alistair McConnachie was published under the above headline in the Bolton Evening News, (Circ 37,700) on 17 August 2005, in response to a reader's letter urging that failed asylum seekers from the Congo, who had been in the country for three years, should be allowed to stay instead of being removed.

GERARD Groves claims that Britain has "always opened its heart and borders to the people of other lands" (Letters, August 11). That is nonsense.

From the Romans to the Vikings to the Normans, the indigenous people of Britain physically fought the invaders of their homeland, who often violently destroyed their cultures.

It is only in the last 50 years that the UK has opened its doors to the rest of the world. If we were using history as a guide, we would be closing the borders, not leaving them open for anyone to breeze in and claim asylum.

Mr Groves also talks about "compassion" and "justice". The compassionate and just thing to do is not to allow bogus asylum seekers to enter the country in the first place. To that end, Britain should withdraw from the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

We should also speed up the appeals process so those accepted at the port of entry are not left waiting for three years for a decision. Three weeks should be more like it.

People who make an appeal to Britain's "proud history" of "accepting" immigrants and refugees are just trying it on. These are the same people who berate Britain for its "shameful past" when they think they can promote their open borders agenda by exploiting a misplaced sense of guilt about our history.

Indeed, there is much more to say about Britain's supposed "tolerance" of immigrants and refugees. For example, we sent the following letter, which was not published, to The Daily Telegraph on the 12 August 2005.

So, Muslim extremists, the number of ten, face deportation (Report and Leader, August 12).
Queen Elizabeth I would have approved: "Her Majestie understanding that there are of late divers blackmoores brought into this realme, of which kinde of people there are allready here to manie…Her Majesty's pleasure therefore ys that those kinde of people should be sent forth of the lande, and for that purpose there ys direction given to this bearer Edwarde Banes to take of those blackmoores that in this last voyage under Sir Thomas Baskervile were brought into this realme the nomber of tenn, to be transported by him out of the realme. Wherein wee require you to be aydinge and assysting unto him as he shall have occacion, therof not to faile."

Quote from: Peter Fryer, Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain,
(Concord, MA: Pluto Press, 1984), p.10.

See also a history of immigration to Britain here and a Declaration of Moral Principles for a Sustainable Immigration Programme here.


 
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