Mayflower

The first words spoken on the Moon were in English. But the English have never been to the Moon.

The English were on the winning side in the Second World War. Yet it was not the English that won the war.

England was once the richest nation on earth. But it was the colonies that made it so.

Today England has one of the highest subscription rates to the Internet in the world. Yet England did not invent the Internet.

England also has one of the highest rates of lung cancer in the world. But tobacco does not grow in England.

It was the ancestors of the English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Swiss - that when faced with domestic hardship did not just accept it, but rather risked everything to cross the Atlantic and start afresh, to boldly go, some may say into an undiscovered country. It was they who sold up all their possessions, said goodbye to their families and friends and who paid huge sums to embark on dangerous sailing ships on month long journeys across a vast, largely unknown natural obstacle. Upon arrival it was they who often starved to death, it was they that had to adapt to a new environment and in turn it was they that did so much to adapt the environment to them. They suffered greatly and life was far from easy, every day was a challenge and many believed they would forever remain a small subsistence community on the fringes. Some even considered them a waste of money and few financiers would take the risk.

Tens of thousands perished. Yet over a hundred or so years millions more made the voyage in a march of manifest destiny. Millions of natives died, whole cultures and civilisations were distorted and destroyed before the newcomers. The death toll was horrific, yet in the wake of all this death, in the wake of all this sacrifice, these European settlers built their city on a hill. It became a citadel of personal liberty and freedom. Far from perfect, at its best theirs is a culture of discovery and achievement. At its worst their pulpits still echo with the words of seventeenth century European superstition. Yet thankfully it has been their best that has so often led their affairs. It is to the ancestors of these brave settlers, these heroic migrants, which Europe having once equipped, came to owe its liberty.

Today we face a new challenge; in part it is largely a by-product of the success of the colonies. Yet it is one we are unlikely to sufficiently tackle - even if we could work together. We face domestic hardships now on a catastrophically collective scale. Are we to just accept it? Or are we to risk all?

To whom do we, not as nations, but as a race - rely upon now, in our hour of need?

Where are man’s colonies?