A Question of National Identity

Henry,

Another question for you...

I was listening to a Peter David Shore speech about the '75 referendum [on membership in the European Economic Community]. It was a student union speech, maybe the Oxford Student Union--I don't know.

In it he said: "And a constant attrition of our morale, and a constant attempt to tell us that what we have and what we have [inherited] is not only our own achievement but what generations of Englishmen have helped us to achieve ... is not worth a damn."

In the Hola Massacre Speech [from 1959], J. Enoch Powell said: "All Government, all influence of man upon man, rests upon opinion. What we can do in Africa, where we still govern and where we no longer govern, depends upon the opinion which is entertained of the way in which this country acts and the way in which Englishmen act."

Both speeches phrased the issue in terms of Englishmen. Do people (not non-citizen immigrants, but UK subjects) from the other parts of the UK feel slighted by such language? And if not, why not? Why didn't the speakers use "British" rather than "English"?

Seth

_________________________

Henry is a friend in Northern Ireland. 

I am not British, but when I listen to both these speeches, I am moved to tears.  

Seth Barrett Tillman, A Question of National Identity, New Reform Club (Sept. 27, 2017, 1:54 PM), <https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-question-of-national-identity.html>