April is a month crowded with significant anniversaries. Very few are aware of a letter written on April 3, 1777 by British statesman Edmund Burke to the Sheriffs of Bristol, England, a city Burke represented in Parliament.

Revered by conservatives for his devotion to liberty under law, Burke opposed the war against the American colonies, concerned that the suppression of the colonists' rights would produce tyranny in England as well. He passionately opposed a measure suspending habeas corpus protection for those suspected of treason. This would permit such people to be detained indefinitely at the King's pleasure.

Burke warned that the measure threatened the rights of all Englishmen, since it created a precedent ?which may be advanced further and further at pleasure, on the ... argument of mere expedienc[y]....?

Were Edmund Burke alive today, he would probably make the same arguments against the federal Military Commissions Act, which denies habeas corpus protection to suspected terrorists.

Burke, a genuine conservative, opposed unnecessary wars and the deranged restrictions on domestic liberty produced by them.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.