A RECENTLY released film 'The Patriot' seems to have aroused public interest in the American War of Independence.

The popular conception of this war is one of revolution by American colonists, inspired, it is said, by Freemasons, against the British Government.

It is true that George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, indeed most of the Founding Fathers of the United States, were Masons.

They sought honest government and an end to unjust taxation, the latter leading to the famous 'Boston Tea Party.'

However, they had no intention or desire to sever links with their mother country. The War of Independence will not fit the context of rebellion.

What then are the facts about the birth of the United States? The facts are that it was an orderly progression of events. All the signatories of the Declaration of Independence were lawfully elected delegates from the various colonial governments. The British Government's response to colonial resistance was the passing of the Prohibitory Act of 1775. This act was the key move taken by the British Government in forcing the Americans to declare independence.

In a speech to parliament, King George III (a German) had proposed to treat the colonists as his 'foreign enemies.' An inflexible majority in parliament had declared the 13 American colonies as independent hostile states. The act was as the British MP Thomas Walpole said, 'an act of war.'

The act was followed by the sending of an army to try to crush the colonists, an army composed mainly not of British troops, but German mercenaries -- the notorious Hessians.

It was a war which, like all wars, atrocities were committed on both sides. It ended with the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1773.

From then on, the United States evolved into what it is today -- the world's great super power and Britain's staunch friend and ally.

The danger with films like 'The Patriot' is that they could easily damage the special relationship which has long existed between the British and their 'American cousins.'

This should not be allowed to happen. We should seek to strengthen our links, even if it means our complete withdrawal from the detested European Union.

THOMAS HOWARTH, Fowler Height Close, Blackburn.