To the Editor:

Re “Lawmakers Foil British Leader in Brexit Vote” (front page, Sept. 4):

For centuries the armies of Europe have marched across one another’s borders in countless wars and conflicts. Finally in 1957 the European nations formally decided to start trading with one another instead of fighting. They formed a common market that is now called the European Union.

For over 60 years, that union has prevented major wars in Western Europe and has brought prosperity to the Continent. Brexit, Britain’s attempt to leave the E.U., threatens that prosperity and peace. Britain, the nation that once boasted that the sun never sets on the Union Jack and at one time had an empire that stretched from Hong Kong to Canada, now appears to be gripped by fear of world involvement.

The Brexit supporters’ attempt to pull up the drawbridges and create a moat around Britain will only isolate it militarily and economically. Britain should not surrender to fear of change, fear of growth or fear of world leadership. It should remain in the European Union. The E.U. has been and will continue to be the path to peace and prosperity in Britain, Europe and the rest of the world.

Elie Parker

Los Angeles

To the Editor:

In an era in which Boris Johnson “ has trampled the conventions of the country’s unwritten constitution” and President Trump both fails to turn over tax returns as his predecessors have done and ignores the obvious meaning of the emoluments clause, it’s time for the people to formalize the rules that our leaders should follow.