Independence.

But both those things were on the minds of Bermudians on Saturday as they watched a parade in Hamilton celebrating 200 years of Royal Navy presence on the Island.

Hundreds of Bermudians -- black and white -- lined Front Street. As a Royal Marine Band played, they watched members of the Bermuda Regiment, Police, Sea Scouts, and Boy Scouts march behind a Royal Navy Guard from HMS Broadsword .

The West Indies Guard Ship was berthed in the harbour as a cannon at Albuoy's Point fired a 15-gun salute for Governor Lord Waddington.

"I cannot contain my sadness at the fact that HMS Malabar is about to close,'' the Governor said in his speech. "But I have a very simple message for you.

"The association between the Royal Navy and Bermuda will not, when Malabar closes, come to an end. We will be merely closing one chapter in a long and honourable history.'' The Royal Navy first established a Base in Bermuda at St. George's in 1795.

HMS Malabar at Dockyard, built beginning in 1809, is to close on March 31.

Royal Navy ships would continue to visit Bermuda, and the link was one "which will never be severed,'' Lord Waddington said.

Government recently tabled a discussion paper on Independence, and a referendum on the issue is planned for this summer.

The Governor made no mention of Independence in his speech. But historian Mrs.

Joyce Hall, an invited guest at the parade, said she found his remarks "encouraging.'' "I would not presume to express a thought on what the Governor was thinking,'' she said later. "But his speech was very encouraging, and he was probably telling us that he saw no advntage for us in Independence.'' Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan used the December, 1993, announcement of Malabar's impending closure as the launching point for Bermuda's Independence initiative. Mrs. Hall said the Navy's decision to close Malabar was "purely economic,'' and she saw no link.

But others at the parade were drawing associations.

"There is going to come a time when we're going to have to learn what we can do -- whether we can stand on our own two feet, or whether we're going to have to rely on them for the rest of our lives,'' said Mr. Brian Smith. "There's no time like the present.'' Mr. Williams Joyiens, 31, of Warwick, said "Independence is safe,'' and the Navy's departure "makes no difference.'' "The Bermuda Regiment has been here for years, and Bermuda is not in an area where we'll be invaded,'' Mr. Joyiens said. If there was an aggressor, "we could hold the fort until help gets here, either from America, or from England, or from Canada, or wherever.'' Author Mr. Dale Butler, a member of the Committee for the Independence of Bermuda who was also in attendance, said Saturday's parade was "very symbolic.'' "You have the cutting of a major link from the creation of this colony as a British colony,'' Mr. Butler said. Bermudians could not forget the link, whether their lineage was British, West Indian, or Portuguese, he said.

Parades in themselves have historically been a major source of entertainment in Bermudian culture, he said.

While he did not see a causal relationship between the Base closures and consideration of Independence, Mr. Butler said the anti-Independence Concerned Bermudians used to say Independence was not needed because Bermudians had the Americans to feed them and the British to defend them.

"Now, you don't hear from them,'' he said.

Mrs. Hall said the Royal Navy had been "a major part of her life.'' Saturday night's Royal Marine Band concert was "packed,'' with 400 to 500 people.

"What I heard (at the concert) was very much a part of our culture,'' she said. But much of what is talked about as Bermudian culture is "foreign to me.'' "People of my outlook, who are many in Bermuda, must do everything in our power to see that these ties are not broken,'' Mrs. Hall said. "We mustn't sit down and say it's going to happen, and it's inevitable.'' HOMEWARD BOUND -- Commander Robin Bawtree (right) of HMS Malabar inspects a Royal Navy Guard from HMS Broadsword on Front Street on Saturday.

ANNIVERSARY FAREWELL -- A drummer with the Royal Marine Band performs at the Royal Navy's Bicentennial Parade.