A
LETTER
TO
AN ENGLISH LAYMAN,
ON
Coronation ©atij,
AND
HIS LATE MAJESTY'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH LORD KENYON AND MR. PITT;
IN WHICH ARE CONSIDERED
THE SEVERAL OPINIONS OF MR. JEFFREY IN THE EDINBURGH
REVIEW, NO. XCI. — OF MR. DILLON, DR. MILNER,
AND MR. CHARLES BUTLER ;
AND
THE APPLICATION OF THE WHOLE
TO
THE PRESENT CLAIMS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS IN IRELAND.
BY
REV. HENRY PHILLPOTTS, D.D.
RECTOR OF STANHOPE.
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
MDCCCXXVIII.
L, O N D O N :
PRINTED BY C. ROWORXH, BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR.
PRINCIPAL MATTERS.
Page.
1. The Church of England an essential part of the Bri-
tish Constitution 7
2. Forma Juramenti Regis Angl. in Coronatione sua
(Edw. II.) . Y . . ... . ... . . 14
Oath of Ed. VI. . ... . . ." . . .' . . 18
James II. . .'.....;... 19
Present Coronation Oath . 21
3. King George III.'s interpretation of the Oath . . 24
4. Alterations made in this Oath at the Revolution . . 25
5. Security against Popery, the especial object at the
Revolution . . .''* ". ., •'',*.' •• .'• ?'- :. 'V :. "- . 30
6. Another interpretation of the Oath 51
6. Mr. Jeffrey's attack on his late Majesty in the Edin-
burgh Review .54
7. Mr. Dillon, Essay on the Coronation Oath .... 74
8. The King as Legislator . . . . . . .' v' . 76
9. The King as Legislator is bound by his Coronation
Oath . 84
IV CONTENTS.
*0. Mr. Burke's Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe . .102
11. Dr. Milner's " Case of Conscience." 107
12. Mr. C. Butler's Letter on the Coronation Oath . .116
13. No pledge of Concession to Irish Roman Catholics
given at the Union 136
14. Mr. Pitt's Letter to King George III. . . . . .146
15. Test devised by Mr. Burke . . . . 157
16. Authority of Lord Bacon— Lord Coke — Blackstone . 170
1 7. Lord Kenyon's interpretation of the Coronation Oath 1 73
18. Application of the preceding argument 176
19. Language and Conduct of Irish Roman Catholic Pre-
lates . •v'»?:>'v-*"f-»V*'--.'V •' "-•"• '* "'"••' ' ' 186
20. Claims of Roman Catholic Bishops in Ireland . . .258
21. Power of Roman Catholic Bishops and Clergy over
the Representation of Ireland • / •• • • • • 268
22. Case of the 40*. Freeholders. ... ^ 274
APPENDIX.
A. (p. 55.) On Note in Edinburgh Review, No. LXXV. 293
B. (p. 96.) Calumnious Attack on King Charles I. in Edin-
burgh Review, No. XCI 297
C. (p. 141.) No Pledge of Concession given at the Union
to the Irish Roman Catholics . V, > . . .» . . 303
D. (p. 233.) Dr. Mac Hale, Roman Catholic Coadjutor
Bishop of Killala's Examination before the Commis- sioners of Education Inquiry in Ireland . . . .314
E. (p. 242.) Nag's Head Fable respecting Archbishop
Parker's Consecration . .328
LETTER
ON
THE CORONATION OATH
TO
AN ENGLISH LAYMAN.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
I HAVE received your Letter, in which you thank me for giving to the world the inte- resting and valuable Correspondence of our late revered Sovereign with Lord Kenyon and Mr. Pitt. You need not, however, be told, that some of our common friends have doubted the expe- diency of that publication ; while many of our opponents have affected to rejoice at it, as a measure decidedly favourable to their views. In particular, the British Roman Catholic As- sociation, very soon after the correspondence appeared, passed a resolution to print and cir- culate it in an edition of their own ; — a resolu- tion, which, I am sorry to say, seems to be not yet carried into effect. — Mr. Charles Butler,
B
2 LETTER ON CORONATION OATH.
too, was induced to announce a new edition of his "Letter on the Coronation Oath;" — and lastly, a writer in the Edinburgh Review has put forth an article, entitled, " George III. and the Catholic Question," in which, with the usual accompaniment of sneers and sarcasms, I am thanked for "the very signal service I have done to the great cause of Catholic Emancipation," by this extraordinary instance of " indiscreet and unthinking zeal."
This formidable array of adverse judgments gives me, you will readily believe, very little concern. But as you, and some other of my friends, think it may be useful to expose the weakness of the grounds, on which these gen- tlemen build their opinion, I shall not decline the task proposed to me.
It can hardly, I hope, be necessary for me to assure you, in the outset, that I feel most strongly the delicate and solemn nature of the duty I incur, in thus venturing to comment on the obligation of my Sovereign's Oath. It is a subject, which, in itself, and under any circum- stances, would demand from a religious mind, to be treated with the strictest and most scru- pulous sincerity. But, if it were otherwise possible, in the heat of controversy, to forget this duty, the awful event, which has removed
MR. CANNING AND EDINBURGH REVIEW. 6
for ever from the scene of our contention the ablest and most distinguished of all the indivi- duals engaged in it, could hardly fail to recall us to better thoughts, — to admonish us, in a voice more eloquent even than his own, " what sha- " dows we are, and what shadows we pursue." Bear with me, I entreat you, for a very short space, while I do justice to myself, in speaking of the eminent person to whom I have here al- luded. I have been accused, in a late number of the Edinburgh Review, of treating him with " scurrility ;" a charge, which, without stooping to confute it, I fling back on the head of my ac- cuser. Had I ever addressed to Mr. Canning any language, which a public man, on a public question, would have a right to complain of hearing, — much more, had I ever used towards him the smallest portion of that coarse and un- manly ribaldry, which this very Review,* as
* In the 74th Number of this Review is an elaborate article of 30 pages, entitled " Mr. Canning and Reform," founded on a collection, made by a country bookseller, of his Speeches tit his Elections for Liverpool. To select all the gross and in- sulting passages, which this article contains, would be to tran- scribe a very large portion of it ; but for one or two specimens I must find room.
It will perhaps be remembered that Mr. Canning, in address- ing his late constituents, when about to sail for the government
B 2
MR. CANNING
often as it suited its factious purposes, delighted to heap upon him, — I should now feel, what it
of India, intimated bis opinion, that it was desirable to compro- mise the Roman Catholic Question, rather than keep alive the discord attending its continued agitation. The reviewer cha- racterizes this part of the speech as " advertising for the place " t)f Leader of the House of Commons, then vacant by the death of Lord Londonderry : " Tenacity of place," he continues, " being to ' public men,' what tenacity of life is to reptiles. " Therefore, the Catholic Question 'is got rid of with very little " ceremony, in a passage which we will not cite, because it " varies materially from the first newspaper report of this •" speech ; and though either edition is humiliating enough " for Mr. Canning, and must be sufficiently grateful to the " Lord Chancellor and the Orange party, yet we might, by " giving the one, misrepresent him unfavourably j and by " adopting the other we might weaken the sort of recantation " which he unquestionably intended to make" Again — " The *' fear of reform, the love of our ancient order of things, could, " it seems, avail nothing, unless place was superadded to the ff calls of duty : but the instant this graceful and convenient te union is formed, he is all ear to those claims to which he had " been so often and so obstinately deaf, — and after ridding " himself of the Catholic Question, he steps unencumbered into " his situation," &c.— p. 388.
Once more : after charging him with wilful and " gross mis- " representation of the Reformers," and speaking of one " great " source of our calamities being the profligate conduct of our " statesmen, Mr. Canning among the number," &c. " But " what cares Mr. Canning for these things ? He had a stoiy " to tell about a red lion, and he must make, if he could not
AND EDINBURGH REVIEW. O
would perhaps be well for my accuser, if he himself were capable of feeling. As it is, no con-
" find, a way to let it into his speech. We shall not extract " this fable, as the reader has, in all probability, already seen " it ; but we will remind its author of an old maxim connected "•with the subject of lions, the substance of which, though " not in the same language, his new colleagues" (A. D. 1822) " will, doubtless, oftentimes have in their minds during the " limited period of their connexion with him . —
Vfivov ev TTO\£I nq, TOLQ rpoiroig VT
" which may be thus shortly expressed j — " If you choose to " take up one of this breed, and make much of him, you must lay " your account with having to bear with his tricks," (literally his " ' tropes.')— p. 404.
" It is impossible to conclude this article, without expressing " more distinctly, the astonishment with which we have been " stricken at the prodigious assurance with which Mr. Canning " ventures to treat the subject of the country's distresses. His " levity we say nothing more of ; but it required the evidence " of our senses to make us believe, that any man in his situation " could have the audacity to come forth and tell the ruined " landowners of England, that the only thing he could recom- " mend to them was patience. Patience enough, indeed, they "' had shown, before he had obtruded his advice ; and if they " can endure that advice, they will prove that they have no " need of it j for to be patient under such an outrage is more " hard than to bear all the other bufferings of their cruel for- -" tune. He, indeed, to tell them so ! and in the body of the " advertisement for the place which he has since gotten / He to " recommend patience as the only remedy ! the coadjutor of
6 MR. CANNING.
sideration, not even the call of self-defence, shall prevaijl with me to violate the Sanctuary of the Tomb, or to recur to any parts of Mr. Can- ning's character or conduct, but those on which I can offer an honest, however humble, tribute of respect to his memory. His genius, his elo- quence, all the best and noblest endowments of his highly-gifted mind, devoted by him to the service of his country, during the long period of her greatest danger ; — he himself ever foremost,
" those ministers whose blundering and profligate courses have " brought the landowners to ruin ! For which, of all the " schemes that have sunk them to the earth j did not this talker " support ? Which of all the men that have stript them of their " revenues did not this place-hunter league with ? And when " he sees staring him in the face, the countless miseries which he has " occasioned, he can coolly stop the current of his mirth, to give " them a bit of serious advice — it is all he can do for them, after " what he has done to them. ' Take my word for it (says he) " we have undone you so completely, that no power on earth " can mend your lot, and all you have for it, is to bear with " patience what we have brought upon you.' Such experiments " upon the temper of the country could only be attempted in " the present state of its representation j and we may venture " to foretel, that the House of Commons will practise the car- " dinal virtue thus recommended to the landowners, in a man- " ner as exemplary as Mr. Canning could desire. They will " bear even him, and his gibes, and his counsels, — that is to say, " as long as the court pleases." — p. 407.
^IR. CANNING. 7
in office and out of office, in vindicating the righteousness of her cause, in cheering an4 sus- taining the spirit of her gallant people, and ele- vating them to the level of the mighty exigence, on which their own freedom and the liberties of the world depended; — protecting, meanwhile, our Constitution at home from the wild projects of reckless innovation, — shaming and silencing, by his unequalled wit, those who were inacces- sible to the reasoning of his lofty philosophy : — These great deservings, be the judgment of pos- terity on other matters what it may, will ensure to him a high and enduring place in the proudest record of England's glory.
His saltern accumulem donis, et fungar inajoi Munere.
But I will not longer delay addressing my- self to the subject before me.
v*
The Church of England an essential part of the
British Constitution.
Those who have inquired into the history of the British Constitution, will testify to the close connexion of civil and religious polity, which has ever subsisted in it. From the very earliest pe- riod, the monarchy of England has always pre-
8 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AN ESSENTIAL
sented itself, as a government which regards its subjects in the full dignity of their real nature, — as religious creatures ; — as beings, whose in- terests are not limited to this transitory scene, but reach onwards to an infinitely higher and more enduring state. Accordingly, instead of making religion the handmaid of civil policy, instead of adopting and endowing it, merely as an useful auxiliary to secure the submission of subjects, and give a new sanction to the autho- rity of rulers, the English Lawgiver has always regarded Religion as having, by right, a para- mount place and dignity in the great scheme of national polity. Hence it is, that the Gospel is reverently acknowledged to be part of the common law of the land. Hence, too, it is, that as the Gospel supposes all Christians to be members of the Church of Christ, and that Church to be a society under the government of certain rulers appointed by God himself to their high office, — the law of England, from the first conversion of this nation to the faith of _L, Christ, not only has always recognized the State of England, inasmuch as it is a Christian State, to be also the particular Church of England ; but it has, by consequence, regarded the Gover- r nors of the Church as an essential part of this Christian State. Whatever may have been the
PART OF THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION.
practice of other countries, and whatever may have been the language of private individuals even here, both the language, and the practice, of our law have been uniform and constant on this particular. In the words of the law itself;* " By divers sundry old authentic Histories and " Chronicles it is manifestly declared and ex- " pressed, that this Realm of England is an Em- " pire, and so hath been accepted in the world, " governed by one supreme Head and King, " having the Dignity and Royal Estate of the " Imperial Crown of the same ; unto whom a " Body Politick, compact of all Sorts and Degrees " of People, divided in terms, and by names of " Spiritualty and Temporally, ben bound en and " owen to bear next to God, a natural and hum- " ble obedience." — "When any cause of the Law ( " Divine happened to come in question, &c., that " part of the said Body Politick called the Spiritualty <( being sufficient and meet of itself to declare " and determine all such doubts, and to admi- " nister all such Offices and Duties, as to their " rooms spiritual doth appertain," — " and the " law temporal was and yet is administered by " sundry judges of that other part of the said " Body Politick called the Temporally"
* 24 Hen. VIII. c. 12.
10 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AN ESSENTIAL
To endow the Spiritualty with temporal dig- nities, was no essential part of the duty of the jf Christian legislature : but in England, from the earliest times, " the King's most noble Proge- " nitors, and the Antecessors of the Nobles of " this Realm, have sufficiently endowed the said " Church both with honours and possessions."
" Thus the Clergy," to speak again in the language of the Law, 8 Eliz. c. 1., " being one " of the great States of the Realm," ha veal ways been called to bear a distinguished part in the great Council of the Nation. In all the ac- counts which remain to us of the Mysel Sy- noth, the Great Assembly, or, as it was at other times called, Wittenagemote, the Assembly of the Wise Men of the Realm, we find the Bi- shops mentioned among its chief members. Ina, King of West Saxons, A. D. 702, caused the great Council of his Realm to be convened, consisting ex episcopis, principibus, proceribus, &c.* Egbert, who united the Heptarchy into one Kingdom, assembled at London his Bi- shops and greatest Peers, pro concilio capiendo adversus Danicos Piratas. Canutus, on the death of Edmund Ironside, omnes Episcopos et duces, necnon et principes cunctosque opti-
\
* Spelman, p. 402
PART OF THE BRiTISH CONSTITUTION. 11
mates gentis Angliae Londonise congregari jus- sit. Edward the Confessor granted his char- ters to the Church of Westminster, cum consllio et decreto Archiepiscoporum, Episcoporum, Co- mitum, aliorumque Optimatium.
And it is particularly worthy of remark, that they had this their seat in the Parliament, or Great Council of the Realm, not by reason of the tenure of their temporal possessions, (for hitherto their lands were held by them in frank- almoigne,) but simply and merely as spiritual lords: so that even " the Guardians of the Spi- " ritualties, in the times of vacancy," as Selden* tells us, " and the Vicars-general of Bishops be- " yond sea," had sometimes place and suffrage in the House of Lords, in the ages following.^
Meanwhile, the charters of our early sove-
* Titles of Honour, Selden's Works, vol. iii. p. 748.
f After the conquest, a new title to these seats accrued to the Bishops by the change of the tenure of their lands from frank-almoigne to military tenure. But this, as we have seen, was not the foundation or origin of their seats, but only con- ferred a new right to them. Before, they sat rations qffitii ; thenceforward, both by right of office, and in respect of their possessions. And so plain is their right at common law to sit in the House of Lords, that when Henry VIII. erected six new Bishoprics, these new Bishops took their seats, without any Act of Parliament empowering them to do so, but simply by their common law right, ratione qffidi.
12 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AN ESSENTIAL
reigns are as precise in promising protection to the rights of the Church, as in assuring those of the temporalty. Thus the charter of Henry I., " Ego respectu Dei et amore quern erga vos " omnes habeo, Sanctam Dei Ecdesiam, impri- " mis liberam facio," 8$c* That of Henry II., " Sciatis me ad honorem Dei et Sancta3 Ec- " clesise, et pro communi emendatione totius " regni mei, concessisse et reddidisse, &c. Quare " volo et firmiter pracipio, qu6d sancta Eccle- " sia, et omnes Comites et Barones, et omnes " mei homines, omnes illas consuetudines et " donationes, et libertates, et liberas consue- " tudines," &c. The Magna Charta of King John, " Sxsiatis nos, &c. imprimis concessisse " Deo, et hac praesenti Charta nostra con- "firmasse pro nobis et hseredibus nostris in " perpetuum; qudd Anglicana Ecclesia liber a " sit, et habeat jura sua Integra, et libertates " suas itl&sas, et ita volumus observari, fyc. Et " de scutagiis assidendis summoneri faciemus " Archiepiscopos, Episcopos, Abbates, Comites, " et majores Barones regni sigillatim p.er li- " teras nostras."
FAnd, as their charters thus recognized the rights of the Church, so also (which more im-
* Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Saxon, p. 233.
PART OF THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 13
mediately belongs to our present inquiry) did the Oaths which were taken by them at their coronation. Henry II. swore to preserve the liberty of the Church, and made to this effect a written promise to God, which he placed on the altar, for the purpose of binding himself more strongly.* Richard I. swore at his co- ronation, " quod pacem, honorem, et reve- " rentiam, omnibus diebus vita? suae portabit " Deo et sanctcz Ecclesice et ejus ordinatis"^ John swore, " quod sanctam Ecclesiam et ejus or- " dinatos diligeret, et earn ab incursione ma- " lignantium indemnem conservaret."^: Henry III.'s oath was conceived in similar terms. § But, without seeking to ascertain the exact ex- pressions in which every one, in succession, of our early princes swore to the maintenance and protection of the Church's Rights, we find, at length, a fixed and regular form, in which all our kings, from Edward II. to Henry VIII. in- clusive, pledged their faith to the Church and People of England.
* Wilkins, p. 318. f Ib. 339.
J Ib. 353. § Ib.381.
14 OATH TAKEN FROM EDW. II. TO HENRY VIII.
" FORMA .TURAMENTI REGIS ANGL. IN CORO- NATIONS* SUA. (EDW. II.)
" Si Rexfuerit liter atus ft tails est.
" Archiepiscopus Cantuar. ad quern de jure et con- suetudine Ecclesiae Cant, antiq. et approbata, pertinet Reges Angliae inungere et coronare, die Coronationis Regis, antequam Rex coronetur, faciet Regi interro- gationcs subscriptas.
" Si leges et consuetudines, ab antiquis justis et Deo devotis Regibus plebi Anglorum concessas, cum Sacra- inenti confirmatione eidem plebi concedere et servare ( ) et praesertim leges et consuetudines et liber-
tates a glorioso Rege Edwardo Clero populoque con- cessas ?
" Et respondeat Rex. — Concede et servare volo, et sacramenfo confirmare.
" Servabis Ecclesiae Dei, Cleroque et Populo, pacem ex integro et concordiam in Deo, secundum vires tuas ?
" Et respondeat Rex. — Servabo.
" Facies fieri in omnibus judiciis aequam et rectam justitiam, et discretionem, in misericordia et veritate, secundum vires tuas ?
" Et respondeat Rex. — Faciam.
" Concedis justas leges et consuetudines esse te- nendas, et promittis per te esse protegendas, et ad ho- norem Dei corroborandas, quas vulgus elegerit, secun- dum vires tuas ?
" Concede et promitto."
* This is given in vol.i. p. 168, of Statutes, printed by the Royal Commissioners, 1806.
•)• Si nonfuerit titeratus, the same was administered in French.
HENRY VIII. 15
This, I repeat, was the Oath taken by Henry VIII. Whether by any, and by what actions, he violated this Oath, is not a question, in which the honour of the reformed Church of England is at all involved. But I will remark in my way, that the Statutes by which he cast off the usur- pations of the Pope, were certainly not in the number. This is not the place to prove, what has been often proved, and no where more clearly or triumphantly, than by Lord Coke,* that Henry's assertion of his right to Ecclesiastical supremacy was most properly and truly a resumption of the ancient legal and recognized right of the English crown. But it is observable, that in the Oath, which he had taken, particular mention is made of the laws of Edward the Confessor, as the measure of the ancient liberties of the Church and People of England. Now, in those laws, the office and duty of king are thus expressly set forth,t as they relate to the Church. " Rex, quia vicarim summi\ Regis est, ad hoc est constitutus ut
* 5 Reports, Cowdrey's Case.
"T Leges Edovardi, 1 7. De Regis Officio et de Jure et ap- pendiciis Coronae Regni Brytanniae.
| How far this is consistent with the decree of the Council of Florence, respecting the Pope, I leave to those whom it may concern. It is worth remarking, that in the laws of Edward
16 HENRY VIII.
" regnum terrenum, et populum Domini, et " super omnia sanctam veneretur Ecclesiam ejus, " et regat, et ab injuriosis defendat, et maleficos " ab ea evellat, et destruat, et penitus disperdat. " Illos decet vocari Reges, qui vigilanter de- <( fendunt et regunt Ecclesiam Dei, et populum " ejus." Again: " Debet sanctam Ecclesiam " regni sui, cum omni integritate et libertate, " juxta constitutiones patrum et prsedecessorum " servare, fovere, manutenere, regere, et contra " inimicos defendere."
Henry's invasion of the property of the Church, however covered by legal forms, may admit of less easy justification. But this, I repeat, is not a matter, for which the reformed Church of England is, in any way, answerable. The heads of that Church have never justified it; but, on the contrary, one of the most dis- tinguished of them, Archbishop Whitgift, thus boldly remonstrated with Queen Elizabeth, when she was inclined to follow her father's example, in laying violent hands on the property of the
the Confessor is given what professes to be an " Epistle from " Pope Eleutherius to Lucius, king of Britain, anno 169 a " passione Christi/' and must, therefore, have been regarded as very ancient in Edward's time. In it the Pope says to the King, " Vicarius Dei estis in regno."— Wilkins, p. 201.
ARCHBISHOP WHITGIFT. 17
Church, and forcing the Incumbents to sub- mit to iniquitous surrenders, or exchanges, of the possessions belonging to their Benefices. " They that consult Magna Charta,"* said the stout-hearted old man, " shall find, that as all " your predecessors were at their Coronation, " so you also were sworn before all the Nobility " and Bishops then present, and in the pre- " sence of God, and, in his stead, to him that " anointed you, To maintain the Church lands, " and the rights belonging to it:" — " and, though " I shall forbear speaking reproachfully of your " father, consider, that, after the violation of " those laws to which he had sworn in Magna " Charta, God did so far deny him his restrain- " ing Grace, that, as King Saul, after he was " forsaken of God, fell from one sin to another, " so he, till he at last fell into greater sins than " I am willing to mention." f
On the death of Henry VIII., it appears, from the Council Book, cited by Burnet, J not only that many of the ceremonies of the Coronation were altered, in order to accommodate them to
* He had sworn to Magna Charta inter " leges et con- suetudines ab antiquis justis, et Deo devotis Regibus con- cessas."
f Collier's Eccles. Hist. ii. 685.
t H. R. vol. ii. App. p. 94.
18 OATH OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
the change of laws, but, also, that the Coronation Oath was in some small respects amended. It was taken by Edward VI. in the following form.
THE OATH OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
(See Burnet, vol. ii. Coll. Rec. p. 94.)
" Archbishop. Will you grant to the people of Eng- land, and others your realms and dominions, the laws and liberties of this realm and others your realms and dominions ?
" King. I grant and promise.
"Archbishop. You shall keep, to your strength and power, to the Church of God, and to all the people, holy peace and concord.
"King. I shall keep.
" Archbishop. You shall make to be done, after your strength and power, equal and rightful justice in all your dooms and judgments, with mercy and truth.
"King. I shall do.
"Archbishop. Do you grant TO MAKE NO LAWS but such as shall be to the honour and glory of God, and to the good of the Commonwealth ; and that the same shall be made by the consent of your people, as hath been accustomed ?
" King. I grant and promise.
" The King, laying his hand on the Book, shall say,
" The things which I have before promised, I shall
CORONATION OATH OF K. JAMES II. 19
observe and keep. So God help me, and those holy Evangelists by me bodily touched upon this holy altar!"
Of the amendments here introduced, it is not necessary that I should at present say any thing ; on the most important of them I shall have occasion to remark more particularly here- after.
It should seem that Mary, having been crowned according to the ancient ceremonial, used the ancient form of the Coronation Oath, which (with one alteration introduced under James I.) appears to have been observed at the Coronation of every succeeding Sovereign, James II. included, whose Oath was in the following form.
KING JAMES II.'s CORONATION OATH.
(Liber Regalis apud Decanum Westnrinst. and Sandford's Account of the Coronation.)
"Archbishop. Sir, Will you grant and keep, and by your oath confirm to the people of England, the laws and customs to them granted by the Kings of England, your lawful and religious predecessors ; and, namely, the laws and customs and franchises granted to the Clergy by the glorious King St. Edward, your pre- decessor, according to the laws of God, the true pro-
C2
20 CORONATION OATH OF K. JAMES II.
fession of the Gospel established in this kingdom, and agreeing to the prerogative of the kings thereof, and the ancient custom of this realm ?
"King. I promise and grant to keep them,
"Archbishop. Sir, Will you keep peace and godly agreement entirely according to your power, to the Holy Church, the Clergy, and the People ?
"King. I will keep it.
"Archbishop. Will you to your power cause law, justice, and discretion, in mercy and truth, to be exe- cuted in all your judgments ?
"King. I will.
" Archbishop. Sir, Will you grant to hold and keep the rightful customs which the commonalty of this your kingdom have ; and will you defend and uphold them to the honour of God so much as in you lieth ?
" King. I grant and promise so to do.
" The Request, or Petition, of the Bishops.
"Bishops. Our Lord and King, we beseech you to pardon, and to grant, and to preserve unto us, and the churches committed to our charge, all canonical pri- vilege, and due law and justice : and that you will pro- tect and defend us ; as every good King in his kingdom ought to be Protector and Defender of the Bishops and Churches under their government.
" King. With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant you my pardon, and that I will preserve and maintain unto you and the Churches committed to your charge, all canonical privileges, and due law and justice : and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my
PRESENT CORONATION OATH. 21
power, by the assistance of God, as every good King in his kingdom ought in right to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches, and their government.
" Then the King arises out of his chair, and goeth to the altar, and there kneeleth upon the steps, and maketh a solemn oath, each in the sight of all that great assembly, to observe the promises; and, laying his hand upon the holy table, says,
" These things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God, and the contents of this Book !"
PRESENT CORONATION OATH.
And thus we are arrived at the period when the present Oath was, after much deliberation, devised and established, to the right under- standing of which, the view we have taken of the preceding forms will be found to afford some important assistance.
The following is the form of the Coronation Oath, as it now stands, in the terms prescribed by 1 William and Mary, c. 6.
" The Archbishop or Bishop shall say,
" Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this kingdom of England, and the do- minions thereto belonging, according to the Statutes in Parliament agreed on, and the laws and customs of the same ?
22 PRESENT CORONATION OATH.
" The King and Queen shall say,
" I solemnly promise so to do.
" Archbishop or Bishop. Will you to your power cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?
" King and Queen. I will.
" Archbishop or Bishop. Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the laws of God, the true pro- fession of the Gospel, and the Protestant reformed religion established by law? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of this realm, and to the Churches committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them, or any of them ?
" King and Queen. All this I promise to do.
" After this the King and Queen, laying his and her hand upon, the Holy Gospels, shall say,
" King and Queen. The things which I have here- before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God."
A subsequent statute, 5 Ann, c. 8 (the Act of Union with Scotland), after reciting and con- firming (s. 7) an Act made in contemplation of the Union, entituled, " An Act for securing the " Church of England, as by law established," of which the following is an extract, " That an Act " made in the 13th year of Queen Elizabeth, inti- " tuled, ' An Act for the Ministers of the Church " to be of sound Religion ; ' and also another
PRESENT CORONATION OATH. 23
" Act made in the 1 3th year of King Charles " II., intituled, * An Act for the Uniformity of " the Public Prayers/ &c. and all and singular " other* acts of Parliament, now in force for the " establishment and preservation of the Church " of England," — "and the doctrine, worship, dis- " cipline, and government thereof, shall remain " and be in full force for ever;" — after reciting and confirming this statute, I repeat, the Act of Union thus proceeds (s. 8.), "And be it further " enacted, that for ever hereafter every King or " Queen succeeding and coming to the Royal " Government of the kingdom of Great Britain, " at his or her coronation, shall, in the presence " of all persons who shall be attending, &c. take " and subscribe an Oath to maintain and pre- " serve inviolably the said settlement of the Church " of England, and the doctrine, worship, dis- " cipline, and government thereof, as by law " established, within the kingdoms of England " and Ireland, the dominion of Wales, and Town " of Berwick upon Tweed, and the territories " thereunto belonging."
Now, as the Oath still continues to be taken only in the form prescribed by 1 William and
* Among which the laws requiring the Oath of Supremacy and the Test against Popery are expressly enumerated in Wil- liam's first declaration.
24 K. GEORGE III.'s INTERPRETATION OF OATH.
Mary, c. 6, that form must, it is evident, be considered as including the full meaning ex- pressly put upon it by the Act of Union ; and the Sovereign must therefore understand himself, and be understood by others, to swear " that " he will, to the utmost of his power, maintain and " preserve inviolably, within the kingdoms of " England and Ireland, the Protestant Reformed " Religion established by Law, and the settlement " of the Church of England, (described in the " Statute cited in the 7th section of the Act of " Union,) and the Doctrine, Worship, Disci- " pline, and Government thereof, as by Law " established."
Thus far there can be no pretence whatever for cavil or dispute. All must admit, that the obligation of the Oath extends as far, as the true meaning of these words shall be found to enjoin. But what that true meaning is, has been differently understood by different per- sons.
King George IIIJs Interpretation of the Oath.
His late Majesty (whose judgment on this point will never be brought into discussion, without sentiments of heartfelt reverence, by any man who deserves the name of English- man)— His late Majesty, together with other most respectable authorities, considered this
K. GEORGE III.'S INTERPRETATION OF OATH. 25
Oath as binding the Sovereign to refuse the Royal Assent to any Bill, though presented to him by both Houses of Parliament, which should violate what he conceived a fundamental maxim of the Constitution, namely, that " the " Church of England being the established " Church, those who hold employments in the " State must be members of it, and, conse- " quently, must be obliged not only to take " Oaths against Popery, but also to receive the " Holy Communion, agreeably to the Rites of " the Church of England."*
Between a full and unqualified assent to this interpretation of the Oath, and the utter con- tempt of it, which has been recently expressed, there will perhaps be found some important shades of difference.
But in order to do justice to the question, and particularly to the view which His late Majesty took of it, we must look more particu- larly to the circumstances, under which the Oath was enacted.
Alterations made in the Coronation Oath at the Revolution.
And, first, the consideration that it was sub- stituted for the form of Oath, which had been in substance used for so many ages, will lead to a
* Letters of King George III., £c. p. 37.
26 ALTERATIONS MADE IN THE OATH AT
particular inquiry into the nature and spirit of the alterations, which were thus introduced. The Coronation Oath, as I hardly need to re- mark, has always been regarded, though not as constituting, yet as recognizing, affirming, and sanctioning, " the original contract" (I speak the language of the Convention Parliament of 1688-9) " between King and People." Any variation in its terms, therefore, deliberately introduced, must, it is apparent, be deserving of the gravest consideration. Now, an inspec- tion of the new form of Oath, compared with that which it superseded, will shew, that it was not the civil, but the religious, interests of the State, which it was especially designed to strengthen. As far as regards the civil rights and liberties of the People, the new Oath, if a more condensed and pithy instrument, is, how- ever, not a more strong and comprehensive one, than the former. But in the Clause which re- lates to the Church, it cannot escape observa- tion, how much more powerful, as well as more clear, is the language of the new Oath. Instead of engaging, as before, to " grant, keep, and " confirm the laws, customs, and franchises "• granted to the Clergy by King Edward the " Confessor, according to the Laws of God, " the true Profession of the Gospel established " in this Kingdom, and agreeing to the Prero-
AT THE REVOLUTION. 27
" gative of the Kings thereof, and the ancient " custom of this Realm :" — the King is now re- quired to swear, " That He will, to the utmost " of his power, maintain the Laws of God, the " true Profession of the Gospel, and the Protes- " tant Reformed Religion established by Law'"
And, whatever conclusion may be drawn from the increased clearness and strength of the expressions in the new Oath on this point, acquires much greater force from the historical facts connected with its establishment. It was recent experience of the encroaching and dan- gerous spirit of the Church of Rome, and of the want of a plainer and more effectual security against its machinations, in the conscience of the Sovereign, that made the great men to whom we owe the restoration of our liberties, regard it as one of their first and most imperative duties " to amend the Coronation Oath." Ac- cordingly, on the very day after the Throne was declared vacant by the abdication of James II. (January 29th, 1688-9), Sir Richard Temple* thus stated the three things essentially necessary to the resettling of the Government : 1. Secu- rity against encroachments upon Parliament, by providing for the certainty and frequency of holding its assemblies, and allowing no stand-
* Cobbett's Parl. Hist. v. p. 54.
28 ALTERATIONS MADE IN THE OATH
ing army without its consent : — 2. Security for the faithful administration of the Laws by giving salaries instead of fees to the Judges, and making their places to be held " during life :" — 3. The Settlement of the Coronation Oath.
Of these tria necessaria, the last, the subject of our present investigation, so early as the 28th