The Dominion. THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1910. THE ROYAL DECLARATION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 856, 30 June 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1910. THE ROYAL DECLARATION.

-»• A cable message gives us to-day the text of the proposed modification of the present Declaration by the King that he will maintain the Protestant religion. It is greatly to the credit of the British Government that it lost no time, after the death of Kino Edward, in announcing its decision to revise the objectionable phrasing of the Declaration in its present form. Mb. Asquitu lias been greatly assisted, of course, by the generously tolerant and _ sympathetic assurances given to him by the leading Anglican and Catholic journals and by the clergy and laity of both denominations. The Declaration, it will be remembered, proclaims the Kino's belief that "the invocation or adoration of the Vikoik Mahy or any other Saint, and the sacrifice of Die Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Home, are superstitious and idol-

atrous.'"- It is a very long time since objection was raised against this insult to a large and important section of the Crown's loyal subject:;, and many attempts- have been inacio to secure a suitable modification of its terms. Never until now, howover, has the Government been able to_ propose revision with the certainty of an overwhelming public approval. _ There uru still societies and associations, of course, which object_ to any alteration of the Declaration, ostensibly out of fear that any modification will shake the soundness of the Protestant Succession, but really, there is enough reason to out of active hostility to the Catholic Church. That it is desirable and important that the Succession shall tie maintained intact is not disputed even by Catholic journals of the weight and influence of the London Tabid. "By all means," the Tablet said in a recent article, "let Parliament take security for the Protestantism of our Kings; let them be fenced with suitable tests. The only thing we ask is that the Kino shall not be forced at the beginning of his reign ro select the most sacred article of the Catholic creed for public insult and denial." It is pleasant to know that this view was expressed independently and voluntarily by leading organs of Anglican opinion. Indeed, it was from Protestant quarters that Me. Asquith received the strongest and sharpest bidding to amend the Declaration. The Church Times invoked the name of "common decency" iu its plea for the purging of the Declaration from offence. "It concerns every decent Protestant," it said, "as much as the most ardent Humanist to substitute for this offensive Declaration some form of words which shall effectively safeguard the Succession, and yet hurt no man's religious susceptibilities." The Spectator, which takes a longer view than most papers, and which is always governed by extreme caution in treating of constitutional questions, is almost the one lay paper left in England to which the maintenance of the Establishment and the Succession is a passionatelyheld article of policy. Yet the Spectator is as emphatic as any Catholic journal could be. "If," it said, in its issue, of May 14, "the Government are not willing to give a lead in tolerance and justice, and will not remove from the Declaration the words which Roman Catholics naturally find insulting and humiliating, they will be guilty of a capital error. Protestant the nation is, and Protestant the nation must remain, and it is also right that there should be potent statutory safeguards in this respect; but for the Government to endorse the view that those safeguards cannot bo maintained without the language of insult is preposterous." The amended form of the Declaration will satisfy everybody but the small minority of extremists. We are inclined to think, indeed, that it will almost cause greater pleasure to Anglicans than to Catholics, since the offensive terms of the unamended Declaration cannot but have caused Anglicans a pain and shame 'as grievous as tho pain and indignation which it has caused to His Majesty's Catholic subjects.