THE ACCESSION OATH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 859, 30 June 1910, Page 2

THE ACCESSION OATH.

Premier Asquith has introduced the new Accession Declaration Bill. The declaration to be made by King George at his accession now reads as follows : I solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, proiess, testify, and declare that I am a faithful member of the Protestant Reformed Church by law established in England, and will, according to the true intent of the enactments securing the Protestant succession, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my power according to the law It will be conceded by all reasonable Protestants that the old phrasing was most objectionable to Roman Catholics and in fairness to them Parliament should purge the oath of that part which to them is objectionable and which was inserted in the declaration in order to entrap a king of the Stewart type who hypocritically concealed his Catholicism. Referring to this subject the Tablet (Roman Catholic) states; “The main things we want our countrymen to understand to-day are* first, that we have no wish to interfere with the Prostestant Succession; and, secondly, that we object in the strongest possible way to having the central and most sacred doctrine of the Catholic faith selected by the Sovereigns for public denial. A simple declaration by the King that he adhered to the Protestant faith would offend nobody, and would do all that is wanted.”