The Sun. — 1845-01-29 (London, England)

OATH OF SUPREMACY. " I, A. 8., do swear that I do, from my heart, abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position, that princes excommunicated, or deprived by the Pope, or any authority of the See of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any otherwhatsoever. And Ido declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought to hare, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm. So help ma God." Our purpose in going thus far back is to show, that in the reconstruction of the British Constitution, every Act passed, and every declaration promulgated, from the period of the Reformation down to the passing of the Emancipation Act, had a twofold object always in view —the spirit of which pervaded every Protestant law and every Protestant document :—namely, no communication with the Pope—no connection with his See— eschew both, politically, internationally, and religiously —no conference, no intercourse, no concordat—in fine, "no fellowship with Rome." The British Sovereign, unlike any other potentate on the earth, is rendered incapable of ruling his or hersubjects under the dictates of despotism or the influence of caprice—for all the jurists and standard writers upon Constitutional law, even at so remote a date as the third Henry, held, and it is thus laid down in Bracton and in Fortescue, " that the law maketh the King. Let the King, therefore, render to the law what the law has invested in him with regard to others—dominion, and poWer; for he is not truly King where will and pleasure rules, and not the law ;" and again it is relied upon as a principle, " that the King of England must rule his people according to the decrees of the laws thereof." But to obviate all doubt upon this subject, it is expressly declared by statute 12th and 13th William 111., c. 2, that, " The laws of England are the birth-right of the people thereof ; and all the Kings and Queens who shall ascend the throne of this realm ought to administer the Government of tho same according to the said laws ; and all their officers and ministers ought to serve them respectively according to the same ; and, therefore, all the laws and statutes of this realm, for securing the established religion, and the rights and liberties of the people thereof, and all other laws and statutes of the same now in force, are by his Majesty, by and with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, and by authority of the same, ratified and confirmed accordingly." Having now shown at some length—but not at greater we hope than our readers will think was absolutely necessary—what the law was and is, in spirit as well as in letter, let us see in what manner her Majesty's " Ministers have served their Sovereign and her subjects according to the same ; and for securing- the established religion and the rights and liberties of the (Protestant) people in respect thereto." By the 7th and Bth Victoria, c. 97 (commonly called the Charitable Bequests Act), sec. 15, it is enacted— " That Roman Catholics shall be enabled by deed or will to make grants, and vest in the Commissioners his or their estate, &c., in lands or goods, or chattels, in trust for any Archbishop or Bishop, in holy orders of the Church of Rome, officiating in any district, or having pastoral superintendence of any congregation of persons professing the Roman Catholic religion." And again, in the 17th and 18th sections, the titles and the status of the Roman Catholic Prelates are fully recognised and established by law, after passing of said Act. But it is not only that this recognition takes place, but the Act provides for priority in the Board of Commissioners, and gives to her Majesty, in Council, the appointment of the Commissioners; and therein, as we have seen, not only the Romish Archbishops and Bishops are recognised as such, but appointed to priority and precedence, according to the rank of the same titles in the Established Church, and placed before Peers of the realm and of Parliament.  ST.