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Show CHANGE IN ROYAL OATH. London. Simultaneously with the imposing ceremonies of the consecration consecra-tion of the Roman Catholic cathedral at Westminster, there 'was introduced in parliament a bill altering the sovereign's sover-eign's oath of accession, so that a positive pos-itive affirmation of Protestantism can be made without an affront to the 12,000,000 Roman Catholic subjects. The prime minister has not played with this controversial subject, but has offered a sensible substitute for an an-archronism an-archronism which was unnecessarily effensive. Both A. J. Balfour and John Redmond welcomed the proposed al teration, and it will be enacted without with-out doubt, but not without strenuous resistance from the Protestant extremists. ex-tremists. The measure passed its first reading by a vote of 383 to 42. The doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church is not singled out for repudiation, but it is simply affirmed that the sovereign is a faithful Protestant. The paragraph as amended reads: I do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify and declare that I am a faithful member of the Protestant church as by law established es-tablished in England, and I shall, according ac-cording to the true intent of the enactments en-actments which secured Protestant succession to the throne of my realm, uphold and maintain the said enactments enact-ments to the best of my powers and according to law. |