CORONATION OATH. The form in which the limitations imposed on the monarch were defined by the nation and accepted by him, was probably from the first something equivalent to a coronation oath. Up to the period of the revolution, however, the C.O., like all the other guarantees for popular liberty, admitted of being tampered with; and there is in existence (Cottonian MS., Tib. E. a copy of the oath sworn by Henry VIII., interlined and altered with his own hand.
To obviate the possibility of such proceedings for the future, the existing C.O., altered only in consequence of the subsequent unions between England and Scotland. and Great Britain and Ireland, was fixed by stet. 1 Will. and Mary, st. 1, c..6. It is to• the following effect, and thus administered. The archbishop of Canterbury demands of the king (or queen): "Sir, (or madam), is your majesty willing to take the oath?" and on the king answering, " I am willing," the archbishop ministered' these questions: and the king. having a copy of the printed form and order of the coronation service in his hands, answers each question severally, as follows:.
Area Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. and the dominions thereto belonging, accord ing to the statutes in parliament agreed on, and the respective laws and customs of the same? King. I solemnly promise so to do.
Area. Will you, to your power, cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgments? :King. I will.
Arehb. Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant reformed religion, established by law? And will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the united church of Eng land and Ireland, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and • government thereof, as by law established within England and Ireland, and the territories thereunto belonging? And will you. preserve to the bishops and clergy of England and Ireland, and to the
churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as do, or shall appertain unto them, or any of them? King. All this I promise to do.
The sovereign then goes to the altar, and laying his hand upon the Gospels, takes the following oath: "The things which I have heretofore promised, I will perform and keep, so help me God." The sovereign then kisses the book, and signs the oath.
The passage in the oath in which the sovereign guarantees the privileges of the church of England, is framed in conformity with the " act for securing the church of England as by law established," which is declared to be a fundamental and essential part of the treaty of union, and which was inserted accordingly in the act by which the treaty of union was finally ratified. The passage in the act which provides for the secu rity of the church of Scotland was framed in conformity with an " overture for an act for security of the church"—of which a copy will be found in the appendix to Defoe's History of the Union, p. 617. It is to the effect that, " after the decease of her present majesty (whom God long preserve), the sovereign succeeding to her in the royal govern ment of this kingdom shall, in all time coming (not at the coronation) at his or her acces sion to the crown, swear and subscribe that they shall maintain and preserve the aforesaid settlement of the true Protestant religion, with the government, worship and discipline of this church, as above (that is, by the previously recited act, 1 Will. and Mary, c. established inviolably." The security of the church of Scotland is thus provided for, by what may be called an accession oath, even during the period which must intervene between the accession of the sovereign and his coronation, when he is not bound, by oath at least, to the maintenance of the other branches of the constitution.