was altered in the last year of King William.
This shews what that "permanent" act was. Then, with respect to the
oaths to be taken by members of Parliament. I beg your Lordships to
observe that these oaths, the declaration against transubstantiation,
and the sacrifice of the mass, are not originally in the act of William
III., they are in the act of 30th Charles II. During the reign of
Charles II. there were certain oaths imposed, first on dissenters from
the church of England, by the 12th or 13th Charles II., and to exclude
Roman Catholics by the 25th Charles II., and 30th Charles II. At the
period of the Revolution, when King William came, he thought proper to
extend the basis of his government, and he repealed the oaths affecting
the dissenters from the church of England, imposed by the 13th and 14th
Charles II. and likewise that affirmative part of the oath of supremacy,
which dissenters from the church of England could not take. That is the
history of the alteration of these oaths by William III., from the time
of Charles II.

But my Lords, the remainder of the oath could be taken by Dissenters,
but could not be taken by Roman Catholics. The danger with respect to
Roman Catholics, had arisen in the time of Charles II., and still
existed in the time of William III.; but the oath was altered because
one of the great principles of the Revolution was to limit the exclusion
from the benefits of the constitution as far as it was possible.
Therefore we have this as one of the principles I before stated, derived
from the Bill of Rights. The noble Lords state, that what they call the
principles of 1688,--that is to say, these oaths excluding Roman
Catholics, are equally permanent with the Bill of Rights by which the
Protestantism of the crown is secured. If they will do me the favour to
look at the words of the act, they will see that the difference is just
the difference between that which is permanent and that which is not
permanent. The act says that the Protestantism of the Crown shall last
for ever; but, as for these oaths, they are enacted in exclusive words,
and there is not one word about how long they shall last. Well then, my
Lords, what follows? The next act we have is the act of Union with
Scotland; and what does that act say? That the oaths to be taken by the
members of Parliament, as laid down by the 1st of William and Mary shall
continue and be taken till Parliament shall otherwise direct. This is
what is c