ngton, Lyndhurst, and Peel that he could not assent to any
alteration in the oath of supremacy. The three ministers accordingly
tendered their resignations, which were accepted. But the king soon
found that no alternative administration was possible, and on the
following day the existing ministers received permission to proceed with
the bill.[91]

[Pageheading: _PROVISIONS OF THE RELIEF BILL._]

Peel's great speech on March 5, in favour of his resolution, contains a
comprehensive review of the Irish question, as well as an elaborate
defence of his own position, resting solely on grounds of expediency. He
advocated the measure itself as the only means of pacifying Ireland,
reducing the undue power of the catholics, and securing the protestant
religion. It was simple in its main outlines, applying to the whole
United Kingdom, and purporting to open all political and civil rights to
catholics, with a very few specified exceptions. It contained, however,
a number of provisions, in the nature of securities against catholic
aggression. By the new oath, to be substituted for the oaths of
allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, a member of parliament, or holder
of an office, was no longer required to renounce transubstantiation, the
invocation of saints, or the sacrifice of the mass. But he was still
obliged not only to swear allegiance, but to profess himself resolved to
maintain the protestant settlement of the crown, to condemn absolutely
all papal jurisdiction within the realm, and to disclaim solemnly any
intention of subverting the existing Church establishment or weakening
the system of protestant government. Moreover, priests were expressly
denied the privilege of sitting in parliament. Catholics were still
excluded from the high positions of sovereign, regent, lord chancellor
of England or Ireland, and lord-lieutenant of Ireland. They were enabled
to become ministers of the crown, but were debarred from the power of
advising the crown on presentations to ecclesiastical dignities or
benefices, nor were they allowed to exercise such patronage in their
personal capacity. They were still to be disabled from holding offices
in the ecclesiastical courts, or in the universities, and their bishops
were forbidden to assume diocesan titles already appropriated by the
establishment. Other clauses were directed against the use of catholic
vestments except in their chapels and private houses, and against the
importation of Jesuits