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The pressure from some politicians, public personalities
and "liberal-minded" people for the removal of the
Act of Settlement in the British Constitution is such that
every effort must be made to ensure that it will not succeed.
We are most grateful, then, to the Grand Lodge of Scotland,
and the authors of the pamphlet, "The Unsettling Act"
for a worthy defence of an Act which guarantees the Protestant
succession to the British throne. The reasons it gives simply,
precisely and perceptively for its retention remind us that
the Act as a response to Roman Catholic and thus foreign involvement
in our affairs, was necessary at its enactment and for the
dangers seen then and existing still. Our Institution's emphasis
on Protestantism is to be reminded of the Acts of Settlement
- the plural is necessary for there were two of them - 1689
and 1701. The first of 1689 fixed the line of British sovereigns
and gave the Crown jointly to Mary and William, then to the
survivor, then to Mary's children, and finally to the children
of William by any other wife. In any case no Roman Catholic
could sit on the English throne. Passed, too, in 1689 was
the Bill of Rights which stated the conditions on which the
throne was offered to William and Mary. It named and declared
illegal the unconstitutional acts of James II such as the
dispensing power, unauthorised taxation, an unauthorised standing
army, and the ecclesiastical and similar courts. It claimed
also the right of petitioning the King, of freedom of debate,
of frequent parliaments and of free elections of members of
parliament. It further stated that on coronation the sovereign
must deny transubstantiation and that a reigning monarch on
marrying a Roman Catholic, freed his subjects from allegiance
by the Act. The Act of Settlement of 1701 was an English parliamentary
statute regulating the succession of the throne. The purpose
of the Act was to prevent the restoration of the Roman Catholic
Stuart dynasty; William being childless and the last surviving
child of Queen Anne having died, it settled the succession
on Sophia, the Electress of Hanover, granddaughter of James
I and her heirs provided they were Protestants. On the death
of Anne the crown was inherited by Sophia's son George. And
so the Act of Settlement established the Hanoverian succession
to the English throne. It stipulated that the monarch must
be Protestant in communion with the Church of England as by
law established and that foreigners must not hold public office
or enter parliament. The independence of justice was established
and enshrined the two principles - the King to act only through
his ministers, and they are responsible to Parliament. The
reminder of our Protestant heritage is to persuade us that
it is meaningful to us but only as we practice it. Our Orangeism
should be a constant pressure on us to be Protestants in word
and deed; to be constant in our profession of the Reformed
Faith by our manner of living; in our devotion to Christ and
loyalty to the church; in fellowship with one another and
all others of like mind. Our best defence of Protestantism
is to express our faith by our deeds and to prove through
our witness of lip and life that what we have is a faith in
God which is Christ centred, Bible-based and church-orientated;
that what we have is better than what is on offer from the
constitutional changes so eagerly espoused by Roman Catholics
and those who would accommodate them regardless of the consequences
foreseen and prevented by our Protestant forefathers. It may
be opportune, too, to draw attention to the Acts of Union.
They are:-
- 1536-43 uniting England and Wales. It imposed the English
law and administration on Wales made English the language
of officialdom, and provided for Welsh representation in
parliament.
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1707 uniting England and Scotland to form
Great Britain. Scotland retained its legal system and
Presbyterian Church and was to be represented in parliament
by 16 peers and 45 members of parliament.
-
1800 uniting Great Britain and Ireland
to form in 1801 the United Kingdom. It provided for Irish
representation in parliament - four spiritual peers, 28
lay peers and 100 members of parliament. After the setting
up fo the Irish Free State in 1921 the Act united Great
Britian with Northern Ireland.
The flag of the United Kingdom was officially adopted in
1801. The first Union Flag combined the Cross of St. George,
England, and the Cross of St. Andrew, Scotland. In 1801 the
Cross of St. Patrick, Ireland, was added to form the present
Union Jack.
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