Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 2 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh EditionRobertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Religion
Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 2 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh Edition
Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Bradlaugh, Charles, 1833-1891
In 1833 the Quakers, who in the case of Archdale in 1699 had been held
incapable of sitting in Parliament by reason of their refusal to swear,
were allowed to affirm, first by resolution of the House, later by Act.
This was done at the instance of a Quaker member, Sir Joseph Pease, who
besides being rich enjoyed personally the respect latterly accorded to
his sect by those which formerly persecuted it.
Then came the case of the Jews, first raised in the person of
Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, in 1850. There was now a triple
Protestant oath, and an alternative Catholic oath, the theoretically
dangerous church being allowed to swear in its own way; but for the
small community of Jews there was no formula, and the Jewish banker
had to choose between exclusion and swearing "on the true faith of a
Christian." He omitted these words from his oath, and was accordingly
declared disentitled to sit, the House at the same time formally
resolving to take Jewish disabilities into its consideration at the
earliest opportunity in the next Session. In 1851, another Jew, David
Salomons, returned for Greenwich, refused to take the oath in the
Christian form, formally resisted the Speaker's ruling against him, was
formally removed, and was excluded from his seat. Not till 1858 was the
relief given. In that year a single (Christian) oath was substituted
for the triple asseveration of the past, and on the re-elected Baron
Lionel again refusing it, he was allowed, by resolution of the House,
to swear without the Christian formula. In 1859 he, with Baron Mayer
Amschel de Rothschild and Salomons, was again sworn theistically.
Finally, in 1866, by the Parliamentary Oaths Act, the oath was made
simply theistic for all, the familiar expletive "So help me God"
being held sufficient to associate the First Cause ethically with the
proceeding in hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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