The appearance of this tract produced, as may be supposed, a great sensation, and excited a vehement outcry. By order of the House of Commons, it was speedily called in, and ordered to be burnt by the common hangman; a mode of dealing with religious, or indeed with any, controversy, which, while it is suggested by bad and violent passions and still further exasperates them, has an obvious tendency to defeat its own purpose; since it draws the attention of the bystanders and of the public to the subject, and the work itself which is treated with such contumely,—still further excites the general curiosity, and creates a natural suspicion in every candid and thoughtful mind, that those who resort to such violent proceedings seek only to stigmatize and suppress that which they feel themselves unable to refute. Thanks to the operation of the printing-press, it is in vain now to expect that a production which has once made its way before the public can ever be finally put down by such means as these.
Mr. Biddle, however, was not so intimidated by the formidable exercise of human power displayed against him as to be deterred from directing his thoughts to the further promotion of what he conceived to be the noblest and most
