DEFENCE OF AGNOSTICISM 209 



But many remained : and, as the quondam Puseyite and present 

 Ritualistic party, they are continuing that work of sapping and 

 mining the Protestantism of the Anglican Church which he and 

 his friends so ably commenced. At the present time, they have 

 no little claim to be considered victorious all along the line. I 

 am old enough to recollect the small beginnings of the Tractarian 

 party, and I am amazed when I consider the present position of 

 their heirs. Their little leaven has leavened, if not the whole, 

 yet a very large lump of the Anglican Church ; which is now 

 pretty much of a preparatory school for Papistry. So that it 

 really behoves Englishmen (who, as I have been informed by 

 high authority, are all legally members of the State Church, if 

 they profess to belong to no other sect) to wake up to what that 

 powerful organization is about, and whither it is tending. On 

 this point, the writings of Dr. Newman, while he still remained 

 within the Anglican fold, are a vast store of the best and the 

 most authoritative information. His doctrines on Ecclesiastical 

 miracles and on development are the corner-stones of the 

 Tractarian fabric. He believed that his arguments led either 

 Roraeward, or to what ecclesiastics call ' Infidelity,' and I call 

 Agnosticism. I believe that he was quite right in this conviction, 

 but while he chooses the one alternative, I choose the other. . . ." 



It has been mentioned that Bishop Magee took part in 

 the controversy on Agnosticism, and it is desirable in 

 this place to quote a foot-note added by Huxley to the 

 essay on " Agnosticism," in Vol. V. of the Collected 

 Essays (p. 210) : — 



" In this place and in the eleventh essay (' Illustrations of Mr. 

 Gladstone's Controversial Methods '), there are references to the 

 late Archbishop of York, which are of no importance to my 

 main argument, and which I have expunged, because I desire to 

 obliterate the traces of a temporary misunderstanding with a man 

 of rare ability, candour, and wit, for whom I entertained a great 

 liking and no less respect. I rejoice to think now of the (then) 

 Bishop's cordial hail the first time we met after our little skirmish, 

 « Well, is it to be peace or war ? ' I replied, ' A little of both.' 

 But there was only peace when we parted, and ever after." 



Huxley's " Autobiography " was also written this year 



