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84 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP TA1T [CH. iv.
which began the contest : a tone which may well encoyrage us
in sanguine hopes that, the beginning having been made in such
a spirit, whatever may be said on either side may be said, on the
whole, in a temper not unworthy of the grave importance of the
l
subject."
A few days after the Protest had been published, the
Hebdomadal Board took up the subject. In deprecation
of the censure which it was understood they would pro
nounce, Mr. Newman wrote to Dr. Jelf the letter of
vindication from which the *
foregoing
extract is taken.
But before the letter was in type the Board passed a
resolution of censure, ending with the following words :-
"
Resolved that modes of interpretation, such as are suggested
in the said Tract, evading rather than explaining the sense of
the Thirty-nine Articles, and reconciling subscription to them with
the adoption of errors which they were designed to counteract,
defeat the object, and are inconsistent with the due observance of
the above-mentioned Statutes."
The sequel is well known. The Bishop of Oxford
conveyed to Mr. Newman his opinion that the Tract was
dangerous in its tendencies, and recommended that the
series should be discontinued. 2 In this recommendation
Mr. Newman acquiesced, and the Tracts came to an end.
Such was the immediate consequence of the Four
Tutors action. Whether that action was wise or unwise
it had at least the merit of straightforwardness and courage.
It has been sometimes spoken of as a bid for popularity
in Oxford. The accusation betrays
an absolute un-
acquaintance with the then state of Oxford opinion.
"At this distance of time," writes Principal Shairp in 1885,
"it is not easy to realise how much courage it required in Tait
to take the step he did. He might have the Protestant and No-
1
"A Few Words in Support of No. 90," page 4.
2 See
" A
Letter to the Lord Bishop of Oxford, on Occasion of No. 90.
By J. H. Newman, March 29, 1841, p. 3.