, Mr. Newman of Oriel. As
he had been one of the annual Petitioners to Parliament for Catholic
Emancipation, his sudden union with the most violent bigots was
inexplicable to me. That change was the first manifestation of the
mental revolution, which has suddenly made him one of the leading
persecutors of Dr. Hampden and the most active and influential member
of that association, called the Puseyite party, from which we have
those very strange productions, entitled, Tracts for the Times. While
stating these public facts, my heart feels a pang at the recollection
of the affectionate and mutual friendship between that excellent man
and myself; a friendship, which his principles of orthodoxy could not
allow him to continue in regard to one, whom he now regards as
inevitably doomed to eternal perdition. Such is the venomous
character of orthodoxy. What mischief must it create in a bad heart
and narrow mind, when it can work so effectually for evil, in one of
the most benevolent of bosoms, and one of the ablest of minds, in the
amiable, the intellectual, the refined John Henry Newman!" (Vol. iii.
p. 131.) He adds that I would have nothing to do with him, a
circumstance which I do not recollect, and very much doubt.

I have spoken of my firm confidence in my position; and now let me
state more definitely what the position was which I took up, and the
propositions about which I was so confident. These were three:--

1. First was the principle of dogma: my battle was with liberalism;
by liberalism I meant the anti-dogmatic principle and its
developments. This was the first point on which I was certain. Here I
make a remark: persistence in a given belief is no sufficient test of
its truth; but departure from it is at least a slur upon the man who
has felt so certain about it. In proportion then as I had in 1832 a
strong persuasion in beliefs which I have since given up, so far a
sort of guilt attaches to me, not only for that vain confidence, but
for my multiform conduct in consequence of it. But here I have the
satisfaction of feeling that I have nothing to retract, and nothing
to repent of. The main principle of the Movement is as dear to me now
as it ever was. I have changed in many things: in this I have not.
From the age of fifteen, dogma has been the fundamental principle of
my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter into the idea
of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to
me a dream