gave them an
anti-sacerdotal turn. They simply accepted the old Protestant tradition.
They took no interest in the intellectual questions involved.
Rationalism, according to them, meant simply an attack upon the
traditional sanctions of morality; and it scarcely occurred to them to
ask for any philosophical foundation of their creed. Wilberforce's book,
_A Practical View_, attained an immense popularity, and is
characteristic of the position. Wilberforce turns over the infidel to be
confuted by Paley, whom he takes to be a conclusive reasoner. For
himself he is content to show what needed little proof, that the
so-called Christians of the day could act as if they had never heard of
the New Testament. The Evangelical movement had in short no distinct
relation to speculative movements. It took the old tradition for
granted, and it need not here be further considered.

One other remark is suggested by the agitation against the slave-trade.
It set a precedent for agitation of a kind afterwards familiar. The
committee appealed to the country, and got up petitions. Sound Tories
complained of them in the early slave-trade debates, as attempts to
dictate to parliament by democratic methods. Political agitators had
formed associations, and found a convenient instrument in the 'county
meetings,' which seems to have possessed a kind of indefinite legal
character.[125] Such associations of course depend for the great part of
their influence upon the press. The circulation of literature was one
great object. Paine's _Rights of Man_ was distributed by the
revolutionary party, and Hannah More wrote popular tracts to persuade
the poor that they had no grievances. It is said that two millions of
her little tracts, 'Village Politics by Will Chip,' the 'Shepherd of
Salisbury Plain,' and so forth were circulated. The demand, indeed,
showed rather the eagerness of the rich to get them read than the
eagerness of the poor to read them. They failed to destroy Paine's
influence, but they were successful enough to lead to the foundation of
the Religious Tract Society. The attempt to influence the poor by cheap
literature shows that these opinions were beginning to demand
consideration. Cobbett and many others were soon to use the new weapon.
Meanwhile the newspapers circulated among the higher ranks were passing
through a new phase, which must be noted. The great newspapers were
gaining power. The _Morning Chronicle_ was started by Woodfall in 1