Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 1 (of 2)

"E. T. Dowbiggin,Lieut. and Adjutant, 7th Dragoon Guards.

"J. Lepard, Esq.

"P.S.– I may observe that during the last eighteen months this man has been occupying rather a prominent situation in the regiment, being that of orderly room clerk, and has consequently been immediately under my notice."

14

This signature is almost illegible.

15

The City of Dreadful Night, and other Poems. By James Thomson ("B. V.").

16

The following handbill, which was circulated after the second reading of the Sunday Trading Bill, and put in evidence at the Royal Commission subsequently held, will give a good idea as to the extent of the proposed measure.

"Tyrannical attack upon the Liberty of the people. Proposed prohibition of Sunday trading. The New Bill brought in by Lord Robert Grosvenor, Lord Ebrington, and Mr M. Chambers proposes to prevent trading on Sundays within the Metropolitan Police District and city of London, and the liberties thereof. It enacts 'that all persons selling, offering, or exposing for sale, or causing to be sold or exposed for sale (on Sundays) any goods, chattels, effects, or things whatsoever, shall, on summary conviction thereof, be fined 5s., and on a second conviction, this fine may be increased to 40s.; and the fines will be cumulative, and every separate act of selling will be a separate offence. The act will not apply to the sale of medicines or drugs, nor to the selling or crying of milk or cream before 9 a.m. or after 1 p.m., nor to the selling or offering of any newspaper or periodical before 10 a.m., nor to the sale of fruit, cooked victuals, or any unfermented beverage before 10 a.m. and after 1 p.m., nor to the sale of meat, poultry, fish, or game, before 9 a.m., from the 31st of May to the 1st of October in each year, nor to the exercise of the ordinary business of a licensed victualler or innkeeper. Butchers and others delivering meat, fish, or game, after 9 a.m. on Sundays, will be liable to the penalties above mentioned. Nor will that useful class of the community, the barbers and hairdressers, be exempted, if they presume to 'do business' after ten o'clock on Sunday mornings, in which case they may be fined 5s., and 20s. for a second offence. It appears, however, that the payment of one penalty will protect the offending barber from any further fine on the same day. Clause 6 saves servants from the operation of the Act, and visits their disobedience on their masters or mistresses. The police are required to enforce the provisions of the Act. Penalties and costs may be levied by distress, and imprisonment may be inflicted in default of payment for 14 days in the common gaol or house of correction. The penalties will be appropriated to the expenses of the police force. No informations are to be quashed for informality, or to be removed by certiorari into the Court of Queen's Bench. The Act (is) to commence (if passed) on the 1st day of November, or All Saints' Day, 1855. A more tyrannical measure was never attempted to be forced upon the people of this country, and if this 'Saints' Bill' is allowed to pass, a much more stringent Act will doubtless follow."

17

Probably the re-formation of the National Sunday League on its present basis in the autumn of 1855 was in great degree owing to the attempted Sunday legislation of the summer; and it will perhaps be news to most of the Sunday Leaguers of to-day that in the March of 1856 Mr Bradlaugh was actively engaged in trying to form a branch of the League in the East End, of which he was the Secretary pro. tem., and which was to hold its meetings in the Hayfield Coffee House, Mile End Road.

18

Vol. XXIII. 1856, pp. 146, 147.

19

The Autobiography of Charles Bradlaugh. A page from his life, written in 1873 for the National Reformer.

20

July 1855.

21

The Investigator. A Journal of Secularism, edited by Robert Cooper.

22

Biography of Charles Bradlaugh.

23

Mr Allsop will be known to the English public as the author of the "Recollections of Samuel Taylor Coleridge." He died a few years before my father, and he lies near his friend at Brookwood.

24

Investigator, November 1st, 1858, p. 124.

25

The letter is headed, "Yarmouth, Thursday."

26

"Eastern Counties," now "Great Eastern" Railway.

27

"Once, as a financier, he was intrusted with the negotiation of a loan for the city of Pisa, with some of whose authorities he had become acquainted in some of his various journeys to Italy. His percentage, small in name, was to be considerable in total, on a loan of £750,000. He duly arranged matters with a certain London financier, who thereupon sent off a clerk to Pisa to offer the money at a fraction less than Bradlaugh was to get, provided he got the whole commission. Bradlaugh, however, had been secured in the conduct of the transaction up to a given date. He instantly went to Rothschilds, who allowed no commission, and put the loan in their hands. The other financier thus got nothing; but so did Bradlaugh." – John M. Robertson, "Memoir," pp. xxxvi. xxxvii.

28

For example, a lady gave the mistress of the school which we attended the option of sending us away or of losing her daughters. We were not sent away, so the lady withdrew her children rather than have them contaminated by contact with the children of the Atheist.

29

An instance of Mr Bradlaugh's interest in local matters may be found in the Tottenham and Edmonton Advertiser for March 1, 1865, which gives a notice of a vestry meeting held on February 20, at which he was present. He is reported as asking for a more detailed account of "Mrs Overend's charity," and the increased value of the land forming part of the property. Several members of the "Waste Land Commission" asked that an inquiry should be made. The Chairman (the vicar) refused to allow the subject to be discussed; but when the report was entered in the minutes, Mr Bradlaugh gave notice that he should move that an inquiry be made.

The next business was to receive a report of the committee appointed by the parishioners in the November before on the matter of the water supply. Mr Delano, chairman of this committee, read the report, which consisted of questions put by the local Board of Health, with correspondence thereon. After criticising the discourtesy of the Board of Health, the chairman agreed that nothing further could be done.

Mr Bradlaugh, however, "said it would not be right to let the subject drop without taking some further notice of it. He thought the Board was bound to act at least courteously towards any of the parishioners having complaints to make of the insufficiency of the water supply. The Board acknowledged this insufficiency, and showed they could give a better supply when a stir was made about the subject. He complained of the unfairness of the Board in refusing all explanation. Not only did they do this, but they added impertinence in characterising him as a new member of the parish. He could not tell who was to blame, but the Board confessed that the supply was irregular, and showed that it was capable of being remedied. In his opinion the Board deserved a vote of censure from the Vestry; they were bound to do their best for those who elected them, and as far as lay in his power he would teach them their duty. He then moved: 'That in the opinion of this meeting the conduct of the Local Board of Health, in refusing to answer the questions of the Committee, is deserving of censure.'" This was seconded by Mr Noble, and there was some discussion, a Mr Kirby rising to defend the action of the Board, to which Mr Bradlaugh replied "in a most caustic speech;" and the motion being put by the chairman, was carried: "twenty- six voting for, and two against it."

30

In 1872 Mr Bradlaugh had occasion to address a letter in the National Reformer to the Rev. Mr M'Sorley, dealing with a sermon of his published in the Tottenham and Edmonton Advertiser, but he did not make the slightest allusion to the clergyman's former conduct. Mr M'Sorley died in 1892.

31

I remember that some one, I know not whom, put the horsewhip in the hall in readiness, and this impressed upon the minds of us children the dreadful depths of Mr M'Sorley's depravity! Our father never said a harsh word or raised his hand in anger to one of us, and we knew that the person must be very bad indeed if the possibility of a whipping could be even contemplated!

32

The Weekly Dispatch, November 16, 1879.

33

Mr W. E. Adams speaks of this matter in his recollections of my father, from which I have already quoted on page 68. "I think it has been said," he remarks, "that Mr Bradlaugh did not do the best he could for James Thomson, the author of 'The City of Dreadful Night.' My own testimony on this subject may not be of much account, but I happen to know that Mr Bradlaugh for many years maintained Thomson as a member of his own family; sometimes finding him employment in his own office, at other times getting him situations elsewhere. When the Polish Revolution of 1862 broke out, a committee was formed in London to assist the insurgents. I was appointed secretary of that committee. But in 1863 it became necessary that I should resign in order to accept an appointment in Newcastle. Mr Bradlaugh asked me to do what I could to obtain for Thomson the succession to the office. It was mainly on Mr Bradlaugh's strong and urgent recommendation that the committee selected him. I transferred to him all the books, documents, correspondence, etc., much of it of a very interesting and valuable character. Although I endeavoured, both in Manchester and in Newcastle, where I visited some of the leading politicians, to form branches of the central committee in London, I ceased all active participation in the movement. It was naturally expected, of course, that Thomson would do all that had been hitherto done by me, and indeed, from his superior qualifications, a great deal more. A few weeks after I had been located in Newcastle, however, a letter was placed in my hands from the late Peter Alfred Taylor, who was chairman of the Polish Committee, asking whether I could tell him where James Thomson could be found, since he had not been at the office for many days, and had left the affairs of the committee in a disordered condition. Poor Thomson, as it turned out, had been overtaken by one of those periodical attacks of dipsomania which ultimately resulted in his death. It may readily be imagined how much this collapse must have disturbed and distressed Mr Bradlaugh. But it does not appear that it made any difference whatever in his helpful friendship for the unfortunate poet; for some years afterwards I still found Thomson a member of Mr Bradlaugh's family and the occupant of an important post in the business which Mr Bradlaugh was then conducting. These are matters of personal knowledge. I may add that Mr Bradlaugh, whenever Thomson was the subject of conversation between us, always spoke of him in the tenderest and most affectionate terms. Even when, as I understand, he had been compelled to part company with his unfortunate friend, no word of censure or complaint ever passed Mr Bradlaugh's lips in my hearing.

"The kindness which Mr Bradlaugh had shown to poor Thomson was shown in a modified degree to me too. I should regard myself as one of the most ungrateful creatures living if I ever forgot the kindly help and sympathy I received from him in a most trying period of my life. For many months during this period, when I was begging some brother man to give me leave to toil, I breakfasted at his house nearly every morning (and a breakfast was a matter of some consequence to me then), in order to learn what had come of inquiries which he was day by day making on my behalf, inquiries which eventually resulted in a service of the highest value."

34

The Prospectus of the Reformer, as it appeared in the Reasoner, was as follows: —

"Reformer Newspaper Company, Limited. Capital, £1000, in 2000 shares of 10s. each. This Company is to be formed for the purpose of issuing a weekly newspaper, price twopence, to be entitled the Reformer, of the size of the Manchester Guardian, folded so as to form eight pages. It will advocate advanced Liberal opinions, on Social, Political, Theological, and Scientific questions, and will permit free discussion on every statement made, or opinion advanced in its columns, or upon any question of general importance. The present platform of political views will be mainly that advocated by the Northern Reform Union, but every phase of the political question shall have free and unreserved treatment, and the most partial Tory will be allowed to answer the views of the Editor, as well as the most extreme Republican, the promoters being of opinion that no one man holds the whole truth, but that it permeates from one extreme to another, and can only be found by a complete ventilation and examination of each man's views. On social science, the promoters intend specially to watch the conduct of the Social Science League, reviewing the course taken by its leading men, and illustrating the general views enunciated at its meetings. The newspaper will contain full reports of co-operative news, meetings and proceedings of trade societies, and co-operative progress throughout the country. It will also contain articles illustrating the connection between physiological and psychological phenomena, and illustrating new scientific discoveries, examining and explaining the various theories in connection with animal magnetism, phrenology, etc., treating fully on the important ground recognised under the title of Political Economy. The present platform, of theological advocacy, will be that of antagonism to every known religious system, and especially to the various phases of Christianity taught and preached in Britain; but every one – Churchman, Dissenter, or anti-theologian – shall have full space to illustrate his own views. The paper will also contain all the important news of the week, summary of Parliamentary debates, reviews of books, etc. etc.; special law and police intelligence; original poetry, etc. The Company will be conducted by a committee of management, appointed annually by the general body of shareholders. The committee will have the whole financial control of the paper, and will have the appointment of the Editor. The Editor for the first six months will be 'Iconoclast,' who will be continued in that office if satisfaction be given to the committee of management. A number of well-known writers have already associated themselves with that gentleman in order to make the pages of the Reformer worthy of general approbation."

It will be noted that here the paper is called the Reformer simply, but in the first advertisement which appeared after the publication of its policy, it was announced as the National Reformer.

35

The paper was at first dated on the Saturday.

36

National Reformer, March 23, 1861.

37

"Manhood," Mr Bradlaugh explained later in answer to a letter from Mrs Law, he used "not in a sexual sense, but rather as asserting the right of every citizen to the franchise," with, of course, limitations as to insanity, etc. My father put his position in most unmistakable language in March 1884 in the National Reformer, in answer to a suggestion made by a correspondent that if there had been women-voters in Northampton he would not have been elected. "If the women-electors," he said, "thought fit to reject Mr Bradlaugh, and they made the majority, it would be their right. If Mr Bradlaugh were in the House of Commons he would vote for woman suffrage, even if he were sure he would in future be excluded by women's votes." And again in the December of the following year he urged: "Even if it were unfortunately true that every woman would always vote Tory, it would be the duty of Radicals to try and obtain the suffrage for them."

38

See Inquirer, May 31, 1862.

39

A dignitary of the Church was reported to have said that it was better "to have a religion without morality than morality without religion."

40

"This writ is issued against you for the recovery of two penalties of £50 and £20 incurred by you in respect of the publication and sale of 'The National Reformer, Secular Advocate and Freethought Journal' newspaper of 3rd May 1868, without making the Declaration and Recognisances, required respectively by the Statutes 6 and 7 Wm. iv. cap. 76, and 1st Wm. iv. cap. 73; and also for two other like penalties in respect of the publication and sale of the newspaper of 18th May 1868."

41

The 4th, 5th, and 6th counts were identical with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, except that they referred to a different issue of the paper.

42

A few provincial papers condemned the prosecution, and later on the Daily Telegraph announced a possible repeal of the Press Laws, and that in the meantime the Government had resolved not to press the objectionable clauses.

43

He was at one period quite ill and under Dr Ramskill's care through the overwork and mental worry of this lawsuit.

44

"Five Dead Men Whom I Knew When Living," by Charles Bradlaugh.

45

Biography of Charles Bradlaugh, by A. S. Headingley, p. 62.

46

Page 103.

47

The Leeds Times, in a very unfriendly notice of the second night's debate at Bradford, said: "Mr Grant had declared there would be such fun, and … he should exhibit the characters of some notorious infidels such as Paine, Carlile, Southwell, and others down to the last 'mushroom,' 'Iconoclast' himself, and prove from them that infidelity is the fruitful source of immorality and crime. All this he did in his opening half-hour's address, but where could anything like 'fun' be found in it all? … Mr Grant in foisting such matter upon his audience was shirking the great points of the discussion… Mr Grant is anything but a calm and dispassionate disputant, and his indulgence in sarcasm even when unprovoked is ill calculated to check a tendency to personalities on the part of opponents, or to lead to the impartial investigation of the truth."

The Bradford Review had a short article on the four nights' discussion, and, speaking of the use of personalities, said: "Here we must say, justice obliges us to say that Mr Grant was the first and by far the greater offender in this direction. The language would not have been tolerated in any society. It was an outrage upon the ordinary proprieties and decencies of life."

The Bradford Advertiser was expressly hostile to Mr Bradlaugh, but in reviewing the four nights' debate also remarked: "We feel bound to concede that 'Iconoclast' acted with a dignity which contrasted very favourably as compared with Mr Grant… We are glad the course is at an end: we never attended a discussion where so little gentlemanly conduct was exhibited, or so much said that was vile and unworthy, especially from one professing to be a preacher and a practiser of Christ's teachings."

A letter in my possession, written to a friend by one of the audience immediately after the second night, gives a private view of the debate. He writes: "The debate was very hot last night; the excitement was great. Mr Grant's friends were disgusted with his conduct. At one time, when Mr Bradlaugh was speaking, Mr Grant put out his tongue at Mr Bradlaugh, and the audience cried 'Shame' to Mr Grant for his conduct."

48

This, I gather, did not apply to his attitude to Mr Bradlaugh only.

49

God, Man, and the Bible. Three nights' discussion with the Rev. Dr Baylee.

50

National Reformer, October 20, 1860.

51

The Rev. W. T. Whitehead.

52

C. Bradlaugh in the National Reformer for December 1st, 1860.

53

Mr and Mrs Johnson of Wigan.

54

A Freethinking hatter of Bradford.

55

C. Bradlaugh in National Reformer, February 16, 1861.

56

The following short passage from this debate may serve as an example of the incisive eloquence of which my father was capable at the age of eight-and-twenty: —

"Men say, 'I believe.' Believe in what? 'I believe' is the prostration of the intellect before the unknown – not an exertion of the intellect to grasp the knowable. Men who have taught in Sunday Schools, and children who have been taught there, men worshipping in our churches – men following men in this way have their ideas made for them, fitted on to them like their clothes; and, like the parrot in its gilded cage, they say 'I believe,' because they have been taught to say it, and not because they have a vital faith when they do say it."

57

The Mayor's exact words.

58

The Norfolk News prefaces its account by saying: "For some months past considerable excitement has been caused amongst the religious community of the town by the delivery of lectures tending to subvert the fundamental principles of Christianity by a Freethinker under the soubriquet of 'Iconoclast.' We have attended none of these lectures ourselves, but, judging from what we have heard, we should think that 'Iconoclast' was a gifted man so far as regards his elocutionary powers. He has been combated on his own platform, denounced from various pulpits in the town, and at length a determined effort seems to have been made to shut him out from all the places in the town in which a public meeting could be held."

59

It is not without interest to note the number of police that were always employed when there was any question of forcibly removing Mr Bradlaugh. The Devonport superintendent contented himself with six. Twenty years later the House of Commons employed fourteen – at least, I am told that it was eleven policemen and three messengers.

60

The descriptions of Mr Bradlaugh which appeared in some of the Devonshire papers, and the opinions expressed in them, are rather amusing to read now, so many years after they were written. The Devonport Telegraph said that Mr Bradlaugh was twenty-eight years of age, and his cross-examinations were such "as would have done credit to an able barrister."

The Western Morning News said that he was "apparently about thirty-four years of age, and 5 ft. 10 ins. in height, is stoutly built, of a sallow complexion, and his countenance is adorned with neither whiskers nor moustache. He possesses intelligent features, and a commanding forehead, and he wears his hair brushed behind his ears… His examination of the witnesses was conducted with facility and with much regularity… He sustained his equanimity of temper in an admirable manner."

The Devonport Independent, referring to the presence in Court of the various dissenting ministers and others, said "they could not help admiring his [Mr Bradlaugh's] remarkable precision, his calm and collected demeanour, and the ability with which he 'conducted his own case' as well as that of his friend… He is about twenty-eight years of age, slight, and of a fair complexion, above the ordinary height, and bearing the impress of an intelligent countenance."

The Plymouth Mail thought "the infidel lecturer Bradlaugh and his friend Steer got off easily."

The Western Daily Mercury gave very full reports of the trial, and under the heading "Scandala Magnata" wrote a condemnation of the prosecution. It also inserted a number of letters on both sides: one, from "an old subscriber," who described himself as "the father of a family and lover of the truths of Scripture," wished that the inhabitants had "routed the wicked man Bradlaugh out of the neighbourhood," and expressed a desire that the Government should punish the dockyard men who co-operated with Bradlaugh.