Chapter II: Part 1: By Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner

VOL. I.

CHAPTER I.

PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD 1

Origin of the Bradlaugh family--James Bradlaugh--Charles Bradlaugh, senr.--His marriage--Birth of Charles Bradlaugh--Needy circumstances of the family--Character and tastes of his father--Character of his mother--Schooling--Handwriting--Amusements--Early lessons in politics.

CHAPTER II.

BOYHOOD 7

Charles Bradlaugh as office-boy--Wharf clerk and cashier--Politics at Bonner's Fields--Sunday School--The Rev. J. G. Packer--Suspended from duties as Sunday School teacher--Bonner's Fields on Sunday--Mrs Sharples Carlile--The Warner Street Temperance Hall--A teetotaller--Mr Packer's methods--An angry father--The ultimatum--Leaving home--Mr Packer's responsibility.

CHAPTER III.

YOUTH 17

Alone in the world--B. B. Jones--A youthful "coal merchant"--The baker's wife--Selling braces--Mrs Carlile offers a home--"A little Hebrew and an imperfect smattering of other tongues"--Hypatia Carlile--Brother and sister--Youthful oratory--The _British Banner_--Austin Holyoake--George Jacob Holyoake--The first pamphlet--A "season's campaign."

CHAPTER IV.

ARMY LIFE 25

Poverty, hunger, and debt--Enlisting for the East India service--Enrolled in the 50th Foot--Transferred to the 7th Dragoon Guards--Family reconciliation--The father's changed character--Troubles at sea--Temperance advocacy under difficulties--"Leaves"--At Rathmines Church--A right-of-way--A new officer--Donnybrook Fair--An Irish tragedy.

CHAPTER V.

ARMY LIFE CONCLUDED 35

The father's death--Letters home--Death of Miss Elizabeth Trimby--Mother and Daughter--Purchasing his discharge--Advantages derived from Army life--James Thomson.

CHAPTER VI.

MARRIAGE 41

Changes at home--A soldier in search of work--With Mr Rogers, of 70 Fenchurch Street--Anonymous busybodies again--"Iconoclast" --The Hooper family--Old letters--Poetry--Calumnies refuted--Common-sense justice--First recorded lawsuit--Marriage--My sister's birth--My mother.

CHAPTER VII.

HYDE PARK MEETINGS, 1855 52

The new Sunday Bill--In Hyde Park--"Go to Church"--Hyde Park again--The Bill abandoned--The Royal Commission--Mr Bradlaugh's evidence.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ORSINI ATTEMPT 62

Lecturing and writing--"The Bible: what it is"--Arrest of Edward Truelove--Felice Orsini--Simon Bernard--Thomas Allsop--"Thorough"--Recollections of W. E. Adams.

CHAPTER IX.

EARLY LECTURES AND DEBATES 72

Provincial lectures--First visit to Northampton--President of the London Secular Society--Robert Owen's last paper--_The Investigator_--Political meetings--Hyde Park--Guildhall--Debates: Thomas Cooper--Rev. Brewin Grant--Dr Mensor--Rev. T. D. Matthias--Mr Court--John Smart.

CHAPTER X.

HARD TIMES 90

The Manchester poisoning case--Mr Harvey--Rheumatic fever--Elysium Villa--My brother's birth--Kate--Railway journeys--A lecturer's profits--An editor's profits.

CHAPTER XI.

A CLERICAL LIBELLER 99

An articled clerk--The Naples Colour Company--Financial operations--"Black Friday"--Sunderland Villa--The Rev. Hugh M'Sorley.

CHAPTER XII.

TOTTENHAM 108

Our home--James Thomson ("B. V.")--Harriet Bradlaugh--Father and children.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE "NATIONAL REFORMER" 119

The _National Reformer_ Company--The coming of Joseph Barker--Turkish baths and Secularism--The difficulties of a dual editorship--A house divided--Sole editor--G. J. Holyoake as chief contributor--More difficulties--Arbitration--Messrs Smith and Son's boycott--John Watts as editor--My father resumes--The _Saturday Review_--"B. V." replies--The Rev. Charles Voysey: 1868 and 1880.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE "NATIONAL REFORMER" AND THE GOVERNMENT PROSECUTIONS 137

Prosecution of _National Reformer_ by Mr Disraeli's Government--"Published in defiance of Her Majesty's Government"--The Act of James I.--Collapse of the prosecution--The Press--The Rev. J. Page Hopps--Prosecution of _National Reformer_ by Mr Gladstone's Government--Abandonment of the prosecution--John Stuart Mill--Repeal of the odious Security laws--The Postmaster-General and the _National Reformer_.

CHAPTER XV.

ITALY 152

Earning money for Garibaldi--Mazzini--An eloquent passport--Police espionage--Carrying despatches--An American sees "fair play"--The police and the Life Assurance Companies.

CHAPTER XVI.

PLATFORM WORK, 1860-1861 158

Debate with the Rev. B. Grant at Bradford--Dr Brindley--Pursuing Mr Bradlaugh to New York--Debates with Dr Baylee and others--"Extended propaganda"--The _Wigan Examiner_--Mr Hutchings--Dispensing "justice" to the Atheist--More debates--Norwich and Yarmouth--The Yarmouth Magistrates.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE DEVONPORT CASE, 1861 175

The speech in Devonport Park--Opening a fortnight's campaign--Arrest-- Imprisonment--The Guildhall--A marine adventure--The case against Superintendent Edwards--Mr Robert Collier, Q.C., M.P.--Mr Montagu Smith, Q.C.--An unjust judge--The Court of Common Pleas--Lord Chief Justice Erle--Mr Justice Keating--The Court of Appeal.

CHAPTER XVIII.

"KILL THE INFIDEL" 189

Religious liberty at Guernsey--Challenging the island authorities --Bill-posting extraordinary--"Kill the Infidel"--An infuriated crowd and a shrewd landlady--The courageous Harbour Master--"An act of natural justice."

CHAPTER XIX.

PROVINCIAL ADVENTURES, 1860-1863 194

Altrincham--Shaw--Sunderland--Rochdale--The Bellman of Leigh--Warrington Journalism--Dumfries--Burnley--Chesterfield--Counter attractions at Worksop--At Boardman's Edge, discussion precedes the lecture--The Dewsbury poster--Leeds--A dream of Voltaire.

CHAPTER XX.

A FREEMASON 203

The Philadelphs--The Grand Lodge of England--The Prince of Wales as Grand Master--"To the oppressed of all Nations"--Joshua B. Smith as Junior Warden to the Adelphi Lodge--"Ill winds" that blow good to a Masonic charity.

CHAPTER XXI.

DEBATES, 1860-1866 207

The Rev. W. Barker--Thomas Cooper--A frank avowal--The Rev. Woodville Woodman again--Mr Porteous--A one-sided debate--Mr Porteous again.

CHAPTER XXII.

"THE WORLD IS MY COUNTRY; TO DO GOOD IS MY RELIGION" 214

Sympathy with Garibaldi--Irish Catholic Opposition--An attempt to stab Mr Bradlaugh--Lancashire distress--"Viva la Polonia"--Death of B. B. Jones--Sheffield inundation--Help for the needy--A Hall of Science Company.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE REFORM LEAGUE, 1866-1868 220

The National Reform League--Primrose Hill--Trafalgar Square--Sir Richard Mayne's prohibition--The Derby Cabinet--Hyde Park--Another prohibition--Fall of the Hyde Park railings--Agricultural Hall--Bristol--Attacks upon Mr Bradlaugh--Northampton--Luton--Matthew Arnold casts his stone--On horseback at Trafalgar Square--Agricultural Hall again--The _Saturday Review_ and its followers--Hyde Park again--The Government "admonition" served and withdrawn--Mr Bradlaugh's resignation--Its result.

CHAPTER XXIV.

PROVINCIAL LECTURING, 1866-1869 238

The Mayor of Liverpool--David King--Huddersfield: Arrest; Release; Before the Magistrates--The Rev. J. M'Cann--Huddersfield again--The Murphy riots at Manchester--The New Hall of Science--Blyth and Mr Thomas Burt--The "infidel" on Portsea Common--The people who loved my father--A liberal priest.

CHAPTER XXV.

IRELAND 252

English Misgovernment--The Fenian Brotherhood--Colonel Kelly and General Cluseret--The Irish proclamation of 1867--The Manchester rescue--The death sentence--The Clerkenwell explosion--Pamphlet on "the Irish Question"--A Quakers' discussion society--Lectures on behalf of Ireland--A visit to Dublin.

CHAPTER XXVI.

NORTHAMPTON, 1868 263

Mr Bradlaugh's determination to seek a seat in Parliament--The choice of Northampton--First election address--Scorn of the Whigs--Enthusiasm of the people--The election colours--John Stuart Mill--_The Daily Telegraph_--The Irish Reform League--John Bright--W. E. Gladstone--Mr Charles Gilpin and Lord Henley--The press--Dr Lees--Canvassing--The Lord's Day Rest Association--Mr Giffard, Q.C.--Mr Charles Capper, M.P.--Anti-Compulsory Vaccination--The nomination day--The poll--Tributes from the Mayor and from Mr Gilpin--Ministers who rejoiced.

CHAPTER XXVII.

SOUTHWARK ELECTION, 1869 280

Mr Bradlaugh and Mr Odger.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

LITIGATION, 1867-1871 282

English Joint Stock Bank (Limited) and Charles Bradlaugh--Bradlaugh _v._ De Rin--The Oath question in different Courts-Confusion of the law of evidence--A costly victory--The Evidence Amendment Act, 1870--The _Razor_ libel case--Mr O'Malley, Q.C.--"Outlaw or Citizen: Which am I?"--Action against the Mirfield Town Hall Company--Mr Digby Seymour, Q.C.--Mr Justice Willes.

CHAPTER XXIX.

PERSONAL 299

Financial difficulties--Mr Bradlaugh gives up business in the City and devotes himself to public work--Our home sold up--A scattered family--My brother's illness and death--His burial--The Rev. Drummond Ash--The Rev. Theophilus Bennett--My father's grief.

CHAPTER XXX.

LECTURES, 1870-1871 304

Freethought and Republican activity--A full lecture list--The "Impeachment of the House of Brunswick"--A misleading announcement--Stourbridge and Lord Lyttleton--The High Bailiff of Newton Abbot--The Sowerby Bridge champion wrestler--Dr Magee at Norwich Cathedral--Mr Disraeli and the Queen--Mr Gladstone's "Questionable Book."

CHAPTER XXXI.

FRANCE--THE WAR 312

Mr Bradlaugh's position--Republican France--Madame de Brimont--"France and Peace"--St James's Hall--Thanks of the Republican Government--Pleading for the recognition of the Republic by the English Government--The conference of European powers--M. C. Tissot.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE COMMUNE, AND AFTER 322

Communist friends--An effort for peace--Arrested at Calais--Expelled from France--A second arrest--Allowed to proceed to Paris--A lecture for French refugees--Prince Jérome Napoléon--Emile de Girardin--Emanuel Arago--Léon Gambetta--Yves Guyot--A Marxist attack.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

A DOZEN DEBATES 332

George Jacob Holyoake and Secularism--Alexander Robertson and the Existence of Deity--The Rev. A. J. Harrison--Father Ignatius--Mr Burns and Spiritualism.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

FAMILY AFFAIRS 346

Father and children--School in Paris--W. R. Bradlaugh.

CHAPTER XXXV.

REPUBLICANISM AND SPAIN 352

English Republicans--Conference at Birmingham--Mr Bradlaugh carries English congratulations to the Spanish Republicans in 1873--Adventures between Irun and Madrid.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

MADRID AND AFTER 364

To Lisbon and back--Senor Castelar--Enthusiasm of the Madrid Republicans--The return journey--Reported death.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

GREAT GATHERINGS 372

The Parks Regulation Bill (1872)--Agricultural labourers at Exeter Hall--Miners' meetings in Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire--Agricultural labourers at Yeovil.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

FIRST VISIT TO AMERICA 380

The "London Correspondents'" puff extraordinary--Welcomed on arrival in New York--The Lotos Club--O'Donovan Rossa--Financial panic--At Steinway Hall--Stephen Pearl Andrews and Mrs Victoria Woodhull: a contrast--Wendell Phillips--Charles Sumner--William Lloyd Garrison--Henry Wilson--Joshua B. Smith--An accident at Kansas City--Carlile's daughters at Chicago--Ralph Waldo Emerson--Julia Ward Howe--Dissolution of Parliament--Return to England.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

TWO NORTHAMPTON ELECTIONS, 1874 392

The first General Election under the Ballot Act--Northampton and its absent candidate--Reception on his return--Charles Gilpin's recommendation: his death--The bye-election--Mr William Fowler--The bitterness of the contest--Departure for the United States on the night of the poll--Rioting at Northampton --Hostile camps--Better counsels prevail.

CHARLES BRADLAUGH.