Note: Project Gutenberg has the other volume of this work.
Volume I: see https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45130
Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
[Illustration: CHARLES BRADLAUGH Born Sept. 26, 1833 Died Jan. 30,
1891]
CHARLES BRADLAUGH
A Record of His Life and Work by His Daughter.
HYPATIA BRADLAUGH BONNER.
With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle
Politics and Teachings by
JOHN M. ROBERTSON, M.P.
Seventh Edition
With Portraits and Appendices
T. Fisher Unwin
London Leipsic
Adelphi Terrace Inselstrasse 20
1908
All Rights Reserved
VOL. II.
CHAPTER I.
IN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN 1
The _Parthia_--Mr J. Walter, M.P.--Sumner's opinion
of Mr Bradlaugh's lecture--The Delaware Clionian Society--Milwaukee
--Chicago--Intense cold--Mrs Lucretia Mott--A third
lecturing tour--Dr Otis--The currency question--Religious
animus--Death of Henry Wilson--In St Luke's Hospital, New
York, with typhoid fever--Moncure D. Conway--Return.
CHAPTER II.
MRS BESANT 12
A friend lost--A friend gained--Mrs Besant and Mr Bradlaugh--"Ajax"--The
Knowlton pamphlet--Advantages and disadvantages
of a dual defence.
CHAPTER III.
THE PROSECUTION OF MR BRADLAUGH AND MRS BESANT 20
Appointment to sell the pamphlet--Arrested on a warrant--At
the Guildhall--Application for a writ of _certiorari_--The Lord
Chief Justice--Who was the prosecutor?--The trial at Westminster--The
witnesses--The jury--The verdict--The judgment--Execution
of sentence stayed--The Court of Appeal quashes
indictment--Expenses of defence paid by subscription--The City--Other
proceedings--Mr Truelove's trial and sentence--Effect of
the prosecutions.
CHAPTER IV.
AN UNIMPORTANT CHAPTER 30
Side lights--"Man, whence and how?"--The Turberville legacy--From
Turner Street to Circus Road--Selling the Knowlton
pamphlet--The day of arrest--At Westminster--Mr G. J. Holyoake--The
hearing of the sentence--A riding accident.
CHAPTER V.
MORE DEBATES 39
Rev. Brewin Grant--Rev. A. Mursell--Mr Walter R. Browne--Mr
Robert Roberts, a Christadelphian--Mr William Simpson--Mr
Gordon--Rev. John Lightfoot--Rev. R. A. Armstrong--Rev.
W. M. Westerby.
CHAPTER VI.
SOME LATER LECTURES 52
At Oxford--The Suez Canal--Carrying "consolation"--At
Congleton--At Newman Street, London--Edinburgh--Professor
Flint--Scarborough.
CHAPTER VII.
LUNATICS 59
Letters--"A mission from God"--John Sladen and the Queen.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE "WATCH" STORY 63
The defiance of Deity an ancient idea--_The British Monarchy_--Abner
Kneeland--Emma Martin--G. J. Holyoake--Charles
Capper, M. P.--The _Razor_--Rev. P. R. Jones, M. A., Dr Harrison,
and other clergymen--The _Christian_ and other journals--The
Rev. Basil Wilberforce--Dr Parker--The _British Empire_--_Prosecution_
of Edgecumbe--Reckless swearing--A bad plea,
"embarrassing and unfair"--Edgecumbe missing--The reward
of Mr Bradlaugh's forbearance.
CHAPTER IX.
OTHER FABLES 76
The "cob of coal"--The "old woman"--Story narrated by
the Rev. H. W. Webb-Peploe--Personal slanders--The _World_--Action
against Mr Laker--Poisoning the Prince of Wales--A
"bagman"--A common accusation.
CHAPTER X.
PEACE DEMONSTRATIONS, 1878 82
The "Jingo" fever--Meetings in favour of peace--Auberon
Herbert and C. Bradlaugh in Hyde Park--Preparing for difficulties--The
war party--The fight--Second Hyde Park meeting--Mr
Bradlaugh injured--Ill and depressed.
CHAPTER XI.
THE NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY 86
The first general association of Freethinkers--Objects of the
Society--Its President--First secular almanac--The work of the
Society--Mr Bradlaugh's resignation.
CHAPTER XII.
THE LAST CHAPTER 91
Six years of fighting--A record of injustice--Some who help to
find the money to defend the right--Mr Bradlaugh's habits and
surroundings--His commercial pursuits--Money difficulties--Death
of Alice Bradlaugh--Mr Bradlaugh's illness--Plans for the
future--India--Last illness--Memorials.
Part II.
BY JOHN M. ROBERTSON.
CHAPTER I.
PHILOSOPHY AND SECULAR PROPAGANDA.
§1. Meaning of "Atheism" 115
§2. Bradlaugh's statement of Atheism 122
§3. "Materialism" and its critics 127
§4. Bradlaugh's popular propaganda 139
§5. Secularist ethics 154
CHAPTER II.
POLITICAL DOCTRINE AND WORK.
§1. The Republican movement 165
§2. The Neo-Malthusian movement 169
§3. Bradlaugh and the land laws 179
§4. Bradlaugh and Socialism 185
§5. The Irish question 191
§6. Bradlaugh and India 198
CHAPTER III.
THE PARLIAMENTARY STRUGGLE.
_Chronological Summary_ 203
§1. Northampton election of 1880 208
§2. The raising of the oath question 211
§3. Bradlaugh's request to be let affirm; opposition of select
committee 216
§4. His first attempt to take the oath; opposition of select
committee 224
§5. The affirmation question again; opposition of the House 234
§6. Bradlaugh insists on taking the oath; arrested and released; at
length sits on affirmation 240
§7. His action in the House; enmity outside 248
§8. The lawsuit of Clarke and Newdegate--Bradlaugh unseated and
re-elected (1881) 259
§9. Renewed conflict in Parliament 265
§10. Agitation and discussion in the country 274
§11. Bradlaugh's return litigation against Newdegate 277
§12. Insisting on entering the House, is ejected by physical force
(Aug. 1881) 281
§13. Further litigation and discussion 289
§14. Bradlaugh again at the table of the House--takes the oath--the
seat again vacated (February 1882) 293
§15. The new election--fresh agitation 301
§16. Fresh litigation 305
§17. Outside discussion--Bradlaugh and Manning 307
§18. The _Freethinker_ blasphemy prosecution 316
§19. Renewal of the constitutional struggle--fresh debating in the
House 334
§20. Bradlaugh again takes the oath--again unseated, and again
elected (1884) 343
§21. Continued litigation--end of the struggle 351
§22. The effect of the struggle on parties 362
§23. Its constitutional importance 365
CHAPTER IV.
CLOSING YEARS.
1886 368
1887 374
1888 384
1889 404
1890-1891 410
Conclusion--Bradlaugh's personality 421
INDEX 445
CHARLES BRADLAUGH.
CHAPTER I.
IN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN.
Mr. Bradlaugh had agreed to make a second lecturing tour through the
States in the autumn of 1874, and he started on it under the most
inauspicious circumstances. We have just seen how he was obliged to
delay his journey--just as earlier in the year he had been obliged to
hasten his return--to contest the election at Northampton, where he
was once more defeated for the third and last time. He had originally
taken his passage by the White Star Line, in the _Republic_, leaving on
September 24th. At his request the owners obligingly transferred him
to the _Baltic_, leaving October 1st. Unable to get away by this boat,
he forfeited his passage, and leaving Northampton on the night of the
poll, he just caught the Cunard ship the _Parthia_ at Queenstown on the
7th. He started on his voyage despondent, utterly wearied, and with
"a tightish sensation about the heart," for he had hoped and believed
until the last half-hour that he was going to win the election. He
thought, too, that before he had left the town he had succeeded in
pacifying his disappointed and angry supporters in Northampton, but the
receipt of a telegram at Holyhead, telling him of the rioting there and
the calling out of the military, depressed him more than ever.
When he got on board the _Parthia_ a curious little incident happened.
As he was "standing gloomily, watching the last package carried on
board," he wrote, "I was approached by a man, a steerage passenger,
who, reverently touching his billycock hat, said, 'Father, do you go
with us to the other side?' For a moment I was puzzled; but seeing
that the man was serious, I answered, 'You are mistaken; I am not a
Father.' The man looked dubious, nervously scratched the deck with a
blackthorn held loosely in his left hand, and rejoined, 'No offence
meant; I ask your reverence's pardon, but anyhow, it will be a blessing
to have you with us on board, Father.' That I looked clerical I had
been told by the _Gaulois_, which described me in 1871, when attending
the Paris Courts Martial, as dressed like a bishop; but this man's
evidently earnest disbelief in my repudiation of priestly honours,
coupled with his quiet acquiescence, made me doubt whether I was really
the man who had been placarded a few hours before in Northampton as
'Bradlaugh the Blasphemer.'"
The journey began badly, and continued so until New Jersey was sighted.
The sea was rough, the _Parthia_ rolled, and the captain proved a
churl. The embarkation of the steerage passengers was managed with an
"uncouth harshness" which was painful to witness; to threaten "to put
a man 'in irons' for coming back to give a last wave of his hand to a
weeping sweetheart," commented my father, "was just a little too hard."
On the 17th the passengers on board the _Parthia_ had the mortification
of seeing the _Adriatic_ (White Star Line), which had left Liverpool
two days after them, pass them, and forge ahead with a speed which soon
left the _Parthia_ behind. Everything seemed combined to render his
journey unpleasant and vexatious.[1]
[Footnote 1: In reference to Mr Bradlaugh's voyage in the _Parthia_ I
append an extract from the _New York Herald_ for 7th September 1881,
which purports to be an account of an interview between the reporter of
that journal and Mr J. Walter, M.P., of the _Times_:--
"THE BRADLAUGH INCIDENT.
"'Don't you think Bradlaugh was harshly treated?' 'Oh dear, no,' was
Mr. Walter's eager response. 'That's all nonsense about his having
crysipelas, and having been so brutally treated. He's a perfect
ruffian. A fellow-passenger on the _Bothnia_ told me of Bradlaugh and
some of his comrades violently disturbing some religious services
held on board the _Parthia_, so that Captain Watson was compelled to
threaten him with putting him in irons before he would stop.'"
My father, of course, wrote to the _New York Herald_ and to Mr Walter,
contradicting this, saying that the statement was "monstrously untrue."
He made only the one voyage on the _Parthia_; he said: "No attempt
of any kind was made by any one to disturb religious services during
that voyage. There was a disagreement between Captain Watson and
the passengers as to the singing after dinner in the smoking-room,
but it had not the smallest connection with religious services. The
particulars were given in a letter signed by the passengers, and which
was published at the time in several of the American papers. I never
sang in my life, and was most certainly not even one of the singers."]
My father arrived in New York unfortunately too late for many of his
engagements. He was due to speak in Dartmouth College (New Hampshire)
on the 20th, and he had barely time to get there. On the way he
was delighted to meet Henry Wilson in the train. They chatted long
together, enjoying each other's company, and talking much of Charles
Sumner, a man reverenced and honoured by both, who had died since
Mr Bradlaugh's last visit to America. As it happened, too, Sumner's
opinion of my father's first lecture in Boston had only lately been
published in the Boston papers. It was given in a letter written
by Wendell Phillips in reply to some inquiries made of him by the
Secretary of a lecture committee at Winchester, Mass. The letter ran:--
"DEAR SIR,--In reply to your note of October 1st would say: I
heard Mr Bradlaugh the first time he spoke in Boston. What Mr Sumner,
who sat near me, said of that lecture, will deservedly have more
influence and weight than any opinion of mine. While Bradlaugh was
speaking, Sumner looked to me and said, 'This is very fine.' At the
close of the lecture he remarked, 'This is, I think, the most eloquent
speech I have heard for some years.'
WENDELL PHILLIPS."
"BOSTON, _October 2, 1874_."
At Dartmouth Mr Bradlaugh lectured to the students in their church, and
the Rev. Dr Smith, President of the College, presided at his lecture.
Two days later he was speaking at Cambridge, having this time a fine
audience of over a thousand persons, including most of the Cambridge
professors and a strong force from Harvard College. At Philadelphia
on the 25th he won the sympathies of a crowded meeting, although here
he had been publicly preached against, and people had been warned not
to go to his lecture. At Charlestown (Mass.) he spoke in the Trinity
Methodist Episcopal Church, with the pastor, the Rev. Mark Trafton, as
president. In Boston he spoke in the Rev. James Freeman Clarke's Church
of Disciples, and at Winchester in the Unitarian Church--"and yet," he
said, "miracles are not believed in!" On the journey from Bangor to
Dexter my father, at the invitation of the engine-driver, rode part
way on the engine, and he relates how he found himself "perched on a
nice soft seat in a corner, with my toes near enough to the furnace to
make me forget that a sharp frosty wind was whistling; engine-driver
Chase turned out to be quite a philosopher, and I had a pleasant time."
Presently they had to slacken speed; "there are cattle on the track,
three oxen and three full-grown calves. They run on in front, sometimes
crossing the line; we ring the bell, whistle furiously, and puff-puff
vociferously, till at last engine-driver Chase gets angry and says, 'It
is no use, those cattle are as stupid as your House of Lords.' 'Yes,' I
answered, 'and will get run down like the Lords, if they do not get off
the track.'"
Senor Castelar stated after Mr Bradlaugh's death that he was shunned
by the ladies; but Senor Castelar's English was a little at fault.
When my father was at Delaware he was taken by the students to the
Female College, "where," he said, "the president introduced me to the
senior ladies' class, who sang to me the American national hymn. I was
asked to make them a speech, and am afraid I made myself supremely
ridiculous. It is no joke to be suddenly called on to say something to
twoscore of extremely good-looking young ladies.... They all looked
happy, and gave me a very pleasant greeting, one which made me think of
my own girls at home." The girls on their side were evidently equally
pleased with their visitor, for just before my father commenced his
lecture that evening he received the following note:--
"The members of the Clionian Society, having made Mr Bradlaugh an
honorary member of the same, desire, if he has no serious objection,
to see him wear their badge this evening.
ANNA C. LONG."
He did wear the badge in his button-hole, "and very pretty it looked,
and very pretty the donors looked too as they sat in the opera-house in
front of me," he said.
In continuing his journey west he lectured at Chicago, and this time
he was fortunately able to spend some hours with Hypatia Carlile and
her husband. At Milwaukee his visit created extraordinary enthusiasm.
"Nearly all the prominent lawyers, divines, newspaper men, merchants,
thinkers, and writers of the city, with their wives, heard his first
lecture; and they applauded at shorter intervals than any lecturer ever
was applauded here before. It is rare indeed that such an aggregate
of intellect is seen gathered together at one time in this city as
was the case on Thursday, and that one man receives such approval."[2]
The Milwaukee people urgently begged for a second lecture, which a
fortunately vacant date in the following week enabled him to give them.
[Footnote 2: _Chicago Tribune._]
Iowa was the furthest point west he reached on this visit, the whole
journey covering a distance of more than 4500 miles. When he went west
again in the following February he met with a terrific snowstorm,
generally described as the worst seen for many years. At Milwaukee
the cold was so severe that at his lecture the audience sat enveloped
in furs and rugs, although the janitor protested that he had used
three tons of coal in his endeavour to warm the Music Hall. "The next
time," commented my father, "I hope he will use thirty tons." The
cold grew more and more intense, until at Fond du Lac (Wisconsin)
which he reached on 10th February, the spirit thermometers registered
forty degrees below zero. On leaving Fond du Lac there was a wait of
ten hours at the station before any train came by which he could get
to Oshkosh, where he was due that evening; at which place--reached
only just in time--he found a fine audience awaiting him in spite of
the weather, if "weather" can be looked upon as an adequate term for
atmospheric conditions where one thermometer registers forty-five
degrees below zero and the others are congealed. The following day
he was due at Madison, but as traffic was suspended he remained for
a short time snow-bound at Oshkosh. Towards the end of February his
farewell lecture was given at Chicago to the largest audience he had
had that winter. "Every seat was filled, the stage was filled, the
aisles were filled, and even the staircases were alive with people."[3]
On this journey west he did a tremendous amount of travelling; in one
stretch of eight days he was only two nights in bed.
[Footnote 3: He spoke in M'Cormick's Hall to an audience of 3600
persons, of whom 3500 had paid for admission; the hall had never been
so full before, and the audience was as enthusiastic as it was large.]
In the Eastern States he had lectured at Salem (Mass.), with Dr Loring
once more for his host and chairman, and an audience who gave him a
glorious reception, although, apart from the warmth of their greeting,
nearly everything was in "a state of unmitigated freeziness." At Bangor
(Maine), where the snow was six feet deep in drifts, and was nowhere
less than two feet save on the most travelled roads, the intense cold
(twenty-three degrees) kept away the audience; but amongst those who
did "brave the elements" was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of
Maine, who warmly congratulated Mr Bradlaugh at the end of his lecture.
At Lynn (Mass.), where he gave one of his last lectures in New England,
in going from the railway station to the hall, he humorously relates:
"I sat down twice to reflect on the uncertainty of human progress. To
sit down in snow two or three feet deep is not dangerous, but is cold,
and most certainly is ridiculous, especially when the sitter is tall
and heavy. The second time I sat down I broke one of my ribs--that
is, one of my umbrella ribs, and I filled my gloves with snow. I was
reconciled to my fate when I learned that the gentleman sent out to
escort me, and whom I had missed, had sat down three times."
At Philadelphia he spoke before the Pennsylvania Peace Society, and was
delighted to find amongst his auditors Mrs Lucretia Mott. After the
lecture Mrs Mott, on the invitation of the chairman, stood up to speak,
and, said my father, "I felt reverence for the white-haired dame, which
was mingled with astonishment when, her voice losing the tremor of
age noticeable in the first few sentences, she spoke as clearly and
distinctly as though at least thirty years had been taken from the
count of her full-spent life. I valued highly the praise she gave me."
At Boston and at New York he was welcomed as heartily as ever. After
his first lecture this time at Boston it had been noted that "for once"
the great audience, who, it was said, seemed completely under his
control, remained to hear the last word; after the last it was agreed
that his lectures had been the greatest success of the season. His
headquarters had been this time in Boston, and whenever he returned
there from his lecturing journeys receptions were given to him, and
every one seemed eager to show him some kindness or courtesy. Not the
least valued mementoes of this visit were a complete and finely bound
edition of Sumner's works, a handsome memorial volume printed in honour
of Sumner, and three fine photographs of the dead statesman. All these
were brought him at different times by the Hon. Joshua B. Smith, who
idolised the great Abolitionist. He brought these tokens of Sumner to
my father because, as he once said, "Mr Bradlaugh was the friend of one
I loved."
Although he was comparatively little at New York, still while he was
there he met amongst others James Paxton, E. C. Stedman, the poet, and
Anna E. Dickinson, who greatly charmed him by her apparent sincerity,
her eloquence, and her clearness of thought.
My father returned at the end of February, with the satisfaction of
knowing that, despite its ominous commencement, his winter's work had
been a success in every way. The liabilities incurred by his sudden
departure from the United States the year before, and his delayed
arrival this year, had been met, and his indebtedness at home had been
cleared to the extent of £1000.
He came home by the _City of Brooklyn_, and met with a very stormy
passage. There was a furious gale, the waves sweeping the decks and
bursting the doors. The wheel became unmanageable; the wheelmen were
flung right and left. "For five hours and twenty minutes," wrote my
father a week later, "our engines were stopped; the sea played with
our helpless vessel as with a toy, and the whole of those on board
stood near death's gates. Captain J. S. Murray behaved in this terrible
emergency with a courage and self-possession for which no praise can be
too high. The _City of Brooklyn_, too, proved to be a good sea boat,
and the morning light saw us out of danger; but in that twenty-four
hours we only made ninety-one miles, and the log recorded a 'violent
hurricane with mountainous seas.'"
My father's departure for the United States for his third lecturing
tour, in the autumn of 1875, was very different from that of the year
before, or even that of 1873. Now, at last, Fortune seemed to smile
upon him, and everything was propitious. He set out in gay spirits
and high hopes; his successes of the last two winters had assured him
a welcome when he reached the States, and there was every prospect
that by the time he came home again he would be able to lighten that
terrible incubus of debt even more substantially than before.
He sailed in the _City of Berlin_, then one of the largest and most
perfectly fitted Atlantic Liners afloat. He felt quite at home in her,
for there were several familiar faces amongst the officers, and the
captain was so courteous that the passengers voted him a special vote
of thanks. It is rather curious that this resolution should have been
signed on behalf of their fellow-passengers by Dr Fessenden, N. Otis,
and Mr Bradlaugh, because a little later Dr Otis proved a friend in
need to my father. On the voyage all went well, the weather was good,
and the _Berlin_ made a record passage of seven days eighteen hours.
After two or three days spent in New York my father went on to Boston,
to find that city in the throes of an election for the office of
Governor of Massachusetts. He attended a "Republican rally" at the
old Faneuil Hall, and as he sat listening to the speeches of Henry
Wilson and others, the influence of the room seemed to grow upon him;
he remembered that it was there "that Otis pleaded against Lord North
and George III.; it was there that the Boston men gathered that very
December day on which the tea was thrown overboard in Boston harbour;
it was there that groans accompanied the reading of the Boston Ports
Bill." The meeting had the still further interest to him that it was
presided over by R. H. Dana, the man who had been counsel for Anthony
Burns.
Another question was also agitating, not merely Boston, but the whole
country, and dividing parties into hostile camps, and that was the
Currency question; and as upon this subject my father and Wendell
Phillips took opposite views, their relations were by no means so
friendly as heretofore.
The religious feeling which had been raised against Mr Bradlaugh every
time was renewed with special bitterness this winter, and created
quite a panic amongst the managers of lecture courses. It is much to
their credit that the Rev. Dr Miner and the Rev. Dr Lorrimer had the
courage to disregard the outcry, and invited him to lecture to their
congregations as before.
At the end of October he was feeling very unwell, but persisted in
continuing his work, and for a week or two seemed rather better. Since
the friendship which sprang up between them on board the _City of
Berlin_, Dr Otis and my father had not lost sight of one another, and
when he became worse again he consulted Dr Otis, who strongly advised
change of scene and climate, as preparation for the hard work and the
cold which would have to be faced on his Western tour. Hence, in the
middle of November, finding himself part way there, he went on to
Washington. At Washington he found that almost his only friend in the
city, Henry Wilson, the Vice-President of the United States, was lying
sick unto death in the Capitol. He called upon him, but finding him so
ill, simply left his card. Mr Wilson, on hearing of his visit, sent his
secretary with a note--the last, I believe, that he ever wrote--asking
him to come on the following morning, but my father never saw him
again. He returned to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, sad and ill. Dr
Otis saw him professionally and in the report he sent to England early
in December he said he had been suffering from "much work and little
rest" for several days; later he found him suffering from pleurisy and
some threatenings of typhoid. As the fever rapidly developed, Dr Otis
suggested that he should go to St Luke's Hospital, where he could have
the best care--professional and general--and on my father agreeing,
he took him there in his own carriage on 30th November. At St Luke's
Hospital Mr Bradlaugh felt that he owed his life "to the great skill
and generous kindness of Dr Leaming, to the unremitting attentions of
Dr Abbe, and to the patient and never-ceasing care of my nurse, William
Shaw." Even before he was allowed to leave his bed it was decided he
could do no more lecturing that season, and within four days from
leaving his sick-bed he was on board the _City of Richmond_ on his way
home. Friends said he was rash--that the journey would kill him. He was
so weak that he could scarcely stand, and he shed tears almost directly
a kind word was said to him; but if his body was weak, his will was
strong; he would go, and he was sure that he would grow stronger more
quickly moving on board ship than inactive in New York. A copy of
"Alice in Wonderland" had been accidentally left in his cabin; he was
so weak that it took him nearly the whole voyage to read this little
book; he laughed over it and delighted in it like a child. Afterwards,
he always remembered it with a certain enjoyment, and was ever ready to
quote from it such touching verses as "You are old, Father William,"
"'Tis the voice of the sluggard," or "Will you walk a little faster?"
Speaking of his sudden return a week or two later, Mr Bradlaugh said:
"I came back to England because I was advised that it would have been
suicide in my weak state to face the Western winter. I come back to
Europe reluctantly, for I went to the United States to earn enough
money to pay my debts, and I am compelled to return poorer than I
left. Indeed, I owe it to Mr Moncure D. Conway's assistance that I was
enabled, at the moment, to discharge the obligations my illness had
created in New York."
Mr Conway has since told me that when he went to see my father
while he lay ill in the St Luke's Hospital, my father begged him
to make inquiries of nurse and doctors whether he had said or done
anything during the time of his illness which could be construed into
an alteration of his opinions upon religious subjects. He wished
Mr Conway, in the event of his death, to bear testimony that his
convictions had remained unchanged. Mr Conway, whose own opinions were
by no means so heretical as Mr Bradlaugh's, was nevertheless anxious
to carry out the wishes of the sick man with the utmost exactitude,
and therefore made the most scrupulous inquiries. But he only learned
that Mr Bradlaugh had been a most docile, uncomplaining, and grateful
patient, and that he had not uttered a single word which could afford
the slightest justification for a suggestion of recantation. That my
father's dread of the usual "infidel deathbed" myth was well founded
we know by what has happened since 1891. Even as it was, although he
recovered from his illness in New York, and was alive to contradict
such fables, it was actually said that he had sent for a minister to
pray with him, and one clergyman was even reported to have specified
the "minister" as a Baptist! It was long before my father entirely
recovered from this illness, and although formerly a smoker, after this
he lost all desire for a cigar. It was not until a few years before his
death that he renewed the habit, and even then only in a very modest
way--a cigar in going to the House of Commons, a cigar in coming back
he enjoyed; at other times he smoked little.
It is worth noting that while Mr Bradlaugh was in the States,
whenever he had an evening to spare, wherever he might happen to be,
he generally devoted it to going to hear some lecture or sermon, or
attending some meeting. In this way he heard, amongst others, Parker
Pilsbury, Newman Hall, O. B. Frothingham, M. D. Conway, Horace Seaver,
and Dr Miner. He two or three times attended and spoke at Women's
Suffrage meetings, and was invited on at least two occasions to take
part in Masonic festivals.
Everywhere he went he made careful inquiries into the labour conditions
of the locality, and where possible, he visited mill and factory, and
talked with both workers and employers. He also specially studied the
workings of the liquor laws in the States where they obtained, and the
effect of his observations was to decide him against them. On each
visit he wrote home weekly letters for the _National Reformer_, which
were interesting for what they told about his own doings and about
persons, and invaluable to intending emigrants for the information
they gave concerning labour in the different States which he visited.
He afterwards published the result of his investigation into labour
questions in America as a little booklet entitled "Hints to Emigrants."