SOME LATER LECTURES.
Mr Bradlaugh addressed an audience in Oxford for the first time early
in May 1875, when he spoke upon the subject of "Land and Labour."
Some difficulty had been made as to the use of the Town Hall, and a
smaller hall, known as the Holywell Music Room, was engaged. A number
of undergraduates put in an appearance, but as Mr A. R. Cluer, who was
also present, observed, it was evident that they had come "more with
the intention of attempting to interrupt than to listen quietly. But
after the first few sallies of undergraduate wit had been effectively
met and replied to by Mr Bradlaugh, in which encounters the laugh
always remained on his side, the audience was tolerably peaceful." The
Oxford papers gave their different versions of the lecture, but they
all joined in the announcement that the chairman was a sweep by trade,
whereat my father immediately wrote, "If Mr Hines is not ashamed to
again preside for me, I shall be glad to ask him to take the chair at
my next meeting." The "next meeting" followed close on the heels of the
first, for on the 26th Mr Bradlaugh was again in Oxford, speaking in a
room crowded to excess, upon the subject of "One Hundred Years of Tory
Rule." The majority of the audience was composed of undergraduates,
and the interruption kept up by these gentlemen in embryo was so
continuous that "a complete sentence was almost impossible." Appeals
to the good sense and decency of the audience were in vain; cigars and
pipes were lit and smoked; shouts, yells, hisses, and insulting remarks
were continued throughout the lecture. One of the most prominent of
the disturbers was said to be Lord Lymington, son of the Earl of
Portsmouth, who not only himself misbehaved, but also encouraged others
to do likewise. In January 1877 my father was once more in Oxford,
lecturing this time in the Town Hall. Again the undergraduates mustered
for a disturbance, and at one time, when a townsman was knocked down
by a gownsman, it seemed as though a general _melée_ was imminent.[19]
This time, however, firmness and good temper brought all things right,
and the lecture was allowed to come to a peaceful termination. It was
succeeded by a sharp fire of questions, enjoyed no less by the person
questioned than by the questioners.
[Footnote 19: Although the lecture was purely political, the subject
being "National Taxation," the _Oxford Times_ attempted to justify this
rowdyism by saying, "A man who identifies himself with a creed which
denies the doctrine of reward and punishment in the future life cannot
reasonably expect toleration here."]
* * * * *
A subject which Mr Bradlaugh lectured upon very much in 1876,
especially during the early part of the year, was the Suez Canal.
He had only just returned from America when he learned privately of
the purchase by the English Government of the Viceroy of Egypt's
shares in the Suez Canal. Ill as he was--he was just convalescent
from typhoid fever--he at once gave a lecture protesting against the
purchase, a protest in which for some time he stood quite alone. He
wrote a stirring article asking, "Why should the people of England
pay £4,000,000 to the Viceroy of Egypt?" and he lectured against the
purchase week after week. About four or five weeks later others also
began to protest. Sir Geo. Campbell, M.P., in the _Fortnightly Review_,
was one of the first to take ground against the Government. Inspired
by Mr Bradlaugh, resolutions of protest were passed in different parts
of the country, and so thoroughly did public opinion change that by
the end of March the _Standard_ itself was corroborating statements my
father had made early in January.
* * * * *
An amusing circumstance happened at Darwen when Mr Bradlaugh was
lecturing there in the summer of 1876. A foolish Christian challenged
him to pay a visit of consolation to an old bed-ridden woman named
Peggy Jepson, and offered him a sovereign if he would go. Amidst much
laughter and cheering, he took the sovereign, and carried it straight
to the old woman, who was of course surprised and delighted beyond
measure with the unexpected gift; this was a form of "consolation"
which met with her decided approval. Not so with the Christian
challenger, however. He was so irritated that he threatened Mr
Bradlaugh with County Court proceedings for the return of his pound.
* * * * *
At the end of September in this year my father and Mrs Besant had been
invited to lecture at Congleton on two successive evenings, and to
be the guests of Mr and Mrs Wolstenholme Elmy, at Buglawton, during
their stay. The Town Hall having been refused for their lectures, the
Salford Mill, an old silk mill, was engaged. Mr Bradlaugh spoke the
first evening on "The right to speak and the right to think," but a
certain section of the inhabitants of Congleton thought so little of
these rights that they kept up a perpetual din outside the mill, and
smashed the windows by throwing stones. While the attention of those
on the platform was distracted by the removal of a little child out of
reach of the falling glass, some coward threw something at Mrs Besant,
striking her a severe blow on the back of her head. After the lecture
the little party had a mile and a half to walk to Buglawton, which they
did accompanied by a noisy crowd, which alternately used language of
opprobrium and sang "Safe in the arms of Jesus." When the escort got
too demonstrative Mr Bradlaugh and Mr Elmy turned about and faced them,
and then, like sheep, the crowd turned about too. A woman was struck
full in the face by a Methodist shoemaker, whom she had detected in the
act of throwing mud and had reproved. At the house the crowd remained
yelling outside until midnight. But if Monday (the first night) was
bad, Tuesday was worse, because the rioting was more organised. For
two hours before the lecture a crowd assembled in front of Mr Elmy's
gate, hooting impartially every one seen entering or leaving the house.
A cab had been engaged to drive to the mill where Mrs Besant was to
lecture, although she was still suffering from the hurt of the evening
before, and as they got into the vehicle a volley of stones was thrown,
but fortunately no one was hurt. During the lecture eight persons came
in together, and it was soon evident that a thorough disturbance was
planned. One of the new-comers shouted, "Put her out," and as this
seemed the signal for a fight, my father said sternly that the next
one who interrupted should be put out. A man named Burbery, a local
tradesman and well-known wrestler who boasted his prize cups, invited
Mr Bradlaugh to make the attempt upon him. My father saw that if the
lecture was to go on something must be done, and that quickly, so he
descended from the platform, and laying hands upon the champion, after
a short struggle ejected him, and handed him over to the charge of
the police outside. The audience inside cheered and hooted; the crowd
outside yelled and threw stones--one of which, striking Mrs Elmy, cut
her severely over the right eye. The excitement subsided in a few
minutes, however, and the lecture concluded, and discussion was held
in perfect quiet and order. An attempt was made at Mr Elmy's house to
repeat the scene of the night before, but my father and his host went
out, and at length succeeded in frightening the disturbers away.
* * * * *
I was myself present on one occasion when Mr Bradlaugh had himself
to put some rufflers out of a hall in Newman Street, London. In June
1877 a meeting on the Population question was held at Cambridge Hall,
and was attended by a number of medical students from, I believe, the
Middlesex Hospital. There was a crowded meeting, and there were, in
addition to my father, several speakers, both men and women. Several
of the medical students got up to move amendments, and in the midst of
a very coarse speech by one of them, some of his friends at the side
commenced to flourish thick sticks, and emphasize their opinions by
bringing these same sticks into contact with the heads of the peaceful
members of the audience. A general fight seemed imminent, when Mr
Bradlaugh in commanding tones requested every one to keep his seat,
and himself going up to the ringleaders, seized three of them by their
collars--two in one hand and one in the other--and partly carrying,
partly pushing them down the hall, cast them out of the door amidst
cheers of delight from the audience.[20] The students who remained
ventured on no more disturbance, and the meeting proceeded in peace and
order.
[Footnote 20: Dr Nichols had an amusing article on this meeting in
the _Living Age_. "The juvenile sawbones," he said, "climbed upon the
platform and moved their amendments with admirable audacity. They had
not much to say, and they did not know how to say what they had thought
of saying; but they mounted the breach bravely enough for all that. And
the Malthusian majority behaved very well--much better than English
audiences usually do when there is opposition. In the sudden charge
that swept the forlorn hope out of the fortress, it looked for a few
moments as if there might be a case for the coroner, but Mr Bradlaugh's
disciples were mindful of his teachings."]
In the autumns of 1877 and 1878 Mr Bradlaugh took my sister and me with
him on a lecturing tour he was making in Scotland with Mrs Besant.
These tours were a sort of combination of work and holiday, in which
the work was to pay for the holiday, and they were both greatly enjoyed
by us all. We went as far north as Aberdeen, and came south as far
as Hawick. In several of the towns we visited--notably at Perth and
Edinburgh--we found kind and hearty friends equally eager to make the
holiday part of our visit as great a success as the work itself.
The arrangements were all well made, and it was not until the second
visit that any serious hitch arose, and that came unexpectedly at
Edinburgh. In 1877 Professor Flint had delivered a series of lectures
on "Theism," under the auspices of the Baird Trustees. My father wrote
some replies to them, and on sending the first to Professor Flint he
received this kindly letter in acknowledgment:--
"Johnstone Lodge, Craigmillar Park,
"Edinburgh, December 25th, 1877.
"SIR,--I thank you kindly for sending me a copy of the
_National Reformer_ for December 23rd. I shall read with interest any
criticisms you may be pleased to make on my book on 'Theism,' and I
shall endeavour to answer them in a note or notes to the volume on
'Anti-theistic Theories,' a copy of which will be forwarded to you. I
regret that my time will not allow me to do more than this.--Thanking
you sincerely for your personal courtesy towards me, from whose
views you so thoroughly dissent, I am, Sir, yours very truly, R.
FLINT.
"C. BRADLAUGH."
In the autumn of 1878 Mr Bradlaugh determined to take one of Professor
Flint's lectures, "Is belief in God reasonable?" and make some reply
to it from an Edinburgh platform. The Music Hall was duly engaged,
the lectures were advertised for the 26th and 27th of September, and
everything promised successful meetings both for himself and for Mrs
Besant. On the 23rd, however, the directors of the hall cancelled the
hiring. As Mrs Besant's subject was "Christianity: Immoral in Theory
and Demoralising in Practice," it was thought at the outset that the
refusal was on her account, but a special mention of the subject of Mr
Bradlaugh's lecture in the letter written by the directors contradicted
this impression. The Edinburgh Freethinkers were indignant; they
sought legal advice, but found they had no redress, Professor Flint's
lectures had been largely attended and fully reported in the Scotch
papers, but of course he had argued in the affirmative. The Committee
who had arranged the lectures for Mr Bradlaugh and Mrs Besant then went
to the Artillery Hall, and explained all the circumstances; the hall
was then hired and paid for, but on the same afternoon the hall-keeper
returned the money, saying that the proprietors would not let it for
the purposes required, and further, that he was instructed to have the
place "guarded by police" on the Thursday and Friday evenings. Many
fruitless attempts were made to obtain a hall. On Thursday Mrs Besant's
lecture had to be abandoned, and we went to the theatre instead,
whilst a large number of persons, who had not seen the notices of
postponement, assembled at the Artillery Hall. The Society of Arts Hall
was obtained for Friday, and when this was known, much pressure was put
upon the proprietors to rescind their contract; they held out until the
afternoon, then they also gave way and refused the hall, and when the
audience came in the evening they found the doors locked and the place
under police protection. At last Mr Bradlaugh wrote to Professor Flint,
shortly stating the case, and appealing to his sense of fair play to
aid him in procuring a platform in Edinburgh where he might reply to
his arguments. To this letter he received the following reply:--
"Edinburgh, September 30, 1878.
"SIR,--It appears to me that you have very good reason to
complain of the injustice of the persons who, after granting you the
use of their halls, cancelled their contracts. I sincerely regret the
treatment you have met with in Edinburgh in this respect. I have no
influence, however, with the directors of public halls in this city,
and therefore cannot do more than assure you that I cordially wish
you the fullest liberty you can desire to discuss and criticise my
lectures on Theism. The more freely the grounds of religious belief
are examined from all points of view the better.--I am, etc. R.
FLINT."
One immediate outcome of this exhibition of intolerance was an offer,
publicly made and advertised in the _Scotsman_, of a sum of £500
towards the building of a hall in which free discussion might be held.
Mr Bradlaugh lectured many times in Edinburgh both before and after
this date, but, as far as I am aware, this is the only time on which he
had any difficulty about obtaining a hall to speak in.
Many Scarborough people will recall the fuss made over Mr Bradlaugh's
lecture there in the Old Town Hall on "Eternal Hope and Eternal
Torment" in April 1879. A protest, signed by nearly every clergyman
in the borough, was sent to the Corporation. That Mr Bradlaugh should
lecture in a public building belonging to the town was, said these
intolerant clerics, "a public scandal," and "a most serious outrage
upon the convictions of the rate-payers." The Mayor moved that this
protest be entered upon the Minutes, but there were only five votes in
favour of his motion, and it was therefore rejected. My father lectured
in Scarborough in 1882 on "Perpetual Pensions," and was to have
lectured there again in 1889, but this engagement had to be cancelled
in consequence of his serious illness.