IRELAND.
I am now come to a point in my father's history at which I must confess
my utter inability to give anything like a just account of his work.
All I can do--in spite of great time and labour almost fruitlessly
spent in following up the slenderest clues--is to relate a few facts
which must not be taken as a complete story, but merely as indicating
others of greater importance. The reason for my ignorance will be found
in Mr Bradlaugh's own words written in 1873:--
"My sympathy with Ireland and open advocacy of justice for the Irish
nearly brought me into serious trouble. Some who were afterwards
indicted as the chiefs of the so-called Fenian movement came to me for
advice. So much I see others have written, and the rest of this portion
of my autobiography I may write some day. At present there are men
not out of danger whom careless words might imperil, and as regards
myself I shall not be guilty of the folly of printing language which a
Government might use against me."[105]
[Footnote 105: _Autobiography._]
That "some day" of which he wrote never came; and to-day we know
little more of what help he gave to the chiefs of the "so-called
Fenian movement" than we did in 1873. There is, however, one man
still living--perhaps there are two, but of the second I am not quite
sure--who could if he chose throw considerable light upon this period;
but this person I have been unable to reach. From the time when, by
sending the 7th Dragoon Guards to Ireland, the English Government
was kind enough to afford the newly enlisted Private Bradlaugh an
opportunity of studying that unfortunate country from within, and by
sending him on duty at evictions to bring him face to face with the
suffering her wretched peasantry had to endure--from that time (in
the early fifties) until his death, English misgovernment of Ireland
and the condition of the Irish people occupied a very prominent place
in his thoughts. Between 1866 and 1868, while Ireland was in a state
of agitation and insurrection, he frequently brought the subject of
her grievances before his English audiences: articles on the Irish
land question and the English in Ireland appeared in the _National
Reformer_, and he himself took the Irish question as a frequent theme
for his lectures. "Englishmen," he would say, "have long been eloquent
on the wrongs of Poland and other downtrodden nations, insisting
on their right to govern themselves; but they have been singularly
unmindful of their Irish brethren. Advocacy of the claims of Poland
showed a love of liberty and freedom. Advocacy for Ireland spelled
treason. The three great curses of Ireland were her beggars, her bogs,
and her barracks. The reclaiming of the millions of acres of bogland,
now waste, with proper security for tenants, would diminish the
beggars; and as bogs and beggars decreased, contentment would increase,
and Government would be deprived of all excuse for the retention of an
armed force." Talking in this strain, he would strive to win English
sympathy for Ireland. At meeting after meeting he pointed out the
evils of our Irish legislation, and won the thanks of Irishmen for his
"outspoken language."
The Fenian Brotherhood, was, as we know, a secret association, founded
and framed by James Stephens, for the establishment of an Irish
Republic. That the association was a secret one was the fault of the
English Government, since it forbade all open and orderly meetings; and
the more open agitation was suppressed, the stronger grew the Fenian
movement. Some of the Fenian leaders, amongst whom were Colonel Kelly
and General Cluseret, came to Mr Bradlaugh for legal advice; and one
of the results of the many consultations held at Sunderland Villa was
the framing of the following proclamation, which was published in the
_Times_ for March 8th, 1867, at the end of two or three columns of
excited accounts of the Fenian rising in Ireland:--
"I. R.--Proclamation!--The Irish People to the World.
"We have suffered centuries of outrage, enforced poverty, and bitter
misery. Our rights and liberties have been trampled on by an alien
aristocracy, who, treating us as foes, usurped our lands, and drew
away from our unfortunate country all material riches. The real
owners of the soil were removed to make room for cattle, and driven
across the ocean to seek the means of living and the political rights
denied to them at home; while our men of thought and action were
condemned to loss of life and liberty. But we never lost the memory
and hope of a national existence. We appealed in vain to the reason
and sense of justice of the dominant powers. Our mildest remonstrances
were met with sneers and contempt. Our appeals to arms were always
unsuccessful. To-day, having no honourable alternative left, we again
appeal to force as our last resource. We accept the conditions of
appeal, manfully deeming it better to die in the struggle for freedom
than to continue an existence of utter serfdom. All men are born with
equal rights, and in associating together to protect one another and
share public burdens, justice demands that such associations should
rest upon a basis which maintains equality instead of destroying
it. We therefore declare that, unable longer to endure the curse
of monarchical government, we aim at founding a republic, based on
universal suffrage, which shall secure to all the intrinsic value of
their labour. The soil of Ireland, at present in the possession of
an oligarchy, belongs to us, the Irish people, and to us it must be
restored. We declare also in favour of absolute liberty of conscience,
and the complete separation of Church and State. We appeal to the
Highest Tribunal for evidence of the justice of our cause. History
bears testimony to the intensity of our sufferings, and we declare, in
the face of our brethren, that we intend no war against the people of
England; our war is against the aristocratic locusts, whether English
or Irish, who have eaten the verdure of our fields--against the
aristocratic leeches who drain alike our blood and theirs. Republicans
of the entire world, our cause is your cause. Our enemy is your enemy.
Let your hearts be with us. As for you, workmen of England, it is not
only your hearts we wish, but your arms. Remember the starvation and
degradation brought to your firesides by the oppression of labour.
Remember the past, look well to the future, and avenge yourselves
by giving liberty to your children in the coming struggle for human
freedom. _Herewith we proclaim the Irish Republic_."
[Illustration - not available for this book]
"THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT."
This proclamation was printed by Colonel Kelly,[106] who obtained
possession of some printing works at Islington, and in one night set
up this famous manifesto. Mr J. M. Davidson says that the document
was drawn by Mr Bradlaugh's hand.[107] Mr Adolphe S. Headingley[108]
says that "the informers Massey and Corydon in their evidence insist
that Bradlaugh himself drew up the proclamation." In spite of a very
considerable search I have not yet been able to find the words used by
Massey or Corydon; but on this point, at least, I am able to quote the
highest authority--my father himself. I was talking to him in his study
one day, and in the course of our conversation he pulled down a thick
green volume--an Irish history--and opening it, put his finger upon
this proclamation. "They say I wrote that," he said with a smile. "And
did you?" I asked. He then told me that the draft of the proclamation,
as it left his study after being approved, _was_ in his handwriting;
but that when he saw it in print he found that it had been altered
after leaving his hands. Unfortunately, I did not go over it with him
to ask where it had been altered; but words written by him in January
1868 throw a little light on the matter. He then said:
[Footnote 106: Headingley, p. 105.]
[Footnote 107: _Weekly Dispatch_, November 16, 1879.]
[Footnote 108: Headingley, p. 104.]
"I am against the present establishment of a republic in Ireland,
because, although I regard republicanism as the best form of government
possible, I nevertheless think that the people of England and of
Ireland are yet too much wanting in true dignity and independence,
and too ignorant of their political rights and duties, to at present
make good republicans. We are growing gradually towards the point of
republican government; but it is not, I think, the question of to-day.
A forcible separation of Ireland from England would not unnaturally
be resisted by the latter to her last drop of blood and treasure;
and I do not believe that the Irish party are either strong enough
or sufficiently united to give even a colour of probability to the
supposition of a successful revolution."[C]
Again, "I do not believe in an enduring revolution to be effected by
revolvers;... I do not believe it a lasting republic to be formed by
pike aid."[109]
[Footnote 109: Pamphlet on the Irish Question.]
Hence from Mr Bradlaugh's own words, written in January 1868, it will
be seen that he could not possibly have joined in the proclamation of a
force-established republic in March 1867.
Throughout the year (1867) the country was in a very disturbed state.
The Fenians were numerous, but inefficiently organised; they made
isolated attacks on police barracks in Ireland, and attempted to
seize Chester Castle, which contained a considerable store of arms.
In September Kelly and Deasy were arrested at Manchester, and on the
18th of that month they were rescued while being moved with a number
of other prisoners in the police van from the police court to the city
jail. This rescue was destined to cost a number of lives, commencing
with that of poor Sergeant Brett, whose death was followed, on the 23rd
of November, by the execution of the three patriots, Allen, Larkin, and
O'Brien. For several months from the time of the Manchester rescue our
house was watched, back and front, night and day, and two policemen in
uniform were stationed at Park Railway Station to scrutinise all the
passengers who alighted there. I hardly know in what light my father
regarded this surveillance, but I do not think he can have taken it
very much to heart; we children looked upon it sometimes as a great
distinction and sometimes as a capital joke, and we must to some
extent have reflected the mood of our elders--not that I mean that Mr
Bradlaugh was silly enough to regard this unremitting attention on the
part of the police as a "distinction," but that we could not so have
felt it had he been even a little troubled by it.
Just before the trial of the Manchester Martyrs, Mr Bradlaugh wrote a
short but most eloquent plea for Ireland. He concluded it by urgently
entreating:
"Before it be too late, before more blood shall stain the pages of our
present history, before we exasperate and arouse bitter animosities,
let us try and do justice to our sister land. Abolish once and for
all the land laws, which in their iniquitous operation have ruined
her peasantry. Sweep away the leech-like Church which has sucked
her vitality, and has given her back no word even of comfort in her
degradation. Turn her barracks into flax mills, encourage a spirit of
independence in her citizens, restore to her people the protection
of the law so that they may speak without fear of arrest, and beg
them to plainly and boldly state their grievances. Let a Commission
of the best and wisest amongst Irishmen, with some of our highest
English judges added, sit solemnly to hear all complaints, and let us
honestly legislate, not for the punishment of the discontented, but to
remove the causes of the discontent. It is not the Fenians who have
depopulated Ireland's strength and increased her misery. It is not the
Fenians who have evicted tenants by the score. It is not the Fenians
who have checked cultivation. Those who have caused the wrong at least
should frame the remedy."[110]
[Footnote 110: _National Reformer_, October 20.]
Then came November and the sentence of death upon the four men who had
taken part in the rescue of Deasy and Kelly at Manchester. Despite
the bitter weather that followed, thousands of people assembled at
Clerkenwell Green to memorialize the Government to pardon the condemned
men. Mr Bradlaugh spoke at the meetings held there, and at Cambridge
Hall, Newman Street. But such meetings were of no avail. Englishmen
were panic-stricken, and sought to protect their own lives by taking
other people's. Eloquence, justice, right are pointless weapons when
used to combat blind fear.
Hard upon the "Manchester Sacrifice"--December 13th--followed the
Clerkenwell explosion, by which four persons were killed and about
forty men, women, and children were injured, in a mad attempt to blow
up Clerkenwell Prison in order to rescue Burke and Casey, who were then
on their trial.
This dastardly crime was a shock to all true friends of Ireland, just
as the crime of the Ph[oe]nix Park murders was fourteen years later. Mr
Bradlaugh wrote in the _National Reformer_ a most earnest and pathetic
denunciation of the outrage. He wrote it with the consciousness that he
might lose many friends by the declaration that he had been "and even
yet am favourable to the Irish Cause, which will be regarded by a large
majority as most intimately connected with this fearfully mad crime."
The Committee of the Irish Republican Brotherhood also, I believe,
hastened to protest against and repudiate the outrage.
In the same issue of his paper, Mr Bradlaugh had an article on the
Irish Crisis, in which he laid stress upon his opinion that "it is
utterly impossible to hope for improvement in the general condition
of Ireland until the relations of landlord and tenant in Ireland are
completely altered." In January 1868 he published an essay on "the
Irish Question," which he afterwards issued as a pamphlet.[111] In
this he dealt with four methods which had been put forward as giving
a "fair prospect of solution for the Irish difficulty." These were
(1) Separation of Ireland from England: the people deciding their
own form of government by vote; (2) "Stamping out" the rebellious
spirit by force; (3) A Commission of Inquiry into Irish grievances
having extensive powers of amnesty, to act immediately, and to
be followed by the redressal of all _bona fide_ grievances; (4)
Political enfranchisement of Ireland, or a separate legislature. The
first two methods, which he discussed at some length, he rejected
as "impracticable and objectionable"; the third course he favoured
strongly; and the main difficulty to the fourth seems to have been
the existing suffrage. A separate legislature, he observed, had been
advocated by "some very thoughtful writers, some able politicians,
and some men of extraordinary genius." He wound up his essay with
an appeal--an appeal to the Government and an appeal to the Irish
Republican party. To both he pleaded for "forbearance, for mercy, for
humanity." The Irish Republican party he specially and in most eloquent
language entreated to "repress all violence--to check all physical
vengeance."
[Footnote 111: When he republished this as a pamphlet it was read by Mr
Gladstone, who wrote to him the following autograph letter:--
"11 CARLTON TERRACE,
_July 17, 1868._
"DEAR SIR,--I have read your pamphlet with much interest, and
with many important parts of it I cordially agree.--I remain, Dear
Sir, yours very faithfully and obediently,
W. E. GLADSTONE.
"Mr C. BRADLAUGH."
This letter is still in my possession.]
Ireland was now more than ever the subject of Mr Bradlaugh's advocacy,
and in connection with it there occurred on the 17th of January (1868)
a rather curious incident. A gentleman--perhaps I ought not to mention
his name--who was a correspondent and friend of my father's, belonged
to a Quaker family, and was at the period of which I write a member
of the Society of Friends, although he subsequently resigned his
membership. He belonged also to a discussion society connected with
the Friends' Institute, Bishopsgate Street. A debate was arranged upon
the Irish question, and Mr ----, knowing how interested Mr Bradlaugh
was in this subject, wrote inviting him to come to the meeting. This
friend writing to me says: "He did come, and by a curious coincidence
I was elected to the chair. Your father spoke, and quite delighted the
Quakers with his earnestness and eloquence. They did not, however,
know who the stranger was, but they pressed him to attend the
adjourned meeting; he said he would, and come fortified with facts and
statistics." My father was extremely gratified by the courtesy shown
him, and the permission given him as a stranger to speak for double
the usual time. At the same time he felt very awkward at receiving the
cheers, congratulations, and special compliments, because he feared
that they would hardly have been so freely accorded if his "real name
and wicked character had been generally known there." His fears were
fully justified, as Mr ----'s letter to me shows. He goes on to say:
"After the meeting was over and your father had shaken hands with me
and gone, the members crowded round me to inquire who the eloquent
visitor was. When they found it was the, at that time, notorious
Iconoclast, you may imagine their feelings were of a mixed sort. And
I got into disgrace for introducing him. That I did not mind, and I
secretly enjoyed their confusion. However, the result was that the
Secretary of the Society was ordered to write to your father and tell
him he was not required to attend again."
And Mr Bradlaugh actually did receive a letter officially inviting him
_not_ to attend their next meeting on the Irish question.
In February the formation of an "Ireland Society" was announced in the
_National Reformer_. This was an effort to bring Englishmen together
with the aim of forming "a sounder public opinion" on Irish matters,
but I doubt whether it met with the success the idea deserved. It had
specially for its objects (1) The abolition of the Irish State Church;
(2) A harmonious settlement of the land question; (3) Education for the
poor in Ireland; (4) Atonement for English oppression by encouraging
Irish Industries. At Leeds, at Sheffield, at Newcastle, Mr Bradlaugh
spoke to his audiences on the subject of Ireland until they were moved
to tears by his pictures of the wretched condition of the unhappy Irish
people. At Newcastle, a warm-hearted Irish Catholic stepped upon the
platform and gave his earnest thanks "to the orator" for expressing
the sentiments held by all true Irishmen,[112] and the audience from
end to end rose cheering and waving their hats. At Ashton-under-Lyne
in April he spoke to an audience of 5000 persons, and reminded them
that the Irish question might equally be called the English question,
as it affected England as well as Ireland. Previous to this lecture
there were rumours of violence, and threats "against life and limb,"
and the town was in a state of extreme excitement, a strong police
force were mustered, and one magistrate attended the meeting with the
Riot Act ready in his pocket! About a score or so of Orangemen managed
to get into the hall and created considerable disorder at the outset,
but they reckoned without chairman or speaker. The chairman, J. M.
Balieff, Esq., J.P., despite the outcry raised against Mr Bradlaugh
on account of his views on religion, had yet the moral courage to
support him in his political opinions. The Orangemen opened up with a
storm of hisses and groans, which was responded to by the friends of
Ireland with excited cheering. This went on for some minutes, but was
quickly quieted when the chairman resolutely stated that if it were
necessary he should stay there all night, for he was quite determined
that Mr Bradlaugh should state his views. At the conclusion of the
lecture Mr Balieff publicly rebuked the bigotry which, unable to answer
Mr Bradlaugh's political advocacy, assailed him for his speculative
opinions. Amongst other places, my father went to Huddersfield to speak
on the Irish question. My sister and I were in Huddersfield at the
time staying with some friends, and we, of course went to the lecture,
which was held in the theatre on Saturday, the 25th of April. This is
the first lecture of my father's that I distinctly remember. I had
been present at very many before, but of those I have only the vaguest
recollections. The one at Huddersfield stands out as a complete picture
in my memory. A stormy day, followed by a stormy night with strong wind
and rain, had not prevented the earnest Yorkshire folks from coming to
hear "the lad" (as they so often called him), and the theatre was full
of eager, sympathetic faces when we went upon the platform. Mr Woodhead
took the chair, and we, my sister and I, sat a little to the back of
the stage, where I remember we were much troubled by the cold wind
blowing round the "wings." So vivid is the memory that it seems almost
as though I could recall the very words my father uttered, and the
tones of his voice--now earnest, now impassioned, at one time severely
rebuking, at another ardently pleading, or gravely narrating. Or there
was some joke or amusing anecdote, and the audience--who a moment
before had been brushing away their tears openly or surreptitiously,
each according to his temperament--now with one consent burst into
hearty laughter. There was one old man in the front row, who with
ear-trumpet to ear remained eagerly bent forward throughout the whole
lecture, so unwilling was he to lose a single word. I was just ten
years old then, and it seemed a revelation to me; for the first time I
felt and realised something of my father's power over men.
[Footnote 112: _National Reformer_, Feb. 16, 1868.]
In spite of fears entertained for his safety as a suspected man
entering a disturbed country during the suspension of the _Habeas
Corpus_ Act, on the 18th of March Mr Bradlaugh was lecturing in Dublin
under the auspices of the Irish Reform League. It was St Patrick's
day, and "an enthusiastic barrister" whom he knew drove him about in
his carriage. He wrote home that he heard the band play "'God save the
Queen,' and the populace acknowledged it with a mixed sort of hiss and
groan, which I believe is called 'keening.'" The lecture was delivered
at the Mechanics' Institute, the hall was crammed to its utmost
capacity, and lengthy reports of the speech appeared in the _Freeman's
Journal_ and _Dublin Evening Post_. At the conclusion an address was
presented to Mr Bradlaugh as some testimony of Irish appreciation
of his "disinterested and sincere devotion to our country's cause."
The address reads: "We can but offer you our best thanks and warmest
admiration, and tender you the unaffected and sincere love of warm
Irish hearts, thus proving that Irishmen are never insensible to
kindness," etc. By the light of later events, what bitter irony all
this seems! The "sincere love of warm Irish hearts" looked much more
like hate and malice in the years of Mr Bradlaugh's Parliamentary
struggle. However, it was doubtless honest at the moment, and the
greatest enthusiasm prevailed amongst the Dublin audience when the
address was formally read and presented. The proceedings were orderly
and unanimous throughout; nevertheless when the meeting separated they
found the front of the building occupied by a detachment of police
numbering about a hundred men; inspectors in attendance took the names
and addresses of those who had taken any prominent part in the business
of the evening; while the rank and file scrutinised the faces of the
audience. The Dublin correspondent of an Irish Catholic paper published
in London indulged in a tirade of abuse against Mr Bradlaugh, whom he
described as "the hired agent of the English Reform League, the Atheist
Bradlaugh;" but he only aroused a host of defenders, whose defence,
since he was unable to answer, he affected to despise.
When the turn of Elections in 1868 brought Mr Gladstone into power,
Mr Bradlaugh applied at the Treasury for the withdrawal of the
warrant out against General Cluseret for his arrest on the charge
of treason-felony, but this clemency was refused.[113] With the
subsidence of the Fenian agitation and the relief anticipated by the
Disestablishment of the Irish Church there was less and less immediate
need to Ireland for Mr Bradlaugh's activity, and when 1870 ushered
in the Franco-Prussian War, his energies were turned for the time in
another and more instantly pressing direction.
[Footnote 113: Headingley, p. 107.]