Secular Society are better reading than his political speeches. Being
less in the world of practice there, and more in the world of principle,
he gave play to his ideal nature, his words took color, and metaphors
flashed like jewels in the sword of his orations. It was a signal proof
of his power, that after a whole day's exhausting work, both to himself
and his audience, he never failed to rouse the wildest enthusiasm.
Now that Mr. Bradlaugh is dead I do not hesitate to repeat what I said
during his lifetime, that his Freethought work was the most fecund and
important. Even his great battle against the House of Commons was
for religious freedom against bigotry, and his one great legislative
achievement was the Act dealing with Oaths and Affirmation. His
staunchest political supporters were his Freethought followers. His
lectures, his personal influence, and his reputation, leavened the
public mind more than his orthodox enemies suspected, and he created
a vast quantity of raw material to be utilised by his successors in
Secular organisation.
*****
In the foregoing pages I have attempted no complete sketch of Charles
Bradlaugh. I have written, not a monograph, but a number of rough
jottings. Yet I hope I have conveyed an impression of the man, in some
degree faithful, to those who may have been imperfectly acquainted with
him; and I trust the features I have presented, however baldly outlined,
will be recognised by those who knew and loved him.
When all is said and done, I think the final impression one retains of
Charles Bradlaugh is his _heroism_. His was cast in a great mould of
mind and character, as well as body. Like every hero the world has ever
seen, he had his defects and failings, for it is given to no man to be
perfect. But positive excellence, with all its drawbacks, is far above
negative merit. "Thou shalt" is loftier virtue than "thou shalt not,"
and the hero is superior to the saint.
Charles Bradlaugh was a colossus of manhood. He was one to design, and
dare, and do. The beaten path of mediocrity had no attraction for that
potent spirit. He belonged to the heroic type which seeks perilous ways
and fresh conquests. Like the hero of one of Browning's poems, he was
"ever a fighter." In stormy times he naturally rose to the top. He was
one of the select few, not of those who enrich the world with great
discoveries, or new principles, or subtle perceptions of beauty--but
those who appeal to the heroism of man's nature, without which he is
at best but a splendid beast, and who minister to that sense of dignity
which is the supreme necessity of our race.
The elements So mixed in him, that
Nature might stand up
And say to all the world,
"This was a man!"